Over the last year, we’ve held almost two dozen workshops, which covered topics from knife sharpening to carpentry and beekeeping. What most impressed me was the variety of people interested in sustainability and hands-on learning. After careful deliberation, we have decided to bring our classes together for a weekend event here in Cooksville called the Sustainability Skill Share (SSS). In addition to dozens of classes taking place over two days, we will also have a social aspect: camping, meals, a documentary screening, and perhaps music. We are tentatively looking at Memorial Day weekend (May 25–26) June 1–2, 2019 in Cooksville, Wisconsin. This will be the pilot year of what we hope will be an annual festival of classes related to sustainability, DIY, hands-on, and individual or community self-sufficiency.
Cooksville is the home of the Low Technology Institute and an ideal location to hold such an event. It is a beautiful historic village, with most houses built in the 1850s. Events are regularly held on the village commons, which is a potential camping location with restrooms and indoor space in case of rain (traditional lodging is available nearby). We have an active community that could host courses on forestry safety, invasive plant removal, beekeeping, small-scale commercial vegetable gardening, prairie restoration, blacksmithing, carpentry, small-animal husbandry, orchard maintenance, and more. We also hope to recruit instructors from around the area with expertise in an even wider array of topics.
See the main page under the “events” tab above for more information.
Call for Volunteers for the Steering Committee
We need your help to get this first year’s SSS off the ground. While we have a basic outline of this event, we’d like to create a small group of individuals who can brainstorm solutions and come to a consensus on questions of course topics and themes, instructor recruiting and compensation, pricing and monetary considerations, and others. Volunteers will receive free admission in recognition of their assistance. While we will meet in person at least once in the beginning and as the event approaches, much of the work will be done online to minimize your overall time commitment. If you are interested in signing up to volunteer or hearing more about what it would entail, please contact us at lowtechinstitute@gmail.com.
And if you’re already excited about this and can’t wait, check out the Wisconsin Permaculture Convergence, coming up this fall.