The Chatelaine's Keys

Sharon July 31st, 2009

Hi Folks – I feel a weekend coming on .  Before I close down for the sabbath I just want  to remind people of two things.

1. I still do have spaces in my Adapting In Place Class, taught with Aaron Newton, starting on Thursday.  The class is run online and asynchronously (ie, you don’t have to be there at any particular time) for 6 weeks, starting this coming Thursday and running until September 10. 

The class is designed to help people find a way to adapt their lives and their homes and families to difficult times, given the resources they actually have.  It is by far my favorite class, and has been really valuable for many of the participants – a number of them have told me that it has been literally life changing.  Cost of the class is $180.  To register, send an email to jewishfarmer@gmail.com

 Here’s a copy of the syllabus:

Week 1  – How to evaluate what you have.  We’re going to concentrate on figuring out what the major concerns are for your place and your community.  We’ll talk about your region and its climate, culture and resources, your house itself, your community and neighborhood – the challenges you forsee and maybe ones you haven’t thought about yet, and your personal circumstances – how much money, time and energy you have to deal with it.  How does the definition of home change when we do this?  We’ll also talk about when adapting in place is not an option, or when you should consider relocating, and what your options are if you do need to leave or move.

Week 2 –  This week  will focus on your house itself – we’ll talk primarily about low energy infrastructure for heating, cooling, cooking, lighting, washing, etc…  About costs and options and choices for both private homes and for communities.  We will also cover home scale renewables, especially low cost options.

Week 3 – We’re going to go into the walls of your building and into other mysterious home infrastructure- water, plumbing and toileting, insulation, keeping warm and cool and all the other things that your shelter does or could do for you.   We’ll also explore what’s around your house – your soil and other resources that can help sustain you.

Week 4  We’ll focus on Family Issues – Sharing resources with both immediate and extended family (whether biological or chosen), dealing with people who aren’t on board, Building collective infrastructure, cannibalizing what you have, dealing with the brother-in-law on the couch, helping kids adapt, disability, aging, college

Week 5  - We’ll talk about Finances, money, employment, making do, getting along on a shoestring, thrift, subsistence labor, starting cottage industries and businesses and community economics.  This is also when we’ll talk about transportation of all sorts. We’ll also begin discussing building a set of plans – 1 year, 5 year – to adapt to different scenarios.

Week 6 – We’ll talk about Community at every level, about how to build it, what to bring to it, how to get your neighbors to help, even if they are weird. How to get along with them even if you are weird , about models and ideas for bringing resilience and community to every level from the neighborhood to the state.  We’ll also talk about security, dealing with unrest or violence, and try and get those plans finished.

 BTW, for those of you already registered for the class, please go and sign up the for the discussion group (details in your registration email) ASAP.  For some reason, no one seems to have signed up, and some early class material will start showing up early next week. 

2. Some of you may have missed that I’ve started up an interfaith group to discuss Peak Oil and related issues, with Bob Waldrop and John Michael Greer. A week into our adventure, we’ve already got nearly a hundred members!  If you are interested in joining the conversation, send an email to subscribe to: peakoilinterfaith-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Have a great weekend!

 Sharon

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Sharon July 31st, 2009

It has been a long, hectic week here, simultaneously putting the last touches in _Independence Days_ before it goes to the printer, and also getting the AIP book fully organized, a new contract agreed on, etc… 

Now that I’m writing the book on my own, I admit, I’m going to rely on other people to fill in the gaps in my knowledge and provide a wider perspective – we had always planned to include profiles of people’s efforts to make their place functional in tough times, but they’ve taken on a new importance for me, because, of course, there’s a lot I don’t know, haven’t tried, etc…  I’m taking on this huge subject, and I’m dependent, as always on other people’s expertise.  But I had been planning to stick Aaron with a lot of the stuff that I didn’t know as well, and somehow, taking this on alone seems overwhelming.  But I’ve decided to deal with the overwhelming simply by including as many interesting case studies as I can.

All of which is a long way of saying that I’d love to hear your story about how you are going about making your future where you are. I’m interested in stories from cities and countryside, from suburbs and even the much-maligned exurban housing projects.  I’m interested in people moving back with family, and people making their way alone, in big extended families and singles, young and old, immigrants and emigrants, religious and athiests, and people of all ethnicities.   My assumption is that all of us, when we choose a place to stay are working within constraints, often severe constraints – and I’d like to see how you are making the best possible future for yourself despite the fact that, say, your family is far away and doesn’t take you seriously, or you don’t have much money and live in an apartment,  or your neighbors are radically different, or you are settling in a place that may be subsumed by the sea someday – but that’s where your family is.  That is, one way or another, none of us have the perfect place, the perfect people, the perfect list of resources.  And yet, we’re here, and making a future.  I think that’s worth celebrating.

