Community Events Calendar

If you want to know more about life in community or have ever considered becoming a resident of EcoVillage at Ithaca, then this workshop is for you! Enjoy a balance of nature connection, personal renewal and hands-on learning, while being immersed in an environment with green building and renewable energy systems, consensus decision-making and deep ecology. Enjoy and create delicious meals from local foods, swim in our pond, hike the land. Come experience a more richly connected way of life in our internationally acclaimed ecovillage in Ithaca, New York.

Potluck Dinner at King Summit This gathering is a follow up for the event we hosted on July 26: “Creating and Maintaining Intentional Community”. Anna Mae and Jeff are happy to reconnect with everyone who was here on the 26th and welcome anyone else who would like to take part in this exhilarating exploration of Intentional Community. Please bring a dish and a drink to share. Beer or wine is fine. Include your swimsuit and a towel and have a refreshing splash in the solar heated indoor swimming pool. You can participate right away by joining our online King Summit Community. Go to http://kingsummit.ning.com/ and click on the “Sign Up” button.

Bring your friends and family to the Ohio Green Living Fayre on Labor Day for a day of fun and learning – with an eye on green living – just like your grandparents used to do. Learn good old-fashioned tried and true sustainable skills such as canning, maple syruping, weaving, making your own cheese… and so much more. Or experience the future of renewable energy… from solar to wind power to bio-diesel. We will also demonstrate sustainable building techniques, building our very own timber-framed straw-bale composting toilet... and you can join in the earth plastering, learning this amazing technique and getting a chance to play in the mud - and you thought this type of fun was only for kids. And what old-fashioned green living Fayre would be complete without buggy rides, games, fishing, hiking, vendors, workshops, nature walks, food and music? All this and more at the Ohio Green Living Fayre!

If you long to steer your own course and be the CEO of your own eco-friendly business, our Green Business Development Degree program—offering Masters Degrees and Postgraduate Diplomas—can provide you with the resources, practical tools and inspiration to help you accomplish this dream. The program begins this fall with an intensive 5-day workshop September 4-8 led by investment expert Catherine Austin Fitts and permaculture designer and biofuels expert David Blume.

Ecovillages Where They Are, What They're Doing, Why They're Important Featuring Diana Leafe Christian (Author of Creating a Life Together and Finding Community) Guest Speaker Yogamaya (From the Himalayan Institute) and Special Guest Musician Kristin Luna Ray (Local Singer Songwriter and Recording Artist) Thursday, September 4th Jubilee! 46 Wall St, Asheville, NC 28801 7pm Suggested Donation of $10 This special evening of “community” will be focused on exploring a concept that feels so important in these changing times on the planet, Ecovillages. Diana Leafe Christian will be giving an exciting presentation and lead a discussion that will cover various aspects regarding Ecovillages and will give us an opportunity to discuss together the future of Ecovillages in our community of Asheville and in our lives. In addition, spiritual teacher, and founder of the Himalayn Institute, Yogamaya, and local singer-song writer Kristin Luna Ray.

Attend our 3-day Green Business Development Course and receive all the guidance, resources, and tools you’ll need to launch your own green business. Guided by two of the leading green entrepreneurs of our day— investment expert Catherine Austin Fitts and permaculture designer and biofuels guru David Blume, you’ll get the big-picture overview of current market trends, strategies for designing your business according to ecological principles, and tips on managing a land-based business. Cost: The 3-day course is $300 or $375 with lodging and meals. Early registration discount if you register by August 7.

Join Jeff, Denis and Anna Mae for a weekend of healthy out-door work (mostly gathering wood for the masonry heater) on Denis’ stunning 100 acres property in Dornoch, Ontario. Rolling hills, wood and wetland, a pond... Lovely for hiking! We have floor space (bring your own bedding!) in the off the grid house (under construction) and plenty of space for camping. This will be a community building opportunity, a chance to work and socialize with like-minded people and a glimpse of what community life can be. Please bring instruments for a bonfire jam-session and food to last for the weekend. We do have running water (cold!) and a BBQ to prepare food on.

