It's just-gettin'-by time in the Northeast! Winter is still throwing its weight around. We got through a blizzard or two; glad for the "full value" seasonal experience, but been feeling a little cooped up and feverish. Snow has been in view for several weeks running, although it is starting to give way to a lovely mud base everywhere - the first, begrudging, concessions of Spring.
There's greenery ahead out there, somewhere!
We've been indoors a lot. That's okay - much to do about something, at a downshifted pace. Design, hack, organize, fantasize. Scramble to pick up a paid gig here and there, or trade some friendly aid, in order to keep the pantry stocked and wi-fi firing. Long evening hours; trying to socialize in a modest and cozy way - Skype calls to milder climates as last resort.
Right now, production work through VEDA is at a low. We've stalled out in the design phase on two early projects, the RainFlower and SunBucket. Resources, spare hands, and shop access have all been disappointingly limited, one way or another, postponing the alignment of critical assets to kick off a satisfying build-out session. That's agile, on the down days!
Side projects have cropped up, cynicism has crept in...well, not so bad :) More generally, or to the point, it's a slow process building stable patterns of co-work in an organic 'open space' mode. Grist for the mill...
However: it's exciting to announce that we are engaged on a mobile (trailer mounted) tiny home construction project that should bring increasing momentum and focus for the group and its attendant network. More about this beaut as it moves forward--
There's greenery ahead out there, somewhere!
We've been indoors a lot. That's okay - much to do about something, at a downshifted pace. Design, hack, organize, fantasize. Scramble to pick up a paid gig here and there, or trade some friendly aid, in order to keep the pantry stocked and wi-fi firing. Long evening hours; trying to socialize in a modest and cozy way - Skype calls to milder climates as last resort.
Right now, production work through VEDA is at a low. We've stalled out in the design phase on two early projects, the RainFlower and SunBucket. Resources, spare hands, and shop access have all been disappointingly limited, one way or another, postponing the alignment of critical assets to kick off a satisfying build-out session. That's agile, on the down days!
Side projects have cropped up, cynicism has crept in...well, not so bad :) More generally, or to the point, it's a slow process building stable patterns of co-work in an organic 'open space' mode. Grist for the mill...
However: it's exciting to announce that we are engaged on a mobile (trailer mounted) tiny home construction project that should bring increasing momentum and focus for the group and its attendant network. More about this beaut as it moves forward--
Also, on a participatory note, we've been making it out into the field on occasion - or under the hoop-house coldframe - helping a local upstart organic farmer keep her winter crops in shape while spec'ing some useful 'farmhack' appliance innovations to gear up for the main season ahead.
Additional development effort is going towards learning track design, and a much more elaborate, informative profiles system for members of our growing "value network" of participants. See the up and coming vedaco.referata.com wiki for more on that.
Oh, and yours truly ventured haphazardly to Mexico last month to help kick off a global ecovillage design/praxis consortium, of which much shall be told in good time! It all ties in, on the ground here.
Additional development effort is going towards learning track design, and a much more elaborate, informative profiles system for members of our growing "value network" of participants. See the up and coming vedaco.referata.com wiki for more on that.
Oh, and yours truly ventured haphazardly to Mexico last month to help kick off a global ecovillage design/praxis consortium, of which much shall be told in good time! It all ties in, on the ground here.
Our present host site is really quite a large and diverse property, with loads of potential. There is a non-profit called Solaqua set up to oversee things, and we're working with that org (under the aegis of Sarap.is) to design and implement a novel "space grant" program that will help to draw other progressive project ideas into the mix.
We got to hang with the Greenhorns again recently (see final photo, below), enjoyed a film, and talked up the emerging prospect of co-owned eco-social live/work spaces, such as the Savannah Gardens proposal in Wisconsin, or the Our Table venture in Western Oregon, as well as local efforts (including our own!).
Peer learning is a big piece of the picture for us, an always-on ethic of mutual benefit, as well as a framework for transfer and dissemination of 'best practices' and added value as we harvest. The Emerging Leader Labs incubation program which ran at the Solaqua site last summer is slated for repeat starting in June; we'd like to facilitate an earlier hardware-focused variant during the Spring season here with some heartstrong open source acolytes from the Big City! Details ahead.
As it is, we continue to build coherence amongst focused members and supporting community, negotiating 'un-contracts' for amenable access and output, and contributing to open source repositories with the results of our introspection and out-of-the-box-ing.
Money is a tricky medium for the moment - however Meaning is moving us all along, neatly, together.
We got to hang with the Greenhorns again recently (see final photo, below), enjoyed a film, and talked up the emerging prospect of co-owned eco-social live/work spaces, such as the Savannah Gardens proposal in Wisconsin, or the Our Table venture in Western Oregon, as well as local efforts (including our own!).
Peer learning is a big piece of the picture for us, an always-on ethic of mutual benefit, as well as a framework for transfer and dissemination of 'best practices' and added value as we harvest. The Emerging Leader Labs incubation program which ran at the Solaqua site last summer is slated for repeat starting in June; we'd like to facilitate an earlier hardware-focused variant during the Spring season here with some heartstrong open source acolytes from the Big City! Details ahead.
As it is, we continue to build coherence amongst focused members and supporting community, negotiating 'un-contracts' for amenable access and output, and contributing to open source repositories with the results of our introspection and out-of-the-box-ing.
Money is a tricky medium for the moment - however Meaning is moving us all along, neatly, together.