The Sangha Farmhouse
come join us!
Hello Hello All,
I’ll start by saying that buildings, the process of building them, and the people forming in, around, and through them can foster long chains of healthy economic, community, agricultural, and spiritual growth.
An invitation to join us next Saturday, October 28th 11-1pm. We will visit a unique building site in Clermont, NY, within a permaculture farm and Buddhist sanctuary. Our hosts for the day will be Kevin Baxter and Peter Jensen. Plans to eat lunch afterward at Greigs Farm :)
To register, please click link below. And do me a flavor; please register ahead of time, and share with friends. We’re really trying to gauge the amount of attendees ahead of time
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sangha-farm-house-tickets-741865388347?aff=oddtdtcreator
Friendly Reminder for Sunday
Before those details, a reminder this Sunday to make it over to Stone Ridge, to be hosted by David Todd around the formation of intentional communities. Link below to register & more details
https://holistichealthcommunity.org/events/calendar-of-events/regenerative-real-estate-copy
Buddhist Farmhouse Sanctuary (Saturday, Oct 28th 11-1 pm)
One year ago, we met at Kinderhook to visit Kevin Baxter's personal property, where we delved into his studio space. He had designed it himself and, with the assistance of Peter Jensen, custom-built it. It was an exciting and meaningful gathering, a crescendo in our meet-ups with a shared meal afterward.
A year later, we once again find ourselves invited into their creative process, but this time it's on a grander proportion. It encompasses a project with numerous moving parts involving minds, hearts, and hands, all within the serene confines of a farm sanctuary managed by Buddhists. Each element of this collaborative effort warrants its own exploration - the innovative strawbale panels with Peter Jensen, the designs of Kevin Baxter, and the unique project initiated by the Buddhist Monastery that serves as the client.
I am genuinely grateful to participate in this journey and share it with you. And I'm going to pat myself on the back, as well as my colleague David Todd, for bringing this site to your attention. If we're fortunate, we may even receive a visit from our local "Chronogram/House magazine to give this work the credit & attention it deserves. I suppose this is my way of showing support and contributing to the spotlight on this kind of localized, impactful work. In this age of abundant information on the internet, builders and architects are engaged in various facets of natural, sustainable, regenerative, and eco-conscious work. Yet, there remains much to discover, learn, and aspire to locally.
The Living Wing will contain 6 bedrooms, sunken living room, kitchen and bathrooms. The Communal Wing will house a meditation room, library and studio. Construction began fall 2022 and will continue till summer 2024.
Also….. I haven't done so in a while: if you know of any sites, projects, or initiatives worthy of group exploration, please reach out to me via email. I'm more than happy to introduce our curious and supportive community to its processes and endeavors.
The EcoCocon panel /w Peter Jensen
https://www.buildwithnature.us/
EcoCocon is the only building component with both Passive House and Cradle to Cradle certifications. This system makes the most of renewable materials. It was created to have a minimal ecological footprint and can even be safely composted back to nature after use. In a typical house built with EcoCocon panels, an external wall area of 1400 square feet sequesters more than 12 tons of Co2.
The EcoCocon wall system provides superior indoor air quality, as well as exceptional thermal and acoustic comfort. It creates a healthy microclimate with consistent temperatures: warm in the winter and cool in the summer. The EcoCocon straw panel can be built to suit the cold climate of Alaska, the hot and humid temperatures in Florida or the dry climates out West. The EcoCocon straw panel is created from nature and designed to handle the nature all around us.
Peter Jensen is EcoCocon`s sale representative in the whole US. Peter is the consultant and technical adviser for EcoCocon in the US. Peter is the building manager and trains others in building with the EcoCocon straw panel. He is Danish designer and building consultant with over 20 years of natural building experience. He has traveled the world implementing different humanitarian projects, building sustainable homes, schools, and community buildings. Peter's mission is to make the biggest positive impact through sustainable building practices. He has partnered with EcoCocon to introduce their straw-based natural construction system into his work, serving as a sustainable passive house designer, consultant, and project manager.
Kevin Projects w/Kevin Baxter
http://baxterprojects.com/farmhouse
Baxter Projects, founded in 2014 by Kevin Baxter and based in Brooklyn and the Hudson Valley, is a Scandinavian-inspired modern architecture firm dedicated to building sustainable low carbon, healthy structures. Whether new homes, renovations and additions, or complex multi-use structures, our combined skills in artful design and attention to detail provide us with the complementary skills to execute meaningful projects of any scale that are aspirational as well as practical and distinctly rooted in place.
[The architect is a] synthesis of artist, inventor, mechanic, objective economist and evolutionary strategist. “Buckminster Fuller
Kevin Baxter is the founder and principal of Baxter Projects, an architecture practice dedicated to sustainable modernism.
At Baxter Projects, we are building on long experience and a diverse body of knowledge to lead the evolution of modernism into a new era of environmental sustainability.
SpringWind Farm
https://www.springwindfarm.org/retreat-center
Spring Wind farm was purchased November 2019 by the Buddhist Society for Compassionate Wisdom (BSCW), a North American Buddhist Order founded by Korean Zen Master, the Venerable Samu Sunim. The farm, located in Clermont, New York, is a very auspicious place with 114 acres of woods, fields, pastures, a large creek (Roeliff Jansen Kill), streams, ravines, barn buildings and a farmhouse. Its name comes from the name of our community [Spring Wind Sangha] of the BSCW
The farm used to be a place for dairy cows and Black Angus cattle, and its fields were conventionally used many decades to grow feed corns, soybeans and alfalfa. Now the farm serves as a rural retreat for our teachers, training students and members. We meditate and chant in the mornings and evenings. Vigorous work practice is required to look after the land, animals and gardens.
*A unique opportunity to be deeply involved in this work & community below*
End this with a tune.
In 1996, when I was eight years old, I vividly remember this music video. It felt extraordinary and stood out melodically and visually among the many released videos during the 90’s. Only recently did I stumble upon this classic once more. Have a listen and a watch