Good Life Center - Summer 2009 Schedule
We are pleased to announce that the Good Life Center grounds and gardens will open for tours beginning Sunday, June 21st and remain open through Labor Day, September 7th. The days are Thursday through Monday (closed Tuesday and Wednesday) and the hours are afternoons from 1 to 4 pm. If you have requests for tours at other times please call or email us, we will be happy to try to accommodate you. We will have books and videos for sale during the open hours. See you at Forest Farm!
Posted by JoanC | June 14, 2009
Topics: Forest Farm Updates | No Comments »
Good Life Center Update
The Good Life Center is pleased to announce that renovation work to address the moisture problems in the buildings at Forest Farm will begin later this spring. The historic stone house was built in the 1970’s and over the years the surrounding ground has settled allowing water to infiltrate the walls and basement. We are fortunate to have the donated services of local architect Bruce Stahnke who has drafted a restoration plan for both the house and the garage at the center. Site work will begin in the spring as soon as soil and weather conditions are favorable.
The Good Life Center buildings will remain closed to the public until the necessary excavation and ground work is complete. We hope to have the gardens and grounds open for summer tours in July and August and to have the farmhouse ready for new stewards in the fall of this year.
Thank you for your patience and understanding during this period. Any contributions of time, money or materials toward the completion of these renovations would be greatly appreciated. We want to thank all stewards and friends who have already lent a helping hand. We want to especially thank Johnson’s Arboriculture of Camden which this week completed necessary tree work and will be developing a tree preservation plan for the property. We will be posting progress reports as the building renovation work proceeds.
Posted by JoanC | March 30, 2009
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GLC Reprints Scott Nearing’s “The Great Madness”
Annotated by Greg Joly, with an essay by Tom Wirth. $15 from The Good Life Center (see Bookshop page for ordering).
From this basis Scott Nearing begins his scathing analysis of how the business class, represented by J.P. Morgan and company, gained control of the inner workings of the United States government and were thus able to meld nationalist patriotism into a military preparedness which finally leads to an open declaration of war.
Nearing methodically unravels the toils of plutocratic self-interest and as Tom Wirth observes: “Nearing’s consistent reaffirmation of purpose—connecting American business to the perpetuation of war and the disenfranchisement of the American worker—gave his discourse an uplifting quality, a ‘progressive’ tone which suggested the unlimited potential of the human being.”
Due to the outspokenness of his pamphlet, Nearing was trialed by the Federal government on charges of attempting to cause disloyalty and mutiny in the military forces during war time.
This fully annotated text by Greg Joly of “The Great Madness” will give the reader a sharper sense of this era and Nearing’s principled anti-war stance. Tom Wirth’s concluding essay will further enlighten the reader of Nearing’s historical importance. As Nearing said at his trial: “The destruction of life and property is incidental. The destructive forces that that puts into a man’s soul are fundamental.”
Posted by Potato Beetle | October 22, 2008
Topics: Features | 3 Comments »
Monday Night Meeting: Ellie Kastanoplous, Gaining Ground: Buying Land in a Crazy Market
August 11, 2008… Ellie Kastanoplous, Gaining Ground: Buying Land in a Crazy Market
Malcolm X said that “Land is the basis of all independence. Land is the basis of freedom, justice, and equality.”
On Monday, August 11, Equity Trust director Ellie Kastanopolous will present ways of making that vision a reality. Equity Trust is a small, national non-profit organization committed to changing the spirit and character of our material relationships. Through technical assistance, outreach, education, and community investment, Equity Trust pursues their goal of helping communities to gain ownership interests in their food, land, and housing, and they work with people to make economic changes that balance the needs of individuals with the needs of the community, the earth, and future generations.
The Good Life Center’s Monday Night Meetings are free and open to the public. Donations are welcome. For more information or directions to Reversing Falls Sanctuary contact 326-8211.
