From officemanager at svionline.org Thu Apr 9 16:06:38 2009 From: officemanager at svionline.org (Sequatchie Valley Institute) Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2009 15:06:38 -0500 Subject: [Sviannouncements] Upcoming SVI Events Message-ID: Lots of events coming up! April 12, 2009: Wildflower Hike (10:00 am) April 18, 2009: SVI Tour of Moonshadow (1:00 pm) April 25, 2009: Party for the Planet -- Earth Day at the Aquarium April 27, 2009: Beehive Collective -- True Cost of Coal (5:00 pm) May 16, 2009: SVI Tour of Moonshadow (1:00 pm) May 21, 2009: Food For Life (May 21-31) June 11, 2009: Bonnaroo! (June 11-14) Come on up this weekend and join us for the wildflower hike... the last one was mostly moonshadow crew, and we had an awesome hike and learned a ton from john johnson and patrick. BRING FAMILY AND FRIENDS! Also, please plan to join use during Food for Life... it's 2 weekends in May for 2009, with many awesome workshops presented by regional food experts. Food for Life 2009 ? Schedule (subject to change - please call if you want to be sure about a particular workshop) Food for Life is run on Central Time. Thursday May 21 1:00 -4:00 Arrivals at Moonshadow, set up tent, lunch 4:00-6:00 ? Edible Landscaping/Forest Farming (Patrick Ironwood) - Patrick will focus on specific species and strategies that have worked in Moonshadow?s climate? and what hasn?t. After 35 years of research, the Moonshadow landscape has taught us a lot - we would like to pass this on to all interested in growing food and developing a relationship with the land. 6:15 ? Dinner 7:45 ? Welcome Circle and Vision Sharing (Facilitator: Sandorkraut) - We?ll open Food for Life this year with a circle in which we will brainstorm about ways folks can reclaim food from corporate control. Bring ideas, visions, and fantasies of grassroots action to create better food choices. In our circle we will share our visions and inspire one another to action. Friday, May 22 8:00-9:00 ? Breakfast 9:15 ? Morning Circle 9:30-10:30 ? Introduction to Fermentation (Sandor Katz) - Experience how simple it is to harness the transformational power of microorganisms to make foods and beverages more delicious, more nutritious, more digestible, and more stable. Learn about the healing qualities and nutritional importance of live-culture ferments, as well as their illustrious history and integral role in human cultural evolution. Empower yourself with simple techniques for fermenting these healthful foods in your home. Be part of the fermentation revival! 10:45-12:15 ? Food, Evolution, and Body Ecology (Rachel Fee- Prince)- A discussion centering around our evolutionary relationship with food and the paradigm shift happening now concerning our food & illness. We will look at our species growing intolerance to staple foods, our immunity, gut flora & the mysterious endocrine system. How big is the picture? How are we evolving now? And how do we tend the garden within? 12:30-1:45 ? Lunch 2:00-5:00 ? Fermentation - Wine and Beer (Andrew Armstrong and Patrick Ironwood) We?ll keg an ale brewed the prior weekend, learn a bit about brewing, and participants will each fill a bottle to take home and savor when the time is right. We?ll also learn to make a simple country wine from local ingredients. 5:15 ? Dinner 6:45 ?Life and Debt? (facilitator, Jeff Rodgers) ?Life and Debt? explores the effect of the International Monetary Fund?s (IMF) policies on developing countries through Jamaica?s experience with the organization. Jamaica, having gained its independence from Britain in 1962, found itself struggling as a result of the oil embargo the following year. In order to receive loans from the IMF, the country entered into a tricky agreement with its lenders. The terms of the loan stipulated that Jamaica had to agree to reduce trade barriers by withdrawing its local import restrictions, and thus enter the world market. The local economy became flooded with foreign goods, which were cheaper than those produced locally, resulting in a loss of jobs and economic self-reliance. A powerful example of the cycle of dependence is seen through the method of milk production. Jeff will lead a discussion after the movie. Saturday May 23 8:00-9:00 ? Breakfast 9:15 ? Morning Circle 9:30-11:45 ? Choice of two workshops: Too Much Food?? (Carol Kimmons) - Safe and Healthy Food Preservation. This hands-on workshop will cover fun and easy