I'll be doing a public talk at the 10th annual Tatamagouche Free School. - http://freeschool.fairtrademedia.com/
Ask A SURVIVALIST - Sharing the common ground between Preppers, Permies and Transition Town.
Last year, I did a talk, there, on food storage. I covered everything from canned goods to giving a demonstration on Mylar in bucket sealing. I only expected a few people to show up. What I didn't expect was a full room of greatly appreciative people. I guess the subject is on a lot of peoples mind but they needed someone like me to bring it into the open so others didn't have to feel like paranoid, whack-job survivalists.
I decided to do an open forum, this year, so people could ask questions in a safe environment. I also reached out to a "Friend Of The Club" and asked Michael Jensen to join me in this endeavour for a completely different perspective. Michael is the cofounder of ApocaDocs, http://www.apocadocs.com/ , co runs LETS, the local barter currency and also a local organic farmer.
There is always things to learn at this event, like wine making or tanning road kill. This years schedule is still to be announced. Speaking of which, I cant tell you when I will be talking yet as they are a bit behind on the schedule . Will Update as it comes in.
As a bonus, The Waldegrave Farm that hosts this event, is a fantastic example of an Intentional Community that has been around for years. For those considering Survival Groups, This is one successful model. http://thechronicleherald.ca/heraldmagazine/1133489-shared-vision-goes-a-long-way-down-on-the-farm
The event is free. There is a cost if you would like to stay for the entire week end, sharing in food and camping. Probably a much lesser cost just to camp. People travel from all over eastern Canada to this event. Be warned. Expect hacky sacking and dancing, as well.
I have a Tactical Harness and I have a Tool Belt. The Tool Belt is more Useful.
So far, so good. We have workshops on, hands on Chicken Butchery, Midwifery, Soil management, Buying Land and Living Collectively, Darning socks, and Rag, Rug, making (blankets)
I have a Tactical Harness and I have a Tool Belt. The Tool Belt is more Useful.
Well, Here is the workshop ad
Three Shades of Survival - Sharing the common ground between Preppers, Permies and Transition Townies
Are you a Prepper? A Permaculturist? A Transition Townie? Or are you just giving up because everything’s going to hell? We presume you've been paying attention or you wouldn't be at the Free School: You know that continuous growth in a finite system is unsustainable, positive feedbacks in the Arctic... aren't.; that energy, climate and the economy are going haywire; There is no "normal" that can be predicted, about the future. Several different response strategies have developed. Mostly, Preppers, Permaculturists, and Transition Town.
In general, Preppers try to develop personal plans for societal eventualities. Permaculturists strive to build systems that are self-enhancing, focusing on design more than specific goals. Transition Towns folks strive to develop community resilience frameworks as an antidote to the toxic status quo. All are trying to find ways to survive our long-anticipated, intrinsically chaotic, and ethically challenging SHTF era. Now that the Shit is actually hitting the Fan, we are confronted with the ethical challenges of different survival strategies, as well as the question of whether those strategies have a good chance of producing actual survival.
This Freeschool workshop is an opportunity to ask uncomfortable questions, in a safe environment, as to the actual "How" of Survival.
Ross Raven and Michael Jensen have been Walking their Talk, each making substantial lifestyle changes in order to prepare (or ‘transition’) for the future they were anticipating. . Ross is more a “prepper,” Michael more a “perma-transitioner,” but both are interested in ANYTHING THAT WORKS
Time and date still to be anounced
I have a Tactical Harness and I have a Tool Belt. The Tool Belt is more Useful.
...waiting (not so) patiently for further info re: dates.
They are having scheduling issues. Its supposed to be up sometime this weekend
I have a Tactical Harness and I have a Tool Belt. The Tool Belt is more Useful.
Well, Its finally in. 3:15 Friday. The unfortunate thing is that I will be competing with the DIY chicken workshop...which I would have liked to have gone to and I think will probably make ours a much smaller group of participants. I guess, nothing to do but muscle through.
http://freeschool.fairtrademedia.com/schedule
I have a Tactical Harness and I have a Tool Belt. The Tool Belt is more Useful.
HURRAY! They moved the chicken workshop to 11 am....so I can now do both.
Also a recommendation would be to make it to the guest speaker talking about Wild Fermentation, sunday at 10 AM
I have a Tactical Harness and I have a Tool Belt. The Tool Belt is more Useful.
My Talk is now done for the year. Considering the time of day, It wasn't a bad turn out, 15-20 people showed up. What I was surprised about was that a number of the old Transition Town Locals came out of their way to show up. The ones that had started the local farmers market and local barter currency. I think they were somewhat shocked by some of the things I had to say but walked away saying the conversation was "Thought Provoking". I made a point near the end to point to everyone in the circle and say that every single one of them will have a garden hoe in their hand and will be pulling weeds in the near future. I think this was a shock to a few of the older people that somehow thought that someone else would be doing the farming...and not that they would be the unskilled labour force in a battle to keep from starving to death. The younger folks just nodded.
Several people stayed around afterwards to write down some of the book titles I had brought with me and ask me where to find more information. A few came specifically because of the talk I did last year. I had a few people come up afterwards and say, 'I heard about that you gave a talk about "Surviving The Apocalypse". I wish I had gone to that instead. I just didn't know what preppers, permies , transitioners were'.....So, now I know for next time....stop soft selling it. If I just Say, "Surviving the Apocalypse"...people are hungry to know about that.
I have a Tactical Harness and I have a Tool Belt. The Tool Belt is more Useful.