Hi Nika!
How's it going? Hope you're staying warm! Nice new photos! We have about an inch of snow which creates a great light in the woods but not too many hassles.
Wishing you the best!
kj

I'm a bit slow sometimes, just noticed the following in a new light:
Perhaps its time to think about how to SHARE what we have been building here for a sort of tenancy that gives us some financial security and a place for people interested in food security to build their spot in the off-grid paradigm.

We are just now going into winter so there is no real way to do some DIY domicile building so I am not at all certain how this idea can get off the ground.

Are you referring to a community/intentional living situation? Do you have acreage? I think it's a good idea. A friend of mine, also well informed about transition, is moving forward with such an endeavor on her land in this area. I'm sure she would love to share resources and brainstorm about such things. Winter is a good time to gestate the ideas as one gets ready for the spring sprouts.

I steward 65 acres of woodlands here but it's pretty rugged and not so conducive to human development...plus it feels right to manage it as a sustainable woodland farm and nature preserve to be used as a retreat and learning center.

Cool and congrats on your PHD. I helped put my ex-hubby through grad school (pure mathematics) while raising our children. It's what brought me to Ohio from out west...a tenured tract position in a small progressive university community with available and affordable land around it. Seemed a good place to raise kids and sink roots. The ex-hubby was awarded tenure but ran into beuracratic nightmares (corruption, incompetence) at the university and ended up with a mental breakdown. He gave up the tenured position and left the state.

I love scientific endeavors and approach my projects around here in that manner, albeit not as rigorous as one would find in the realm of research. I was studying field biology prior to waking up and realizing I had best get some solid job credentials under my belt, i.e. nursing.

I absolutely love the complex, dynamic nature of all life around us and how interconnected it is including on the cellular level. It's one of the reasons I'm a crazy composter; just love to dance with those micro and macro organisms. It's also one of the reasons this is a learning center as I have so much to learn. Seems like it will keep me busy and satisfied for the rest of my life. I wish I knew more about ...so much more, but in particular the microbiology of the soil and waters :-) I have a microscope but it's more for electronics/large scale explorations then microscopic.

Seems your knowledge, skills and experiences organizing conferences is going to be a valuable asset to your transition efforts up there.

I'm working on a difficult case, watching the snow fall beautifully across the ponds and the woodlands and enjoying this little chat. It's cold her today, high of 16 with only intermittent sun. We're in heightened energy conservation mode since it doesn't look like we're going to get much solar insolation in the next few days. The experiment putting the pond out in front of the passive solar structure and the PV panels turned out to have additional benefits...the pond, especially when covered with snow or ice, increases the amount of light in the house as well as generated electricity. I'm pulling in juice even though it's mostly cloudy today.

Have you visited my web site yet? http://www.broadwellhill.org I'm a data freak but have gotten woefully behind on my entry processes. I've got all the info however and hope to get the spreadsheets up-dated when I head out to see my son in CA in a couple of weeks.

I think a very important thing that we as citizen observers and PHD scientists can do is to collect such info at our respective locations. There are quite a few citizen observation projects that are quite important; snow data, frog watch, bud burst, etc. Such programs help us track and watch for indications of systemic challenges and climate change indicators.

kj

BTW (by the way), the picture you have posted of yourself is very lovely. ;-)

hiya,
hey, please don't ever feel sorry about sharing a verbose expression with me. I love it, and am also guilty of doing it most of the time.
You write very well and I really enjoyed reading what you shared. So glad to hear that you're making your way through the maize and that health care is under your belt. Oooo...a big mortgage. Scary stuff.
I wish you the very very best. What type of work were you doing and what are your visions for the future?

I'd like to write more of a reply now but must get to work. I work on-line, at home, for a case management agency contracted by the ohio dept of job and family services to provide Medicaid home health waiver services as a cost-effective alternative to nursing home placement.

We work as a statewide interdisciplinary team (SW and RNs) and many of us part-time employees are working more than full time as a team effort toward keeping our company afloat while trying to meet the needs of our neighbors and community members whose basic needs are not being met.

I'm in the Appalchian Hills of Ohio and poverty, homelessness, hunger, lack of utilities, heat, etc., are big big problems here already, as well as in the rest of the state. The social safety net was never great but now it is failing big time, with more cuts in funding happening every day. It's becoming very clear to many folks, and more everyday, that we need to rebuild our local communities and systems of resiliency so that we can take care of each other. Now the challenge is how to more effectively network our area efforts toward greater efficiency while also building our own personal and local systems of survival as we move through the transition.
I wish you the very best in your personal life as well as in your efforts within your neighborhood, community, etc. Please feel free to write anytime...I love to read long-winded, finger swift, expressions:-)
Talk with you later,
kj

Hello Nika!
So sorry to hear about the layoffs...are you folks doing okay?
Great photos...thank you for sharing them!
Oh btw, I've been circulating the Hopi Elders Speak message for many years and was about to post it here also when lo and behold, there it was! Thanks!
Thanks for all you are doing!
It's a pleasure to meet you.
Kathy
southeast Ohio

Excellent! Very happy to have been an inspiration!!

Thanks for the note Nika and your offer of support! I think your community is also very fortunate to have you. Please let me know if I can be of any assistance at all.

Really enjoyed your melamine article!

A Transition Rock Star -- somebody who gets this stuff and would love to work with you and me on the site to collaborate with thousands of likeminded people -- the person would need to be from Massachusetts.