My family has been running through reruns of The West Wing and I was reminded of one of my favorite quotes – “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has,” spoken by Margaret Mead. I love it because it gives me strength that our little project can make a difference in this time of such cynicism and doubt.

I was listening to Michael Buble the other day on NPR and heard him say that feels that his music is a respite from the cynicism of our time, and that any little help he can do, he’s glad to.  While I’d never really been a Michael Buble fan, he gained my enthusiasm right then and there.

Listening to the coverage of bombings shift from affirmation and pride to blame and finger pointing, it’s hard to hold on to that positive energy that rose from the ashes of the Marathon that day.  But it is that strength and goodness that America was proud of, so I want to hold on to that, and trust that officials will do their job and find out all that they can.  Meanwhile, I think we need to do as much as we can.

Next week begins a long term of disability for me, where I’m not going to be as productive as I try to be. The Hearth project goes on while I recover from a hip replacement, and I try to regain the agility and strength that I once had.  While my pain is personal it’s not as important as that pain that is felt by thousands of parents who can’t feed their children, children who don’t know what direction they need to go in, soldiers returning from war to a country so laden in skepticism that they struggle to find their own hope.  Those injuries are more long-lasting than mine, and while I don’t look forward to rehab, without projects like The Hearth, they see no recourse for a rehab from their situations.

Last Saturday, on a beautiful sunny day, thirty-plus people and a happy dog, met at the site of The NCSC Hearth to show how much they value this idea and project. I wish more people could have joined us, but there were other important events going on, so I’m delighted that we had as many as we had. These people represent others who see the importance of addressing climate change on a regional level. They know that we need our children to understand the processes that go into obtaining their food. Some of them want to share their knowledge of sewing and building with those who need it. Others are prospective users who are looking for a cheesemake, a commercial kitchen, or a gallery and workspace that they can use to celebrate their artistic talents.

These are that “Small band,” only it’s a larger band that it used to be.  Word is getting out about us, which is wonderful.  We’ve received offers of donated equipment, potential lessees for facilities, user groups that need the facilities and others in the region who see the value of coming together to build a better region.  We’re trying to think sustainably in our fundraising, minimizing paper and printing, creating useful things like potholders, and lasting items like our banner and buttons.  NCSC is trying to change the way we raise money, making it possible for more money to go the work and less to the production of those “gifts.”  It’s not as flashy as a huge banner, but the beauty of sustainability is in proper proportions and appropriateness. I hope you’ll see that value and help us by supporting our buttons, banners,  and bumper stickers while we wait for grant results and our next BIG steps. 

Join our small group committed to significant change. Like all ecosystems we need to help each other succeed. That’s our whole goal for NCSC, but we need external support initially so that we can do more to help others down the road.  Follow us on Facebook, at our websites, or just give us a call.  I’ll be blogging and doing other work while I heal, but I need other people to use their fingers to spread the word, and feed to carry the load while I get my strength back.  Will you help?  Thanks.

 As our nation tries to recover from a shocking week, NCSC has been working diligently to reawaken our region’s community food system, arts, and environmental awareness.  This bumper sticker is available for $10, including shipping, to anyone who wants to show that they are part of reviving our nation and relighting that spark of hope that built each of our towns, cities and nation.  Please show your support and help us create “the Hearth.” 

Show the world your area of interest and help us create a really beautiful project for the Central New England region.  Each button is $5, including shipping, and proceeds go toward our operating costs and creating a true sustainability center. For more information visit www.ncschearth.org.

I feel a little like a mouse in the middle of the pond. I jumped onto a lily pad, knowing in my heart that there would be more lily pads to help me make it to the other side, but when I jumped out on the first pad, there weren’t any.  Well, another lily pad just sprung up! I’m closer to the other side than I was before, but there need to be a lot more pads to land on before I reach my destination.

We’ve made it to our first pad; North Country Sustainability Center, Inc. found a building we could work with, and we made an offer. It took awhile, but the offer was accepted!  We sign the Purchase and Sale agreement soon, and that leaves us a lot of work ahead of us. It won’t all be easy, but being able to see that “pond side,” makes it a lot more fun. 

