- Date: 27 February – 2 March 2014
- Language:
- English
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Communal Camp-out, Learn new skills and get amongst nature for the weekend.
This is a unique program that allows participants to learn 8 new skills over one weekend from a variety of self-sufficiency categories whilst camping out and experiencing community living at one of our farm or outback locations. We invite eight great teachers to come along and pass on their specialty skills and/or knowledge in a two hour session each. Some classes will be very high energy, hands-on and practical and others will be at a slow pace, relaxed and engaging, and there will also be plenty of time for socialise and have a great time with the other participants. It’s like a mixture of TED talks, ConFest skill-shares, Scouts, practical classes and all round communal good times.
FEBRUARY WORKSHOP WEEKEND PROGRAM
Creative Collective Workshops
1. Passive Solar and Natural Building for your area. With Heidi Moore from Mudmob Collective.
Heidi has an Advanced Diploma in Building Design (Architectural) and has been studying and practicing natural building for the past 10 years. This is a great opportunity to get inspired and learn the basics behind sustainable architecture theories and natural building techniques and possibilities. Class format: 2 hour interactive lecture style class.
2. Upcycling Cardboard Boxes (Box Craft), with BoxWars founder Ross Koger. “A network of cardboard warriors who are engaged in an epic struggle for the liberty of corrugated creativity.” One of our main goals is to bring cardboard back to the consumers who discarded it in the first place without realising its true potential. This we consider a war…..and no war is without conflict. Become a warrior fight the good fight – learn from the master of Boxwars, Ross Koger. He will be teaching us practical techniques on how to re-use cardboard boxes and craft them into new structural forms. Class format: Hands-on crafting.
3. Wild Fermentation (Sauerkraut), with Kate Marsh founder of Creative Collectives.
There’s nothing better than learning how to preserve foods and use their naturally occurring elements to develop new communities of micro-organisms that are amazingly resilient and good for our health. Kate specialises in creating communities through her work at Creative Collectives and her love of communities extended all the way from people to food cultures. In this 2 hour cooking class she will teach you the art of making sauerkraut, speak of the health benefits and explore recipe possibilities. Class format: This will be a hands-on class with all students making their own sauerkraut to take home and tasting some of the treats we have prepared earlier.
“The proliferation of lactobacilli in fermented vegetables enhances their digestibility and increases vitamin levels. These beneficial organisms produce numerous helpful enzymes as well as antibiotic and anti carcinogenic substances. Their main by-product, lactic acid, not only keeps vegetables and fruits in a state of perfect preservation but also promotes the growth of healthy flora throughout the intestine.” – Sally Fallon, co-author of Nourishing Traditions.
4. Permaculture Exposure, Emergency Permaculture and Consensus Decision Making, with Adrian Whitehead from Save the Planet Party and Grey Cliffs Permaculture.
Adrian has years of experience in Permaculture and is working to teach new perspectives based on the original theories. He will take us through an overview of what permaculture is and its key messages then move on to talk about preparing for the worst case scenarios we might experience this century and how we might start practically preparing for them using permaculture techniques. In a second session he will teach us a little about a subject that is very important within a community living environment – consensus decision making. We will look at the benefits and the pitfalls of consensus decision making and Adrian will propose a workable model that we can all practice.
5. Interactive workshops on “moving the attitudes of climate change deniers” with Dr Bob Rich – writer, mudsmith, psychologist and community member at Moora Moora Community.
Bob has been studying Climate Change since 1972 and has a wealth of knowledge to share with us all. In his passionate, interactive workshop Bob Rich will go through:
Who are the deniers, and why
Why presenting compelling evidence is actually counterproductive
Psychological processes that affect us all that can lead to denial
How to address differences of opinion
The Elaboration Likelihood Model
Ethical use of peripheral persuaders
Whom can’t we move?
This is an ongoing topic and Bob will be offering further session through online Skype classes for those who are interested.
6. Bush-craft: Building a timber hammock from scratch, with Ralph Knees, co-founder of Creative Collectives. Learn to construction a super cool timber hammock from fallen wood and crafty lashings. Ralph will split you up into teams to work together to create your own version of this structure and take you through the steps of timber use, lashings and practical knot tying and if your brave some of you can try sleeping in them for the night 😉 Class format: High energy, hands-on work.
7. Yoga: Theory and Practice, with Rachel Lalulu, professional Yogi.
There’s a lot more to Yoga than most people realise. The theory behind the practice is deeply cultured and interesting. Once you have learnt why you are doing Yoga it make the practice all the more enjoyable and rewarding. Rachel will take us through the history and meaning in a one hour theory session, followed by a one hour practice.
8. Chainsaw Use and Maintenance, with Micheal McCallum, professional Arborist.
Learn the art of using a chainsaw for small practical projects and how to get the most out of your chainsaw through good maintenance. Plus extra fancy knot tying skills.
ACCOMMODATION AND MEALS
Creative Collectives AustraliaThe workshops will be held on the Creative Collectives HQ property in Lara, Victoria, our fun hobby farm share-house collective. Set on a beautiful 5 acre property with an indoor bathroom and kitchen that can be used by guests. It also has a pool, woodfire pizza oven, BBQ, outdoor temporary structures, huge outdoor cinema (for evening lectures, presentations and docos to match up with workshops), veggie garden and chickens.
Accommodation will be BYO camping:
The site has many great camping spots amongst the trees and there is also a large (2 acre) paddock out back which is allocated for camping, workshop spaces and night time fire-pit. We’re super flexible with using the resources available here and happy to help you get comfortable for a great weekend.
Lara is 50 mins from Melbourne and 20 mins from Geelong and easily accessible by train – on the V-Line to Geelong. We are 4km from the Lara’s main street shops and 8 kms from the beautiful You Yangs Ranges which is great for trekking and mountain biking if you have any free time after your stay.
Meals are BYO, collaborative and communal: All guests will be asked to bring a box of food to contribute to the feast. Friday night will be a pot luck welcome dinner, Saturday we’ll be cranking up the pizza oven and Sunday will be a celebration BBQ and feasting frenzy. Breakfast will be solo and Lunches will be collaborative also.
Workshop price:
The February Workshop Weekend is $150 per person and includes 3 nights accommodation and attendance to the 8 workshops with all equipment provided. The event will open from Friday afternoon until Monday. Visitors are welcome to pack up slowly on Monday and take some time to enjoy the property and surrounds. If you work full-time you can come for Sat & Sun only and won’t miss any of the workshops. We like to make our guests feel spoiled so there will be little extra treats, activities, games and entertainment wherever possible. Our space brings a natural community vibe when lots of people are here, so participant will also get to experience the fun of living in a community.
TICKETS ON SALE NOW $150.00
For more information, please visit the event website.
