The Reskilling Expo regularly offers low-cost sustainable living-skills education to Santa Cruz County residents in order to strengthen local resilience. Each workshop is designed to teach hands-on skills that participants can easily implement. Effective garden practices, home maintenance skills, traditional crafts and efficient water use are all on the roster for May 20. The one-hour-and-twenty-minute sessions allow for in-depth learning. Find the complete class schedule at http://reskillingexpo.org.
"The Reskilling Expo is a knowledge commons where information, skills and talents are freely shared. Our aim is to respond to local needs," says Reskilling Expo Director Bonnie Linden. "For example, water use is currently a charged and divisive local issue. So we've asked permaculture designer and water conservation instructor LeAnne Ravinale to present sessions on Water Catchment and Greywater. We're pleased that both Michael and Lesley Tierra will also be teaching on May 20. Michael will teach Growing and Using Medicinal Herbs and Lesley, Cooking with Medicinal Herbs. Highly regarded in their field, the Tierras have all the attributes of perfect Reskilling Teachers: talent, generosity and vision.
"We're also delighted that Deepa Natarajan returns once again to teach Natural Plant Dyes for Textiles. Deepa comes to us from Permacouture Institute in San Francisco, which works with hands-on, grass roots projects to promote sustainability in textiles." Natarajan runs the Permacouture Institute's Seeds to Sew program which partners with Seed Libraries to raise awareness of dye-producing plants. She has travelled many times to South India to learn traditional practices of food, farming, performing arts and textiles.
"The Reskilling Expo engages hidden talents and reclaims lost abilities,” says Nina Simon, Executive Director of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History. "This syncs perfectly with the goals of the MAH to help people connect with the cultural heritage of our community. We're excited by the steady growth of the Expo, its projects and its mission to preserve and present historical skills like Drop Spindling and Peg Looming that might otherwise be lost."
As well as the forums at the MAH, the Reskilling Expo has recently established two resilience-building outreach projects: the Santa Cruz Grows Seed Library and TimeBank Santa Cruz. "Seed saving is a time-honored tradition that nurtures locally adapted plant varieties and strengthens biodiversity," says Linden. Workshops on Seed Starting and Plant Propagation are offered at each Expo.
TimeBanking is a system of reciprocal exchange that builds local resilience as members trade services hour-for-hour. There will be a TimeBank Orientation Presentation and a Mixer for members and prospective members at the May 20 Expo.
The Reskilling Expo is a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit fiscally sponsored by the William James Association. More information is available at http://reskillingexpo.org and at http://santacruz.timebanks.org.