Now we get to really work on laying out the kitchen, the creamery and the cannery.  When we look at reducing the community footprint, we can do it with a real building in mind, not just an image.  We’ve started reaching out to the area towns and will be having informational meetings to let them know what we’re working on. And through that networking, I am hoping that the connecting stems between lily pads will make that path to the other side of the pond a little more obvious.

With looming budget cuts and a government that seems to be forgetting its people, we need to remember each other.  We need to help each other. Now, with a building to visualize, it’s a lot easier to see how that works. But we will still need a lot of other networking to get to the other side of our pond, to actually own our building and let North Country Sustainability Center do its job. Like the lily pads that collect the energy of the sun, NCSC collects that energy and  those of our the people to make a stronger future for us all. Look what a lily pad does for pond and a mouse, and imagine what a big brick one called “The Hearth” can do for its region.

Building a sustainable community builds unlikely bridges. Help us take this idea to a real place at the NCSC Hearth.

See how these two are connected. Help us convert this empty building to a full Hearth.

Once upon a time a band of travelers found themselves on a highway because a spring flood had washed their village away. Now they were banded together to find a new place to live, and hoped that there was safety in numbers. Each of them had been fairly prosperous in their old town and felt they had skills to lead a new community.

They looked at several sites, and most were either on the downward slope of a hill, or on the top of a hill with a terrible wind blowing across.  They finally found a high spot along a big stream. It was in a stream bed, but there were other outlets for the water, so they thought it was safe enough.

At first there was ample room for everyone to build a fire. They were tired of each other’s company, and accustomed to the privacy of their own homes, they quickly set themselves apart from each other. But within a week the firewood supply was dwindling, and they found themselves venturing alone into the woods, seek more fuel for their fires.

One of the villagers was a blacksmith, so he began gathering stones to set up as an anvil. His fire roared more than others, because he needed it to make to the tools that were needed to build the houses. But because his fire burnt more, the others resented him because he was using up the wood that they needed.

Another of the travelers was a weaver and shepherd, who brought her flock along with her so that she could keep them safe and keep clothes on her own back.  The sheep were fine browsing the hillside alone, but she needed light to spin and weave by, and that was using a lot of wood as well.

Each of the people needed to eat, but not everyone had that skills or the tools to do so.  Though the baker bought his pots and pans from the blacksmith, he resented the wood that was used for the foundry and not for his cooking fire.

And then it began to rain.  They had been fortunate to have two weeks without foul weather, but now they found their fires were dampened, and so was the wood supply. They had not worried about shelter as the weather had been so grand, and now that their tents were soaked, and they had no wood to build with, they were getting frightened. Each person begrudged any flame or stick that was taken from the only surviving fire, the blacksmith’s.  Soon they all suffered from lack of sleep as distrust kept them awake at night, for fear that someone might take the fire away.

As they huddled around the smithy’s fire, the weaver began to spin her yard by the light of the flickering flames.  She fell asleep in a pile of wool, along with the child of the baker.  In the morning they awoke together under a dry tent with the smith standing near the fire and the baker making a light breakfast. As they enjoyed that meal together they began to realize that if they worked together they could have their safety in numbers, and still have privacy.  One could cook while another spun and wove, making clothes for cook and the others who tended the fire, gathered water and build other buildings.

Necessity makes strange bedfellows, but sometimes that strangeness is a blessing.  Having to start anew is a frightening thing, but planning ahead makes it possible, and if a new system works after a disaster, shoudn’t it work before one?

North Country Sustainability Center aims to be that “fire” that brings people together. Though a commercial kitchen and micro-creamery brings opportunities to our region, they also require an influx of food and customers.  Since growing and preparing food takes time, providing educational and cultural activities to while away the waiting makes the space all the more efficient in its production.

Providing services and space for cooks, bakers, dairymen and customers requires space, from warehouse to serving counters.  Paying for the heat of such a space, and the operation of the kitchen and studios requires a constant source of income, even after growing season.

While many people want to learn how to grow food, or raise animals, others just like to be around them. In this time when Asperger’s and autism are on the rise, providing fresh food and access to animals fulfills another goal, to help those “on the spectrum” learn to prosper in the future. Since that requires space, but not all the time, why not let others, such as 4H and dog trainers, use that space when the therapists and trainers aren’t using it?

