Happy Spring!

Here’s a little update on our 2009 workshops and a plug for our first
workshop of the season, which is a 4-day Carpentry Intensive June 2-6.
Please help us get the word out by forwarding this message to your lists
and to friends you think might be specifically interested.

Thanks,
Michael G. Smith and Emerald Earth

Carpentry Intensive Workshop
June 2-5, 2009
Emerald Earth Sanctuary, Boonville, California
Instructors: Tom Shaver, Liz Schroeder, Michael G. Smith
Cost: $360 includes camping and delicious organic meals. 10% discount
for full payment by May 4 and for Mendocino County residents.
        Learn basic skills needed to frame a house and to realize your own
carpentry projects of any size. This is a hands-on class designed to
develop your skills in layout, cutting and assembly by practicing on
real projects, including building a deck, a picnic table, and a stud
frame wall. Starting with safety considerations, you will learn to use
hand and power tools, to select the right fasteners for the job, and to
understand the forces that act on wooden structures. The last day of the
class will be an introduction to framing with unmilled round poles.
Class size is limited to 8 to ensure a high instructor-student ratio.

Other Upcoming Classes:

Natural Building Intensive
July 26- August 2
Instructors: Michael G. Smith, Darryl Berlin, and friends
Cost: $760 includes camping and 3 delicious organic meals per day. 10%
discount for full payment by June 29 and for Mendocino County residents.
        This comprehensive workshop will give you hands-on experience in up
to 10 different natural building techniques including cob, straw bale,
slipstraw or light straw-clay, slip-and-chip, clay wattle, earthen
plasters, hand-made paints, and more. The workshop aims to familiarize
students with the basic family of natural building materials: clay or
earth, straw, wood, and stone, and what can be accomplished with each
alone and in combination with the others. At least half of each day is
spent in hands-on building with a high ratio of experienced instructors.
Lectures and discussions cover passive solar and other design principles
for energy-efficient, compact natural homes. There will also be an
extensive tour of the most complete natural building demonstration site
on the West Coast, with an emphasis on ecological materials harvesting,
off-grid electrical generation, greywater reclamation, composting
toilets, and more. Evening slide presentations and videos, a sauna and a
dip in our pond, and wood-fired pizza from our earthen oven round out
this 8-day intensive experience.

Natural Building Intensive
September 13-20
See above for description.

Acorns for Food
November 7
Instructor: Donna D’Terra
Cost: $75 includes a delicious acorn lunch.
        We will look at the important role that acorns played in the lives
of California’s indigenous peoples and learn how we can use this
nutritious, delicious food as a staple in our diets. There will be
hands-on processing of acorns, food samples, and recipes to share. Learn
to identify the primary oak species of Northern California and know
which ones make the best food for you and your family.

For more information see www.emeraldearth.org
or email workshops@emeraldearth.org. To register, mail a check or postal
money order payable to Emerald Earth Workshops, PO Box 764, Boonville,
CA 95415. You can send either full payment minus appropriate discounts,
a $100 non-refundable deposit for the Carpentry workshop, or a $200
non-refundable deposit for Natural Building Intensives.