2012 Workshops:

Register for most workshops through their host organizations (link provided).  If you would like to schedule a class or consultation, or if you have questions about what will be covered in a particular workshop, please contact us directly: questions@ErnieAndErica.info.

January-February:
Private consulting

March:  Portland, OR and Reno, NV:
March 3: Ivy basketry, MoTA, Beaverton OR
www.motaspirit.org
March 6: Ivy basketry, Tigard Library, OR
March 9: 'Dirty Secrets: Earthen Art' at childcare conference, Seaside OR

March 16: Fire Science Theater Reno NV 6:30-8:30pm (5:30 potluck dinner) at the River School. Register with Neil: neilbertrando@gmail.com

April 28: Rocket Mass Heaters introduction, Tonasket WA - contact us directly to register
questions@ErnieAndErica.info, 556-2054
(1-day event with cob, ducting, bricks, and a warm work-in-progress to sit on, $25.)

May: Planting and wildcrafting

June 8-10: Rocket Mass Heaters workshop in Reno, Nevada, register with Neil....
...and possibly a drop-in upstaging of Neil's PDC the 16th. neilbertrando@gmail.com
June TBA: Tahoe City ...

July 14-15: Cob Oven at Harmony Fields, (Skagit Valley WA) www.hfproduce.com
     To register, please email Jessica at hfproduce@gmail.com 
July 20-22: Homebuilt Boats weekend (Seattle, WA) - new item(s) to share

August: Eastward tour begins (Idaho, Midwest / Great Lakes, Pittsburgh)

September: New England:
  Sept. 14-16: Rocket Stove Design / Build, Yestermorrow Vermont http://www.yestermorrow.org/workshops
  Sept. 21-23: Common Ground Faire, Maine
  Sept. 28-30: Rocket Mass Heater installation, NewForest Institute, Maine

October: Returning westward (possible events in Rockies, south-eastern seaboard)

November / December: prototype testing, winter classes, and an increasing willingness to visit Australia and points south.

2011 Workshops (for general info):

Jan 10-15: Interior Cob and Finish Plasters, Bonny Doon CA

Feb 19-21: Pyromania! with Cob Cottage Co, Coquille, OR http://www.cobcottage.com

April 29-May 4: Cob Masonry Heaters, Coquille OR (Flemming A & Ianto E)

May 13-15: Earth Rocket Stove Incubator Shed, Lewis County WA - Register at Raintree Nursery.com

May 27-June 4: Village Building Convergence, Cob Oven and Urban Renewal, Portland OR

June, July, August: TrackersNW Summer Programs.
Weekend classes with Washington County Library, Mt Hood Community College, and private groups.

June 15-17, July 1-2: Spring Tide Seafood Harvesting

July 22-24: Homebuilt Boats Weekend, Seattle WA

Sept 9-11: Wooden Boat Festival, Port Townsend, WA

October: Pyromania! with Ianto Evans, Coquille, OR

November 18-20: Rocket Mass Heaters at TLC Farm: www.tryonfarm.org

December: Wild Harvested Holidays including:
Totally Compostable Wreaths @ West Slope Library

Contact us: questions@ernieanderica.info

If you are planning a future project, consider Arranging a Workshop

The Details:

Rocket Mass Heater Workshops:

Pyromania!, Rocket Mass Heaters, Rocket Science, and similar workshops are a three-day weekend of hands-on fun.  We start with Fire Science, play with all kinds of fun and useful devices like pocket stoves, fireplaces, ovens, and candle-powered steam boats, and cookstoves.  For the main course, most workshops feature the building of a full-scale downdraft Rocket Mass Heater.  Non-installation workshops substitute plenty of masonry and metal-working practice, with take-home projects like emergency heaters or camping cookstoves.
  Check out this home video by a workshop participant from 2009!  No video can fully capture the fun things we do in the dark with fire, but it gives a good idea of the building process for most Rocket Mass Heater workshops. http://youtu.be/hmYaIrHRMLM  Paul's video of the Rocket Stove Mass Heater Workshop.

Evolution of Fire! is an extended workshop that celebrates the art and science of fire itself: friction fires, bonfires, primitive and modern campfires and cookstoves, fireplace design for heating, cooking, or just visual appeal.  Rocket Mass Heaters, clever camp cookers, and possibly small combustion engines may be involved as examples of modern fire technology.

One-time Rocket Mass Heater Introduction event, Saturday April 28th, 2012
Part work-party, part presentation/demo, with plenty of time to chat and ask questions.  We expect to cover maybe half of what's offered in a weekend workshop.

Main game plan:
- Tour our existing small-footprint rocket mass heater, poke around under the lid.

- Make cob / earthen mortars, cover ducting and set remaining fieldstone in heater.  (May include stone lintels and/or setting 'deadmen' for wood trim mantlepiece.)

- Mock up the brick firebox outdoors (fuel feed, burn tunnel, heat riser)

- Light fires in mockups and existing heater, practice upside-down & sideways fire

- General info on how rocket mass heaters work: clever features, common errors, and where the impressive fuel savings comes from.
     - how to use convection, radiant heat, and conduction to best advantage;
     -  thermal mass heat storage, insulation, vs. 'storing' hot air;
     - efficiency, safety, and global benefits of clean, complete, local-fuel combustion,
     - tradeoff and limitations of RMH's, modern woodstoves, masonry heaters, fireplaces, gas fires, forced-air heat

- Eat lunch at some point so we don't all get grumpy and confused

As time and interest allow, we'd be willing to share on additional topics like:
- Other materials like stabilized perlite insulation, kiln brick, refractory insulation
- Design charette / Q & A to consider people's project ideas
- Rumford fireplace retrofits, pocket rockets, other good clean fire fun
- Set dates for later in the year to do a full-scale installation at someone's local home or greenhouse