methods of canning, pickling, freezing, and drying your surplus from the garden or market. Materials and instruction booklets included. Play with Yer Food (Michelle Kimmons) - A hands-on crafts workshop just for kids! (?yes, grown-ups are welcome to participate as well). Hope your imaginations are hungry, because Michelle is cookin? up some creative fun! This year, we will look at examples of art inspired by food and then make our own fabulous art using things found in the kitchen! Your refrigerator has never seen art like this! 12:00-1:15 ? Lunch 1:30-3:15 ? Econutrition (Joel Kimmons) - Lets talk about nourishment- ecology and where we fit in- how can we live an inspired gastronomic experience while nourishing the earth and all her communities. Local food, CSAs, farmers markets, community gardens, green spaces, school gardens, cooking, eating, and how to be more than just poop factories. Bring short questions (or don?t) and we will work towards the best answers in a real world and whole world perspective. 3:30-5:00 Tonic Beverages (Sandor Katz) This workshop will cover kombucha, kefir, water kefir and beet kvass. 5:15-6:45 ? Cultural development in 1st, 2nd and 3rd world: Green response to the collapse of the Great Toxic Bubble (Sandy Hepler) - Coming to Your Neighborhood Soon. This workshop will have a special emphasis on food and nutrition. Experiences and food costs will be drawn from Sandy?s experiences in Nicaragua which are typical of many 3rd world countries. 7:00 ? Pizza and wood fired cob oven discussion (Patrick Ironwood) - we will disscus the ins and outs of wood oven use and tips on building your own? as we bake. Sunday May 24 8:00-9:00 ? Breakfast 9:15 ? Morning Circle and Fermentation check-in 9:30-11:00 ? Wild Edibles and Native Plants (Carol Kimmons) Walk through the fields and forest to discover plants which have fed and healed Appalachian humans for thousands of years. Learn about current research on safe medical uses of our native plants. Collect plants to make a ?wild salad? for the evening meal. 11:15-12:45 ? Hands On Herbalism (Rachel Fee-Prince) - We?ll prepare one herb three ways, exploring how each medium changes the herbs actions as well as discuss many other herbs & their applications. Relaxed discussion atmosphere with plenty of Q&A time. Bring a small glass jar with lid if you wish to take medicine home. 1:00 ? Lunch 2:15-3:45 ? Chocolate Surprise (Sandy Hepler) - Explore an all-time world favorite. Cacao itself is health food and can be made healthier. Original Aztecs drank it as a hot, bitter, peppered drink (did they ever add honey?). A really healthy, great-tasting chocolate is possible! samples of delicious organic chocolate are guaranteed. These are handmade in northern Tennessee by Sandy Hepler himself, our Mad Kitchen Scientist. 4:00 ? First Weekend Closing Circle Monday: hike and swim Tuesday: work day at Ulinawi, Moonshadow?s neighbor (see below) Wednesday: work day at Ulinawi This season Ulinawi is taking off with new agricultural and building projects! We will be pasture-farming chickens, working towards a more animal-integrated landscape, as well as developing garden beds and row crops. Also, we are simultaneously working on revolutionarily simple rural family housing and permanent earth bag and timber-frame thousand-year dwellings. Other projects include developing a vermiculture system (worms), experimenting with rabbit breeding and mushroom cultivation and taking care of our goats. Thursday May 28 10:00 ? Sequatchie Cove Farm Tour This day will start with a trip to the ?Sequatchie Cove Farm,? a diversified family-run biodynamic farm working with available resources, focusing on grass-based animal protein (eggs, meat). They also raise bees and native plants, operate a pick-your-own berry patch and have made their own biodiesel. 12:00-2:15 ? Arrivals at Moonshadow, Tent Set-Up and Lunch 2:30-4:30 ? Permaculture (Patrick Ironwood) The moonshadow homestead is a great example of permaculture? we will explore and disscuss the key ideas behind these concepts. 4:45-5:45 ? Artist/Activists Participatory Theatre - part one (Cerulean, Aurelia Crumb, Trish Woolbright and Patrick Ironwood) - Group games, improv, automatic play writing and exploring fearless narratives! All ages invited to play. We will create a play to be performed on Saturday night. 