Ernie and Erica workshop updates

I haven't been posting much as we're working like crazy on the RMH Builders Guide. (Yep, 'our' book. Becoming more real day by day.)

Folks have bespoken our time for a handful of workshops all the same.
Our host for the first one just let us know the numbers, and there is room for a few more people if you get in touch right away.

West coast:
- June 14-16: This coming weekend near Ashland, Oregon - June 14-16 - a full-on rocket mass heater in a sweet little owner-built cob cottage. Contact Clay Bustin for details.
- mid-July: A private rocket mass heater project in Southern California (up in the hills, somewhere between LA and San Diego) - local natural builders will be helping, PM if you're interested
- August: Cob oven project close to home in Tonasket, WA

Eastern fans:

- Sept. A workshop (or possibly two) in Ontario, Canada - within a few hours of Toronto, which I realize isn't saying much as that's where half of Canada lives.

And in what we Westerners fondly like to imagine is
The Middle:
- October: Montana 'reunion' where we look forward to showing off the video from last year, and the books and other materials we've produced since then.

Here's our workshop schedule, with contact info for each.

Owner reports from the East Coast rocket mass heaters tour are all coming back positive - and our Israeli student Adiel (who attended last year's Montana workshop in October 2012) has already built ten back home, with lots of interesting questions about mass heating for warmer climates. Look at how fancy he's getting:


We also have an apprentice coming out from Kentucky for part of the summer. If we've talked to you about apprenticing but dropped out of touch... no time like the present to firm up plans.

I'll be back to add some more pictures and enticements after dinner.

Yours,
E & E
http://www.ErnieAndErica.info/upcoming_workshops

Our heater at home:

Here we are sitting on it and yakking about how much we like it:


And if you want to see what happens when we're at someone else's place for a workshop:
Check out Possible.org - video of one of the heaters from last year's workshops

or the whole collection of videos at Paul's Rocket Stove article (he filmed at least three workshops, plus some private experiments).


-Erica W

Darn, thought I read somewhere that you might be back in Maine this year. Looking forward to the book though.

Erica Wisner wrote:
- Sept. A workshop (or possibly two) in Ontario, Canada - within a few hours of Toronto

Cool! that should be within a few hours from my new neck of the wood (Kingston). Not sure I will be able to attend, but I will tell friends about it

A workshop or two in Ontario, you say?

If you need a location, please let me know, and I will make it happen. Tons of acres on the family land, and I was actually hoping to be able to start building a house this summer, but the lack of exactly this kind of knowledge is all that's preventing me from doing so.

Bill Kerans wrote:Darn, thought I read somewhere that you might be back in Maine this year. Looking forward to the book though.

We had a nibble from some folks who attended our Maine workshop last year - but they decided to wait. Would love to get back to that part of the world when we get a chance.


-Erica

Jesse Jordan wrote:A workshop or two in Ontario, you say?

If you need a location, please let me know, and I will make it happen. Tons of acres on the family land, and I was actually hoping to be able to start building a house this summer, but the lack of exactly this kind of knowledge is all that's preventing me from doing so.

We currently have a workshop host with an abundance of locations to choose from ... might be a good connection for the building practice, since he's doing cob projects right and left from the sounds of it. Check out the contact info for the Ontario workshop at: http://www.ErnieAndErica.info/upcoming_workshops

-Erica

Erica Wisner wrote:Check out the contact info for the Ontario workshop at: http://www.ErnieAndErica.info/upcoming_workshops

Am I blind or the info is not on the website yet for the Ontario workshop?

Adrien Lapointe wrote:

Erica Wisner wrote:Check out the contact info for the Ontario workshop at: http://www.ErnieAndErica.info/upcoming_workshops

Am I blind or the info is not on the website yet for the Ontario workshop?

It's there:

September 24-29: Rocket mass heater workshop(s) in Ontario, Canada. (NOTE: This will be our ONLY eastern workshop visit this year, so please spread the word in the Midwest, New Entland, Atlantic states, and Maritimes.)

It just doesn't say where at all

Yup, that is what I mean. From Erica's post we know it is going to be close from Toronto. So that makes it a bit narrower than all of Ontario!

Thank for the question - I updated our website with a little more detail on the Ontario plans.
If you want the detailed scoop, our host Andrew is a gung-ho natural builder who has three sites eager to host the workshop. He was thinking of taking a straw poll of the first few registrants about their preference - between a more urban location like Guelph, or a rural farm site with better camping options a few hours north. I don't know the area well enough to advise about which would likely be more popular. So feel free to pipe up.

We are on site in Ashland for this weekend's workshop - a sweet little cob cottage / strawbale structure with some lovely gardens and orchard trees.
We had a couple of last-minute cancellations due to injury / family emergency respectively, so we'd love to include a few more people if you're on the fence.

Yours,
Erica