Bruce Davidson and Linda Reimer, cofounders of the Sirius Community Ecovillage, offer a day-long workshop for improving one's conflict resolution and communications skills, based on cultivating right relationship to self and others. «» Bruce and Linda have over thirty years of experience -living- these skills in community, and teaching them to groups: a must-attend for those who wish to live more lightly with those around them. «» The workshop is offered at Jacalyn Bennett's Woodland Retreat in West Newbury, MA, from 10AM to 4PM, and includes admission to Charley Thweat's "Heart Opening Concert", performed on the workshop premises. «» Cost is $75 before September 1st, or $90 after. Sponsored by the Odonata Ecovillage.

Charley Thweat is an inspired (and inspiring) singer-songwriter from Santa Cruz, CA. Charley has traveled throughout the U.S. and abroad with his spiritually healing and uplifting music, sharing his sound at workshops with many leaders of the Human Potential Movement, such as Alan Cohen, Hugh Prather, Ram Dass, Jean Houston and Deepak Chopra. «» Come join the Odonata Ecovillage community to listen, connect and sing our hearts open. «» Tickets are $15 in advance, $18 at the door, and free to participants in the Conscious Communications workshop (happening the same day - see separate listing). «» The concert will be offered at Jacalyn Bennett's Woodland Retreat, West Newbury, MA.

Permaculture Design Course at The Blue Raven Permaculture Homestead, Salt Spring Island, BC Sept 8-28, 2008 Three week intensive Permaculture Design Certification Course Create a sustainable human environment for yourself and the planet Instructors: Brandon & Patti Bauer ~ The Blue Raven Permaculture Farm, Doug, Sam & Yuriko Bullock ~ Bullock’s Permaculture Homestead, Michael Ableman ~ Foxglove Farm, Dan Jason ~ Salt Spring Seeds, Michael Nickels ~Seven Ravens Permaculture Farm, Jan Steinman ~ EcoReality Co-op, Adam Gold ~ SS Exotic Mushrooms The Permaculture design course will include 145 hours of lecture/discussion and hands-on experiential learning in permaculture. We will explore and demonstrate different styles and methods of organic agriculture, eco-forestry, sustainable energy systems, and self-sustaining systems in land stewardship and urban living. The course will delve deeply into; Permaculture principles & techniques Soils, Water Climate Pattern observation Herbology

During this 18 day course, we will experience the whole process of transforming inhabited wild landscape into an anthropocentric ecology in the midst of conserved Oregon Coastal Rainforest. Topics include water supply and storage, drainage, trails and access, food forest design, soil building, multi-story horticulture, ponds, swales and aquaculture, solar and hydro power, ethnobotany, natural building, forest complexity restoration and commercial ecoforestry. Join us with Tom Ward as we continue to design and implement the rest of our 11 year old, 3.5 acre homestead. Tom has guided the evolution of the design since 1999. The 400 acre site is home to both Mountain Homestead Intentional Community and Cob Cottage Co., who began their Natural Building School here in 2001. Costs: $500-800, sliding scale (plus your exertion!) Organic vegetarian/vegan meals and camping w/showers provided. Graduates are welcome to stay after the course on a work trade basis to continue projects.

If you’d like to focus a year or two gaining knowledge, skills, and valuable experience in the area of relocalization, engage in our Relocalization Pathway—and gain an MS Degree or Postgraduate Diploma in the process. When you enroll you will be provided with the support and learning framework to effectively launch a relocalization project in the community where you live or work—thus strengthening the health and self-sufficiency of your community into the post-carbon future. Early enrollment discount if enrolled by July 10, 2008.