Doesn’t that seem logical?  It is a big concept, but it fills a lot of needs. It does so without numerous different locations, multiple parking lots, roads, furnaces and facilities.  The mutual support of it builds community, and provides a destination for some to teach from, and others to learn from.  It’s a very logical approach to a very large set of problems.  Big? yes. Doable? certainly.

We have found a location on a hill near a pond that has ample room for “that village,” of users, and more.  It has a long history of supporting the Town and the Region, and we’d like to bring that history with us as we move forward in to a new, more sustainable world. Will you join us? or help us make it happen?

Dear Grassroots Nation:
How are we supposed to “change the world,” if all the funders want to see conventional approaches to a problem?  Conventional works, but if we are going to manifest substantial change quickly, I believe we need to “think out of the box.”
I know, everyone’s tired of hearing about fundraising, but living in a small town with a big idea, I usually feel like I’m talking to the wind.  Problem is, the wind doesn’t have any money either. So this time, I’m going to be direct, and talk to the “Internet wind.”  Please, if you see the vision, tell others and visit our “indiegogo.com” link which will be at the end of this blog post.
Rural areas are full of small farmers who know how to grow food, prepare food and many of them have great recipes that could be mass produced, but they don’t have access facilities to make it possible.  Farms have wells and septic systems which bureaucrats have decided are much more dangerous that municipal utilities. (As I type this, Worcester, MA is on its third day of “boil water,” order, due to a water line break.)
Dairy farmers, like myself, are faced with raising grain prices, and constant requests from people to allow them buy milk, cheese, yogurt or ice cream from us, but I can’t say yes. I can’t afford the equipment or the testing, to make that happen.  But if we could create a location that people could share, then it would be possible to grow these small businesses and meet the growing demand for our products.
One of our potential users makes a nearly allergen-free (98%) ice cream, using products from her own farm.  She has a long list of families and school districts who want her product, but she can’t afford the facilities, but she could use ours.
Speaking of kids with special needs,  many times they require special diets, or they benefit from hippo-therapy or other animal-assisted therapy.  Finding facilities that are available and affordable is a challenge, depending upon the concentration of population.  But the dogs that provide this assistance, and the people who love them, often participate in other dog activities that need large spaces, another premium in an urban area. What if we created a place where these provider dogs can serve their clients, and the owners could increase their income through training, clinics or just plain fun?
Looking at what else is needed in our area, we have discovered that young people lack the knowledge to know good meat from bad meat, to cook unless the directions are on the side of a box, or how to sew on a button.  These skills, and many others, were once taught by parents and grandparents, but as “country folk,” became more shamed for being rural, they focused more on the consumer skills that commercials promote – buy, buy, buy.  Instead of an economy based on the corner hardware store or mercantile where you could get the basic supplies to make into a finished product, consumers now look to someone else to build, bake or create a product for them.   They became reliant on contractors, rather than their own skills, to take care of their homes, their families and themselves.  What’s the problem with that? Nothing, if you are the contractor, tailor or caterer. But if you don’t have the money to purchase these services, and you don’t have the skills to complete the work yourself, what do you do?
Upon examining what else is needed in our region, we discovered a myriad of talented performers, musicians and artists who want the quality of life in the country, but lack a means of making a living.  We also find willing audience members driving 20 minutes to 2 hours to see a performance, or visit a museum, burning fossil fuels and supporting someone else’s economy, along their travels.  There’s room in our plan for the artists too, and others will come to them, if we make it worth their while to do so.
This big project has such potential, but it’s so big it doesn’t fit into the conventional funding model.  It’s feasible to reuse an antique mill building, with an existing water power source, to create this project. It’s possible for us to create a new economy based upon car-sharing, green transportation and enhanced mass transit, if we make it worthwhile for that to happen.  It’s also extremely viable to take this project to other places within the nation, not just in our area.
When asked “Where’s your audience?” I’m forced to say “Whoever wants to come.”  When asked where the “seed money” comes from, my answer is small donations and membership fees. We have a few larger donors, but they aren’t on the massive scale people in philanthropy think of, because there is no one like that in this area. These answers make the donors nervous because they sound like we haven’t thought this through – we have.
Do we have to wait for the government to think of this? If so, the building will be gone and the funding will be at the discretion of elected officials.  Do we wait for an urban area to treat these problems? They won’t deal with the same issues we will, because they don’t have the producers we have.  Do we give up? I can’t. Not with kids waiting for healthy food, 4H kids looking for a place to show and learn, artists seeking exhibit space, and curious neighbors seeking a place to learn.  It’s too good to give up on. But it needs the help of others who see the logic, the vision and understand that sometimes change comes from a different direction than you expect. But along with that new path comes great possibilities and wonderful discoveries.  How adventurous are you?
Do you know someone who needs special foods? a place to grow a food based business? a child on the “spectrum?” a friend who wants to learn to knit, crochet, sew, can or sell their crafts? Do you wonder how you’d rebuild your home if a “superstorm” hit your neighborhood? Would you like to be able to find locally produced, sustainably raised food in the same place you went to a concert, or told  a story?  If so, then give a dollar or two for each person you know that fits those questions.  If you fit those answers yourself, give with yourself in mind.   Forget about a minimum gift at http://www.indiegogo.com/NCSCTools?a=521984  , just give. Tell your friends, your twitter followers, the twitter folks you follow. Shout it to the hills, but help us get this project started so people don’t have to wait for someone else. We’ve all been waiting a long time, and I for one, am tired of watching people give up.
Global warming is here, but if we can share facilities, transportation,  and knowledge we can build a stronger future. The government can do some things, but education and community can do a lot too. North Country Sustainability Center is a tool in the climate change toolkit.  Help us make the tool kit stronger, so that others can build their own tool sets for their regions.  Please give and share.  Thank you.

