It was with great sorrow that the Handy Village Institute postponed its Annual March Small Wind Workshop, this year. Even before the government leaders issued their state and county orders to self-isolate, we were all in clear agreement that it was the right thing to do. We have chosen August 10 to 15, 2020 as our goal to reschedule our workshop. We love being able to host this extraordinary opportunity for participants to come and learn how to make a small wind turbine from scratch that can add wind power a homestead or small farm renewable energy system. We were really looking forward to working with this year's group, and hope to see everyone soon. We either really miss you, or we really want to meet you!

We hope you will keep following Handy Village Institute, online, here and on Facebook. If you can make it, please join us for our next workshop. We also always hold an Open House at the shop on the evening before the final day of the workshop, so participants can show off their work to family and friends and neighbors. It is also a great time to drop by if you are thinking about taking the workshop in the future. If all goes as planned, the Open House will be on August 14, between 5 and 7 pm. Refreshments will be served, tunes will be played and sung, and families will be welcomed. Until then, please take care and stay safe. We want you to stick around a while longer! 

Spinny and Sustainable Jack launched Spinny's Theme Song at the 2018 American Solar Energy Society Conference in Boulder, Colorado, August 7, 2018, before Sven presented his renewable energy circus act. 

We were pleased to once again have the participation of Tim King's family in documenting our workshops, realtime, with video. The Handy Village Institute now has a YouTube channel where you can find several videos, including a short version of the March 2018 small wind workshop and a longer version of the March 2016 small wind workshop.

Update: Alternative Energy Through Homemade Wind Turbines on Lowlander Center site. 

The Biloxi-Chittamacha-Choctaw, Pointe-au-Chien, and Atakapa-Istak Chawasha Indians live in a part of Southern Louisiana that is losing ground. The sediments that once replenished “uninhabitable” swamplands with silt carried from 41% of the lower United States naturally subside. But, the levee system along the Mississippi River diverts almost the entire flow of the river directly into the Gulf of Mexico, carrying the sediment with it. Canals built to service the oil and gas industries and increasingly intense tropical storms have caused severe erosion and allowed salt water to intrude where once all was fresh water. This has killed vegetation, leaving “ghost trees” and removing even more of the land. Added to that, sea level is rising. 

Doc Sydnor has had a full career in neuro-opthalmology and a lifetime of ranching cattle.  He raises his own line of Red Devon cows on grass in the Cane Creek Mountains of the Piedmont region of North Carolina. You can find fine cuts of his ​Braeburn Farm beef in local restaurants, farmers and cooperative markets, at the local butcher and at a store on the farm. Cindy Sydnor offers training in dressage at the farm. Doc has been discussing renewable energy possibilities at Braeburn Farm with Christopher Carter for about a decade. ​

Clancey's Stone Lion is across the highway, tucked in by the railroad tracks. It securely anchors tiny Custer, Wisconsin. In spite of my expectations otherwise, I learned that it was closed on Fish Fry Friday, the second night of the Midwest Renewable Energy Fair. Composed of handsome blocks of stone, its wooden shingles lie upon uniquely curved rooftops.  A tiny leprechaun peaks out over the top of a sorry potted plant, his raised arms below the rim reaching up in silhouette over my bar table by the window. A pair of shillelaghs adorn the bar, which is well-provisioned. One Irish whiskey label advises us to destroy the bottle when we are done, lest it should fall into the hands of an imposter.

In a quick dash across the road, I enjoy wild-caught cod with the first fresh green vegetables seen in many days. Then, it's back to the Fair, again, for the evening's speech and concert. Last year, a well-timed Clancey's Facebook post announcing "Fresh Blueberry Pie" lured three of us here, the results of which visit are shown, above.

I have come again for the wind turbines, celebrating our homemade machines that transform the powerful breath of our planet into light and heat in an alchemy of electrons, changing air into fire. Local beer, Midsummer sunsets, a full Moon together with planets Mars and Saturn over the Homebrew turbine at the edge of the fairgrounds lead me to fleeting cosmic thoughts. This quickly mixes with nearby small talk about shared passions and commitments, and whether tonight's band is ever going to play any danceable music. What does it take to live "off-grid"? Why do we do what we do? Will the "geezers" successfully hand this ritual celebration off to younger generations? Another memorial tree has been planted in the Arbor of Activism.