VbC needs you! Be a part of the action.
Click •here• for this years schedule of events.
or download the pdf 7-24-10 VbC_Flyer
Biweekly meetings at the Kellogg-Hubbard Library in Montpelier. 6pm-8pm in the Hayes Room. Contact us at the bottom of the pages for details.
August 14-22, the greater Montpelier area will come alive with a community-wide celebration of sustainable living, practical homesteading skills, and visions of a more resilient local community. The VbC is 9-day event filled with hands-on education in permaculture design and construction, ecological building, and public art that will extend and celebrate the Great Reskilling of our communities embodied in these projects. All projects are built through collaboration and the commitment of a neighborhood to strengthen itself.
The VbC is a volunteer run grassroots organization. Most events are free and open to the public.
Each day of the week will focus on our basic needs and how we can create more resilient patterns as we transition into new relationships with economy, ecology, and community. Projects are geared towards developing strong local relationships, social capital, place-making, ecological design, and supporting our local economy. In these changing times, we support the vision of “Transition Towns”: developing our city and bioregion as a network of interconnected and resilient village centers.
2010′s Villagebuilding Convergence Projects
COMMUNITY BUILD PROJECTS:
(ongoing-see contacts below for up to date details and more information)
1. Cob Garden Shed * Barre Community Gardens
On Sunday August 15th join us in building the walls of the Metro Way Community Garden’s Cob (a mixture of local straw, sand and clay) Garden Shed! More details coming soon for the timeline of that day, including a harvest dinner potluck feast.
Right now the foundation is being prepared for the structure. Thank you to Jim Maurice, Carolyn Wuff, Zach Tonnissen, Nick Salmons, John LePage and Don Dexter who have gotten us this far.
We have a few immediate THIS WEEK needs to proceed:
*We need someone in the community with experience spreading concrete, with tools, to receive the cement this Wednesday. Please contact steering committee member Jessica Sanderson “Jessica Sanderson” <jessica_a_sanderson@hotmail.com> for details.
*We need someone to help shovel a next installment of crushed stone into the form. No experience needed, an hour of volunteer muscles appreciated. Contact Sandra at 479-1925.
*We need someone to choose slate stones for the next layer of foundation, from the Plainfield quarry, by this Thursday.
*Next weekend (July the 31st) we need a person with experience building stone walls (mortared) to lay the slate stone on the cement footing along with Natural Builders Ben Graham and Nick Salmons. Contact Sandra Lory: mandalabotanicals@gmail.com if you can assist with this. Even a few hours would be a godsend.
The garden shed will be a unique, functional and educational beauty in downtown Barre. see you soon at the garden!
Sandra Lory
Barre Community Gardens at Metro Way Steering Committee
(802) 479-1925 –mandalabotanicals(at)gmail.com
2. Straw-clay Rootcellar with Passive ventilation – All Together Now
Aug. 16-19th Monday – Thursday 9-5 – light clay and earthen plaster walls construction
Aug. 20th Friday- 9-4 – passive ventilation system construction and 12 pm lunchtime workshop: How to store crops with Richard Czaplinzki
At: AllTogetherNow!
170 Cherry Tree Hill Road
East Montpelier
call 223-1242 to register
jwalrafen@myfairpoint.net
Learn how to build a basement rootcellar using light clay insulation( clay slip and straw) and mud plaster walls. On Friday, Richard Czaplinski will lead the construction of a passive ventilation system and give a workshop on how to store your crops in the rootcellar.
Bring a bag lunch. Wear work clothes for you will be working in wet clay. Bring a swim suit and towel for we have a swimming pool.
Contact Janice W. for details and to register. Come for part or all of the project. Donations welcome.
3. Healing Garden * Another Way, Montpelier
Contact: Steven Morgan –anotherwayvt(at)gmail.com
4. Megalithic Stone Moving Workshop* Dreamland, Worcester
Thursday and Friday, August 19th and 20th – 9-5pm with Ivan McBeth, Druid and master stone circle builder.
Thursday morning, Ivan will give a power point presentation called The Magic of Stone Circles. Learn the theory, art and mechanics of an ancient technology for creating sacred space with Nature. Then help move a 6 ton stone, the first stone of a new stone circle at Dreamland!
we will provide lunch. ideal numbers: 12 people.
Contact –Fearn Lickfield – Fearnessence(at)gmail.com
5. Permaculture Plantings * Downtown Montpelier
Contact –Jim Buckley – jbuckley(at)sover.net
Watch this video of last years VbC
Here are some samples of the 34 projects and workshops from the VbC09 schedule:
Build an Earthen Oven in Adamant * Help Install a Rain Garden at Hunger Mountain Coop * Absorb Local Wisdom Through Elder Stories * Discover Home-Scale Mushroom Culture * Tour Some Stellar Gardens in Your Neighborhood * Learn More about Natural Building * Build Your Plant Propagation Skills * Walk Your Neighborhood and Tune in to Wild Edible and Medicinal Plants * Find out What it Takes to Make a Root Cellar * Get Introduced to Nonviolent Communication * Raise Your Voice in a Community Songshare * Bring an Instrument and Jam out with Fellow Transitioneers
Want to get involved? Have questions? Send one of the organizers a line using the contact form below!
For questions during the event, call Ben Graham 802-454-1167