Planting and pizza on Sunday

[Patrick Zieske]

Hi everyone,

We're having a planting day on Sunday, starting at 11:00 AM.  Includes pizza and some plant cuttings you can take home.  It's at the Sylvan's NeighborWood site at 5601 Conway Rd., Chelsea.  Feel free to stop by.

Other news also below...

Patrick

----- Forwarded Message -----

From: Patrick Zieske <patric...@yahoo.com>

To: neighb...@googlegroups.com <neighb...@googlegroups.com>

Sent: Monday, May 2, 2022, 11:25:31 PM EDT

Subject: News and updates -- planting day on Sunday, May 8th!

Hello everyone,

1.

It was great to see all of you who attended the presentation and/or pizza party just over a week ago!

2.

Being already May now, we have some planting to do!  The date is set for this Sunday, May 8th, starting at 11:00 AM.  We are going to fire up the earth oven, plant some trees and shrubs, and eat some pizza -- pretty much in that order.

By now you know the deal for the pizza: Bring some toppings, bake and eat.

Also, we'll have free elderberry and concord grape cuttings that you can take home with you... that is, for the time being until Sylvan's NeighborWood becomes your home... aspirationally.

Some of the things we may plant here on Sunday:

• Spruce and Pine along the northern property line
• Chestnut in front of the spruce and pine, and possibly in the main silvopasture area (TBD)
  
• Apple
• Pear
• Oregano
• Comfrey
• Sage
• Grape
  

How much we plant depends a lot on how many hands we have, making "quick work".

We endeavor to plant some things in the Edible Park region.  Due to some lingering uncertainty about site plans and Township approval, we want to be conservative in our placement, limiting the planting to the area in front of the earth oven where the soil is unsuitable for home-site septic systems anyway.  Some places are staked out now.  See the attached photo from today, and also the leaf-themed design concept that we may finish building out later, depending on how the uncertainties are resolved.

You can bring your mother!  (Yes, I know, it's on Mother's Day, that's just the way it happened this time.)

3.

Registration will be open shortly for this summer's Hempcrete Workshop!  Hempcrete is our material of choice for wall insulation for the first home which is under construction now.  The workshop will be held on Friday-Saturday, July 8th-9th, 10:00 AM through 4:00 PM each day.  As this is a big event led by experts, there will be a workshop fee of $125 per participant.  It's a chance to be part of the construction of the first permitted hempcrete residence in Michigan, a ground-breaking event for sure, no pun intended, and learn a valuable skill that not many possess.  (Remember if/when you get around to building your straw bale or hempcrete home or something else, you might also benefit from running a workshop.) 

We are just putting the finishing touches on the registration page and the flyer.  The final version will go live in a few days and I will immediately send out the link to you all.

4.

As mentioned previously, we still have some community design issues -- for which we want to gather feedback from prospective residents.  That can be your feedback.  Are you seriously considering building a home this year or next year?  (Yes, this year is a possibility for one more home.)  Do you deeply care about what kind of community we are developing?  Are you a serious contributor with real skin in the game, whether planting like this Sunday, planning, meeting, or building?  We want the most serious people to help shape our community.  No commitment is required at this point, just a demonstrated passionate and caring desire to be part of our journey.

We will be holding one or more meetings to discuss the outstanding issues.  Send an email to Patrick Zieske (patric...@yahoo.com) and Christian Smith (chr...@umich.edu) to express your interest.  Or if you already know us personally, give one of us a call.

Thanks, and hope to see you on Sunday!

Patrick, for Sylvan's NeighborWood