Volunteer Trip to Pine Ridge: Sept. 11-14

Take this opportunity to travel to our Tribal Renewable Energy Program’s headquarters on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Although it is only a five hour drive from the Trees, Water & People office in Fort Collins, Colorado, a trip to Pine Ridge will offer volunteers an unforgettable cultural experience and an opportunity to help complete sustainable building projects at the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center (RCREC). Plus, we will be getting our hands dirty at Solar Warrior Farm! This is a wonderful way to give back, make new friends, and learn about the Lakota culture.

Volunteer Trip – Strawbales and Harvest Time

Where: Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center, Pine Ridge Reservation, SD
When: Thursday, Sept. 11 – Sunday, Sept. 14
Who: Flexible volunteers who like adventure, hard work, lots of fun, and all kinds of weather. Volunteers 14-18 are welcome with adult companions.
Why: To help complete two of our strawbale demonstration houses, put a finish coat on the LSE office building and help bring in the harvest from the Solar Warrior Farm
Volunteers are invited to arrive any time on Thursday, Sept. 11. We will host full work days on Friday and Saturday and a half day on Sunday. Projects will end by 1:00 pm on Sunday, and volunteers are welcome to head home any time on Sunday, Sept. 14 or stay longer and help us put a final coat on our strawbale houses and compressed earth block offices!

Food:
• TWP will provide volunteers with meals and snacks during the trip.
• Food purchased by TWP will be simple and tasty, but feel free to bring any food you desire. We will send out a meal plan as the date comes near.
• TWP cooking equipment and utensils will be available for use.
• Volunteers will help in preparing all meals and with cleaning up afterwards.

Transportation:
• All volunteers are responsible for their own transportation and related costs getting to Pine Ridge.
• We will be happy to coordinate carpools where possible.
• Our facility is located down a short dirt road. Many sedans have traveled it without any problems.

Lodging:
• Beds will be available for volunteers at the Sacred Earth Lodge. Camping is also a great option during this time of year1 Campers on the Red Cloud Renewable Energy campus must bring their own camping equipment (tent, sleeping bag and pad, etc.). Weather is unpredictable, so only those comfortable in the outdoors should camp.

Sacred Earth Lodge

To volunteer, please email the following information to Assistant National Director, John Motley, at john@treeswaterpeople.org:
1. Name of all people in your volunteer party
2. Email addresses for all people in your volunteer party
3. Your cell phone number
4. Which days you have available to travel to and work in Pine Ridge
5. Where you will be coming from and returning to (e.g. many people will be coming from Fort Collins, CO)
6. Whether you will be camping or require a bunk in our loft (first come, first served!)
7. Do you need a ride?
8. Can you offer a ride – if so, to how many people?
9. Any other questions you may have?
Once I have confirmed your spot, I will email you directions to the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center and provide you with additional details.

For more information and to register as a volunteer, please contact John Motley via email at john@treeswaterpeople.org or by phone at 970-484-3678.

Join Us! Volunteer Trip to Pine Ridge: June 19-22

Please join us for a weekend of volunteering at the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center, headquarters of TWP’s Tribal Renewable Energy Program! On this trip, we will be finishing the construction of one of our straw bale homes, which will be used as a demonstration site for sustainable building, and getting our hands dirt in Solar Warrior Farm. This will be a great opportunity for learning and making new friends. We hope you can join us!

Where: Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center, Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota
When: Thursday, June 19 – Sunday, June 22
Who: Flexible volunteers who like adventure, hard work, lots of fun, and all kinds of weather. Volunteers 14-18 are welcome with adult companions.
Why: To finish mudding our straw bale demonstration home and to put a new roof on this structure.

Volunteers are invited to arrive any time on Thursday, June 19. We will host full work days on Friday and Saturday and a half day on Sunday. Projects will end by 1:00 pm on Sunday, and volunteers are welcome to head home any time on Sunday, June 22.

Food:

• TWP will provide volunteers with meals and snacks during the trip.
• Food purchased by TWP will be simple and tasty, but feel free to bring any other food/snacks you desire. We will send out a meal plan as the date comes near. 
• TWP cooking equipment and utensils will be available for use.
• Volunteers will help in preparing all meals and with cleaning up afterwards.

Transportation:

• All volunteers are responsible for their own transportation and related costs getting to Pine Ridge.
• We will be happy to coordinate carpools where possible.
• Our facility is located down a short dirt road. Many sedans have traveled it without any problems.

Lodging:

• Camping: Volunteers who would like to camp on the Red Cloud Renewable Energy property must bring their own camping equipment (tent, sleeping bag and pad, etc.). Weather is unpredictable, so only those comfortable in the outdoors should camp.
• Sacred Earth Lodge (SEL): Volunteers are welcome to stay in our new dormitory and training facility for a suggested donation of $15. The Lodge includes dormitory-style sleeping arrangements, bathrooms, a full kitchen, and social area. No shoes allowed inside SEL. Please bring flip-flops to wear inside!

To volunteer, please email the following information to John Motley at john@treeswaterpeople.org:

1. Name of all people in your volunteer party
2. Email addresses for all people in your volunteer party
3. Your cell phone number
4. Which days you have available to travel to and work in Pine Ridge
5. Where you will be coming from and returning to (e.g. many people will be coming from Fort Collins, CO)
6. Whether you will be camping or require a bunk in our loft (first come, first served!)
7. Do you need a ride?
8. Can you offer a ride – if so, to how many people?
9. Any other questions you may have.

