Today we had another exploration in the practice of mindfulness. Marga Odahowski, Director of Studies at the International Residence College and faculty member at UVA, returned to Morven for Block B to lead a second mindful session with our new group of students. They learned simple breathing exercises and how to do a “full body check” to become more aware of each part of the body. The group also experienced mindful eating with the raisin exercise – slowly tasting and chewing a raisin to appreciate every aspect of a single morsel of nutritious food.

Photo Credit: Jessica Strang

After Marga’s morning session, both classes jumped into work, powering through the day with only a few short breaks. The afternoon segment of the Farmers’ Market class featured guest speaker Stacy Miller, the Executive Director of the Farmers Market Coalition. Stacy has worked on every end of farmers’ markets and provided invaluable insight on the challenges that markets face.

The Food and Nutrition class had a very different agenda. They headed out to the Kitchen Garden to do preliminary research. Each student will study the same set of plants every other day for signs of plant deterioration from pests. The Kitchen Garden uses only organic pesticides and sparingly so – it’ll be interesting to see what the class’s research shows.

Photo Credit: Jessica Strang