(Background Music:  Bum, bum, ba-bum, Bum, Bum, Ba-Bum, da-da-da…… )
(Scene: Light a match, put to a candle)

Our mission: To create a place that allows people to have a higher, more sustainable quality of life than they currently do. The future presents numerous challenges, and while some of the solutions are known, many are not easily accessible, or even recognized.

The Plan:  To create a place with room for sustainability skills to be shared among our neighbors.  To make wise use of our resources, and reconnect people with the skills that will make it easier to keep living in our area.

The Situation:  Rural America and many small cities are filled with creative people, full of ideas, but lack resources to bring those ideas to reality.  They don’t have “urban center” that’s big enough to bring people to their region, and the government’s attention to help create “enterprise zones.”

Solution:  Identify a space that is large enough to provide space for needed and under available activities, and make it available for people to use. Users will pay user fees, but be able to charge their own rates for people to participate in that activity ie: sewing instructors need space to spread out their fabric and patterns, yet they can rarely afford a personal studio.  They could teach sewing to novice needleworkers, earning money, teaching others self-reliance and help to pay the costs for the maintenance of the facility.

Characters: A non-profit, founded in 2010, developed to create a commercial kitchen, food hub and arts facility so that residents of the region could grow their local economy and sustainability.
A 1860 mill on more than 50 acres, in good condition.
Farmers who need markets and transport services to those markets
Artists of all type who appreciate rural life, but desire workspace and community arts programs to teach and share in.
Seniors citizens who have life skills such as sewing, cooking, woodworking, animal husbandry, who need incomes, but can’t travel far from home due to mobility concerns.
People of all ages who are seeking education, instruction and access to the knowledge and skills held by those listed above.
Young people and animal enthusiasts who have lost exhibition spaces, and though they want to learn about agriculture, or be active in pet based activities, they lack those opportunities.

Foes:  Apathy among neighbors who lack financial resources to create this project without outside help.
Corporations who have taught the public that they need short cuts and “extra time,” so that they can provide lower quality, higher priced products with negative effects on the users, the community and the Earth.
A sense of doom and gloom that people are inherently selfish and the environment is beyond the help of any individual.
A less than supportive town government who could not see that such a vision is not an overnight solution.

Assets:  An existing non-profit, North Country Sustainability Center,
An historical mill complex with ample space for all planned endeavors, with easy access to potential hydropower, solar power and interstate transportation
A willing and eager group of users who are currently struggling to build their businesses in isolation, but recognize that they could grow faster or in some cases, even begin, if they had access to such a facility.

You!

