Our journey with each other
More updates are coming that include another post on Twin Oaks as well as a new ecovillage startup in Virginia called Cambia. I also have talks in the works for people who want to learn more about ecovillages. You will be able to find out more about those here on my website.
All this said, I am a Dad and my family comes first.
NatureSummit is a retreat for educators to learn about and get ideas for helping children feel a sense of wonder outdoors. Occuring every two years, it is scheduled for September 16-18, 2016 at Camp Manitou.
I’m excited to mention that they have accepted my workshop proposal. I have work to do and people to talk to, but I will presenting a workshop about ecovillages at this year’s event! Currently titled “Reinventing Ourselves: Changing the Direction of Human Effort,” it will explore the philosophy behind them and offer practical advice on introducing the ideas.
I will follow up with more shortly! You can learn more about Nature Summit on their website.
For Christmas of 2015, Julia, Arthur and myself visited Grandma and Grandpa Buller in Virginia. We were there for about 10 days, covering both Christmas and New Years. We stayed in a suite in their basement that has been rented out in the past.
With a stairway up to the main floor, we all lived together for almost two weeks, and it was wonderful. Grandma and Grandpa took great care of us, nourishing our bodies, hearts and souls. Chef Grandpa made duck for Christmas dinner! Arthur played a lot in the kitchen, even helping Grandpa make cookies. Grandpa also took Arthur for a few rides on the lawn mower and Arthur loved it!
A hot water heater cardboard box had been saved to be used for a fort or house. Boy did Arthur enjoy the house that Uncle John and I cut into it. Arthur would take his stuffed animals in with him to keep him company.
The weather itself was very welcoming! Warm weather greater than 10 degrees Celsius kept us comfortable. We enjoyed driving around in the convertible with the top down a lot of the time.
Julia and I visited Twin Oaks again, an ecovillage that has been around for more than 50 years. The tour guide showed us a new ecovillage just starting up that Twin Oaks is helping to get off the ground. Cambia is suited specifically for families, supporting individual residences. A blog post is forthcoming about Cambia and what we experienced there.
On New Year’s Eve the whole family enjoyed Harrisonburg’s First Night. It was a train night for Arthur! At the Children’s Museum he rode a Thomas the Train ride and also played with other wooden trains that were the same as at his daycare. We walked around the square and Grandma bought donuts. A DJ started playing some music and that set the stage for a dance party. With all ages present, it was awesome to see kids and teenagers getting into the groove. Arthur saw the dancing, and couldn’t wait to get out of his stroller. Together, Arthur and I danced to Macklemore. (Stay tuned, I will be updating this post with video of Arthur dancing.)
Leaving the family afterwards was difficult for everyone. Grandma and Grandpa were terrific hosts, and tears were shed. There’s definitely something about Virginia that is very poignant.
From my family to yours, Happy New Year!
Earthships can transform single-family living, significantly reducing the costs and expenses. Ecovillages take it a step farther, transforming communities and bringing the total cost of living down to near zero or below.
http://www.aquarianonline.com/beyond-earthships-ecovillages/
I contemplate about being a Dad in this post on the Aquarian website. It’s very easy to sink into videogames and screen time with boys. Thing is, I don’t want that for my youngest son. I want him to be healthy, and to enjoy balanced relationships all through his life and for him to unfold naturally. This means that our very culture has to change.
http://www.aquarianonline.com/who-will-lead-a-new-learning-culture/
A small community farm called Ploughshares lies just outside of Beausejour. After a recent visit, my family and I came away refreshed to see how they are making sustainability work for them.
The small homestead houses several families and a number of animals. Receptive and friendly to visitors, the families are close friends, and have been there since about 2006. Not all of them had farming background initially, but have been enjoying learning about it. They had their hands full of chickens being slaughtered upon our arrival. I have seen this done but never had a chance to participate. I jumped in and helped pluck. We chatted about living in community and what they were doing to make it work for them.
They do homeschooling and send teenagers to town for high school. About one adult per family has a job outside of the farm. They are busy in the summer, but not so busy in the winter. Their structure is unique, but not so much that it’s uncommon.
Chickens, goats, pigs and cows are raised on the farm, and a few are slaughtered for meat. Gardens are large enough to stock a root cellar for the winter. They have also had a presence at the St Norbert Farmers market in the past. This past summer they started building a new barn for straw bales. Running water, internet and Netflix are present.
I find Ploughshares embodies a very different pace and style of life. The feel I got there was one of home, happiness and joy, and it was great to visit, even if for just a couple hours. I hope my family can find more of this in our journey.
https://smallfarmsmanitoba.com/farms/24/ploughshares-community-farm
Ok, so I’ve run into my first real frustration with my hybrid computer. Last night I received my 128gb Patriot chip from amazon. I was excited to have a decent chip to work with, as a $10 256gb chip from China was a no go. As soon as I got the chip installed with a virtual disk drive set up (I used the instructions here to turn the removable chip into a permanent drive), I ran CrystalDisk. I was sorely disappointed to discover the difference between the two chips was negligible.
After reviewing this thread on superuser.com, I discovered that the Intel Baytrail SoC (System on a Chip) Z37xx has issues with the MicroSD port. Like, big enough issues that UHS-1 chips don’t work, and if they do, they are extremely slow (think 4+ hours to transfer 4GB.) I’ve looked at firmware updates and nothing addresses the MicroSD. One of the big challenges I run into is that of the 64gb chip built into the tablet, only about 20gb is available, and that’s not enough to install everything I want, or have my necessities from dropbox functional. If I clear off the backup partition and install windows 10, I could free more space but that’s a weeks worth of messing around. I have discovered specific BIOS updates I have to do for that, as this computer uses WIMBoot, which I talked about in this post.
I had a 32GB chip that seemed to work just fine. Perhaps it wasn’t UHS-1. Unfortunately I don’t have CrystalDisk performance tests available for that. I’m going to reinstall that so I have some usable space.
