Thanksharing LCRG's topics - tribe.net

Sweat lodges!

2008-05-12T20:43:34Z

This is a great first project for us to work on.

Question is when, and what do we need? I've seen a few examples of sweat lodge construction, and I'd love to hear what ideas y'all have on this.

Also, when would be a good time to get together and do this? Middle of the summer?

Would be nice to have them built by fall.

A couple of box gardens too, for beets and kale! Need planting in september!

Who's interested?

posted in Thanksharing LCRG - 1 reply

Camping for Yard Work

2008-05-08T15:38:45Z

If you would like to a enjoy a weekend or even a few days out in the country, at (basically) no cost to you, I have a proposition for you!

Here's the deal: my parents live out on the property, they're getting older and work full time along with maintaining the property--- help them out, and in exchange, stay at my house (Thanksharing house). Full kitchen, brand-new fridge, bathrooms and showers. No tv, no internet, cell phones don't work so well out there... it's a nice space to get away!

Yard work would be weeding, trimming hedges, mowing the lawn, raking, watering...if my dad's working on some sort of building project, maybe help him out.

This offer is open to those of you who I know personally--you'll be staying in my house and all next door to my parents, so it's always sweet to be safe!

Thanks!

posted in Thanksharing LCRG - 0 replies

What veggies should we grow?

2008-01-22T21:18:58Z

Patric queried that on Rebecca's "Chef" post.

He said "tomatos". I say yes! (which is actually classified as a fruit :-)

And kale, cabbage, beets, field greens, carrots, celery, variety of beans, squash(es), zuccini, peppers, garlic, onion, corn, potatos and yams, pumpkin, melons...

some of these are seasonal and some we can grow year round, so grow what we can when it's time; I think for this year, we should be able to have a fall harvest--gourds primarily, kale is in season fall and winter (and I eat everyday almost!), maybe grows year round. and cabbage. (kale and red cabbage are just so good for us, yo! and yummy with homemade salad dressing {shimmie shimmie shimmie})

My parents have grown different types of squash out there, and they've been gorgeous, and huge! They don't add anything to the soil to make them grow as big as they get, either. My mom's also been growing cherry tomatos and some peppers that have done well.

Oh yeah, herbs too--basil, cilantro, thyme, sage, parsley (plenty of rosemary out there already), dill, oregano, mint, lemongrass, lemonbalm....

There are plants/flowers that can be made into teas, and there are also edible flowers (and I don't know what those are specifically, but I will).

There are pecan, pear, and peach trees out there--would like to add apple, pomegranate, date palms, fig, lemon or lime, a few more pecan trees, and maybe some other nut trees that would grow well in the region. I have to do some research on the date palms, to see how well they'd handle the winter--it gets cold in the desert, but not exactly the same. Maybe a cherry tree? Mango? (don't know if they would grow well)

I have an idea on how we can pay for the trees (cause those get expensive--of course, we can attempt growing from seeds for some of them, it'll just take a couple more years before they actually bear fruit) on the "TS Website" post.

I gladly welcome any input from whoever actually knows what would grow well this region of Tx--we've many different climate zones in the state--the land is located close to the NW border of Austin County. When I get back, I'm going to the city hall and consult with the ag resource dept, and maybe make use of Prairie View A&M (where my mom works) and talk to their ag people, as well.

I think that should make for some sweet gardens and orchard, yeah? Of course, we'll plant what we can as we go. As long as we plan/plot the layout of the trees and gardens, we'll be good. And we'll get to discuss that real soon!

:-)

posted in Thanksharing LCRG - 3 replies

Idea for TS website!

2008-01-21T06:47:17Z

Whenever we do have a website (for which I will have to call upon the skills of my very talented community--I'll massage you for it!) I'd like to put a contribution page on it.

I don't want to make TS a nonprofit organization--while we can be a "for profit" non-profit, in my mind, it's a hassle, b/c of the board of directors, meetings, specific procedures, no one on b.o.d can receive any type of wages or salary from any TS business, etc. Maybe later we'll go for the incorporation of a non-profit. But to get us started...

TS will gain some attention from Just BreatheTees & Tags-- all the shirts will have a little tag on them mentioning TS and how a portion of the profits goes directly towards TS, and also pays the wages for the folks who live and work there. Maybe on the sticker backing we just have the website address. And yeah, we'll need help with a JBT&T website, too! Thanks to whoever volunteers to help create those!

So...on TS's contribution page, we state very clearly that while Thanksharing is not a non-profit organization, we need all the help we can get!
Would you like to buy a fruit or nut tree for Thanksharing (or chicken, or seeds, or solar panels, building supplies, etc)?

We list how many we need of whatever we plan to plant, (or whatever, those guys in parenthesis up there), and the cost of each. A little pic with a click on dealy, (you see my mad site bldg skills, yes? ;-) and a counter for how many we still need that goes down with each purchase.

Also add that if anyone has anything material they'd like to contribute, get in contact with us and tell us what, and we'll let you know if we can use it.

Everyone who contributes gets to camp-out (and when we have sleeping stuctures built, stay) for free, our way of saying, "Thanks for Sharing!"

Which I think should be our motto-- Thanksharing, "Thanks for sharing!" (too cheesy--nah--way better than "Gratitude is our Attitude")

We'll offer camping and weekend workshops as soon as we're able to--we'll discuss that at our First Gathering Ever! (and the second one, too!)

Okay--anyone else have any great ideas to share?

