Casaubon’s Book

Sharon July 3rd, 2009

Happy fourth, for them as is celebratin’.  Just in case you have a few minutes between fireworks, here’s an update on various stuff.

1. There is still time and space to register for my fall garden class which starts on Tuesday.  Email me at [email protected] as soon as possible if you want one of the last two spots.

 The class information and syllabus are here: http://sharonastyk.com/2009/06/16/fall-garden-course-syllabus/  I think this will be a particularly wonderful class because it essentially operates in real time for a lot of us (the class, as usual, is online and asynchronoous) - that is, we’ll be talking about what we should do to produce a fall and winter garden, and to keep that produce coming as long as we can, just as we actually should be doing it, so that’s that kick in the pants all of us need (heck, I can definitely use it ;-)).  A lot of us have had some rough weather this spring and early summer, and if your garden feels like it may be a loss, remember, it isn’t too late to make it work.

2. Over 6 weeks in August and September, Aaron and I will be offering my favorite of all my classes - Adapting in Place.    Here’s the syllabus - email me at [email protected] if you’d like to reserve a space.

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  cooking, lighting, washing and other realities of day to day life. We’ll cover costs and options and choices for both private homes and for communities.  We will also cover some renewable, 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 talk a bit about what’s in your soil and on your property (this won’t get heavy emphasis in this class since we teach a whole class, garden design, on just this subject).

Week 4  We’ll focus on Family Issues – Sharing resources with both immediate and extended family (and chosen family), 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.

3. I will be in Chicago from July 16-19 for Pax Christi’s Annual Conference “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution.”  http://www.paxchristiusa.org/NationalConference2009.asp  Pax Christi is the international Catholic Peace Organization, and I’m very excited to speak there, to an audience that mostly doesn’t know about peak oil.  If you are attending, I’d love to meet you!  Also, I should have some time before the conference begins on Friday afternoon - any Chicagoans out there with ties to the local community gardens - whenever I go somewhere, I love to see the local food infrastructure - some people hit the museums, I see the compost piles ;-).  So if there’s someone out there who will be around that Friday and has a garden to show, I’d be interested - send me an email.

 Happy 4th!

 Sharon

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