Adapting in Place and Memorial Day Weekend

A couple of administrative notes before I head off to a weekend involving friends, arboretum plant sales, weeding the asparagus patch, planting an alphabet garden and trying to decide if we really do need a pet sheep.

First, as some of you may remember I'm running an on-site family workshop at my house in rural upstate New York over Memorial Day weekend. Families are coming with their kids (if any) to spend time learning about goat care, dairying, herbs, gardening, poultry, wild foods, soil building, reducing your energy usage and adapting in place. I've got one spot left for a family staying at my house, and could take one or two more families if they were either camping nearby or staying at a local B and B - I've decided that this project is sufficiently insane that the more the merrier. Class starts Friday afternoon and ends after breakfast on Monday, all meals included family style vegetarian, kosher dairy. Payment is by donation.

I also have one free spot for someone who is willing to donate a couple of hours each day of the weekend helping out with kids activities (parents will be around, you won't be soloing) and maybe doing some dishes. You get free accomodations (couch or air mattress on the floor - this is not the taj mahal ;-)), a chance to hang around and ask questions and check our place out and see everything we do, lessons in all of the above and my gratitude.

Also, Aaron and I will be offering our Adapting-In-Place Class starting Thursday, May 27. This is an ONLINE, ASYNCHRONOUS class - that is, you don't have to be anywhere in particular (although you do need an internet connection, but dial up is fine), and you don't have to be online at any time in particular.

Adapting in Place is the most fascinating, engaging and important class we teach - it takes the whole project of how do you make your life work with a lot less energy, a lot fewer resources and in possibly difficult situations, and helps people begin to develop a strategy. Now with all the money in the world and an army of perfect, like minded volunteers, any of us can do this. But this is about making your life work gracefully, happily and well with less money and less energy - but in the actual place where you really live, and with the actual people you really have in your life.

We cover everything from going into the walls of your house or your apartment to assessing its potential for food production, working on community issues, food security, how to do all those day to day things - cooking, laundry, bathing with less or no power - the whole thing. The goal is both to make people be prepared for more difficult times, but also to establish a way of life worth living now.

The class will go six weeks from May 27 to July 1 - I'll post a syllabus shortly. The cost of the class is $180 or equivalent barter. We also have five free scholarship spots for low income participants who couldn't otherwise take the class - email if you need one with a brief explanation of why. We gratefully accept donations also from anyone who wants to help others take the class - 100% of your donation goes to subsidizing more low income participants.

Email me at jewishfarmer@gmail.com for more info or to register for either program. Just fyi, I'm off for the sabbath and some other things over the weekend, so don't expect a reply until Monday!

Cheers,

Sharon