Mobile Movers & Shakers Descend on Yestermorrow

Two unique vehicles spent time parked at the Yestermorrow campus in the last week. First, the Mobile Seed Story Broadcasting Station, a collaborative project investigating food culture in action, set up shop in our lower parking lot.

Nina DuBois and Jenn Hart-Mann in front of the Mobile Seed Story Broadcasting Station.

The Seed Story Mobile has been traveling the country, visiting farmers, growers, and seed libraries; along the way, they've been listening to, recording, and broadcasting stories about pollinated seed networks, the ecology of urban and rural agricultural systems, and the meshwork of environmental concerns permeating food production today. Yestermorrow Certificate student Nina DuBois was onboard the Seed Story Mobile, supporting the work of her good friend Jenn Hart-Mann.

Just a few days later, Certificate in Sustainable Building & Design student Reid Rosemond visited Yestermorrow with the Sol Food Mobile Farm, his culminating Practicum project for the Certificate program. Reid collaborated with friends to create the Sol Food Mobile Farm as an experiential, hands-on teaching program based around planting and harvesting garden vegetables. The program operates out of a retrofitted school bus that is in the midst of a six-month tour around the United States, hosting workshops focusing on gardening, nutrition, composting, and alternative fuels. They hope to inspire individuals within these communities to foster a deep ethic of environmental stewardship in their local area.

Reid Rosemond and his Sol Food Mobile Farm.

We wish both groups the best of luck as they continue down the road!

In Memoriam

Yestermorrow lost an instructor and friend in early July. 

We were all deeply saddened to hear of the death of woodworking instructor John Connell, who drowned in a tragic accident on Lake Memphremagog. John was new to the Yestermorrow faculty. He co-taught one segment of the 2012 Woodworking Certificate Program and was well appreciated by the students for his skillful teaching and caring attention. John was a woodworker and cabinetmaker for 30 years and owned his own business, Sycamore Woodworks. He was a talented craftsman, teacher, and coach. His excellent teaching and his great smile will be deeply missed. 

Our heartfelt condolences to John's family and the many people who knew and loved him.

Welcome Norgay!

Konchok Norgay recently arrived here at Yestermorrow all the way from Ladakh, a Himalayan region of north India. Norgay has long worked as a teacher, and most recently as executive director, of SECMOL, an innovative school that has pioneered passive solar building and renewable energy education in Ladakh.

Konchok Norgay arrives at Yestermorrow

Norgay will be a student in the Natural BuildingCertificate Program this summer, and hopes to gain a deeper exposure to best practices in renewable energy, natural building, and sustainability education. This fall he will return to Ladakh and continue teaching practical skills and systems thinking to Ladakhi youth and builders. He is also working to create social enterprises building energy efficient earthen homes and local foods across Ladakh.

If you see Norgay around campus, please come say "Jullay!" (hello in Ladakhi) - and if you'd like to support Norgay's participation in the Natural Building Certificate Program this summer, please consider donating to his scholarship fund.