Classes and Other Updates
Sharon June 9th, 2008
Astute readers may have noticed the dearth of complex analyses in my posting recently. There are two explanations for this. The first is that I think I may have broken my brain writing _A Nation of Farmers_. The second is that it is bloody hot here. The last few days I’ve started and abandoned half a dozen posts dealing with complexities - it just feels too hard ;-). You see, I am not, as the saying goes, from hot weather. I do not like it Sam-I-am. I’m very good about going out the morning and evening, but the rest of the time I sit around and feel like a wrung out sweat sock. Fortunately, I believe the heat is set to break tomorrow, and one can only hope that my ability to write a coherent sentence will return around the same time.
So it seems a good time to talk about my summer class schedule. I’m going to offer two online courses. The first will be a repeat of the Food Storage and Preservation class I ran in March, with more of an emphasis on preserving the Harvest, season extension techniques for fall and winter gardening etc…
In August and into early September, I’m going to run a class on Adapting in Place, with an emphasis on low energy life, keeping warm, fed and secure with minimal or no fossil fuel use. The idea is that most of us are going to end up staying where we are, or in very similar places, and we need to know how to get along in the new realities.
Both classes will have several components. I’ll produce a series of posts here at the blog on a variety of related topics. There will be a discussion group for class members, and I’ll be available by email for personal consultation. The feature I’m adding is that I’ll also be available by phone for one 20 minute consultation with each participant over the course of the month (and if you took my last class and are feeling cheated because you didn’t get that, I’m also going to offer it as a back option over the next few months for those who participated last time - more on this by email later).
The cost for the class is $125 for a month long, 8 session course, and I’ll accept up to 30 participants. I also have five free spaces reserved for low income participants , and, of course, I’ll be putting tons of free material up on the blog as well. If the class doesn’t fill up, I’ll offer additional free spots.
The Food Preservation Class will run for four weeks in July, every Tuesday and Thursday, from Tuesday July 8 - Thursday, July 31.
The Adaptation in Place Class will run on Tuesdays and Thursdays from Tuesday August 5 to Thursday September 4, with the EXCEPTION OF AUGUST 19 and 21 (Eric and I are celebrating our 10th anniversary by actually going away from the children for 3 whole days!).
And, just in case you actually want to meet me in person, if you live in or near New York City, you should definitely come attend the coolest, funniest, most entertaining doom experience you’ll ever have. I’m appearing as one of the Four Panelists of the Apocalypse with James Kunstler, Colin Beavan and Mike Hogan, discussing the future, and what we can do to avoid it ;-). Seriously, I’ve never looked forward to any event this much - this is going to be fun - and the panel is just the icing on the remarkable exhibit. I think the panel is 6-8, although I’ve got to confirm that. Come learn the answer to a host of questions…Can we avoid the TEOWAKI? What hope is there in an increasingly bleak world? Will there at least be cake at the crack of doom?
Sharon, hot and silly.
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- Comments(12)
That is one of the best panel names I’ve heard in a long time
I’ll recommend it to the people I know in NYC. I’ll actually be there the weekend before that.
I’ll definitely be signing up for the food preservation class, and possibly for the Adapting in Place one.
Adaptation in place. Yep. That’s MY only option……….in the land of 119 summer temps.
Please sign me up for the Adapting in Place course! I would like to take the food preservation one at a later date, I hope you offer that one again!
If you want to register for a class, do email me - I’m not going to be able to keep track of blog comments.
Sharon
Hey Sharon,
Want to trade places? I’ll take New York over Alabama right now for sure! “Wrung out sock” describes how I feel. I have no ac (at all right now) and its 87 in the house -without the humidity. My outdoor thermometer reads 98. It was so hot yesterday I was passing by my freezer, stopped, opened it up, and stuck my head in for a minute. My poor lab saw me, came over, raised up on her back paws, and stuck her head in too. She licked my face and her expression just said “I want to be cool too mommy!” Lol.
Good luck with the classes!
Should I fly cross-country to attend this panel?
Well, i guess not, but it’s a tempting thought. Mostly I would want to meet you and Colin. I only read Kunstler when I’m feeling bad - it’s like eating bad Halloween candy. If it’s around and I’m up too late you might catch me at it but I feel terrible the next morning. Kunstler is contemptuous of women and Arabs so that gets me 2 ways.
Rebecca, I don’t think I want to trade. Yikes - I don’t think I’d ever come out of the freezer!
Leila, I’m pretty sure we’re not going to be good enough to merit a cross country flight. I think they may video it, though, so it’ll probably show up on the web at some point.
Sharon
Are these classes available on line, or in person only? I can’t believe how much stuff you get done- shoot, with the heat and everything- wow. ( I use to leave the bath full of cold water and go take a dip when my brain starting cooking.)
How do you collect willow bark, I wonder, and which kind of willow is good for taking bark and I am just thinking about how willow is good for basket making and wondering how you use so many buckets.
I have been thinking about asking the cafe for their coffee grounds and food scraps for my worms/compost, but I’m afraid of making the commitment to pick it up. maybe I could start with once a week. eek. I guess that takes a few buckets- with lids.
I wrote to the We can solve it climate change people and suggested trying to protect the wording in the clean water act to keep the mining companies from doing valley fills, which would make mining coal way too expensive for them to keep ignoring other methods of generating electricity… the extraction method of Mountain Top Removal has really got to stop NOW, but the mining alliance is like a crazed mafia without family values- super dangerous.
My baby has chicken pox, I think, so I didn’t get too much else done, three oatmeal baths and some calamine-
I’d be very into learning more of what you know.
Sara
Sharon, I hope my earlier didn’t come across as one-downmanship. I get a little irritable when I don’t sleep well, and after nearly two weeks of 90+ degree temps, I’m running shy on sleep.
No, Rebecca, you are totally fine. I’m aware that I’m whining about four days above 90 when you in the south get it all the time. I just don’t like heat - never have. I wish I could send the coolth that is supposed to come our way sometime tonight down there.
Sara, I’m sorry, I didn’t specify - all my classes are online. That way, no one has to travel.
That’s a great idea about the language emendation. And I don’t know how to make baskets - but I’d love to learn!
Sharon
I am going to talk to my husband tonight about going to NY to see you and Kunstler. I think that would be great. I also think I will take your adapting in place class. I did your food storage class and loved it. I am going to say it again and thank you for what you do. As a mother, you have given me hope for the future as no one else has (my outlook is still pretty bleak though!! ;P )
Thanks and don’t ever stop!!
Karen
Oh, my! This made me laugh so hard I spit water out my nose!
Hello! I’m relatively new here, have never posted before, but have been reading obsessively for about a month now. I think you rock, Sharon! I love reading a woman’s perspective on PO, and you are very eloquent in such a refreshing manner.
Thanks for writing, I love reading all your ideas. I discovered peak oil nearly four years ago and have been making plans ever since.
Best wishes,
madison