This spring All You Need Institute, we have the unique pleasure of hosting artist, natural builder, and teacher Sage Stoneman and his co-facilitators and collaborators from all across the country as we embark on our largest project to date: building a healing, bathing, and recreation space next to the pond.
Excitement doesn’t really begin to capture what I am feeling as I reflect on the past year we have all spent preparing the months to come. Starting in the heat of the summer, Jordan began the process of felling trees on the land for the building’s roundwood timber frame. Learning the art and craft of safely and ethically harvesting trees from the forest and caring for the wood they provide us has been quite the journey! We feel so grateful to the generosity of so many of our collaborators and friends, particularly Matt Herron of Coastal Plains Outdoor School and Damon Williams of Fortress Woodcraft for their expertise, guidance, enthusiasm, and physical resources.
At the same time, we began the process of envisioning what the land needed in order to be ready to accommodate workshops of this size and length. We’ve also been focusing on the structures we needed on an organizational level to hold the new building and its intentions with integrity. This past year we have made huge strides towards our dreams of collectivizing the legal and financial responsibility of the land, and we are consistently working on ways to operate our business activities in ways that align with Solidarity Economy principles.
Sage’s guidance and encouragement through this entire process has been an anchor for us as we navigate these growth and learning edges. His enthusiasm and optimism are infectious; his honesty and integrity are inspiring. I knew that I wanted to sit down with him and have a conversation about the upcoming workshops so that everyone could benefit from his perspectives.
So, below you’ll find a link to our conversation, where we touch on the power of creative agency, the common misconceptions about natural building, why natural building is therapeutic, the difference between land stewardship and land ownership, and how we are trying to experiment with the ways we admin this event so that it contributes to a more balanced, harmonious world.
Some notes about the upcoming workshop:
>We’re so pumped to announce that Coco Villa will be offering their brilliant movement practice during the week-long workshops to interweave the themes of creativity, embodied connection, and relationship to place
>The first week of the workshop will be FAMILY week, where Billie Golan will be offering youth programming each day. Email info@allyouneedinstitute for pricing & questions.
>And mark your calendars for Sunday April 23rd, when we’ll be hosting a day-long event, including movement with Coco, natural building intro with Sage, music by Handmade Moments, delicious food, kids events and much more!
>The workshops are currently about 70% full–if you are thinking about joining us or you haven’t turned in your deposit yet, now’s the time. Payment plans are available; we have flexibility–just let us know your needs and we will let you know ours and we’ll make it work!