Once we have confirmed your spot, we will email you directions to the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center and provide you with additional details.

Notes from the Field: Always plant extra for the animals!

by Jamie Folsom, National Director

Sharing knowledge about gardening with Lakota elders. (L to R: Jamie Folsom, Caroline Cuny, Henry Red Cloud, and Ivan Looking Horse)

Sometimes the best lessons come in very short stories, especially in the middle of a very busy work day.

The busy work day was during my recent trip to Pine Ridge with a group of volunteers – mixing mud, plastering, gathering clay and hauling it back to the worksite – all to repair one of the demonstration straw bale houses at the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center.  We were very lucky to have Henry take a break from his work to spend a few minutes sharing his ideas and advice over some fresh tea.

Talking about the Solar Warrior Farm project, he said they always plant more than they need. He described watching the rabbits, horses, deer and other animals munching away in the garden with a certain fondness and joy. Not the most typical attitude toward animals in the garden (think Farmer McGregor and poor Peter Rabbit).

Hailey, a Lakota teenager, works on mudding the straw bale home at the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center.

But then he said, “It’s OK for them to eat food that’s right there in their house. That’s still their house even if it’s part my house, too. I know if I went in my house and saw free food, I’d eat it, you know? So, I always plant extra food for the animals!”

Thank you Henry for sharing what you do and what you have with others around you, and helping remind me of how we can do this every day in our homes, our relationships and our work.  Yakoke!

Photo of the Week: Bountiful Harvest

A bountiful harvest at the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center

Straw Bale Home Workshop at the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center

The Pine Ridge Reservation, home to the Oglala Lakota, has a major housing crisis. It is common place to have Lakota families living in conditions of extreme overcrowding, with 3 to 4 families inhabiting one three-bedroom home. Many of the families have no electricity, telephone, running water, or sewage systems; and many use wood stoves to heat their homes, depleting limited wood resources. The Lakota people are living in third world conditions, right in our own backyard!

In partnership with Henry Red Cloud, Pine Ridge resident and owner of Lakota Solar Enterprises, we are working to bring sustainable housing solutions to reservation communities and we need your help! We have started by constructing a straw bale home demonstration site at the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center (RCREC), complete with solar heating and lighting. This demonstration site will provide TWP’s Tribal Lands Renewable Energy Program with a place to conduct workshops, share knowledge, and pass on green building skills throughout Indian Country. This will be the beginning of a long-term project to bring hundreds of straw bale homes to the Pine Ridge Reservation, providing families with dignified living conditions that every human being deserves.

You can help support this project by making a donation today! Click here to donte.

Photo of the Week: Leo White Bear

Photo of the Week: Leo White Bear of the Shoshone-Bannock tribe works hard to construct the roof of a new straw bale home at the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center (RCREC) on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Leo attended the recent Straw Bale Workshop to learn about sustainable housing building techniques and theory, and he was a huge help in constructing the straw bale demo home at RCREC.

Notes from the Field: Sustainable Housing Solutions

By Jon Becker, TWP Board President

August 8th, 2011: Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota

We arrived yesterday at about 5:30, thought we might be driving through a tornado in the last few miles.  We’re all in one piece.  We were able to go to the local fairgrounds for the final day of the annual Oglala Lakota gathering.  We saw unbelievable costume regalia, dancing, drumming, and song.  We were all moved and honored to be able to experience this.

Today’s action –  the foundation has been completed – earth bags laid up four courses high and tamped down into place.  Roof framing, using recycled plywood I-beams, completed, plywood roof sheathing underway, close to done.  Very interesting and diverse crew.  About a dozen from Re-Member non-profit located across the road that does a variety of service projects.  Re-Member staff

and visitors (from assorted Midwest locations, including a couple bicycling across the country) are here.  About six visitors from Northern Cheyenne reservation, who recently did solar air heater training and installations with Henry, are here, very eager to be helping out.  Two travelers from North Carolina have come.  Seven TWP staff, board, and friends are working, along with Henry’s sons Cyrus and Avery, and a few grandchildren.  Dave Kaplan and Lindsay Herrara of Fort Collins are doing remarkable experimentation and testing to determine the optimum “recipe” for stucco made from local clay which we’ll use to create a weatherproof exterior surface on top of the straw.   You can really feel the space now – a 24′ diameter circle, lots of natural (often local and recycled) materials, and good clean human energy going into it.  Nobody’s gotten hurt!  We’re having fun.  Please don’t rain on us (too hard).

You can help us finish this project by making a donation online! Click here to support sustainable straw bale homes on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

Photo of the Week: Volunteers Dig Deep at RCREC

Volunteers work hard to dig the foundation for a straw bale demonstration site at the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center on the Pine Ridge Reservation. The demo home will serve as a training site for sustainable housing design and construction.

Interested in helping? There are many ways you can get involved with bringing sustainable housing to Lakota families:

1. DONATE to the straw bale fundraiser on Causes.com OR
2. DONATE through our online donation portal (please write “straw bale home” in the comments section)
3. Volunteer!! Click here to learn more about the FREE straw bale workshop at Pine Ridge.