How can you help? 
If you live in New England, come to the John McCutcheon Concert in Fitchburg, a great fundraiser for North Country Sustainability Center, Inc.  The venue is right off Route 2, near the center of the Bay State. Tickets are $20 for adults $15 for students. Details at www.northcountrysustain.org/concert.html
Can’t attend the concert, donate to our nationwide fundraisers:   Crowdrise at North Country Sustainability Center,  or Indiegogo.com  at http://www.indiegogo.com/NCSCTools?a=521984  or donate directly to North Country Sustainability Center at PO Box 914, Ashburnham, MA 01430 or Pat@northcountrysustain.org at PayPal.
Share this message, retweet, reblog, or just forward it to everyone you know.  This is a model for a sustainable region, with shared use facilities, education for alternative energy and sustainable agriculture, and a celebration of our local arts, all of which builds local economies and quality of life.

Time Frame:  We have been evicted from our temporary home which did not allow us to address the most important needs of our community.  We need to finish paying the oil bill and we need to prove that our concept is feasible by raising the down payment for the mill in an adjacent town.  Lots of acreage, lots of space, and a town that understands that creativity needs nurturing, but is worth it in the long run. Our artists and crafters have lost a selling space just before the Holiday season. We don’t want them to miss another one.

If you look at the situation in New York and New Jersey, or what happened in Vermont last year, you sometimes see just the initial frustration and fear.  But the rebuilding is a long, onerous process that will need the skills that NCSC can teach. If it can happen there, it can happen in another way, anywhere. Help us create that “go to place” for our neighbors, and for yours.

Extra bonus:  Something positive to do while we all await the direction of this country based upon our Presidential choice.  All donations will be placed on our email list, so you will receive updates as to how NCSC is proceeding.  Be a team member and please accept this Mission: Possible.

Remember in the old television show, or the movie series, things always looked impossible, but they always succeeded. No need for disguises or CGI.  Just show the doubters that we can help each other, ourselves and the planet, if we just show each other the way. Help us be that light for you, and for others.

(Candle flame phases into a fire in a woodstove, )
(Overlay of phrase: Sustainability: Whatever it takes to keep living here.)

(Biology + Chemistry + Physics + Folklife + Arts +Sociology ) X Ethics

Sandy the Superstorm has revived people’s concerns about global warming. About time. But while people wait to be rescued, and others struggle to bring services back on line, we all need to look at how to move forward from this point.

It doesn’t do any good to blame anyone, though we do need to recognize bad decisions so we don’t make them again.  It doesn’t really matter if it’s man-made, or if it’s God’s will, it’s happening.  However, I have to ask my fellow Christians who believe this is God’s plan, isn’t he the Father of All. Would a benevolent God destroy all the rest of the planet, all of his beautiful creation, just to punish one form of life?  When He gave Adam “dominion,” over the planet, I don’t think he met to dominate, but to be a steward of this world. How have we done in this regard so far? 

So moving forward we have to look at ways that we can retool our way of living. Yes, there will be some sacrifice involved. I know that it’s not popular to tell people that, but given that our forefathers fought World Wars to protect the human race from evil, shouldn’t we sacrifice our indulgence to protect The World from our consumption and carelessness?

Each older generation looks at the younger generation with some frustration that they haven’t stepped into the same shoes as their parents, but the upcoming young people are left without some basic tools that they need to continue. Even without climate change, just the difference between the 1% and the 99% will make it difficult for them , but they have been very well educated in being consumers, not in being producers.  Some of them are finding personal power in learning those skills, from cooking to carpentry, farming to fashion. Others are still wallowing in the delusion of worrying about not being able to buy the newest fashion or the trendiest computer game.  We need to bring back the practical skills that enabled families to be more independent, more engaged in their communities and actually build the nation that we are blessed with.  Unfortunately many people with those skills are aging, and will take their talents and experiences with them, unless we create programs that put young and old together.

If we are to have a truly sustainable future, we need to look at various models, because no model is universal.  But if we look at Maslow’s hierarchy at the base level, “shelter, water and food,” are essential.  But sustainability is not about survival. It needs to consider perpetuality, not immediacy.
It is possible to survive, but not have a life worth living. Living on the street, living in poverty and the crime and violence that shares those streets, shows what that life is like.  We need to build in the idea of
“maintaining a quality of life,” in that we use foresight in our plans.  Government doesn’t usually use foresight very well, but humans have that capability. We need to bring that ability into our planning so that that sustainability truly is “whatever it takes to keep living here.” *

*North Country Sustainability Center’s definition, as provided by an 8 year old from Ashburnham, MA.