6:00 ? Dinner 7:30 ? ?Flow? (Asha Ironwood, Facilitator) - For 84 terrifying and informative minutes, filmmaker Irena Salina makes a very persuasive case for stopping the commoditization of water and ensuring that everyone has access to clean drinking water. Salina interviews an array of researchers and activists who all describe the frightening international situation: dirty water kills more people than wars, the world is quickly running out of clean water, and water has become a valuable commodity for multinational corporations to exploit for profit. Friday May 29 8:00-9:00 ? Breakfast 9:15 ? Morning Circle 9:30-10:30 Slow Food, Farm to School, Preserving Farmland (Trish King) - Discussion on the philosophy of Slow Food USA: promoting good, clean, and fair food. How will a good, clean, and fair food system benefit communities? What are the implications for institutional food systems such as school lunches? What will happen to our local food economy as land use changes and farmland is threatened by sprawl? From a global movement to the local food scene, we?ll discuss what it means to live Slow. 10:45-11:45 Choice of two workshops: Beer Brewing, Bottling & Kegging (Andrew Armstrong) We?ll keg an ale brewed the prior weekend, learn a bit about brewing, and participants will each fill a bottle to take home and savor when the time is right. Artist/Activists Participatory Theatre - part two (Cerulean, Aurelia Crumb, Trish Woolbright and Patrick Ironwood) - We look for the play. Characters start appearing? 12:00-1:15 ? Lunch 1:30-3:30 ? Hands-on Tempeh and Vegetable Fermentation workshop (Sandor Katz) 3:45 ? Cheese for Beginners workshop (Spiky) Dinner Evening program ? ?Man and Fungi : A Journey into the Past, Present, and Future of Mushrooms on Earth? (Tradd Cotter) Saturday May 30 8:00-9:00 ? Breakfast 9:15 ? Morning Circle 9:30-11:30 ? Mushrooms : Cultivation, Composting, and Biological Filters (Tradd Cotter) - Participants will learn the basics of log and straw cultivation of most edible mushrooms. Included will be techniques for enhancing yields of garden crops by creating hybrid systems to optimize water conservation, filtering livestock runoff using mushroom compost filters, and converting agricultural and household waste streams into edible protein. Creating perpetual and circular systems will also be discussed. 11:45-1:00 ? Lunch 1:15-3:00 ? Farm and Activist Networking Panel (Padgett Arnold from Sequatchie Cove Farm, Sandorkraut from Little Short Mountain Farm, Bradley Jones from Ulinawi, Trish King from Slow Food and Land Trust for TN, and representatives from Crabtree Farms and Williams Island farm) 3:15-5:15 ? Artist/Activists Participatory Theatre - part three (Cerulean, Aurelia Crumb, Trish Woolbright and Patrick Ironwood) - One last rehearsal? 5:30 ? Dinner 7:00 ? Performance by the Food for Life improv theater troupe - After dinner theatre. Please bring instruments. Dress: festive. A long-form improvisational narrative will be presented. Be prepared for fun! Sunday May 31 8:00-9:00 ? Breakfast 9:15 ? Morning Circle 9:30-11:00 ? Organic Meats, Butchery and Sausage Making (Trae Moore) What i could do would be talk a bit about butchery, sausage making and cured/fermented meats. I guess I could make a bit of sausage too. 11:15-12:15 ? Rainbarrels: a how-to and why (Jon Cable) - This workshop will be an overview of the purpose and use of rainbarrels followed with a demonstration of how to construct one with simple tools. There will be a hand-out for folks to take home to reference with helpful sources. 12:30-1:45 ? Lunch 2:00-4:00 ? Basic Breadmaking by Hand (John Sweet from Niedlov?s Breadworks in Chattanooga) - There will be discussion, demonstration and participation in easy and reliable hand-mixing techniques, basic bread shaping, and baking of our handmade bread. 4:15-5:15 ? Breaking bread at the closing circle Voices for Appalachia Throughout the second weekend Food for Life participants will have the opportunity to be involved in the following bioregional art project: Voices for Appalachia, Written and Narrated by Hundreds ? A Portrait- Story Project (Casey and Cesco) - Being our own media. Be your own ethnographer and historian. A positive self-fulfilling paradigm of expression? If you?d like to participate, you can write your anecdotal, Appalachia bioregional, narrative (with a clear sense of TIME, PLACE, and ACTION) in advance or on site. When Cesco is finished sketching your face (using a combination of wet and