We invite female world-changers from across the globe to enroll in Gaia South East’s Women’s Actionist Training Degree program—and acquire a Masters Degree or Postgraduate Diploma. Our Degree program begins this fall with a 7-day Gaia University Orientation September 10-16 followed by 5-day Women’s Actionist Training Workshop September 18-22 featuring visionary author and activist Starhawk, and the “mother of midwifery” Ina Mae Gaskin. Following the workshop, students will have a day to meet with their specialist Advisor and begin planning their year of study.

This event at Lothlorien Nature Sanctuary is one of our two major annual fund-raisers (the other is ELF-Fest in May). Proceeds benefit Lothlorien Nature Sanctuary and Elvin HOME, Inc. This event includes primitive camping, community fire pits w/firewood provided, fellowship, showers, musical and theatrical performances, kids' activities, seasonal rites and ceremonies, workshops and discussion circles, drumming and dancing, etc. There will be vendors selling their wares and food available from our Cauldron Cafe. All are welcome. Camping/vending sites are on a first come, first served basis. There is very limited space for small RVs. Parking is along Rinsa Road (our north road inside Lothlorien). *Gate hours: 8:00 AM-11:00 PM. (We'll be closed for admission on Sunday.) Please visit us on-line for complete details, updates and for maps to get here.

Led by Laird Schaub and Ma'ikwe Schaub-Ludwig, the program consists of eight three-day weekends spread out over two years. Each weekend session will be held in the context of live facilitation held by host communities in the Mid-Atlantic/Southeastern region (MD, VA, WV, NC, SC, GA, Eastern TN/KY). Integrative Facilitation is an approach to group dynamics built on a solid understanding of human development, sensitivity to undercurrents in the room, playfulness and appreciation. The program begins the weekend of September 18-21, 2008 and ends the weekend of June 3-6, 2010. Program is open to individual participants and host communities or cooperative organizations.

Desire guides us all our life—from erotic attraction, to the work we love, even our spiritual yearning. So powerful and personal is this force of desire that mystical poets, myths from around the world, and Jungian psychology have depicted it in human form: as the archetypal Beloved, guide to the soul. One of the most powerful and passionate ways we awaken the inner Beloved is by falling in love. For this special retreat, we invite couples who have a strong and loving relationship to explore the soul’s Beloved in your partner and in your own heart.

Come into your own as a powerful female force for change by attending our Women’s Actionist Training for Earth Regeneration (WATER). Over the coures of the event Starhawk, one of the most respected voices in modern earth-based spirituality, will share her various visionary and pragmatic tools to help participants increase personal power, presence, and effectiveness as world-changers in service to Gaia. The event includes an earth healing ceremony in celebration of the Autumnal Equinox. We’ll gather at the Gray Bear Lodge, nestled within 150 acres of rolling hills with abundant forests, natural springs, and a gorgeous waterfall. Cost: Sliding Scale $450-$575 includes comfortable lodging, full use of facilities and gourmet vegetarian meals. Some work trade available. For further details check out graybear.org or contact info@holisticecology.org

Upcoming Events Event: Fall Euinox Celebration Date: September 20th, 2008 This is an open to the public event, with canoing and kayaking, potluck dinner, potluck music, and love and joy. If you intend to come, please give us a call. Even if you are just a mile away, it helps. Hope to see you then.

Immerse yourself in ecovillage living while learning about sustainable agriculture, natural building, agro-forestry, creek restoration, bee keeping, mushroom cultivation, appropriate technology, non-violent communication, ecovillage design and implementation, earth-based crafts, and much more! Instructors: Rick Valley, Jude Hobbs, Marc Tobin, and many exciting guests. Students may be able to arrange to receive college credit at their home institutions. See our website for details.

Fun-filled weekend of exceptional hands-on learning, unparalleled three day instruction in straw, cob, wood, wattle and daub, fidobe, earthbags, earthships, traditional Mexican styles, bamboo, slipclay, domes and arches, earthen floors, earth plasters and alis, passive solar, foundations and drainage, living roofs and thatch. Participants will learn energy and resource conservation and the economics of home construction. Instructors: Architect and builders Howard Switzer, Katey Culver, Cliff Davis, Albert Bates, Greg Landau, Wade Austin, and guests.

