Green Revolution

 Borsodi and friends named choose the term "Green Revolution" as a tagline for the his School of Living program.  The term originated with leading Catholic agrarian Peter Maurin who was involved in the beginning of the School of Living.

The early chapters of the story of the School of Living are found in other pages at this site.  On this page will will continue and complete the story of the School of Living Green Revolution to the end of Borsodi's close associate's life, Mildred Loomis.

Ralph Borsodi took his family out of the city to a homestead in 1920.  He continued his job in the city.  He wrote three books critical of the time.  In 1929 came the Great Depression.  This chapter is intended to give the reader a sense of those tumultuous times.  And it takes the story into the Great Depression to the time of the founding of his School of Living.  Link

Ralph Borsodi and the New Agrarian Culture.  There is a context to Borsodi's story.  This chapter tells it and provides continuity into further development of his work.  Link

Dayton.  This series starts with Borsodi's experience advising the development of homesteading communities at Dayton, Ohio during the Great Depression.  Link

Bayard lane.  Following Borsodi's Dayton experiment and the founding of his School of Living, he developed an innovative private land trust model.  He established two homesteads and this is that story.  Link

Community Land Trust.  Some three decades after establishing his first land trust community, Borsodi, working closely with friends in India, developed two organizations to promote land trusts.  Associated with Bob Swann this model became highly influential to the current day.  Link

In 1972, Borsodi began his final project, something he had advocated for many years, an inflation-proof currency.  He called it the Constant.  It was an ambitious experiment and has merit for those today who think an alternative currency is need.  Link.

As a fitting closure to The Green Revolution volume, I have written a chapter that focuses on the last five years of Borsodi's life, more or less retired.  It is written as a memorial.  It includes a lot of material that give insight into his personality and style, list his accomplishments, books and provides a detailed chronology.  Link.

Mildred Loomis

Mildred Loomis was in essence the co-founder of the School of Living.  She met Borsodi in 1932, likely was the connection that got him to Dayton andworked with him at the original School of Living.  The School of Living headquarters was moved to her homestead in 1945.  From that time she served as "Director of Education" and was de facto head of the School of Living for 40 years.  There are five chapters to her story.  The first is her early life and the first phase of her engagement with the School of Living until 1954.  Link.

Turning Point:  In 1954 the School of Living reached a crisis.  After an extended dialog between Mildred, the Board and members, a decision was made to move forward.  This involved reincorporating the School of Living in Ohio.  Over the next nine years, Mildred and friends worked diligently to develop a solid program for the School.  This chapter covers those years.  Link

In 1963, Mildred began the third phase, a six year span, of her leadership of the School of Living.  That year she started a new newsletter format, the iconic Green Revolution.  She also launched a program to find a new School of Living national headquarters community and brought it to fruition.  And, she worked diligently to firmly ground the School of Living philosophy.  This period ended with her closing the Lane's End homestead and moving to the new center at Heathcote, Maryland.  Link

In late 1968 Mildred arrived at The New School of Living at Heathcote.  She would stay there but three years.  The dynamics of those years were challenging to say the least.  Nonetheless, it was an important stage in the evolution of the School of Living.  Link.

With the new School of Living at Heathcote, came the Counterculture.  There was a collision of cultures, one traditional if iconoclastic, the other youthful rebellion.  This encounter shaped Mildred's final years and defines the course of the School of Living after her death.  But, there was more to the Counterculture than a youth movement.  We need to understand it but I believe it is also essential to understand another undercurrent of change at the time.  Link

In 1972 Mildred began the final phase of her long and productive life after leaving Heathcote.  She finally settled at Deep Run Farm near York, Pennsylvania, taking the School of Living with her.  Deep Run was the fifth School of Living center.  Borsodi died in 1977.  Mildred continued to work to preserve their joint legacy until near the end of her life in 1986.  With her death, however, we conclude this story.  Link.


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