Yestermorrow Design/Build School in Waitsfield, Vermont offers over 80 hands-on courses per year in design, construction, woodworking, and architectural craft and offers a variety of courses concentrating in sustainable design. Now in its 35th year, Yestermorrow is one of the only design/build schools in the country, teaching both design and construction skills. Our hands-on 1-day to 3-week workshops, certificate programs and semester programs are taught by top architects, builders, and craftspeople from across the country. For people of all ages and experience levels, from novice to professional.

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

A Place Called Yestermorrowville

One of the wonders of the internet is that we can design/build electronically that which we cannot have in real life: Yestermorrowville. This is a “place” where we all of us live the way we sustainably should, carry on our pattern of learning, and continue the very same community interactions you experienced during your visit or visits to Yestermorrow. So let me give you a tour around Yestermorrowville.

First we will go to our newspaper the information hub of our community. This periodical is the Yestermorrow e-newsletter which lets you know the general happenings here on campus and elsewhere in our extended community. To subscribe to the e-newsletter click this link: http://yestermorrow.org/request_newsletter.htm and follow the instructions.

Yestermorrowville is also blessed with a magazine. Here the stories are longer in length and run the gambit from updates on projects, the accomplishments of alumni or instructors, or the wild ramblings of staff. The Yestermorrow Magazine is our blog and we welcome your stories and updates. Send them to Erin at erin@yestermorrow.org and we will get your story out there.

As we travel farther down our electronic Main Street we come to the front porch of our general store. This is a place where discussions can be held and interactions reminiscent of talks around the YesterYum cafeteria are held. Right now this front porch is housed on my blog on the Greenopolis website http://greenopolis.com/myopolis/blogs/my-blog. Come sit on the porch with me for a while and we will see where our thoughts take us.

There is also sort of a soda fountain where chit-chat and whimsy abound. This is a place to share photos and catch up with former classmates and meet new ones. You might even have a dialog about ride sharing here. The soda fountain is our site on FaceBook http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=14368031554 join up and sit for a spell. You might see old friends or a 4th of July float or two.

We also have a movie theater in Yestermorrowville. Here we show short films about the school, our instructors, and videos of efforts we support or like. This is our YouTube Channel which has drama, content and a lot of other features thrown in for fun http://www.youtube.com/user/yestermorrowdb . Watch the videos and subscribe to the channel so you’ll be notified when new videos are added.

Yestermorrowville is all about adult and sometimes youth education. No trip to the “Ville” would be complete without seeing what is on the educational menu http://www.yestermorrow.org/courses.htm . Now there is more reason than ever to check this and check it often because we are going to be offering some special classes that won’t be listed in our catalog.

We also try to change the world at Yestermorrowville. We simply cannot help ourselves; we are basically do-gooders and it shows. Our current efforts in this area are two-fold. First, we are promoting a page that features Yestermorrow on the Changent site http://www.changents.com/change-agents/bob-ferris that will help encourage others to move to our beautifully designed and sustainable community. Join Changent and please sign on as a backer—and feel free to post as well. A true inhabitant of Yestermorrowville would also click on as backer on the Carbon Shredders page http://www.changents.com/change-agents/carbon-shredders . This is an effort that Yestermorrow co-founded with Seventh Generation and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters.

So even if we cannot all live in Yestermorrowville physically, we can certainly do the next best thing. Come join us, introduce others to our community, and keep going on the life-long learning pathway you started on your first visit to Yestermorrow.

Bob Ferris
Executive Director
Yestermorrow Design/Build School

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