Arranging a Wisner Workshop:

If you'd like us to come to you, please call or email. 

Our work breaks down into several general categories:

Hands-On Classes: Classes generally run from 1-4 hours at a time, serve 10 to 30 people, and are advertised a few weeks to months in advance if they are offered to the public.  Popular with libraries and other education centers, and for parties and community events.    More about Classes

Projects / Installations:  Project-based workshops generally run for at least one full day, up to several weekends.  The workshop helps build something permanent: like a building, rocket mass heater, or boat.  Participants get hands-on experience with instruction, discussion, practicum, and creative problem-solving.  Site hosts may be private owners or community groups.  To reach the public, advertise workshops 6-12 months in advance.

Presentations: 30 minutes to 2 hours, for audience sizes between 30 and 600 or more.  Presentations can reach a wider audience, but offer less hands-on interaction than a small-group class.  We generally offer a rich blend of narrative, live demonstration and/or visual aids, and question-and-answer time.  Popular for conferences and large events.

Private Parties / Consulting:  We often do site visits for owners who are interested in help with a project, but don't want to cater to the public. We offer hourly, daily, and long-term consultation rates; available in person, or via phone or email.  Popular with hosts who like to tackle a project without waiting for public support. 

Instructional Materials:  We produce design drawings, lesson plans, and project instructions for many of our most popular topics.  These are available for your personal use, or for teaching others.

Hands-On Classes:

The topics on this website, and others, are available in a one- to four-hour class format.  (We also teach prepared curriculum materials such as TOPS, OMSI, or Caveman Chemistry.)   We ask a $50 minimum per visit, which represents about an hour of instructional time plus prep and cleanup.  (Ongoing engagements or longer visits can be arranged at discounted hourly or daily rates.)

Erica and Ernie have taught classes with private and public educational organizations, including Portland and Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation districts, TrackersNW, OMSI, Cascadia Wild, TLC Farm, Mount Hood Community College and the Multnomah County Childcare Research and Referral Center, Cob Cottage Company, Regenerative Design Institute, churches, harvest festivals, and schools in various locations.  

We particularly enjoy working with homeschooling groups and experiential learners such as Waldorf and Montessori.  We also enjoy supporting teachers and facilitators, and groups who may not get much exposure to hands-on education, but are interested in exploring.

We are happy to work with you to customize a class to meet your desired level of structure, mess, creativity, and skill, or to accommodate special needs of your group or participants.

Projects and Installations:

Planning a large installation takes time.  About 6 months' lead time allows good use of online and print promotions.

  We will ask you for a deposit up-front, and help you set reasonable timeline and budget goals.  If desired, we will give you guidelines on how to publicize the workshop so it pays for itself. 

General outline for project workshops:
- allow at least 6 months to advertise your workshop.
- Plan on at least one 3-day weekend (Friday evening to Sunday afternoon).  Depending on the scale of the project, and the rest of the plan, we may schedule multiple weekends or longer workshops.  (Examples: Kayak or umiak workshop: 12-14 days, or a series of 5 weekends.  Rocket Mass Heaters: one 3-day workshop with us, with follow-up work if needed.)
- Plan to have any prep work, such as materials gathering, site preparation, foundations, etc. done at least 1 week before the workshop begins.
- Anticipate paying us $1000-$2000 per teaching weekend, with a $200-300 deposit.  Registration can easily offset this entire cost if the workshop fills.
- We will be available to you for an initial site visit, setup, consultation, and follow-up.  If you want just the consultation, without the workshop logistics, plan on paying us about $200/day for a multi-day site visit, plus travel.
- We don't guarantee your project completion, but will provide guidance for ongoing work, and continue to support you until you complete it to your satisfaction. 

Please note that we are not contractors - we are teachers.  

We can provide private coaching, or perform for a crowd.  Our focus is on providing an excellent learning experience.  The work that gets done will be a fraction of what a professional contractor might finish in the same time period - yet it can be an excellent investment in community support, on-site skills, and many-hands-make-light-work for labor-intensive steps like cob stomping and plaster floating.  We work in collaboration with a responsible owner-builder or contractor.

 If you are looking for a contractor to guarantee completion of a project by a specified date, we can recommend local natural builders who are well qualified to meet your needs.

Presentations:

If you host educational events, consider our evening or weekend topics: 
   Fire Science, Pocket Rockets, Ivy Baskets, Knotical Nauledge, Navigation Basics, Permaculture Building, Pysanky Eggs, Snowflakes and Paper Lace, Natural Paints and Plasters, or Pocket Cob, and Northwest Edible Plants, are each deliverable in a 30-minute to multi-day format.

  We can show up in costume, with props, handouts, activity supplies, and resources for any and all ages.

- Promote your event on a timeline that works for you, or just among friends and family - usually 2 weeks to 3 months' notice is enough.
- Most events are 2-3 hours; longer events are possible.
- Anticipate paying us $50/hour, or $200/day, unless you are a repeat client with your own standard agreements.

Consulting and Private Parties: 

Please call us or email to discuss your needs.  We are happy to provide an estimate for services tailored to your situation.  Hourly, daily, or project-based rates are available. 

Past projects have included in-home entertainment such as chocolate-making parties, personal 'tutoring' to build skin-on-frame boats, custom class topics as part of a larger event, and a number of work-parties and site consultations for building projects. 

questions@ErnieAndErica.info

503 807-6212

Is Information Free?  

Please be aware that this is our livelihood.  We do have bills to pay, and must use our time wisely to make ends meet. 

We are happy to work within your budget, and the first conversation is always free.  If you need more of our time than you can afford, consider visiting the library, attending a community-sponsored event, or doing your research online.

We regularly contribute to online discussion forums  - try Permies.com  http://www.Permies.com/forums, or the Rocket Research Forums linked from www.rocketstoves.com).  Portland-area residents can get a certain amount of free experience through the community projects of the City Repair Project and Village Building Convergence, http://www.CityRepair.org.  And we often offer low-cost or free presentations that are subsidized by local libraries or childcare-resource centers.

We are sometimes available for pro-bono presentations, e.g. in public schools or for charity events.  Please tell us how your event will serve an audience that could not attend a paying workshop on the same topic.

Thank you for your interest in our work.

Yours,

    Ernie and Erica