straw bale work day at the Jacksonville Center

A memo from the Jacksonville Center to friends & members -

The Association of Energy Conservation Professionals (AECP) has rented our building next to the barn as an incubator tenant and has done much improvement to the building and property. In partnership with The Jacksonville Center, they have been developing a Sustainable Living Education Center (SLEC) and now have small solar and wind power demonstration systems in the building. They are steadily preparing for interactions with the community and plan to have an Open House during our Winterfest event on Dec. 3 & 4. We will partner with SLEC for future educational events and opportunities for the community.

With SLEC's support, an architecture student from Virginia Tech, Leon Davis, is building a straw bale structure on the Jacksonville Center property as his thesis project. He has been quite dedicated and the building is coming along well. When complete, the 360 sq. ft. structure will belong to the Jacksonville Center to utilize as a space for classes in additional art/craft mediums.

Leon is working this Saturday, Nov. 19, on the straw bale building. He will be putting up the straw bale walls and could use volunteers. This is a wonderful opportunity for anyone interested in alternative building to come this Saturday and work with Leon. Both skilled and non-skilled folks are welcome. Work will commence around 8:30 or 9am.

If you are interested, contact Wayne at the Jacksonville Center at (540) 745-2784 for more information. There will be more opportunities to work on this project in the future.

tags: green building, green design, virginia, Floyd, volunteer opportunities, ecology, sustainability