May Strawbale Studio Newsletter & updates !

May Strawbale Studio Newsletter & updates !

May Strawbale Studio Newsletter & updates ! 150 150 Strawbale Studio
​​May Newsletter.  Finally spring !  Come connect with Nature & Folks.  ?
Upcoming  +  Update on Happenings  +  Eco – Connections

Full Moon Potluck & Bonfire

Full Moon Potluck Bonfire

Join us for April 29th Potluck & Bonfire, on a Sunday ! Note – we are starting a little later, because the days are longer…. 6p Tour of thatched building & grounds & 7p ‘ish Potluck & Bonfire !  Join us for a cozy evening – in the Strawbale Studio, outside & around the bonfire, or in the main house. For more information, check out our Full Moon Potluck INFO page! RSVP with name & phone number ?

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Foraged Dinner & Bonfire

Saturday, May 19th from 2:00 – 7:00PM.

Enjoy a day learning about and HARVESTING wild plants and mushrooms on the land…then co-create a meal with them.  Some can be salad, and tea, while others can be added to a pizza as toppings, or cooked up with eggs in a wrap.  We plan to fire up the Earth Oven for the pizza, and eat around the bonfire, based on the weather.  Totally fun ?There are also plants on the land.  $45 before May 14/ $55 after/ Group Discounts

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The Joy of Foraging 

..for Wild Plants & Mushrooms                                         

+ Shiitake Mushroom Log Inoculation

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 mushroom log innoculatoin !    $35 before May 15/ $45 after/ Group Discounts.

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INTERNSHIPS & Worktrade 
By the Month     May – September 2018 & January 2019

July Intensive – ID cabin

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

May 29 Full Moon Potluck & Bonfire

Join us for May 29th Potluck & Bonfire, on a Tuesday ! Note – 6p Tour of thatched building & grounds & 7p ‘ish Potluck & Bonfire !  Join us for a cozy evening – in the Strawbale Studio, outside & around the bonfire, or in the main house. For more information, check out our Full Moon Potluck INFO page!   RSVP with name & phone number.  Free event, or donations welcomed  ? FIND OUT MORE

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Future Potlucks.. Mark Your Calendars? 

June 28, aThursday.   July 27 a Friday. 
Click here for the full 2018 potluck schedule ! ​
     Update ~ Happenings at Strawbale 
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.
January 31, 2018   Full Moon Potluck
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.
March 31, 2018   Full Moon Potluck
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.
FULL MOON POTLUCKS in January 31st, and March 31st.
GUESTS in 2018 to date….
  • 3/3/18 Kum Saien engineer from India, Robert O’neil learning farming at 3 Roods Farm, Columbiaville, Mvisited with Robin Mallorwho 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. 
  • 4/27/18  Gregg Brazel and his friend Art came to get some big round poles to make a Tori Gate in memory of Greggs mom who died recently. They located, some dead down trees, cut and carried them to the truck, and his project is now under way.  

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.

      Eco – Connections 
 
A favorite song:  Glorius by Ma Muse 🙂
 
Video Documentary We can watch the Documentary about the Enbridge-owned Line 5 Pipeline that carries gas and oil underwater between Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsula in the Straits of Mackinac .
 
Beneath the Surface - the Line 5 Pipeline in the Great Lakes
  “Beneath the Surface: The Live 5 Pipeline in the Great Lakes” premieres Wednesday April 25 on Detroit Public Television (56.1) at 10pm ET. Then at 10:30 catch a special Line 5 Update with special guests.   Or it can be watched at any time ….WATCH LIVE here on Facebook Live  or on GreatLakesNow.org. Check your local listings for your public tv station. https://www.greatlakesnow.org/beneath-surface-line-five/
 

Compassion Course Online

Communication is between all of our relationships and decisions on the planet. All life is based on communication, from our cells to planet ecosystems. 🙂

Compassion Course Online 2018. With Thom Bond, Founder and Director of Education, NYCNVC. Registration is now open! The course begins on June 20th, 2018. Registration closes on June 19th. This is a one-year course that will end in June 2019. “For anyone who is inspired to have more compassion, understanding …

 
I am really appreciating Thom Bonds way of expressing how we can understand our and others needs without blame.  Very gentle steps toward compassion and empowerment for all.  He has a book out, The Compassion Book which is based on the online course, and I love to read the stories in the evening before bed.