February 16th Member Meeting:
Firewise Building with Jan Fulkerson
Circle
D Fire in 2004 |
For
the February 16th meeting, we will be visited by Jan Fulkerson
who will present information on Firewise Building. The Firewise
building materials, landscaping and defensible space concepts
are a good fit with sustainable building practices. Firewise
promotes the use of fire resistant building materials, native
plants and add the best forestry management practices, which
compliment wildlife habitat. |
Wildfires
do happen in Texas and can happen anywhere else! We do lose homes
to wildfire. Texans need to be informed and empowered to make
sound management plans to reduce the risk of loss from wildfire.
The focus of this presentation will be on what can be done to
the home and around the home to make your property as fire resistant
as possible.
Jan Fulkerson
has worked in the Urban Wildland Interface Program of the Texas
Forest Service since 2001. She was hired to develop Wildfire Preparedness
Program to empower Texas residents on how to live safely in the
wildfire environments of Texas. She works with many Homeowners
Associations in cities all over the state. Prior to working with
the Texas Forest Service, Jan was the Tree Planting Coordinator
for the City of Austin and served on the Board of TreeFolks for
eight years.
Come learn
when combustible homes meet combustible vegetation - be it greenbelts,
parks or rural wild areas. Most homes are built into or are adjacent
to natural vegetation. Come learn about 'firewise' building materials
(new & retrofit), landscaping and defensible space concepts.
Please
join Jan to learn more about Firewise Building. SBC meets every
3rd Wednesday of the month at 7 pm at Casa
de Luz, 1701 Toomey Road in the Cielo Room. You are welcome
to join us before the meeting at 6 pm for a wonderful macrobiotic
meal at Casa de Luz.
Follow-Up Field Trip to Firewise
Building Meeting: February 19th
By
Frieda Rinehart
Come see
first hand the effects of fire. On Saturday, February 19th, at
1:30pm at Bastrop State Park, Texas Forest Service agent Lexi
Maxwell will lead us to different areas within the park to view
past prescribed burns. She will also present a powerpoint presentation
about the effects of fire. See the stages of regrowth and how
Mother Earth heals herself and becomes more ecological sound -
wildlife and plant-wise. For this trip to happen, we MUST have
RSVP's by Wednesday February 16th. Please call my voice mail at
490-8797 and leave your name & phone #. We will contact you
of where the initial meeting spot will be.
New SBC Meeting Schedule for
2005
In order to
provide more convenience to our members, we are changing the SBC
member meeting day to the 3rd Wednesday of the month. There always
seems like many activities are scheduled around the beginning
and end of the month, so we decided to change the SBC meeting
schedule. This schedule will start in January 2005 with our first
meeting on January 19th. The meetings will still be held at Casa
de Luz.
2005 Year of the Rooster Celebration
and Open House
You are invited
to join us for an Open House on Saturday, February 12th, to celebrate
the Chinese New Year.
Place: Oak
Hill Oriental Medicine
7411 Old Bee Caves Road*
Time: 2:00 - 6:00 p.m.
Hosts: Old-time SBC member and SBAT (Strawbale Assoc of Tx co-founder)
Duncan Echelson, Maki, Suzanne, and Tim
There will
be plenty of food & drink, games for the kids (and someone
to watch them) and live bluegrass music. If you like, bring kites,
noisemakers, sparklers, dragons, lions, and certainly roosters
- or come in costume! If the weather doesn't cooperate, we still
have plenty of room inside, so dress warm & come play anyway!
*Directions:
going south on Mopac, take the Hwy 290 exit. About _ mile past
the intersection with Wm. Cannon, you can see Old Bee Caves Road
on the right - it's the last street before you reach the "Y"
(intersection of Hwy 290 and 71) - look for the "Dougherty
firewood" sign. Pull over to the shoulder so you can turn
right (traffic begins to travel fast there.) Go 3/4 of a mile
and you'll see a church on the left side. Slow down and look for
the "acupuncture" sign at the next driveway on the left.
The clinic is the big yellow house at the end of the driveway.
Rhizome Collective in East Austin Presents...
How will the End of Cheap Oil affect low-income homeowners and
renters in Central Austin?
Join us for:
Peak Oil and Gentrification
Questions, Answers, and Solutions.
(Food provided, donations appreciated)
Peak Oil: point when most of the cheap oil has been extracted
and the price of oil sky-rockets.
Gentrification: process where low-income people get forced out
of their neighborhoods to make room for wealthier people.
Saturday,
26 February 10am - ?
* Tours of the Rhizome Collectives Educational Center for Urban Sustainability
* Intro to the basics of Peak Oil
* Film: The End of Suburbia
* Panel Discussion
* Brainstorming Solutions
* Breakout Groups
Sunday Feb. 27th 10am - ?
* More Sustainability
Tours
* Work with the autonomous groups at the Rhizome: Bikes Across
Borders,
the Inside Books Project, Austin Indymedia
* Help with the construction of the Kids Space and the Health
Center
* Skill-shares
These workshops will take place at 300 Allen St. For more info, call 294-9580 or 385-3695
House Alive Cob and Natural Building Workshops
The workshop schedule for 2005 is ready! These are the ones we
have planned so far and more might be added over the next month
or so. To
find out more please visit out website at www.housealive.org.
You can contact us with all your questions at welcome@housealive.org.
May 11-15 - 4-day cob workshop Julian, CA. $380
May 25-June - 4 Complete shelter workshop Jacksonville,OR $840
June 18-19 - Intro to cob and sacred space Talent, OR $90
August 10-14 - 4-day cob workshop Port Angeles, WA $380
August 17-21 - 4-day cob workshop Port Angeles, WA $380
Aug 31- Sept 4 - 4-day cob workshop Jacksonville, OR $380
New for 2005 will be our European style apprentice program. Open
to maximum 4 people, we will work from June 21 through July 29
on a great variety of projects, training people to become proficient
at natural building techniques that are marketable in the "home
improvement" world. These include earthen plasters, cob floors,
earthen ovens and fireplaces, cob art, garden walls and more.
The cost for this 6-week program will be $1950, which includes
room and board. This program is entirely designed for people who
are planning on doing this work professionally. If you are interested
in applying for this program, please write to welcome@housealive.org.
All other workshops will be published on the website soon, including
how to register for them.
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