 I’d really love to hear how you are making your place liveable and viable at every level, from how you are retrofitting your house to how you are making community with your neighbors.  All of that’s a lot of information, of course, and I can probably only read some of it, but I’d love to hear the highlights, in comments or email at jewishfarmer@gmail.com or in a link to your blog in comments.  And if you want, I’m looking for a few people to be profiled in the AIP book.  I can obviously only choose a couple of those (I’ve already got some selected), but even for those who aren’t chosen, it might be possible to eventually put them all up on the book website.  So there’s some cool possibilities there (I’d love to hear from you even if you don’t want to be in the book, obviously). 

So tell me – what are you doing?  What are you concentrating on?  How are you starting where you are and going from there?

Thanks so much,

 Sharon

• adapting in place
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Sharon July 31st, 2009

Ok, I’ve already probably pimped this book so many times that y’all are bored, but it is a brilliant, important, and deeply under-rated book, and I don’t want anyone to miss it.  Veronika Bennholdt-Thomsen and Maria Mies have put together a truly necessary analysis of what is available to us, once we acknowledge that in their industrial forms, both capitalism and socialism have failed us. 

That we believe that there’s no other choice but a few industrialized, huge scale economic options leads us to make terrible choices.  With their emphasis on small scale and humane models, they argue that there are other choices, all emerging from cultures of subsistence. 

The authors are feminists, and they take as given that subsistence models must include basic justice issues, and must stop erasing the contributions of women and the poor.  But don’t let that turn you off – nor the fact that it is translated from the German.  This book is worth your time and effort.

 Sharon

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Sharon July 31st, 2009

One of the projects I’ve been undertaking as I research herb growing and expand my body of knowledge is the development of my local Materia Medica – that is, what plants would I have to rely upon locally – ones I can grow well or wildcraft ethically – if I was unable to afford or locate others?  I was inspired on this project by James Green’s list of 35 Herbs that he felt were sufficient to meet most needs.  That’s great, and I’m all for it, but a lot of those don’t grow near me.  I can purchase some of them and preserve them in tincture form, if they preserve well that way, but I want to be able to renew my resources.  So I’ve set out to discover which herbs I can grow or find locally.   I’m also researching which ones I might also be able to grow for sale locally as well.

Here’s my current list:

Alfalfa, Aloe (lives happily in a pot here),  Angelica, Arnica (not A. Montana, but the less fussy native),  Astragalus (although saving seed is somewhat challenging in this climate), Barberry,  Bee Balm, Betony, Black Cohosh, Boneset,  Borage, Burdock (got enough of this to provide blood thinning and anti-cancer benefits to billions of people, approximately ), Calendula, California Poppy, Cardinal Flower, Catnip, Cayenne, Chamomile, Chickweed, Comfrey, Crampbark, Dandelion, Dill, Echinacea, Elderberries, Elecampane, Evening Primrose, Feverfew, Gayfeather, Goldenrod, Gotu Kola (tropical, but will overwinter indoors), Hawthorn,  Hops (used to be a major crop around here), Horehound, Joe Pye Weed, Lady’s Mantle, Lavender, Lemon Balm, Lemon Verbena (drops leaves a couple of times in the winter but is happy enough indoors), Lovage, Marshmallow, Meadowsweet, Milk Thistle, Mormon Tea (maybe, it hasn’t grown that much, but it did survive in pots), Motherwort, Mullein, Mugwort, Nettle, Oats, Oregano, Pennyroyal, Peppermint, Periwinkle, Plantain, Red Clover, St. John’s Wort, Sage, Self-heal, Shepherd’s purse, Sheep Sorrel, Skullcap, Spilanthes (won’t overwinter, but will set seed), Thyme, Uva Ursi, Valerian, Vervain, Violet, Willow bark, Wormwood, Yarrow.  

I’m struck by what a long list that is, and how long it will take me to exhaust the possibilities of those many remarkable plants. I think it would be easy to get hung up on what you don’t have, but I suspect many of us have more than we think. Do you have a list?

Sharon

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