hi i'm katherine reed a host of the st paul forum and coming up today on the show we have judy mehlman and james farnsworth of the friends school and the fabulous friends plant sale that's coming up next on the st paul form welcome to the st paul form i'm catherine reid day and joining me today are judy mehlman and james farnsworth from the friends school and we're going to talk today a little bit about both the school and the upcoming wonderful plant sale that they sponsor each year tell us a little bit judy you are a parent at the friends will also you've been involved for a while tell us a little bit about why a friend school is special what makes it special yeah i have two children there was a third grader and now a seventh grader and we've been there since both of them were in kindergarten and the french school is it's run by it's a quaker school and it is a small independent school and it's the style in which it teaches is progressive education which is really a child i came from a sewer montessori and was kind of looking for a place like friends school with the smaller class sizes more tighter community more opportunities than you would have in a big high school with a lot of i mean with a big middle school or public school with a lot of people  of twenty or so maybe that's about right you know when i was there my graduating class was twenty kids yeah and tell us a little bit about what it means to be that kind of the atmosphere the environment the learning environment what is it that  liked about that special learning how would you describe it i probably would describe that the commute community was probably the most important thing at friends school with their progressive education since it has quaker values schools around quaker values it follows spice which is an acronym for simplicity peace integrity community and equality that was a big hampel you went so fast that you know i stand by for which was simplicity peace integrity community inequality in those are kind of the core values that friends school is ran on and they're educational values and i think everybody mostly would agree that the community is really what makes friends schools stand out makes it a really wonderful place an experience an opportunity and as a parent how did you make the decision that you wanted to join this well actually what happened was we went to an information ite way back when we were looking at schools and one of the things that friends school does is it has the graduating eighth graders the middle schoolers actually facilitate the parents information night and so they answer questions and they lead tours and i was just so captivated by how poised and competent these eighth grade kids were that i felt that that was something they must be doing something right and as it turns out there's really there really is just and i think what james said is true that the community aspect there is really a connection between all of the different students and different grades within the school as well as between the students and the teachers and all the parents are are pretty well involved and so it just creates an environment for  a kind of really involved growth that that i think leads to a really complete person you know it's not just about the three r s or anything it's really a holistic approach and so we're going to be talking specifically about one very special activity which is that the plant sale which we're all excited about because it's we're thinking about spring and summer but so when you think about this curriculum and the way the students are involved it sounds like we could it could find you just in the school that that there's there's involvement community involvement in am i making that up i was like is your activity that's community related primarily within the school or do you in other cases beside the sale get involved directly in the community and i'd say that there is one of the special things that friends goes up they have those hands on opportunity so it's not just staying in the school building staying in one classroom  actually going out and applying what you're learning to your life and actually next to friends school or friends schools located in the family midway neighborhood there's a sky rise that there's a high rise that is primarily with elderly adults and we've actually there's a partnership between the school and the people in the high rise so we've been over there we've done our ports on them you know we do things for the seniors in the high rise and we actually you know we have this community garden project that may be in the works at one point so there's a lot of things like that and we also have had this partnership with centro which is a spanish community center i'm sure congo and make street in we our previous spanish teacher had a really good they had your speaking spanish there and so we went over there is part of the spanish class and we'd have a trip in the spring every time in they have a food shelf there they have a clothing shelf there and primarily you went to work with  toddlers in the preschool in that was really cool we i think we actually had a visit in the fall in the spring so we'd see them in the fall and then come back in the spring and they'd recognize us we kind of be matched up with somebody with a kid from the preschool so that was a really cool experience so and so when you look at it from a outcomes perspective how does the school rate in terms of your success factors that a lot of people look at it's academic achievement yeah college evidenced by deans here it's pretty good in general at yeah the school does really well you know whatever measures go into like for example when it's a  so it at eighth grade they need to figure out what students need to decide where they're going to go to high school and in general there's you know a high level of pretty much acceptance anywhere and then i don't know you could probably speak better to how it how you felt your education prepared you for for fitting in but i think in general the academics are really strong and it seems like so you're feeling like you're fitting in pretty well with your able to excel and your current setting you know absolutely i mean having recently gone through or now that recently little having gone through the high school selection process after leaving from school and people go in a huge variety of places they go to public schools private schools charter get coming from another school and then going to highland it's great well let's turn our attention to this sale because it's the time of year when some of us know a many people know about their friends plant sale which is all volunteer lead and has been happening for twenty five years well actually this is the twenty fourth twenty fourth ok started the second year the