The Village Gathering

June 10th-12th- click here for rideshare info.
 

Creating Community Resilience through Sharing Skills and Wisdom 

The Village Gathering is a Skill Share Weekend at Twin Pond Retreat, Center for Wellness and Sustainable Living in Brookfield, Vermont  for people of all ages working to create resilient and well-connected communities.  It is an opportunity to live and learn together for a whole weekend! 

This is a Do It Yourself event, you get to help create the Village with us!  Pack in everything and pack it out with you!  Bring Your Own Tent, Food, Water Bottles, Dishes, Chairs if you need them, Instruments, and whatever you need for the weekend and to contribute to the Village experience.  Please do not bring dogs.  

1pm on Saturday – Dolly Wagglers will perform a cantastoria and a cranky show during lunch  

Saturday Night- Pizza Party!! Woodbelly Pizza will turn out delicious pizzas
from their mobile wood-fired pizza oven!  We have received generous donations from Cabot cheese, Manghi’s and Red Hen.  We have the basics and we need your help!  Bring a topping to share, and a plate for your slices.   Followed by Music with the Shanty Rats and Bonfire… 

Saturday Free Swap - Please bring gently used, clean clothing and usable objects to give away during lunch. 

Children’s Program at the Village Gathering!
Children aged 7 and up are welcome to join experienced teachers and mentors from our community for a few hours or a full day of learning, nature exploration, crafts, and fun while their parents attend scheduled workshops. Activities may include: exploring the landscape, circus yoga, shelter building, awareness games, nature inquiry, frog catching, and much more! Three sessions are planned. Sessions I is Saturday 9-12, and session II will be from 2-5. Sunday, Session III will run from 9-12. Children are welcome to join any one or all sessions. Attendance for the session in its entirety is requested. Children should come ready to be outdoors all day, with snacks and the appropriate clothing to get dirty. Lead mentors have experience gained from work with Outward Bound and EarthWalk, and are certified in wilderness first aid and CPR. Parent volunteers are welcome.  Children must pre-register, contact Abbi to register abbi.jaffe@gmail.com 

Join the Bike Brigade from Plainfield or Montpelier and we’ll shuttle your gear for you 

Please try to carpool to the Village Gathering click here for rideshare info 

Scroll down to find detailed info on last year’s 5 VbC  2010 Projects.

Having fun at Saturday’s Localvore picnic at the Old Shelter in Hubbard Park.  

August 14-22, the greater Montpelier area came 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 focuses 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

This was the shed in fall of 2010, with help from so many people.                                            You have to see it to believe it.

check updates on the garden sign bulletin board or at:  http://greaterbarrecommunity.ning.com/group/communitygardenenthusiasts

contact: Jessica Sanderson – 802-922-5241

Garden and Workshop location: The Barre Metro Way Community Garden is located on Metro Way, between the railroad tracks and the jail branch river in downtown Barre. It is behind Clark’s Feed (behind post office and Barre opera House). Or, cross the railroad tracks behind Aubuchon Hardware, go left, to the end of the street and see the garden on your right.

The garden shed will be a functional and educational beauty in downtown Barre, made of local non-toxic materials with many local hands. Come for part or all of the project.

Thanks to all volunteers and hope to see you in the garden!

2. Straw-clay Rootcellar with Passive ventilation – All Together Now

Completed! Now it’s time to stock up and see  how it performs.

Picture of the Day -Monday

Site: AllTogetherNow!

170 Cherry Tree Hill Road, East Montpelier

call 223-1242 to register or email 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

3. Healing Garden * Another Way, Montpelier

Location: 125 Barre St., Montpelier, VT

Contact: Cornelius Murphy – ireyed@gmail.com

Description: Share in creating a space for rejuvenation and reflection.  We will explore the basics of permaculture & edible landscape design while constructing a live willow sculpture and bench.

4. Megalithic Stone Moving Workshop* Dreamland, Worcester

Ivan tuning up for Rock and Roll.

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 Planting * Downtown Montpelier

Wednesdays picture -Maureen and the lavender

Site:City Hall on Main street.

Description: Join Nicko Rubin at East Hill Tree Farm Nursery for a discussion on designing and maintaining your edible landscape; from plant variety and site selection to ongoing maintenance, mulching and organic fertility management.

Contact –Jim Buckley – jbuckley(at)sover.net

Thanks to all our panelists for a great series of discussions. If you want to see them on video, they were taped by Orca Media.  Hopefully we will have a copy for people to view in the near future.

Friday’s discussion of “Our Energy Choices”

Thank you to this years sponsors:

Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism

Kellogg-Hubbard Library

Rhapsody Cafe

The Montpelier Bridge

Langdon Street Cafe

Capitol Grounds Cafe

Watch this video from VbC 2009

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