Welcome to the February issue of the SGNB Newsletter.

In this Issue

	A Need for Sufficiency
	Natural Building in Hawai'i
	Summer Permaculture Design Course in Burlington, Vermont
	Natural Design/Build in France and beyond
	Urban Natural Building and Permaculture Project in El Sobrante CA
	An apology

In Other News

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A Need for Sufficiency

Sustainability is a term that has gained a lot of traction in political, business, and media circles and, perhaps not surprisingly, has become increasingly vague and bastardized in meaning. We need to re-examine how we as individuals and communities can incorporate practices of Sufficiency, Sustainability, and Durability into our lives.  Our present global depression-like recession will offer challenges, for some, serious challenges and struggles, during the coming months.  Without being flippant or insincere about this situation we join the ever-growing chorus of  people noting that this is an opportunity  to develop new avenues for our economies, new relationships, and strengthened communities - truly a chance to institute models of Sufficiency, Sustainability, and Durability. The potential for a "great re-skilling" (to borrow a term from a colleague) whereby people regain their heritage skills in caring for themselves, family, and friends by knowing the fundamentals of appropriate building, growing, harvesting, and preserving food, producing energy, and other essentials of living on this planet is large. To encourage as many people as possible in these endeavors, SGNB would like to emphasize our sliding scale and work-trade policies regarding workshop tuition. Although many of us may be feeling a financial pinch, now is the time to learn natural building design and construction, so please contact us and we can figure out how to accomodate your needs. We hope to see you at one of our many 2009 workshops as we all strive together to develop a durable and sufficient future.

Natural Building in Hawai'i

Tim is collaborating with MA'O Organic Farms (www.maoorganicfarms.org) in Wai'anae, O'ahu, Hawai'i to offer a spring/summer natural building workshop series. MA'O is the largest organic grower on O'ahu while providing educational and social entrepreneurial opportunities for Wai'anae youth. The building project and workshop series is a unique opportunity to learn the fundamentals of earth construction, timber-framing, natural plasters, and more, particularly as they apply to subtropical/tropical environments.  Students will participate in the construction of an extensive courtyard that includes outdoor classrooms, a kitchen, bread oven, and a value-added food prep area. Discounts are available for students that enroll in multiple courses.

Summer Permaculture Design Course in Burlington, Vermont

Mark, along with a number of other local friends and colleagues is pleased to announce Burlington, Vermont's second annual Permaculture Design Certification Course at Rock Point in Burlington.  This year's course is scheduled June 15-27 and will feature extensive lecture, hands-on practical skills as well as in-depth ecological design practice.  Additionally, during the middle of our two week intensive, we will be leaving our host site for an eye opening field trip, visiting cutting edge farm operations, homesteads, ecological designers and more for a fascinating  look at 'permaculture in practice'.  All inclusive tuition is $1200.  For more information, contact Mark at mark@sgnb.com or 802-999-2768 and look for course updates on our new website as well as the Burlington Permaculture website

(http://burlingtonpermaculture.googlepages.com)

Natural Design/Build in France and beyond

This summer Mark is also gearing up for a number of natural building workshops both in the northeast and this year, for the very first time, at The Art Farm in southern France.  

June 8-12 in East Montpelier, Vermont, Mark and friend and colleague David Ludt will be leading a dynamic basics of cob workshop, featuring three forms of natural construction - a dry laid stone foundation, cob wall and woven roundwood wattle screen.  

Additionally, we're in the process of finalizing details for our third summer offering in Binghamton, New York likely sometime in July.  This year we plan to complete wall construction of a hybrid earthbag, rammed tire, slipform stone, cob, strawbale greenhouse/toolshed.  Whew, that's a mouthful!  Needless to say, it's a great opportunity to see a  bevy of natural building techniques in practice.  

Finally, for those looking to mix hands-on education with vacation, Mark and his partner Julia Kirk will be leading a two week 'Natural Building Design/Build Intensive' at the Art Farm in France September 14-27.  Think educational, relaxing, cheese-and-wine filled, vacation on a ancient volcano in southern France.  During this workshop, we'll explore the precepts of natural building from the ground up, beginning with a detailed survey of the needs of our host 'clients' and a thorough assessment of both the natural resources and the potential site options available to us.  From there, we'll work to design a natural structure that best responds to these realities and spend the remaining ten or so days building it.  Though we will not likely complete the project, it will most certainly provides students with an eye-opening experience of the design/build process.  We sincerely hope to see you somewhere along the way!

Urban Natural Building and Permaculture Project in El Sobrante CA

After many years in the desert, Sasha has returned to the Bay Area to apply some of what she has learned in an Urban setting. She is living and working on an urban retrofit project on a once boarded-up, and conventionally built house from the 40s. The retrofit will involve natural materials, implementing living systems, and creating a permaculture plan to grow food and other useful plants on the 1/3 of an acre site. The house is being transformed daily-from a squatter's paradise, filled with appropriate squatter trash, and missing certain details like plumbing, to a bright and bustling home. When we first pried boards off the windows (only about a month ago in early January now) sunlight filled the house and let us see just how many holes there were in the walls, and let us read the graffiti more easily. Luckily we all view the challenges as opportunities. We are embarking on engaging the county, pushing boundaries and breaking new ground as much as possible. We will be offering several workshops, as well as many other ways of being involved. See our full schedule on our web site for dates and details. Contact Sasha if you are interested in participating in any way, especially if you are interested in getting updates about our work parties and other educational events. I will be generating a new list of contacts for people who want updates about this project. To find out more about this project, you can visit our blog http://villasobrante.blogspot.com/

An apology

Folks may have received multiple solicitations from Twitter requesting that they follow SGNB's postings. We apologize for the numerous email messages---apparently Twitter has some glitches on their end and the message was meant to be sent a single time. Nothing like getting multiple annoying emails to start the day right! However, if you do Twitter we would appreciate your collaboration. Thanks.