Step It Up II: Don't Be A Fool...Carpool

On Saturday morning November 3rd at 11:00 AM Yestermorrow will host our second Step It Up event. This one--the Pre-event, Local Lunch and Valley Carpool Rally--will start with some very short inspirational speeches; continue with a group picture and a local food tailgate feed; and end with carpooling to the max to get folks to the Step It Up II: Who are the Leaders in Montpelier. Check out what's going on at: http://stepitup2007.org/ and if our 05674 event is not in your neighborhood, find one that is!

Barn Raising Sunday October 27, 2007

Costa Rica class graduates Gillian and Russell Comstock are hosting a barn raising this Sunday at the Metta Earth Institute in Lincoln, Vermont. The structure composed of hand-hewn, on-site harvested timber and materials recycled from a post and beam barn will be transformed into one of the new buildings at their retreat. So come one and come all and help them raise their barn. For directions, details, contact information and to learn more about MEI visit: http://www.mettaearth.org/

We wish them well!

Friends of Yestermorrow offer Thailand Workshops

Our friends at Seven Generations Natural Builders will be offering two natural building courses in Thailand this winter. Read on to learn more about these opportunities:

In less than a decade, earth building has been embraced by many Thai communities as an appropriate building technology---economically, environmentally, socially, and spiritually. The speed by which earth construction has been adopted, the community support and training, and the number of homes and structures built provides an outstanding example and inspiration for those of us in industrialized countries. These two two-week natural building courses in Thailand will bring together Thai and non-Thai students to work on the building of a kitchen and children’s play house at the Whispering Seed community. As a collaboration with Whispering Seed (http://sgnb.createsend3.com/t/1/l/dittu/ptljlt/www.whisperingseed.org ), a children’s home and community living and learning center on the Thai-Burmese border, students will spend two weeks learning the fundamentals of earth construction, gaining an understanding of the characteristics of different sediments (clay, sand, silt), and how to use a variety of techniques to create earthen building materials----from abode block, to cob, to wattle and daub, plaster, and more. The Thailand courses are unique in several respects: the student body will combine Western students and local Thai, Burmese and Karen students to facilitate cross-cultural experiences and learning; construction of a kitchen and children’s play building using earth and local resources at a Thai children’s home is one of the purest examples of the possibilities and benefits of natural building in bringing people together as a community to help others; unlike most cob courses in temperate and desert North America, students will learn techniques for earth construction in tropical and subtropical climates incorporating bamboo, thatch, and round wood carpentry. Tuition covers room and board at Whispering Seed, as well as subsidizes the Thai, Burmese and Karen students’ participation. Tuition for one of the two-week courses is $1000, for students that wish to enroll in both classes the total tuition is $1500. Enrollment is limited to 10 foreign students per workshop and because of travel/logistic issues the enrollment deadline is December 7, 2007. For more information, or to register, visit the Seven Generations Natural Builders website, http://sgnb.com/workshops.php.

Yestermorrow Featured in Seven Days

This week's Seven Days newspaper out of Burlington included a feature story on Yestermorrow entitled "Raising the Roof: A Waitsfield design/build school drafts post-carbon plans". Check it out at: http://www.sevendaysvt.com/features/2007/raising-the-roof.html.

Fly South for the Winter

Do you want to find a warm place to learn this Winter? Are you dedicated enough to take Yestermorrow's longest class? If you answered both of those questions in the affirmative you should consider Design/Build in the Dominican Republic running from January 3-2o, 2008. But you better act now because spaces are limited and the deadline for this popular class is November 16th.

So what does that have to do with the building at right? This is a tea house built here in Warren by Sandy Lawton who is one of the course instructors. To see more of pictures of this wonderful structure please visit: http://picasaweb.google.com/arrodesign/BlackTreehouseCompletedProject

And think seriously about hanging out with Sandy and Kyle Bergman in the Dominican Republic. You will be very glad you did!

THANKS!!!!!!

Thanks to our loyal students and blogsters (I have no idea if that is a word) Yestermorrow seems to be maintaining a comfortable, fifty-three percent lead in the Yert.com Vermont video choice poll. That means that the Yertians (also not sure this is a word) will be issuing a new video that will feature more on Yestermorrow. Stayed tuned, but until then, here is a new link for the current Yert video with Yestermorrow clips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VM09pV05DV0

as well as the link to Yestermorrow's own video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5amc7ULrOkg

It’s Not Your Daddy’s Factory Built Home

It is often wondered whether people of normal means can afford a truly green, energy efficient house designed by an architect for their lifestyle and their particular site – especially if that site is in the snow-belt. Five Vermont architecture firms have spent over a year studying this question and their explorations have revealed the remarkable potential of factory built homes.

Five different design solutions were created for an actual 3-acre site in Manchester, Vermont. All went beyond the highest Energy Star rating and some even met the highest LEED rating (US Green Building Council’s national metric for green buildings). Designs ranged in cost from $75/s.f. to $200.00/s.f. depending on the size and number being built. While most designs were around 2500 s.f., some studio designs are as little as 800.

These designs will be on display at the Burlington’s City Hall in the Metropolitan Gallery Nov. 1 thru Nov. 15. Additionally, on November 7th at 5:30 pm, there will be a special presentation and panel discussion led by the architects and manufacturers of the projects. Refreshments will be served and there will be printed information available for those interested in green, affordable housing.

This effort is organized under the auspices of the Vermont Chapter of the Congress of Residential Architecture (CORAvt) and sponsored by CSI, RK. Miles Building Supply, Hastings Inc. and others.

Congrats to Bill Maclay and NRG Systems

Congratulations to long-term Yestermorrow board member Bill Maclay and his architectural team for having their design for the NRG Systems building in Hinesburg, Vermont selected as the cover photograph for the fall 2007 issue of Northeast Sun. The magazine which is published by the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association is one of our favorites--as are Bill (whose office is constantly helping us with the campus plan and far too frequent printing assistance) and NRG's co-founder David Blittersdorf (who spoke here during our summer lecture series). Congratulations and many thanks to both of you for supporting Yestermorrow and having the collective vision to produce a work environment that not only produces 70% or so of its own power but also supports programs that reduce the collective carbon footprint of those that work in this cutting edge structure.

Green Shirts Invade Yestermorrow

Ten young people from the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps recently descended upon Yestermorrow as part of the perfect barter arrangement. They were seeking cob building skills, Yestermorrow was seeking laborers to help finish a cob garden wall. Five days later and voila: the cob wall is much closer to completion, and the VYCC'ers are now cob-handy. Gotta love it!

Too much fun!

I'm muddier than you.

Next generation of natural builders.

Crew chief Josh says, "Awesome! Less work for me."

The garden wall, closer to completion.