Workshops & Lectures

Join in the Great Re-Skilling!

One weekend each month, March – October
in Seattle and Olympia

Instructors: Jenny Pell, Marisha Auerbach, and special guests

In this 8 month weekend workshop series you will learn valuable skills that can provide the foundation for sustainable abundance in your homes & neighborhoods.

We are experiencing rapid global economic and environmental shifts that impact our everyday lives. Each workshop showcases design elements that create decentralized, resilient, income-generating, & biodiverse systems that provide for our most basic needs.

Costs:
One workshop - $225
Any 3 workshops, prepaid - $600 ($200 each, 10% discount)
All 8 workshops, prepaid - $1,400 ($175 each, 20% discount)

- Groups are welcome to pre-register together to realize discounts (friends, neighbors, colleagues, family, etc.)
- Each workshop is limited to 20 people. Any one person may attend prepaid workshops.
- All Workshops run from 10 - 5 both Saturday and Sunday

Please contact Jenny Pell with any questions:
Phone: (206) 949-0496
Email: jennypell@gmail.com

To Register by mail please send checks to:
Jenny Pell
6330 5th Ave NE Seattle,
WA 98115

Be sure to include:

1. Which workshops
2. Name, phone number, and email of who's attending
3. Whether you'll be attending in Seattle or Olympia
4. If you are interested in hosting a workshop

Workshop Schedule:

March 20 - 21 in Seattle
March 27 - 28 in Olympia
Design and Plant a Neighborhood Edible Food Hedge / Graft Street Trees to Delicious Apples, Plums, and Pears

How can we provide food on a neighborhood scale? This workshop will focus on food production in common space. We will be designing an installing an abundant and diverse food hedge to provide nutrient rich food throughout the season. On Sunday, we will accelerate the neighborhood transition to food production by grafting street trees to yummy fruit! Sunday's class includes grafting lessons.

April 17 - 18 in Seattle
April 24 - 25 in Olympia
Design and Plant an Urban Edible Yard

Imagine transforming an urban lawn into an abundant garden in a weekend! This weekend, we will design an average urban yard to a diverse garden that meets the needs of the inhabitants. We will discuss soil preparation, plant selection, strategies for growing food in small spaces, and water saving strategies. We will be planting annual vegetables as well as perennial berries, edible flowers, medicinal herbs, and fruit trees.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBMpaWq4EKE&NR=1

May 15 - 16 in Seattle
May 22 - 23 in Olympia
Design and Plant a Multi-functional Rain Garden

In Western Washington, we get abundant rainfall in the winter and scarce rainfall in summer when we need it most. In the winter, the excess water is directed from impermeable surfaces, like roads, to the stormdrains. In this workshop, we will reroute stormwater into an intentionally designed garden with select plants that produce a yield and enjoy lots of water in the winter as well as tolerate dry summers. We will inoculate our raingarden with mycelium to remediate any contaminants from the roadside. This workshop includes a discussion on working with the city for sustainable retrofits.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0r4weoUSgI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7Xfa1rXwVQ

June 12 - 13 in Seattle
June 26 -27 in Olympia
Design and Install a Legal Graywater Filtration System

Everyday, each household dismisses slightly used water from sinks, laundry, and showers (called graywater) to the sewer. This valuable water can be diverted and re-used to water the garden. Graywater may have cleansers and/or food particles in it: with intentional planning, these can be turned into a resource for watering and feeding our gardens. We will design and install a legal graywater system during this workshop, calculate the outflow of water, discuss permits and legal issues, practice plumbing as we install the system, and test it out! During this workshop, we will explore different strategies to install a graywater system in your own home or workplace.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBMpaWq4EKE&NR=1 (same video as urban yard)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWB9DQLhIsY

July 24 - 25 in Seattle
July 31 - August 1 in Olympia
Build and Install a Solar Hot Water Heater

In this workshop, you will learn how to build and install a solar hot water heater suited for our climate. Solar hot water demands minimal sunlight to heat water, making it a useful energy saving strategy for our climate. As the costs of energy increase, solar hot water technologies become more attractive. During this workshop, we will discuss the different options available for incorporating solar hot water in your home in Western Washington. We will design and build a low-tech solar hot water heater and install it on site.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTO4aQZ9LI8
http://www.dr-stinky.com/solar.htm

August 21 - 22 in Seattle
August 28 - 29 in Olympia
Design and Install a Solar Air Heater Home

Heating costs are increasing. This workshop draws on the availability of sunlight to heat our homes. Solar hot air heaters circulate air from inside your home to a compartment outside oriented to the sun where the air is passively heated and circulated back inside your home. These very simple technologies are easy to make and require minimum sunlight to provide a significant increase in indoor heat, as well as a significant decrease in your heating bill. In this workshop, we will design, build, and install a solar air heater together. We will have an in-depth discussion on how this technology works and the variety of alternatives currently available.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8SEwJkEwoc

September 18 - 19 in Seattle
September 25 - 26 in Olympia
Winterizing Your Home: From Energy Audit to Installation of Energy-Saving Strategies (For homeowners and renters)

This workshop will provide you with the step by step process for saving energy in your home. On Saturday, we will begin with a full Washington State Energy Audit revealing air leaks, phantom loads, un-insulated pipes, and more. We will explore the many ways our site can save on energy costs. You will learn how to use the tools of the trade to tighten up your home. On Sunday, we will install the prescribed changes. This workshop will include simple low-cost adaptations for the home owner or renter to reduce your energy footprint and your energy bill.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ta89apfz2gw

October 9 - 10 in Seattle
October 23 - 24 in Olympia

Putting up the Harvest: Food Preservation and Herbal Medicines Ah, the abundance of autumn in Western Washington! This weekend we will address the diverse options for storing your abundant harvest throughout the winter. We will discuss and try our hands at canning, drying, and freezing your fruits and vegetables. Our herbal allies are included in this workshop too! We will look at the various herbal preparations that one may want in your home medicine chest, highlighting those herbs that grow generously in our bioregion. You will receive a diverse collection of recipes and formulas to keep you and your family nourished and healthy during the winter.