Woodhenge Fall 06 Projects

My wife and I go back to our jobs as public school teachers this Friday. We've accomplished a lot for the two months we've had off this Summer, however we have some interesting things that people may want to participate in in the next few months. They are as follows:
1) Installing two small wind turbines on the Woodhenge site
2) Building and installing a 60'+ tower for the wind turbine at Green Trust
3) Apple and pear cider making (both sweet and hard)
4) Building a root cellar
5) Wiring and installing several primary and secondary battery banks in our houses
6) Installing the balcony deck and railing around the second floor of our home
7) Getting the biodiesel tank set up for our fueling station
8) Getting the underground house waterproofed and underground
9) Going to a cheesemaking class
10) Building rock walls and planters
11) Erecting the timber frame for the timber frame/straw bale cabin at the waterfall
12) Getting the foundation in for the yurt at the waterfall
More to follow -Jim-

Welcome

Hi To All That have Found This Site; This is Jim, one of the founders of Woodhenge.
This first posting is just a way of introducing you to what we are and hope to be doing at Woodhenge. We're located just off the eastern edge of Lake Ontario in a rural area of northern New York State.

My wife and I are the founders of this little experiment in sustainable living. We purchased the land about 10 years ago and decided to try to live the ideals that we've shared for so long. I'm a 'shop' teacher with 24 years in public education and my wife, Krista, is a foreign language teacher (mostly German) with 22 years in the business. We've both done a lot of other jobs in a wide variety of locations.

We don't believe in mortgages, everything on the 52 acre site is paid for. This includes our 18 sided, 3000 sq.ft. cordwood and papercrete home, a recycled home, a 1000 sq.ft. workshop, an underground home, several cabins, outhouses and shower houses. We are NOT connected to the grid. All of the power that is needed is made through a collection of solar panels, wind turbines, firewood, etc.

We saw and see the need for a place that people can come to learn the basics of living simply. Simply here does NOT mean poorer. We feel that people have been trapped in our society by not having the knowledge available to them that was available in times past. Building homes designed for the area/climate you live, growing and preserving food that is actually good for you, making the energy systems that you need to be comfortable are just some of the things we do here. An undercurrent of reconnecting with people around you is a secondary feature of living the way we do.

I believe that within a very short amount of time a series of crises will cause most of humanity to live at a considerably lower standard of living. Woodhenge is a place for people to come before this happens, to learn the coping skills that have been lost due to the way most of us live our lives. It takes time to simplify; to learn to garden, to learn to build, to learn to sustain!

I will be posting our seminar listing from this past summer and the schedule of upcoming events in the future. I will be going into a bit more detail of how we live and who lives here, too. Thanks for your time. -Jim-

Welcome to Woodhenge

This is our new website, so please be patient as some minor construction is still going on, as we decide what and how we want to share. Woodhenge is a off-grid renewable energy and sustainable agriculture center, and we have many projects going on in the areas of energy, food, and shelter, so stop in often.