Posted by Potato Beetle | August 11, 2008
Topics: Monday Night Meetings | No Comments »
Monday Night Meeting: Rob Shetterly & Terry Tempest Williams:
August 4… Rob Shetterly & Terry Tempest Williams: Mountain Top Removal and America’s Resource Wars
Painter and activist Robert Shetterly will be joined by author and activist Terry Tempest Williams for the August 4 Monday Night Meeting, sponsored by The Good Life Center and held at Reversing Falls Sanctuary in Brooksville.
The subject of the talk will be “Mountain Top Removal and America’s Resource Wars”. Shetterly and Williams will speak about their experiences opposing mountain top removal and mining in Kentucky and California, respectively.
Shetterly is the creator of the “Americans Who Tell the Truth” series which includes over 100 portraits and a book by the same title. He will unveil his recently completed portrait of Scott Nearing, to be housed at The Good Life Center in Harborside.
Williams is the author of numerous books, including The Open Space of Democracy and Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place. There will be an informal pot luck dinner at 5:30pm followed by the formal presentation and portrait unveiling at 7:00pm.
The Good Life Center’s Monday Night Meetings are free and open to the public. Donations are welcome. For more information or directions to Reversing Falls Sanctuary contact 326-8211.
Posted by Potato Beetle | August 4, 2008
Topics: Monday Night Meetings | No Comments »
2008 Summer Course: The Ecological Self and the World: From Fear to Action
Spend the weekend and beautiful and inspirational Forest Farm enrolled in The Ecological Self and the World, an intensive weekend designed to broaden our collective understanding of it means to be ecological citizens and what it takes on the personal, local, and global level to make the world more just and sustainable. The first part of the workshop is led by Phoebe Phelps, MA, DMin, Eco-Psychologist and Spiritual Director in Orland with a background in Transpersonal Psychology, Matthew Fox’s Creation Spirituality, and the East/West inter-religious dialogue. Phoebe will help participants deepen and clarify their understanding of the ecological self and prepare the group for taking the step from fear and despair to action.Leading the second half of the workshop is Bob St.Peter, executive director of The Good Life Center and community activist. Bob will help the group find their “sweet spot”, the place where skills, ability, and interest meet and where we can be most effective (and affective!) on a personal, community, and global level. Inventor, entrepreneur, and humanist Buckminster Fuller said: “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”
Cost: $150 per person, $250 per couple. Includes course, seasonal vegetarian meals, and a place to pitch a tent or lay a sleeping bag.
COURSE AGENDA
Participants are asked to bring to the workshop an item from the natural environment around their home, perhaps a leaf, a rock, some bark, maybe some soil. Meals are vegetarian and are prepared using seasonal, local ingredients. If you have allergies or restrictions please call at least one week prior to make arrangements.
FRIDAY 6:00pm Dinner
7:30pm Ingathering, getting acquainted, and self-recognition as ecological citizens. Fire circle.
SATURDAY
7:00am – 8:00am Bread labor at Forest Farm. Activities may include light garden work, gathering firewood from the forest or seaweed from the beach
8:00am–9:00am Breakfast
9:15am–12:00pm Deepening Our Awareness of Our Irrevocable Embeddedness in the Natural World
12:00pm–2:00pm Lunch & Tour of Eliot Coleman’s Four Season Farm 2:15pm – 5:00pm Clarifying Our Ecological Citizenship on an Increasingly Interdependent Planet
5:30pm–7:00pm Dinner
8:00pm Further discussion, music or chanting. A sauna will be available and a pond for swimming
SUNDAY
7:00am–8:00am Bread labor
8:00am–9:00am Breakfast
9:15am–12:00pm Finding Your “Sweet Spot” – the place where your skills, passion, and interests meet and where we can be most effective (and affective) as advocates for a just and sustainable world. The morning will conclude with each participant identifying actions they can take in their personal lives and their local and global community.
12:00pm Lunch
1:00pm–2:00pm Departure
See 2008 Summer Schedule in its entirety.
Posted by Joel | June 20, 2008
Topics: Workshops | No Comments »
2007 Monday Night Meetings
Recordings of many of the 2007 Monday Night Meetings are posted. Look for the page to the left.
Posted by Joel | June 8, 2008
Topics: Monday Night Meetings | Comments Off
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