Friday, August 5, 2011

OLY VBC SCHEDULE

 

                     Olympia VBC Schedule                                              


TONIGHT!  Saturday August 13th 
7-830 PM
Mark Lakeman and Mighk Simpson from Portland, OR
presentation on City Repair and Planet Repair! 

This presentation will examine the colonial context of the urban grid that we live in, while emphasizing the persistent tendency of life systems to restore regenerative patterns across the planet. This unstoppable movement of life toward regeneration offers us a starting point and opportunity for the transformation of the grid into urban villages.  We will consider how the Planet Repair Institute offers a replicable example of a home that is engaged in Block Repair and Village Building, imbedded in a typical North American grid landscape.
830-1000 Music by the Erev Rav...

 


MAIN EVENT -AUGUST 11-14:::All Day WORK PARTIES @ the Central Venue, 
Fertile Guild Commons-- 9th & Adams in Dowtown Oly

COMMUNITY WELCOMING GATE to FGCC 
Thursday-Sunday, 10AM-5 PM,  
Help welcome the community into Fertile/ Guild Commons, by helping construct a curved fence and archway /gate  over a patio made of repurposed broken concrete (called 'urbanite') .   We'll stain a sun-ray pattern into the patio with iron sulfide (a garden fertilizer) and a water-based concrete stain.
The design of the fence will echo the sun ray patterning.  Get a chance to work with and learn from Ramon, the twisted twigster.

each day 10 am-5 pm:
Thursday August 11:   bring a pickup truck if you have one!  gathering up and breaking as necessary the chunks of concrete,  laying and leveling the sub base of gravel,  screeding with recycled glass,
  beginning to lay urbanite
Friday August 12:   Cutting pieces for the archway and fence,  continuing to lay patio
Saturday, August 13th:   installing archway and fence,  laying patio
Sunday, Aug 14...Finishing it up,  including staining concrete in a sun-ray pattern



CHICKEN VIEWING TRACTOR LOUNGE
Thursday-Sunday 10AM-5PM
The chickens at Fertile Ground are celebrities.  Help construct a chicken-viewing lounge made of real tractor parts, both new and antique.  Wheels, chassis, shiny bench seats and more...  work with local sculptor/metalworker Bill Fleming

Thursday:  Stump grinder comes to remove a voracious holly tree that is vying for the same territory

Thursday/Friday 10-5:   Prime & Paint tractor parts
Saturday/Sunday: 10-5:  Assemble the sculpture.

REPAIR THE COB OVEN-  Friday 10-5.    Patch up the renowned pizza oven that has through its delicious creations has helped raise funds for many organizations and causes in the olympia community

EARTHEN PLASTER -  Saturday 10-1  & 2-5.    Learn to mix a natural interior plaster from wheat paste, sand, portland cement and pigment from iron oxide.  Smear it on to the walls of the eco-house.




MANDALA PAINTING  9th & Adams...

Saturday   10 AM -5 PM    mix natural paints and annual repaint that mandala celebration.

~Around sunset  We will do the hokey pokey! 

ROUNDHOUSE GATHERING SPACE  All day, every day.   Check out the simple, beautiful roundwood timber structure and imagine building your own.. Bring your musical instruments to play, or take a break to lounge under the spiraling reciprocating roof.  Adorn the structure with decorations, bring blankets cushions...  Designer/builder Huckleberry will be around Thursday and Friday.   see homeearth.tumblr.com for pictures and details of his work.

Water Flowform Installation at Kirsten Sogge's Home, 1615 Puget St. NE*
Saturday, afternoon

Join us to complete the installation of a three level flowform flowing into
a pond in Kirsten's yard.   Flowforms are unique in that the water flowing through them takes up a
pulsing figure of eight movement. The engaging sight and sound of water, and the pieces themselves, make flowforms ideally suited to a wide range of settings and applications, including public, educational and private
installations. Flowforms also have a functional purpose and are used for biological purification, farming, food processing, interior air-conditioning, therapeutic, medicinal and other applications.

See flowforms in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWPlpdVLil4&feature=related; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAHKvZhuDlQ&feature=related; http://ebbandflowltd.co.uk/
Contact Kirsten Sogge 360-339-3647   kirstenso@yahoo.com


LIVING ROOF FOR THE FERTILE GROUND PIZZA OVEN
**This project has been postponed , so won't be happening at this year's VBC.**


 AND DON"T FORGET....EVENING EVENTS/WORKSHOPS
Thursday August 11th:   
7-8:30 PM
Compassionate Communication with Liv Monroe

Would you like to Connect across differences and inspire compassion within each other? Speak in ways most likely to be heard; Fully listen to one another without anger, blame or defensiveness? The quality of our connection with others depends on the quality of communication. Learn to resolve conflict and connect more easily through the tools of Nonviolent Communication

Friday August 12th
7-830 PM
South Sound Food Summit presentation by TJ Johnson

The upcoming food summit plans to bring our community together to celebrate, network and develop an action plan for a just, sustainable and resilient local food system.

Saturday August 13th 
7-830 PM
Mark Lakeman and Mighk Simpson from Portland, OR
presentation on City Repair and Planet Repair! 

