May 2018 Newsletter

Kelly Thiede and Dryads Saddle at Strawbale Studio 2017 Sunday, May 20 from 1:00 – 5:00PM. Enjoy roaming the land, finding lots of edible and medicinal things that are growing in this springtime!  Learn about some of the uses, taste test them, and dig up and take some plants home if you wish, where there is abundance.  Bring some plastic bags/containers/shovel if you would like to do that, or we have some here. This class also includes a demonstration of…   $35 before May 15/ $45 after/ Group Discounts.

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Live on-site for a month or several months, learning and co-creating buildings and projects which connect us with nature.

Jan 7 – Feb 7, 2018

 A wonderful Winternship was attended by 8 fab folks for a full month !   Interns learned lots of skills and hosted 4 weekend workshops ~ Thatching & Reed Collecting, Rocket Stove & Earth Oven, Round Pole Framing & Earth Plaster & Sculpting.  Yoga every morning, whittling in the evenings, and lots of cooking and fermenting going on.

March 6, 2018  Upland Hills School Field Trip. Karen Longs group of awesome kids.  We toured and they made models with earthen subsoil. !

March 10, 2018  Reed Harvesting Class at Inlandish Farm, Chelsea Michigan hosted by Patrick Zieske and Christian Gaia Smith.

March 24, 2018 Fermenting class !  Lots of fun.  Kombucha, Sour Dough Wraps, Butter-making and more.

March 25, 2018 Eco-Cooking Class featured making a stew on the Rocket Stove and in the Hay Box Insulative Cooker…plus lots of experiments:  Solar Cooking, Kelly Cooker.

April 20-22, 2018  MI Earth Day Fest in Rochester Michigan at the Municipal Park.  The 100 strawbale from Johnnie Spezias Farm in Leonard…was Einto a climbing pyramid for kids !  Strawbale Studio and friends…Jared Bogdonov Hanna, Fay Hanson and OU Student Organic Farm students, Jug Tarr helped set up and / or take down of the Bale Climb next to the Strawbale Studio Exhibit Area.  During the weekend we fired up the Traveling Turtle Earth Oven, making little pizzas, and tea on the brick Rocket Cooker. We also mixed earth subsoil for sculpting…and had books and resources, pictures and examples to show those who visited the booth. Thanks to the helpers !  Gene Vinelli, Destiny Ebersol, Jason Ratliff, Natalie Spisak, Susan Daves, Samad Ansari.

• 3/3/18 Kum Saien engineer from India, Robert O’neil learning farming at 3 Roods Farm, Columbiaville, MI visited with Robin Mallor who will be hosting some natural building at the farm in 2018. 
• 3/24/18 Patrick Lough,visits and overnight. Apprentice at Cob Cottage Co. in Oregon, connected with Aquillin of the Community Farm of Ann Arbor.
• 3/30/18 Samad Ansari, past Intern visits and talks about the future. 
• 4/9/18   Janice Fiako and Rick Feldman visit re Green Lake cottage, and Tour Strawbale Studio. 
• 4/10/18 Vikas & Deepka Alaik who attended several Winternship weekends, visit before their return to India to do natural building in the southern mountains there next to a Spiritual Retreat Center  http://www.karunadham.org.in/
• 4/11/18  Janice Means her husba, LTU architecht professor, Joe Oberhauser and student Cody Hanson visit, tour and discuss natural building. Cody designed a Pas Evolutionary Education  sive House where his parents live near Traverse City, MI. 
• 4/14/18 Kelly Theide, Certified Michigan Mushroom Harvester, visits and we plan our upcoming Foraging Classes, where  she will be co-teaching. 

Evolutionary Education  April 4&6, 2018
Deanne attends part of the Upland Hills School / Trim Tab Series on Evolutionary Education at the Benedictine Seminary Retreat Center outside Oxford, MI. Past Strawbale Studio Intern, who is also studying Non-Violent Communication, Dougg Reith attended. 

Gaia Singing Circle April 5, 2018 
Deanne attends..singing, harmonizing, learning.