school was in existence and i was started by a single parent henry fell to his still involved with the sale and is intimately involved and he's kind of a leader but he started it just with a single sheet of paper was the list of plants that he was selling he was want to do a fundraiser for the school that was kind of kind of  a positive spin on things and also generated some got got the students involved it was kind of a win win kind of a kind of a vision that he had and he sort of singlehandedly took it on and started it and it's grown over the years into just this enormous effort that has we have over a thousand volunteers now putting on sale at the state fair grandstand every year and it didn't used to be so those of us who gone over a number of years it was at the school for many many years exactly that transition to the new location doesn't mean i think it was two thousand and six so it's been quite a while or maybe two thousand it's been it's been a few years yeah it we've really basically  outgrew the it was in the i was in the yard at the school and henry was actually pitching a tent and sleeping outside to protect the plants from getting stolen and and i think it just got to the point where he needed more space and just jump to this gary took a leap of faith and jumped to this huge space and it's grown since then even to fill the entire grandstand and beyond oh my gosh that's huge so you're holding a catalog this is something you can find that either mailed to you or it was also something you can pick up in the lots of different public settings right yet you should be available on newsstands throughout town there is also it's also honored in full it can be found on the web site plants dot com and at actually what's nice about the website is you can find not only the contents of the catalog but there's also it's kind of there's a list on there where you can do your you can plan your shopping and it shows in this actually in here we have a handy dandy chart about how to do the sale the sale it's kind of fun it's bring your own wagon and then you're right why don't your great idea purchases so anyway the web site has a lot of additional information beyond what the catalog has that and i know a lot of people who are whether serious gardeners or not like to get the catalog early as soon as it first comes out and to talk about early in the sense that it's so comprehensive and the sale is so large so we'll try to they're going to see some footage and they're going to see the space itself it is such a large sale and it is always seemed like a large sale to me th of since the sale is such a huge operation you're just kind of help with whatever is needed and then as i stepped into this student as i said in the student role for the last two years with the plant c e o planning committee that meets year round so i hope that the info  people who are wearing a certain you're wearing a t shirt or a vest or something that's something i remember is that you can find the students i remember the students and also helping people carry things to their cars i remember that is a very significant feature because you get there and you're go overdo it i hope that you don't go crazy and buy too much it's hard not to but is that i mean them i remember right that that's something that they're wearing yeah all the students and actually all the volunteers at the wholesale have thaiday t shirts oh i mean in student here's one of the things i'm just really curious about i know that this initial volunteer was probably a master gardener and he knew or maybe wasn't but he knew a lot about the plants do u s students need to learn something about the you know what what's that there this whole process yes but no i mean when we're taking the plants off the shelves and looking through the catalog and since the plant sells based on the numbering system you know the roads and specific spots for the plants are numbered you know it's more about you know it's not just reporting that ran into it looks like a grab you know piece of grass in the gardens what it is you know how it's native to minnesota you know and since we did rain garden and seen us having information and so we do learn a fair amount  plant sale that's coming up in may so yes you're going to add something so i'm excited to know that he was learning something about the plans yes that is a lifelong skill if you know something if you can grow your own food it's quite a skill in that but if you're also familiar with what's around you so do you see that i was going to i was going to make the comment that there's the sale is really comprehensive and it really applies to everybody for everybody from like just the complete novice gardener to someone who's a master gardener and been working with plants their whole lives and so there's i think there's something like twenty four hundred varieties of plants that are sold there and there are we there are master gardeners on on call you know you can sit down you can ask get your questions answered and  there's also what we call a garden fair that's kind of out and joining area and there's a number of featured workshops and things going on and it's a three day sales not just a one day event it's so i think most people say you've got to wait till you know at least that midpoint of may to get everything in so it's a nice nice a time you know we've talked a little bit about the fact that it requires some planning you know what are some tips that we the first couple years that we were at the grandstand it was a little chaotic and we were still kind of getting our feet under us about how to manage that kind of a space and so anybody who was staying away because they think that the lines are too long should know that we've got that under then you can go off and you can shop in the garden fair and they will call your wrist band number over p a system you don't need to stand there in line and then when you come back in your response numbers call people are being let in on like a hundred at a time so it keeps the  of the sale from getting too crazy and so you you know if you if you're proud of her you know it's not too crazy in there and then they kind of it sort of regulates the path of people going through and then in addition to that i know that there's been some issues with checkout lines in the past and that we've kind of managed we've got a system down with that as well and so it's in person or do you have to buy a ticket to get in you know it is a free admission that's ok and then the other thing i'm going to say about that too is if you if you are wanting to come in a more quiet time and not fight the crowds and you're not needing to be the first to get in that the afternoon times tends to be a little quieter and you can kind of generally walk right in without a problem and then mother's day itself is more if he but that's kind of part of the fun of it and it yes it's everything is a third off of me which isn't right but is there anything else you any special activities for mother's day or is it just directly the end of the sale plant i am go by what i know one of the things that i was going to say is we can for if you're looking for a mother's day gift there are gifts the plant gift certificate vailable which you can either get from the school or you can go to the website and print those out so i guess that's a special mother's day thing you know my special mother's day things that i get to be at the plants and you work really hard you know one of we're talking about the sale itself but there is a purpose behind the sale and i wonder if you want to talk a little bit about that too that you're specifically raising some funds for some very specific reasons is that right you know so all proceeds of the sale go to the friends school minnesota scholarship fund and benefits i don't know the exact percentage of home and students the scholarship fund  i think well the number that the numbers i remember are that it raises over two hundred thousand dollars a year for the scholarship fund it's the equivalent of having and dominant of five million dollars you have a number that i hear on money and that so you pens on your financial need presumably is that yeah yeah and it also depends on what grade ok the child is and so you'd suggest that they look at the website if you wanted to learn more about what it means to go in there as well as and they can also contact  school if they want more information about so but two hundred thousand dollars is significant it's a it's a lot of money as you say it is worth a five million dollars and elements so that is a remarkable effort and it sounds like you feel like it is really teaching a lot of people a academy and that's high school charter how you want to go fights i don't know if that was spire of the plant so exactly but i don't know i know it also gives rise to some some interesting science fair projects now which can be planted environment related also it's just in addition to the plant aspect of it it's just a really amazing communitarian sort of event it's really it's all volunteer run there's over a thousand volunteers who participate and by the way if anybody listening to this would like to volunteer in just about to ask you that yes you can find up on our website are there some special benefits for volunteering actually yes actually are we have on thursday nights before the sale which officially opens on friday there's the volunteer presale so until you get a little golden yellow golden postcard which gives you an admittance into the presale and that's a really cool opportunity that a lot of people like is having have some regulars anyone who isn't your regular volunteers anyone that i'm guessing there are some wide range of ages to absolutely i would say everything else really because you have the school i mean we have yeah kids kids from kindergarten in first grade all the way up to well we have plenty of a number of seniors and grandparents who are also involved and they don't have to be affiliated with the school you know people from all over the community are involved with the sale you know and i know that the school puts on a long night shift that happens i believe in saturday may be limited to tighten around the sale so i fair amount of a lot of nice come back and continue to be involved in the sale mean even a lot of seniors in high school still make a point to come back because they love the plants  so much and love being able to work their volunteer there when they were middle school at friends school and i think that's really cool that all the alumni come back every year and i just wanted to circle back to your question too about you asked if there is any good specific volunteer stories and to me the most compelling volunteer stories are the sort of core group of people who do the planning and sort of work year round basically they give all of their time  and they work from not just for the week of the sale but for the entire whole year planning and buying plants and setting things up and thinking things through and just there's a  there's a few people who've been doing it almost since the beginning of the fail and they're quite amazing i appreciate that you bring that up because so many people do just we focus on the time itself and these things all take so much more time than people realize  it sounds it's pretty rare that something like this especially a specific kind of fundraiser has lasted this long it doesn't sound like it's at risk to end i mean you've been able to sustain this core group there are still enough life and  vibrancy to keep it going well we sure hope i think what where we're at right now is we're working on sustainability and really kind of getting it into a place where it's not dependent on any single individual to pull it off and that we can really keep it to even maybe to support the the event itself what we do invite people to round up on their purchases if they'd like and everything every dollar that goes that comes in through the plant sale goes directly to the schools so anything over and above our costs can and can go directly to that and it is tax deductible and of course yes if anybody would like to make an additional contribution to the school that is welcome at any time and so one of things they want to do is definitely look in the co ops and grocery stores here and at libraries any place where they can find this because it is a lot of information in there i was going to just comment on how i mentioned that the original plan to help catalog was a single sheet of paper and this is now sixty pages of my you know pretty small that obama told us a huge do the students get to participate in the catalog development or is that all adults have and you know i think there's a core group of people that i think it's mostly an article in there kind of talking about how much the plants i mean so the students in the school and really offering that perspective that's great and so i take it that both we want everyone to come to the plant sale but you're also saying that the friends school experience is something you're hoping people will consider looking at as their school there's a deadline probably coming up soon to apply and something that maybe they might we'll find on the website where you find admissions are on the way  there's a lot of information about admissions and the process for tuition aid and all that stuff i know they have they have way pools like on your rounds for the various different classes and grade levels and whatnot well thank you both so very much that's all we have time for come back and see