This presentation will examine the colonial context of the urban grid that we live in, while emphasizing the persistent tendency of life systems to restore regenerative patterns across the planet. This unstoppable movement of life toward regeneration offers us a starting point and opportunity for the transformation of the grid into urban villages.  We will consider how the Planet Repair Institute offers a replicable example of a home that is engaged in Block Repair and Village Building, imbedded in a typical North American grid landscape.

830-10:00
The Erev Rav Orchestra  !   local klezmer band

Sunday August 14th

COMMUNITY CELEBRATION!



& ONWARD!
  Love Your Local Festival~ Eastside neighborhood blockparty
Sunday, August 21st


For others who would like to participate the following weekend, some folks in the Northeast Neighborhood would love your collaboration to help create a music, crafts, intersection repair, block celebration on Sunday, August 21st. Our energy together will make this a one-of-a-kind day. Music by Erev Rav and the Blackberry Bushes.  Please feel free to contact Daniel Landin or Marie Poland to find out more information; email: hearttone@gmail.com, buylocalss@gmail.com or call: 360-259-1589





NW Olympia Pocket Park work party
 Sunday, September 18th, 11am-3pm

Come to the beautiful new pocket park at the corner of NW Madison and Thomas to help with maintenance and improvements, possibly building additional benches...  contact Robin Ivey-Black @ 352-3046 for more info.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Past Events

a simple foundation to hold the posts
reciprocating roof holding itself up



 Raising the Roundhouse,  w/Huckleberry August 6th 
We had a great time raising the simple, beautiful easy to understand frame and roof.   Several of the participants are inspired to build one themselves...  this basic framework can be applied to build a house, greenhouse, outdoor kitchen, gymnasium, etc.      see homeearth.tumblr.com/  for more pictures/info of  Huckleberry's work..








Hanging from the rafters!
A spruce wall panel sample
the roof from below




TOCA meeting, June 21st: "Transition the Neighborhood, Olympia"
People jumped at the chance to stand next to each other during an "I need/I have" icebreaker, to sit closely, lean in, laugh, and encourage each other's creativitvity, joviality, and love for their communities through simple neighborhood exploration games.

"I'm amazed to find that almost all of my needs can be meet within my immediate community, all it takes is to talk with my neighbors" a participant reflected on the community mapping exercise.


Intersection Repair...  In a creative environment free of the restraints of what is 'possible' within current codes and fiscal conditions- groups sculpted 'intersection repairs' out of clay and found objects,  modifying our current common template of a neighborhood intersection to make it conducive to gathering, producing onsite food and resources, sharing of skills, ideas and tools; overall, being a beautiful living representation of who the neighbors are..


   Some of the improvements included a giant hammock that fit about 8 people over the (now pedestrain/bicycle only) road,  a huge arching grape trellis corner to corner,  a book cart/exchange 'knowledge commons',  a re-workable co-sculpture in the center,  a poem post,  a bird bath and bee hives with a solar panel roof, and a giant BUBBLE wand, 

The Northwest Ecobuilders Guild hosted Olympia Village Building Convergence-a Design Charette with great success. (Thursday, June 16th, 6-9 @ Urban Onion)

  Groups presented their projects for this years Olympia VBC, then we developed them in small groups, and shared our expanded and /or refined plans. 
      The next day, Mark Lakeman, community architect and activist of Portland, joined a tour of VBC sites

Our exciting projects include a building an community welcoming gate into the new fertile guild commons downtown, repair of their pizza oven roof, and creation of a 'chicken viewing bench'; & improvements to the pocket park in west oly, including beautiful benches of recycled materials.

Anyone have any pictures of this event to share?  Email them to olyvbc@gmail and I can post them.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

OLY VBC 2011 Projects / Wishlist

We are looking for a volunteer coordinator,  child care coordinators during the event;  and plenty of volunteers to participate in the exciting work parties!   

MATERIALS WISH LIST FOR SPECIFIC PROJECTS

Community Welcoming Gate

PATIO-  Urbanite (broken concrete) 3-4'' consistent thickness, enough to cover about 150 ft2.
BENCH- Need 3 cedar or tight-grain fir bench slabs approx 30"x 70" and base mounting materials (TBD)
 PIER BLOCKS 4x4s  w/ metal brackets
MANDALA SUPPLIES  Portland Cement, Masonry Lime and Iron Oxide


Cob Oven Living Roof 
STRUCTURAL-   6x6 posts, 2x6, 2x8, 2x10, 2x12, 3x6;  concrete, rebar, forms
SEDUM PLANTS -  Succulents for the living roof..
CUSTOM COUNTERTOP-  Custom-made hardwood or cement for pizza cooking zone

Chicken Tractor Lounge
Services of a sculptor.  work with metal parts to create 'tractor lounge'
ANTIQUE TRACTOR PARTS-individual metal seats, tractor tires, other old parts which can be incorporated into the whimsical sculpture/bench/climbing play area...

Greywater Recycling System
PLUMBER-  To install a 3-way valve, reroute pipes under bathtub, create new outfall to exterior from bathtub, bath sink and basement laundry
OLD BATHTUBS and SURGE BARREL  3 old iron/ceramic bathtubs which can be filled with baffels (forces water to flow through) constructed wetland.  55-gal.  Surge barrel for beginning of system...
WETLAND PLANTS- to grow in bathtubs