Here at DR we hosted a strawbale building workshop for women from June 26 - July 2. Kathy Sandhill and myself were coordinators of the event. We hired Keely Meagan and Alyssa Spencer, two professional women builders, to come and lead the seven day workshop. Twelve women participated, plus women from Sandhill Farm and the local Rabbit women. Participants came from all over Missouri, Illinois, Michigan, and even New York! I found the workshop to far exceed my personal expectations. It was a success!
The idea for the workshop came from my personal struggle as a single, childless woman without a house. 
I had always assumed that I needed a man to take care of my housing concerns. As I have examined the roles that society has given to both women and men, I have come to realize that I want to rely on myself for this basic need. Learning these skills has presented me with difficult challenges that have felt related to my life as a female person. Thus, the desire to learn from and with other women. It was striking to me that during the opening circle of the workshop other women voiced having had similar experiences to my own. We shared having felt overshadowed by the men we had worked with on other construction projects, as well as the tendency to defer to them. We had helped on projects and had done many different tasks, but had rarely seen the big picture. With the cabin we built this summer, we all knew the plans. We all understood every step of the way. It was fantastic! We didn't finish the building, but what we did do is beautiful. To finish the cabin, I am going to enlist the help of Stephanie and Cathy, two local women who attended the workshop, as well as the women of Dancing Rabbit. I now feel like we have the knowledge and confidence to complete what we have started.
The week was a full one; work began at 8 and continued until 6. We were given an introduction to tools and their uses. We built a door frame and window bucks. We put up bale walls, built and put into place the top plate, and experimented with cob as a structural reinforcement among the bales and along the top of the structure. Evenings were filled with slide presentations. We learned about different kinds of foundations, strawbale homes, cob construction, earthen plasters, lime plasters, earthen floors, passive solar design, the toxicity of standard building materials, and healthy home options. There was little time to even realize how much we were learning!
Support from the DR community was fantastic! Childcare was provided by Halle and just about everyone here at some point during the week. 
We were treated to three excellent meals a day by Anthony who received help from Michal and various other community members. Rabbits were always on hand to run errands and to provide support for Kathy and myself. The cost of hiring the builders and flying them here was supported by the participants and a grant received from the Kellogg Foundation. The cost of the building materials and coordination of the event was sponsored by Dancing Rabbit.
Now that the workshop is over and I have had some time to reflect, I have to say, Wow! What a great experience! I miss the participants already!² I think I believed they would stay forever. 
I remain so impressed by them and their desire to learn. The support for this workshop was overwhelming. I am so proud and happy to live in a group of people who not only claim to be feminist and egalitarian, but whose actions support this. To see the men cooking and cleaning, helping with childcare and running errands was great! I heard no grumbling or joking. It wasn't for the women, it was for all of us. It was to see a common vision come to reality. To empower, love, support, and change our corner of the world for the better.
The sight of Jacob running by with his beautiful long auburn hair flying behind him, pulling a cart full of happy and squealing children will stick with me for a long time. Nor will I forget the feeling of love and comfort that I experienced each morning upon walking into the outdoor kitchen and being greeted by wonderful breakfast smells and Anthony's smiling face as he served up yet another delicious meal. It was a wonderfully free feeling that came from working on a construction site where the beautiful and half-naked women were not on posters, but were actually the ones doing the work! Feeling so much support, respect, and love with such a terrific group of people is an experience I will not soon forget.
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