Got Problem Kids? Here's your Problem Student Problem-Solver Conference. You name the problems and this workshop delivers hundreds of immediate, problem-stopping answers. You will leave with innovative, more effective strategies for school failure, truancy, dropping out, work refusal, violence, delinquency, bad attitudes, depression and more. College credit and clock hours are available. Free sample interventions, and free monthly Problem Student Problem-Solver magazine available at our web site, youthchg.com, or via email (dwells@youthchg.com), or call toll-free to 1-800-545-5736. Work-study financial aid is available for all classes. Call for details. Coming to many cities around the US. Also available on videotape and DVD. Call 1-800-545-5736 for information and a workshop flyer. College credit and clock hours for many disciplines offered for both live and recorded classes. On-site workshops can also be scheduled for your school, agency or conference. This class also makes a

Got Problem Kids? Here's your Problem Student Problem-Solver Conference. You name the problems and this workshop delivers hundreds of immediate, problem-stopping answers. You will leave with innovative, more effective strategies for school failure, truancy, dropping out, work refusal, violence, delinquency, bad attitudes, depression and more. College credit and clock hours available. Free sample interventions, and free monthly Problem Student Problem-Solver magazine available at our web site, youthchg.com, or via email (dwells@youthchg.com), or call toll-free to 1-800-545-5736. Work-study financial aid available for all classes. Call for details. Coming to many cities around the US. Also available on videotape and DVD. Call 1-800-545-5736 for information and a workshop flyer. College credit and clock hours for many disciplines offered for both live and recorded classes. On-site workshops can also be scheduled for your school, agency or conference. This class also makes a terrific

Grow your own fuels, become food self-sufficient, heat and light your home with solar, and convert your car or truck to run on alcohol or biodiesel. This three day course will get you started towards personal oil independence. $225, or $400 for couples, meals and lodging included.

OAEC is pleased to host this weekend workshop organized by Democracy Unlimited , an organization based in Humboldt County, CA, dedicated to building democracy and challenging corporate rule at the local level. This retreat will offer tangible strategies for participants to effectively organize in their own communities to reclaim the constitutional promise of a sovereign citizenry. Presentations and discussion will focus on the history of people’s struggles for democratic self-governance in the U.S., and analysis of how corporations, courts and legislators have manipulated law and culture to empower corporations with the constitutional rights intended for natural persons. We will focus on legal and educational strategies to more successfully organize for local democracy in our communities.

If you want to know more about life in community or have ever considered becoming a resident of EcoVillage at Ithaca, then this workshop is for you! Enjoy a balance of nature connection, personal renewal and hands-on learning, while being immersed in an environment with green building and renewable energy systems, consensus decision-making and deep ecology. Enjoy and create delicious meals from local foods, swim in our pond, hike the land. Come experience a more richly connected way of life in our internationally acclaimed ecovillage in Ithaca, New York.

This event is a fund-raiser for Lothlorien Nature Sanctuary and Elvin HOME, Inc. This community Samhain event includes primitive camping, showers, community fire pits w/firewood provided, seasonal rites and ceremonies, fellowship, kids' activities, drumming and dancing, etc. *Gate hours: 8:00 AM-9:00 PM. (Sunday gate hours are 10:00 AM-5:00 PM.) Parking is along Rinsa Road (our north road inside Lothlorien). Visit us on-line for complete details, updates and maps to get here.

The practice of shamanic journeying is an ancient method of accessing spiritual wisdom by developing a means of communication with helping spirits and animal allies. These tools can be used for personal growth as well as healing of the self and others. We will explore How to integrate shamanism in everyday life and empower ourselves to live a life of Spirit. If you are curious about shamanism and would like to have an opportunity to learn this ancient meditative practice, join us for a wonderful weekend of journeying and exploration!

