Woodstock Elementary/Middle
Every day: Fruit. Monday: Baked potatoes, broccoli. Tuesday: Waffles, sausages, hash browns. Wednesday - Elementary: Chicken nuggets, brown rice, green beans. Wednesday – Middle: General Tsao chicken, snow peas. Thursday: Swedish meatballs, carrots. Friday: Pizza, black beans.
Putnam Elementary/Middle
Monday – Breakfast for lunch: French toast sticks, scrambled eggs, hash browns. Tuesday: Hot dogs or mini corndogs, baked beans, fruit. Wednesday: Spaghetti, meatballs, broccoli, fruit. Thursday: Stuffed-crust pizza, salad, fruit. Friday: No school – professional development.
Putnam High
Monday: Chinese Take-Out or spicy chicken sandwiches. Tuesday: Mozzarella sticks and marinara sauce or bacon cheeseburgers. Wednesday: Nachos Grande or 3-cheese quesadilla. Thursday: Big Daddy pizza or calzone pizza boli. Friday: No school – professional development.
Pomfret Community
Every day: Fresh fruit and veggies and Alt. Sunbutter & Jelly. Monday: chicken patties on rolls. Tuesday: Cheeseburgers. Wednesday: Turkey and cheese sandwiches. Thursday: Tex Mex Rice Bowl. Friday: Pizza.

.
 

I do not believe that I am alone in my desire to maintain an extra quantity of certain household items that I always use such as paper towels, tissues, laundry detergent, toilet paper or garbage bags.  I do this because running out of these types of products seems insurmountable in being able to carry on with typical household functions.  I mean, what if you only bought laundry detergent after you ran out of it? This practice would result in not being able to do another load of laundry until you went to the store to buy more. And then what happens if you spill something on your favorite couch blanket or, worse, on your child’s special blankie?
Since I like to feel that I can do laundry anytime I need to, I adopt the practice of ensuring that I have more laundry detergent on hand before I actually run out of the old one. But this leads to a timing versus quantity issue. What happens if I have family or guests who suddenly decide to visit and I need to wash all of my sheets and towels? How much extra laundry detergent should I stock up on just in case? Two bottles? And if two bottles are good, then the extra third bottle is surely great because it’s on sale and then I won’t have to buy laundry detergent again for several months, or maybe weeks, or at least until it’s on sale again …
Soon, I find myself thinking that my laundry room shelving is too limited and I’m asking my husband for more garage space because it makes me feel better if I have lots of extra laundry detergent, and tissues, and toilet paper, and paper towels and garbage bags, just in case the entire Vienna Boys Choir decides to stay at our house for several weeks! Eventually, this leads to the bigger question of; when it comes to a stockpile, how much is enough?
This past year and current supply chain issues have changed my answer to this question in that when it comes to toilet paper and sanitizing wipes, A LOT extra is enough. However, the retailers selling these products significantly disagree as they will often impose limitations on the quantity that I can purchase.  This only fuels my desire to want to purchase more even though I may have 6 family packs (for the two of us) already at home.  For some reason, this feeling has extended to other products as well like soap, batteries, Band-Aids, and Tums. Recently, I noticed that I am even stockpiling Yankee Candles because they make my house smell nice and they are on sale and I never know when I will need a gift…
In the end, this behavior makes me a bigger consumer of stuff I don’t really need, or at least, not yet. And if I run out of tissues, I could always use toilet paper to blow my nose until I get to the store. Or maybe, I could buy more handkerchiefs so that it’s better for the environment by using things that I can simply wash and use again. Although, how much laundry detergent do I have?
Enough? Enough?  
Kathy Naumann, possessor of NATURALLY curly hair and the understanding that you can’t control everything!

.

caption, page 1:

Beaver pond in Nightingale Forest. Photo courtesy of the Wyndham Land Trust.

captions, page 6, clockwise from top left:

The extensive wetlands form the headwaters of Nightingale Brook

Harry Townshend enjoyed fishing on the family property. Photos courtesy of Wyndham Land Trust.

An active beaver lodge

Beavers imported by Harry Townshend have created extensive wetlands on the property.

Harry and Deb Townshend at their 70th wedding anniversary in 2012. Photo courtesy of Townshend family.


POMFRET CENTER—A remote section of unbroken forest in the Quiet Corner is now protected from development thanks to the acquisition of a large piece of land by the Wyndham Land Trust.
The Wyndham Land Trust recently acquired 364 acres in Pomfret from the Townshend family. The land — the largest single acquisition by the land trust in its 46-year history —includes a large scenic wetland with open water, marshlands, shrub swamp, and forested swamp that form the headwaters of Nightingale Brook. The woodlands that surround the wetlands support important forest-nesting birds such as Canada Warbler and Black-throated Blue Warbler.
The property sits in a remote corner of Pomfret that borders Eastford to the west and Woodstock to the north. The Wyndham Land Trust is actively working to protect this area of extensive woodlands and has christened it the ‘Nightingale Forest.’ Their Nightingale Forest now covers 1,120 acres of protected land, of which almost 800 were donated by or purchased from the Townshend family.
The late Henry “Harry” Townshend, the patriarch of the prominent Townshend family in New Haven, was responsible for creating the core of this valuable habitat. Harry, looking for a place where he could enjoy his passion for hunting and fishing, purchased almost 1,200 acres in Pomfret in the late-1950s.
The Pomfret land soon became a cornerstone of the lives of Harry Townshend and his wife Deb, and their five children spent many happy hours exploring the woods. The family kept horses and rode on the extensive trail system that was created to support dog field trials.
“Dad loved the outdoors which offered him fields, forests, mountains, streams and lakes to satisfy his hobbies of hunting, fishing, and field trials,” said Nancy Townshend Vess. “But I think the biggest reason he liked the outdoors was the solitude it brought him. The properties he bought in Pomfret were all places of solitude.
“We children grew up surrounded by nature,” she added. “Each of us has an appreciation of the natural world as a result of this upbringing. I do believe the Wyndham Land Trust is an organization that will help the Pomfret community balance man against nature. I’m glad we were able to work with the land trust to maintain that balance.”
“I’m happy to give this Pomfret land over to the protection of the Wyndham Land Trust and for the enjoyment of the public,” said Sharon Townshend.
“Nature has been a source of renewal, healing, adventure, and art ideas for me; and I’m glad I can now enjoy this land as a member of the public.”
“I once asked Dad if he believed there was a ‘God,’ said Hervey Townshend. “His answer was ‘no not in the common belief.’ But he said ‘if there was a God, his spirit would live in the woods among the trees, in nature, and in all the animals.’ Nature was Dad’s God. Walking in the forest was entering a spiritual place to be treated with respect. We would often walk together, stopping occasionally to listen to the silence of the woods.”
“This new property contains an excellent network of trails,” said Penny Foisey, land trust treasurer and president of the Pomfret Horse & Trails Association. “The forest here is pristine and open. It reflects the careful planning of Mr. Townshend with many of his original field trial markers still there for the observant to find.”
The land trust plans to mark the trails and parking areas this summer, and information about public access to the property will be available on its web site.
Funding for the acquisition came from the State of Connecticut Open Space and Watershed Land Acquisition grant program, the Bafflin Foundation, the Town of Pomfret, the Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut, the Summerhill Foundation, and from Wyndham Land Trust members and supporters.
The Wyndham Land Trust was formed in 1975, and the work of the all-volunteer group is possible only through the generosity and dedication of its members and donors. To learn more about the Wyndham Land Trust visit wyndhamlandtrust.org. You can also follow them on Facebook and Instagram.



.