Namaste, my sistas and brothas!

posted in Thanksharing LCRG - 0 replies

About Looking up the Land via mapquest satellite

2008-01-17T05:32:34Z

For some reason, when you type in the address, it goes way far to the right of the property.

It's over to the left w/ a driveway and two houses on it, trees towards the front of the property.

It really doesn't look like much over the satelite! Then again, 7 acres isn't that much, either. But it's a starting point.

We can always get more land later, if we want or need to.

:-)

At least you get a general idea of the area, though!

posted in Thanksharing LCRG - 2 replies

Whee!

2007-12-20T14:37:59Z

Awesome. I was wondering what happened to you.
I have a book or two to give you (one on composting toilets).
I can't wait to see the land!

I want to help build a chicken coop :)

- Lenell

posted in Thanksharing LCRG - 1 reply

Welcome, My friends, my family, my community!

2007-12-20T00:08:35Z

THANKSHARING LCRG

Intentional Community
--Cornerstones: Love Gratitude Respect Creation

Located on 7 acres of clear land on the banks of the Brazos River, midway between Houston and Austin. There are various routes that may be taken to get there, which is beneficial visitor accessabililty. It’s on my parents land; there are two houses on it—theirs and ours.

The resident community shall be between 5-10 people, max 15; these individuals live and preferably work on-site. Income is brought in through:
--Just Breathe Tees and Tags t-shirt and sticker co.
--production & sale of practice fire toys and hula hoops
--weekend retreats, workshops, & classes
--camping
--laughter therapy retreats!
--open to more ideas of stuff we may produce and sell either directly or online

This core group will together share the responsibility of maintaining the gardens, and caring for the chickens, as well as various duties such as cooking, cleaning of shared areas, etc.

Thanksharing is open for individuals and groups to visit, be it for a weekend, or a few months. All guests are welcome to stay in exchange for labor, and/or contributions of food, building materials, or money. (That means help with gardens, maintenance, and building!)

Everyone is expected to live and work cooperatively, maintaining open hearts and open minds, in a state of Love, Gratitude, Respect, and Creation. No other rules are necessary.

Classes will range from how to make skin-care products at home to poi and hooping, gardening, kombucha and cheese making, various art, and yoga, etc; classes will vary according to what skills are available to be shared.

Upon the land we shall establish organic gardens for our own sustainability, as well as fruit and nut trees. Currently there are peach, pear, and pecan trees all doing very well on the land.

We shall also build various structures using Green architecture and methods, so that we may show different examples of ways that we may live—also will serve as sleeping quarters for residents and guests.

There is a main house already established with kitchen, 2 1/2 baths, 3 bedrooms, and a back work room. More work spaces may be built as needed.

We shall build both a sweat lodge and a moon lodge, and a sweet fire pit to heat up the rocks.

We will eventually go off-grid, gathering our electricity through solar, wind, and water (the Brazos has mad strong currents, perfect for generating elec).

Thanksharing is an excellent space for artists to get away from the city, breathe in clean air, and work on various projects in a peaceful, open environment.

Thanksharing is also a bridge in between our community (who already understand what it is to live respectfully, lovingly, with absolute gratitude, and creating for the sheer joy of creation), and those who have no clue what that feels like. It’s a bridge between our Austin and Houston community, as well.

By creating a sacred space where we may share with each other safely, we create a space for others to come and experience our community, and perhaps inspire them to change their perceptions and reality—and cultivate infectious joy!

My goal is to create a place where we can share together, enjoying our community, learning from each other, nourishing our bodies with yummy food that we grow ourselves, and working together on various projects, always creating (and sometimes destroying!), and overall, HAVING A BLAST IN THE PROCESS! And then share this with others, so they understand how it feels, so they may perhaps feel inspired to create similar sacred spaces themselves, or whatever.

It may also be a home base for those of us who want to travel around the country or the world, a place to come to that you know is always home, and will always be there to welcome you.

I would love to set up some kind of exchange between other intentional communities and ours so we may share our knowledge, skills, and talents with our global community, and be able to travel and have even more fun!

This is my basic dream.

We can take our time, and start out small, building a few structures, planting smaller gardens initially, and planting trees. Because the land is located 1.5 hrs from Houston, and 2 hrs from Austin, it’s not so far that folks may come out for a weekend or a week (if possible) to help out, and have some fun at the same time. There are also the surrounding small towns of Hempstead, Bellville, Sealy, Brookshire, and Brenham, 12 – 30 miles away, respectively, for outside work. There are actually quite a few wealthy families in these small towns—artists, sell your skills and wares.

Eventually, I would love for the place to be sustainable and completely off-grid, hopefully by 2012 or 2013. That gives us 4 – 5 years; with the amazing talents and skills of our community, I feel that this may be accomplished.

So—who’s on board? I can’t do this without my community, nor would I want to. I need my family to share this with! Otherwise it’s just no fun without y’all.

I should be returning to Texas in February; I would love to set up a weekend that we may gather, so y’all can get a look at the land, and we may organize this vision together.

Bring tents to camp out in; my dad has a large grill and smoker for barbecuing, more grills are handy too, but probably not necessary. Coolers a must, because there’s only one fridge at the house for cold storage.

I understand that with Flipside coming up in May, it may be difficult for folks working on theme camps to come out, but you could always bring relatively smaller Flipside related projects with y’all that we may all help out with.

Some weekend towards the end of Feb or the beginning of March would be great—you all will help me figure out when by letting me know what weekend(s) would be best for y’all, and I’ll settle on the weekend that the majority of those interested may be able to make it out to.

posted in Thanksharing LCRG - 0 replies