www.ErnieAndErica.info

Welcome!

We are hands-on teachers of creative, ecological, and practical skills.

What would you like to do?

Shop for Plans

Find Events and Workshops

Consulting and
Booking Events

Ongoing Projects:

Rocket Mass Heaters:
Can We Get a Permit?

Boats

Seasonal Samplers:

Spring:
Wild Edible Plants,
Village Building,
Natural Building,
Pysanky Eggs,
Ivy Baskets, and more

Summer:
Natural Building,
Camps and classes,
Boating and fishing,
traveling workshops

Fall:
Kitchen Alchemy,
harvest and food preservation,
gifts and crafts,
Fire Science

Winter:
Artisan Truffles,
Paper Snowflakes,
Ice and Crystals,
Storytelling

Year-Round Building Blocks:
Knotical Nauledge,
Natural Paints,
Messy Science,
Rocket Stoves,
Research,
Writing, and Illustration
Classroom Visits,
Community Activities

Ernie and Erica Wisner: DIY Ecology

Welcome to our website. This started out as a way to share our life with friends and family - but it's quickly becoming a vital resource for people many degrees removed. We are honored to make our living offering resources for that expanding audience: Erica's plans and booklets, free online photo journals and case studies of our past projects, and in-person workshops on a wide range of hands-on skills.

Please note that both Erica and Ernie have limited hours available. If you're looking for free project help, we'll encourage you to hash out the rough ideas on public forums, or put down a deposit if you want to move up in the queue. We do still love to encourage creative projects, and have been known to accept the results (hothouse tomato salad, grass-fed meats or home-cooked maple syrup) as well as conventional currency. questions@ErnieAndErica.info reaches both of us, and you can generally expect a response within a few days to a week.

Erica [Ritter] Wisner:

Erica is the public face of our business - and as Ernie says, the brains.

She loves making things from scratch - anything from blueberry scones to the oven itself. While it does take practice to develop such confidence with raw materials, her passion is to help others get there faster. How can we build the deepest competence in the least time? Doing things together, sharing detailed video or photos, old-school hand-drafted diagrams at just the right angle? After being snowed in all winter, watch for at least one new publication every spring.

Erica is a skilled educator and project coordinator, with over 15 years' experience building teamwork and leading hands-on learning experiences. Mixed-age, mixed-skill, volunteer and paid crew - she can supervise a gaggle of pre-schoolers for a full day of outdoor fun, or make the most of peer-to-peer mentoring in a gathering of seasoned experts.

When Ernie can pry her away from this fascinating livelihood to mess about in boats, she has been known to declare her rank as, "the captain's wife: that puts me somewhere between admiral and luggage."

Work History: Science & art educator, curriculum developer (OMSI & others), writer, illustrator, researcher, caregiver. BA Hampshire College, Physics and Art.

Hobbies: masonry, baking, travel, hiking, gardening, wildcrafting, swing and contra dance, aikido.

Current Blog: http://ErnieAndErica.blogspot.com

Past publications: E Ritter travels: Ecca plans:Shop

Email Erica

Ernie A Wisner:

It takes more than a crushed leg to keep this man sitting down. Ernie is semi-retired due to a disabling injury, but still makes time for the occasional workshop or fascinating prototype project. He often reserves a few hours a week to answer rocket stove, botany, and seasteading questions on the public forums at www.permies.com. After all, there's only so many hours in a day a man can think about boats.*

Work History: Fishing & maritime work, wildlands firefighting, botany, natural building, hydraulics and plumbing maintenance, consulting & research, and even (briefly) cook, chocolatier, ballet dancer, and art model.

Rocket Stove pictures: picasa albums, rocketstoves.com