Meeting of interested singles and couples seeking to form Colorado EcoVillage. This will be the first community dedicated to joining entrepreneurs who own and operate virtual assistant businesses together for support, sharing and growth.

Date: Sunday, October 26th, 2008 Time: Event runs from 4pm-6pm. Location: The Freeschool Community Building, 610 Columbia Street, Olympia, WA 98501 This event is completely free of charge. If you are interested in building and living in ecovillages, housing co-ops, landtrusts, affordable student housing, tent cities, educational housing, hostels or any type of shared housing group, please join us at this event! We will have a free table area for people to place their flyers. If you are in an ecovillage or community group (formed, forming or reforming) and would like to make a 10 minute presentation please contact us. Contact us through the email list on our website and sign up on the email list to find out more information about events which are happening before then. It is a Finger-food (snack food) Potluck style meeting. Open to all. As we are an ecovillage group, please bring your own cups, silverware and plates to cut down on disposable plates/utensils.

Skyrocketing oil prices, mounting geopolitical tensions, grave economic realities, and dangerous climate changes are threatening our lives and communities like never before. By acting now to reduce household energy use and re-localize economic production, we can create resilient, sustainable communities that will be able to weather the coming economic and ecological storms. At this groundbreaking conference participants will explore sound strategies for curtailing energy use in the areas of housing and food – including both theory and practice. We’ll examine the long energy decline of the 21st century, the psychological barriers to rapid change, and the challenge of persuading our communities to embrace local, low-energy living. Presentations by John Michael Greer, Dmitry Orlov, Richard Heinberg, Robert Waldrop, Katrin Klingenberg, Peter Bane, Pat Murphy, and Megan Quinn Bachman.

How to grow shiitake mushrooms for food and profit. Half-day course begins with brunch: 10 am to 3 pm with Frank Michael, Cliff Davis, Albert Bates and Will Bates. $50.

Learn how to install your own solar panels and achieve energy independence for your community with this course from Ed Eaton of Our Sun Solar. Past participants have gone on to install solar panels on their homes and start their own solar installation business. Topics covered include Solar Energy Perspective and PV, Applications, Designing for Efficiency, Solar Site Analysis, Basics of Electricity, Series and Parallel Connections, Mounting Techniques and Hardware, The PV Effect, Types of Modules, Module Specifications, Temperature, Insolation, Dissimilar Modules, Batteries, Controllers, Inverters, Measuring Voltage and Amperage, The National Electrical Code, Wire and Wiring and Wire Sizing, PV System Sizing, PV Water Pumping, plus there will also be hands-on sessions, several review quizzes, and a question/answer period.

We have all seen those pesky 2-liter plastic bottles littering the countryside. If you are like us, you have imagined that there must be something useful we could do with that bit of rubbish. Well, there is... Come spend the day with us learning how to build your own greenhouse using discarded pop bottles. This simple, attractive little structure actually works quite well... Allowing you to get a head start on your spring planting or keeping your plants green year-round. The Workshop Agenda includes: * Orientation/ quick tour of Blue Rock Station. * Framing the greenhouse. * Cutting the bottles. * Placing and fitting the pop-bottle walls. * Putting it all together. * Foundation options for your greenhouse. This pop bottle greenhouse concept was tested and developed at the Sustainable Communities Initiative in Scotland.

Got Problem Kids? Here's your Problem Student Problem-Solver Conference. You name the problems and this workshop delivers hundreds of immediate, problem-stopping answers. You will leave with innovative, more effective strategies for school failure, truancy, dropping out, work refusal, violence, delinquency, bad attitudes, depression and more. College credit and clock hours available. Free sample interventions, and free monthly Problem Student Problem-Solver magazine available at our web site, youthchg.com, or via email (dwells@youthchg.com), or call toll-free to 1-800-545-5736. Work-study financial aid available for all classes. Call for details. Coming to many cities around the US. Also available on videotape and DVD. Call 1-800-545-5736 for information and a workshop flyer. College credit and clock hours for many disciplines offered for both live and recorded classes. On-site workshops can also be scheduled for your school, agency or conference. This class also makes a terrific

Reconciling the need to meet basic human needs with concern for the sustainability and regeneration of the natural world is the essence of permacultural design. This course will expose you to the basic principles and applications of permaculture with a variety of lectures, discussions and hands-on activities in OAEC’s 80-acre garden, community and wilderness. Topics will range from water catchment to erosion control, organic and polycultural food production, natural building, site design, and more.

Do you dream of establishing a land-based intentional community or education center? This course is designed to help you actualize that dream. Presentations and detailed hand-outs will cover topics such as visioning; how to find land and finance a purchase; the various legal forms available for holding land (limited liability company, corporation, land trust, etc.); organizing as a for-profit or a nonprofit; group decision-making process (meetings, agreements, facilitation, agenda management, conflict resolution); financial organization of your community; legal and insurance issues and costs; dealing with zoning and regulations; and long-term planning. We will also tour OAEC’s community and educational center, including our gardens, permaculture projects, natural buildings, and the community’s kitchen and food system.

Got Problem Kids? Here's your Problem Student Problem-Solver Conference. You name the problems and this workshop delivers hundreds of immediate, problem-stopping answers. You will leave with innovative, more effective strategies for school failure, truancy, dropping out, work refusal, violence, delinquency, bad attitudes, depression and more. College credit and clock hours available. Free sample interventions, and free monthly Problem Student Problem-Solver magazine available at our web site, youthchg.com, or via email (dwells@youthchg.com), or call toll-free to 1-800-545-5736. Work-study financial aid available for all classes. Call for details. Coming to many cities around the US. Also available on videotape and DVD. Call 1-800-545-5736 for information and a workshop flyer. College credit and clock hours for many disciplines offered for both live and recorded classes. On-site workshops can also be scheduled for your school, agency or conference. This class also makes a terrific

This four-day intensive residential training is designed to promote and support the creation of North Coast community-based watershed groups. This training is specifically designed for teams of three to four residents, with each team representing a local watershed. You will learn about watershed processes, salmonid ecology, water quality monitoring, in-stream restoration, biotechnical engineering, uplands erosion control, road restoration, native habitat restoration, sustainable forestry, community group process, and funding opportunities for watershed groups. Your team will develop a watershed group formation plan during the training and commit to facilitating the creation of a community-based group in your home watershed. Enrollment is limited and subject to an application process intended to select committed watershed-based teams.

Led by Laird Schaub and Ma'ikwe Schaub-Ludwig, the program consists of eight three-day weekends spread out over two years. Each weekend session will be held in the context of live facilitation held by host communities in the Mid-Atlantic/Southeastern region (MD, VA, WV, NC, SC, GA, Eastern TN/KY). Integrative Facilitation is an approach to group dynamics built on a solid understanding of human development, sensitivity to undercurrents in the room, playfulness and appreciation. The program begins the weekend of September 18-21, 2008 and ends the weekend of June 3-6, 2010. Program is open to individual participants and host communities or cooperative organizations.

Got Problem Kids? Here's your Problem Student Problem-Solver Conference. You name the problems and this workshop delivers hundreds of immediate, problem-stopping answers. You will leave with innovative, more effective strategies for school failure, truancy, dropping out, work refusal, violence, delinquency, bad attitudes, depression and more. College credit and clock hours available. Free sample interventions, and free monthly Problem Student Problem-Solver magazine available at our web site, youthchg.com, or via email (dwells@youthchg.com), or call toll-free to 1-800-545-5736. Work-study financial aid available for all classes. Call for details. Coming to many cities around the US. Also available on videotape and DVD. Call 1-800-545-5736 for information and a workshop flyer. College credit and clock hours for many disciplines offered for both live and recorded classes. On-site workshops can also be scheduled for your school, agency or conference. This class also makes a terrific