dry media), you will copy your narrative in your own handwriting onto the page around our portrait of your face. This series of hundreds of stories and portraits travels as a show, and the images also go online to make perspectives widely available. for more info about this project see: voicesforappalachia.org and portraitstoryproject.org Download the event flyer (pdf) Food for Life flyer (Legal size - 8.5?x14?) Food for Life flyer (Letter size - 8.5?x11?) We hope to see you soon! Chris Gilligan Board of Directors - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Sequatchie Valley Institute 1233 Cartwright Loop Whitwell, TN 37397 (423) 949-5922 tel svionline.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ashley at svionline.org Sun Apr 19 12:06:55 2009 From: ashley at svionline.org (ashley ironwood) Date: Sun, 19 Apr 2009 11:06:55 -0500 Subject: [Sviannouncements] eldercare position Message-ID: <5EAC7321-530B-4503-9043-EC4250FB276C@svionline.org> greetings, friends of moonshadow. we are looking for someone to take over the eldercare role, starting as early as may. please pass this on to anyone you think might be interested. the job entails taking care of our 96 year old great- grandmother, mildred (aka nana). this includes keeping her company, making sure she takes her pills, making her meals, and simply being a presence (you would have your own sleeping space with a monitor for nighttime). she also has another caretaker who comes for 25 hour per week. room and board are included as well as a stipend during the times when johnny (her son) and carol (his wife) are away and unable to help. the job would be ideal for someone who is looking for a place to spend some quiet time, reading, writing, making art... and you'd be living just down the hill from moonshadow! please let us know if you'd like more details. thanks! - the moonshadow crew please note my new email address ************************************ ashley "asha" ironwood sequatchie valley institute 1233 cartwright loop whitwell, tn 37397 423-949-5922 ashley at svionline.org www.svionline.org "some changes may look negative on the surface, but you will soon realize that space is being created in your life for something new to emerge. there may be a period of insecurity and uncertainty. what should i do? as the ego is no longer running your life, the psychological need for external security, which is illusory anyway, lessens. you're able to live with uncertainty - even enjoy it. when you become comfortable with uncertainty, infinite possibilities open up in your life. it means fear is no longer a dominant factor in what you do and no longer prevents you from taking action to initiate change. the roman philosopher, tasitus, rightly observed that 'the desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise.' if uncertainty is unacceptable to you, it turns into fear. if it's perfectly acceptable, it turns into increased aliveness, alertness and creativity." eckhart tolle - chapter 9 of "a new earth" -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From officemanager at svionline.org Fri Apr 24 16:37:48 2009 From: officemanager at svionline.org (Sequatchie Valley Institute) Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2009 15:37:48 -0500 Subject: [Sviannouncements] More Children's Workshops and Food Donations @ Food For Life 2009 Message-ID: <1006C512-C7E3-4E43-80CB-E2AD8D4003CB@svionline.org> We've added several more Children's Workshops for 2009, thanks to our fun friends the Baehrs and our own Trish Woolbright! We will also be doing a mass inoculation of Shiitake mushroom logs on Monday, May 29, followed by a hike and swim. SATURDAY, MAY 23 9:30-11:45 PLAY WITH YER FOOD (Michelle Kimmons) - A hands-on crafts workshop just for kids! (?yes, grown-ups are welcome to participate as well). Hope your imaginations are hungry, because Michelle is cookin? up some creative fun! This year, we will look at examples of art inspired by food and then make our own fabulous art using things found in the kitchen! Your refrigerator has never seen art like this! 1:30-3:15 (same time as Econutrition) Composting & Vermiculture for Kids -- (Tricia Baehr & Trish Woolbright) We will explore composting & vemiculture, how it works, what can be composted and what can not, the science behind it all and how it?s an important part of making food grow and taste great! Bring a container any size that will work for