THE GOOD LIFE CENTER CELEBRATES 10 YEARS WITH RELEASE OF 2008 SUMMER SCHEDULE
The Good Life Center at Forest Farm in Harborside, Maine, is pleased to
announce the release of its 2008 summer schedule. This year marks the
10th anniversary of The Good Life Center and this year’s Hands-On
Workshops, Monday Night Meetings, and courses in simpler living reflect
its continued commitment to simple living, social justice, and
ecological sanity.
Forest Farm was created in the 1970’s by pioneering homesteaders Helen
and Scott Nearing. The Good Life Center was founded in 1998 to preserve
Forest Farm and operate The Good Life Center for charitable and
educational purposes. For a decade, The Good Life Center has been a
successful living museum and educational homestead, providing over
16,000 people the opportunity to tour the one-acre subsistence farm and
the Nearing’s famous hand-built stone buildings. Access to the
4,000-volume personal Nearing library is available on-site for scholars
and visitors. The Good Life Center offers hands-on workshops, a weekly
Monday Night Meeting speaker series, weekend retreats, and week-long
courses in simpler living. Call ahead to arrange a group visit or
special program.
Download the 2008 Summer Schedule here.
To learn more about Monday Night Meetings and Hands on Workshops click here.
Link to find out about our course in simpler living. Click to learn more about Helen and Scott Nearing.
Posted by Joel | May 14, 2008
Topics: Hands-On Workshops, Monday Night Meetings, Workshops | No Comments »
Seeking Sustainability Course To be Offered Again
Seeking Sustainability: An Exploration of Simple Living for Social, Economic, and Environmental Justice
August 3-8, 2008 at Forest Farm
Simple living is an idea that has had a strong grip on the American imagination for at least 300 years. More than anything else, ideas of the simple life have consistently served as a counter-cultural alternative to an emerging American emphasis on individual consumption. At its heart are three related concerns: how to live well, live right and leave the world a better place than you found it. These concerns are most often expressed in three consistent practices: material simplicity, development of an inner life and civic or community engagement.
In this intensive, informed by Helen and Scott’s legacy, we will combine ideas and experiences to explore different aspects of the simple life, and attempt to answer for ourselves what it means to live well, live right and leave the world a better place than we found it. Each day, we will focus on a particular set of “critical” ideas, approaching them through hands-on experiences, field trips and discussion.. The “critical ideas” include nonviolence, community economics, food as a personal and political expression, homesteading, composting, ecological footprinting and leading an integrated life. Each of these ideas offers a philosophical concept, a set of skills and some options that can help with simpler living. We’ll talk, as well, about the challenges faced by those practicing simple living in a variety of contexts.
Taking place at Forest Farm, the final homestead of simple living pioneers Helen and Scott Nearing, this “intensive” is intended to give participants ideas, encouragement and support on their journeys to simplifying their lives. Coached by Bob St. Peter, executive director and organic chef, we’ll also prepare our food as a community – eating locally, healthy, and well on a small budget.
We can help you arrange for college credit for the seminar on a case-by-case basis. Please contact The Good Life Center for more information. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Potato Beetle | May 14, 2008
Topics: Workshops | No Comments »
2007 Monday Night Meetings
Recordings of many of the 2007 Monday Night Meetings are being posted. Five are available already with more to follow soon. Look for the page to the left.
Posted by Joel | May 13, 2008
Topics: Monday Night Meetings | Comments Off
Working for money
I’ve had the opportunity lately to work away from the homestead for someone else doing gardening. I have worked, thinking most of the time, why Scott and Helen wanted to work for themselves. When I work for money, I feel I have to be productive. When I work on my own homestead, I hope to be productive, but if I’m not, I let no one down except myself. I don’t like making money. It makes me dislike my job from the very beginning because it puts a value on me. Maybe my work is not something that can have a value put on it. I’m done with the job now. I’m glad of it , too, as I can return to the life Scott and Helen intended me to live and the life that I enjoy more. Working for myself, not for a paycheck, not for money, but for the Good Life.
Posted by Joel | May 12, 2008
Topics: Resident Stew: The Resident Stewards' Blog | No Comments »
The Learning Curve
I was doing some minor, minor plumbing today and I have never plumbed. I know nothing about plumbing. I began thinking about my entire generation and how little we know about living in a way that doesn’t need specialists to take care of all of the things we don’t know how to do. Now, perhaps specialists are needed and I’ll survive just fine, but I suspect that I will be better served by having a general knowledge about a lot of things and being able to do more things for myself. I then wondered if I would be able to learn all of these things. On top of that, I thought of what I do know above and beyond the “average” person my age and I began to wonder if they’d be able to catch up if the time came that it was needed. Is the learning curve too great? Have we gotten too far away from the lifestyle where you could do things for yourself? I hope not. My plumbing leaks though and so back to it I go to see how I can fix it. I keep on learning.
Posted by Joel | May 5, 2008
Topics: Resident Stew: The Resident Stewards' Blog | 2 Comments »
Do you trust Mother Nature?
I’ve been thinking lately about whether or not we should trust Mother Nature. I’m thinking specifically about the fact that we had had a very dry spring until the other day. All last summer I debated with myself whether I should water plants or trust Mother Nature’s cycle of rain. This spring with it being dry, the same thought came to me. Obviously we have developed the means to bypass Mother Nature. Yet there are certain styles of farming that seem more in tune with letting Nature take its course. I just wonder which way to go. Or is it a little of both as is usually true? Don’t we have to water the seeds that we plant to get them to germinate? Isn’t it wise to water if it has been really dry? Yet, I remember one time last summer when I finally decided to water and the next day it rained like crazy. What do you think?
Posted by Joel | April 28, 2008
Topics: Resident Stew: The Resident Stewards' Blog | No Comments »
A political action
Towards the end of this year, many Americans are expected to receive an economic stimlus package. My question is: Is this an economy that we want to stimulate? I don’t know what your answer is, but mine is no. So with that answer of no, I want to try to start a movement of people that are willing not to stimulate the economy with the money they get back. How can we do this? The easiest way is not to spend it, but upon further reflection it means we cannot invest it, or put it in a bank account. All of these things stimulate the economy. We could send it back to the government, but with the current war, I’m not going to give them more money than they have. (Of course, they’ll only borrow it anyways driving us in to more and more of a deficit.) You could buy a bond with it, but again, the same problem. I have decided that the only real possibility is to stick it under our mattress. A friend reminded me that money is worthless, so you’re better off to go buy some gold and put that under your mattress. Do as you like. I think it’s a fitting response to acknowledge that this economic stimulus is completely worthless by putting completely worthless paper mony under your mattress where it will be more and more worthless. I am hoping that we can get a ground swell supporting this idea. Share it with your friends, see what they think. Let me know what you think. Do you have more creative ideas? I’m open to them, BUT, let’s agree not to stimulate this economy.
Posted by Joel | April 13, 2008
Topics: Resident Stew: The Resident Stewards' Blog | 3 Comments »
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