Truro Daily News Coverage

TATAMAGOUCHE – You’ve got a knack for the two-step. Or perhaps you’re a skilled bicycle mechanic.

Maybe you’ve learned to identify native medicinal herbs or you’ve been studying eastern religions.

Armed with the basic assumption that everyone has something to teach as well as to learn, 100 people gathered at Waldegrave Farm for the third annual Tatamagouche Summer Free School, which wrapped up on Sunday.

“In a lot of ways it’s just about building community and taking back education a little bit and hopefully challenging ourselves,” says Hillary Bain Lindsay, a free school organizer and a resident of Waldegrave Farm, a former dairy farm purchased a few years ago by a socially minded group of friends, now a designated land co-operative.

The four-day school is an educational exchange in which participants volunteer to teach a workshop on a wide range of topics. Sessions took place in “classrooms,” including a hayloft, a front porch and the living room. Members of the Waldegrave Farm land co-op are the main organizers of the event.

Tatamagouche resident Kathryn Anderson says free school plays an important role in community development.

“I find it impressive that younger people are willing to work in a local community and make their contribution and do that quite seriously.”

Anderson enjoyed the wide range of workshops geared for people of all ages as well as evening musical entertainment.

Free schoolers came from around the Maritimes as well as Montreal, Toronto and the U.S. to take part.

Organizers said registrations have doubled from last year and that cooking for 100 in an old farm kitchen proved to be the greatest challenge.

“Food plays a really central role at Free school because it brings people together,” said Lindsay, adding most ingredients are fresh from Waldegrave's organic garden.

Participants were asked to pay meal costs, but besides that, the free school experience is entirely tuition free.

Dru Oja Jay, another organizer, says it’s essential to have a space where people can communicate their knowledge on a given subject.

“When do you actually talk to someone about their research in particle physics or their experience laying pipe?”