your household composting and your child will get decorate it artistically. Dress appropriately to get dirty and have fun! FRIDAY, MAY 29 9:30-10:30 (During Slow Food) Plant a Spaghetti Garden (Tricia Baehr) - Kids will have fun starting seeds for their very own spaghetti garden. Plan for the kids to get dirty and their spaghetti garden will get a great start with a rich composted soil. Then we?ll plant the seeds for tomatoes, zucchini, oregano and basil for the children to take home and watch grow! Please bring 4 recycled tin cans or other recycled containers that they can decorate and punch holes in for drainage. SATURDAY, MAY 30 9:30-11:30 (same time as Mushroom Cultivation) The Mad Hatter Tea Party (Tricia & Birke Baehr) - Kids can wear their favorite hat as we explore herbs and teas, tasting, smelling and touching different things from the garden and woods while learning about the healing properties and health benefits of drinking tea. Bring a small recycled container for your child to make their own tea blend to enjoy at home after the workshop. SUNDAY, MAY 31 9:30-11:00 (Same time as Sausage Making) Sprouting with Sprouts! (Tricia Baehr) What?s more fun than watching food grow in your own kitchen and eating it in just a few days? Kids will learn all about sprouting, how it works, what you can sprout, recipes and ideas as well as a sprout tasting. Bring a quart jar and your child will go home with a grow it and eat it project! They?ll learn responsibility with rinsing and draining and about a healthy new food for life! Food Donations... Download the attached file or see: http://svionline.org/svi/513/food-for-life-2009/? And don't forget our monthly tours on the 3rd Saturday... April 2009: April 25: Party for the Planet ? Earth Day at the Aquarium April 26: Chattanooga Market Day April 27: Beehive Collective ? True Cost of Coal May 2009: May 16: SVI Tour of Moonshadow May 21: Food For Life (May 21-31) June 2009: June 11: Bonnaroo! (June 11-14) June 20: SVI Tour of Moonshadow July 2009: July 18: SVI Tour of Moonshadow August 2009: August 15: SVI Tour of Moonshadow September 2009: September 19: SVI Tour of Moonshadow October 2009: October 22: SVI Tour of Moonshadow November 2009: November 15: SVI Tour of Moonshadow Chris Gilligan Board of Directors - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Sequatchie Valley Institute 1233 Cartwright Loop Whitwell, TN 37397 (423) 949-5922 tel svionline.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: svi-food-for-life-foodlist.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 22899 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From officemanager at svionline.org Thu Apr 30 00:13:18 2009 From: officemanager at svionline.org (Sequatchie Valley Institute) Date: Wed, 29 Apr 2009 23:13:18 -0500 Subject: [Sviannouncements] ! natural building | earth bag | earth ship | timber framing | chicken cooping | MEAD ! Message-ID: Come and join us for a fun-filled homesteading weekend... Come on out to beautiful Sequatchie Valley May 9-10 for a hands-on learning adventure. We will be timber-framing the top of an earth bag home, setting rafters on a second timber frame structure, working on a straw-bale chicken coop, and much more! Bring your camping gear and plan to join us for a pot luck and keg of home brewed mead Saturday night at Ulinawi, the farm and homesteading project adjacent to & connected with SVI & Moonshadow. Call 678-772-4616 for details. FROM CHATTANOOGA: TAKE INTERSTATE 24 WEST TOWARDS NASHVILLE. TAKE EXIT #155 (DUNLAP AND JASPER). TURN RIGHT ONTO HWY 28. GO THROUGH WHITWELL, THEN 7/10 OF A MILE AFTER CROSSING INTO SEQUATCHIE COUNTY LOOK TO YOUR LEFT FOR "CARTWRIGHT AUTOMOTIVE." You'll then pass Cartwright Loop (the road to Moonshadow) on your left, then Cartwright Grocery, and then take the next left on Cookston Cave Rd; take an IMMEDIATE right onto West Valley RD. Go down a bit & take your first left onto Cline Rd. Follow this to the end of the road, ENTER the gate & park by the shipping container (semi-truck style). YEAH WE SAID MEAD. Dark Ostara Rising Mead... ec-1118 pris de mousse yeast; aged in white oak barrel 7 mos. (made 11/19/2004 kegged 8/31/2005) Chris Gilligan Board of Directors - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Sequatchie Valley Institute 1233 Cartwright Loop Whitwell, TN 37397 (423) 949-5922 tel svionline.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: