Welcome to the Home Page of the Santa Cruz Reskilling Expo
Our mission is to strengthen the reskilling movement locally by regularly teaching sustainable daily-living skills, to promote skill-sharing for a resilient common future and to enhance the development of self-reliance in Santa Cruz County.
Our intention is to hold two Reskilling Expo events every year, one each in Spring and Fall. Each Expo will be a day-long symposium of workshops offered to the public free-of-charge and designed to impart skills that will increase food security, conserve water and build community resilience.
We've expanded the second Seed
and Biodiversity Forum into a small
Winter Reskilling Expo to be held at
the MAH on Sunday, February 5
from 10:00 to 4:00. The theme will
be Local Food Sovereignty; we're
collaborating with Slow Food Santa
Cruz for this event.
Classes scheduled so far: Seed
Saving and Plant Breeding,
Medicine of Local Herbs, Canning
and Preserving, Beekeeping, Scythe
and other Hand Tool Use, Natural
Plant Dyes, Resilient Garden,
Sustainable Kitchen Skills, Sowing
Year Round/Crop Rotation, and
Models of Local Food Sovereignty.
We'll also introduce the new
TimeBank Santa Cruz during this
event at 1:00.
A TimeBank is a system of reciprocal service exchange that uses units of time as currency. We can strengthen community resilience through this network wherein members trade services hour to hour. You'll be able to submit an application to join TimeBank Santa Cruz throughout the day on February 5.
We're pleased to be partnering with
the Museum of Art and History for
these events. Under the leadership of
Director Nina Simon, the MAH is
undergoing a transformation. Their
vision is to become a thriving,
central gathering place for people
who are passionate about art, history,
ideas and culture.
In their midst, we'll continue to
convene local talent to teach best
practices and community resilience.
We'll present two more Expos in
2012, in mid-May and mid-
September.
The Santa Cruz Grows Seed Library
is now open at the Museum of Art
and History at 705 Front Street in
downtown Santa Cruz. A second
Collection is established at the Live
Oak Public Library.
Our mission has been to create a free urban seed project committed to increasing the capacity of our community to feed itself wholesome food by offering seeds and education. We imagine that the no-strings gift of garden seeds will encourage urban food production.
The Seed Library celebrates
biodiversity through the time-
honored tradition of seed saving,
nurtures locally-adapted plant
varieties, and fosters community
resilience, self-reliance and a culture
of sharing. It operates on the honor
system. You become a member
when you withdraw seeds to plant.
We ask that you commit to growing
out and returning one variety per
year.
We depend on you to treat the seed
drawers with care. Read the
guidelines in the Library binder.
Each person may withdraw six
packets per season. Don't take more
than you need. Sign your seeds out.
Endeavor to learn Seed Saving so
that you can contribute. We need the
relationship of Library to Public to
be one of trust and reciprocity.
We encourage all members to learn
basic seed saving techniques.
Returned seed will allow us to keep
the Library well-stocked. We've
convened a Grow-Out Collective of
experienced gardeners who will
commit to growing certain varieties
out for Library use. New members
are always welcome.
“It is in the nature of seed to be saved and exchanged. Saving seed is an ethical duty.”
–Vandana Shiva
Why reskill?
We reskill to rediscover hidden talents, to reclaim lost abilities, to unearth the wisdom needed to create sustenance and bounty. We reskill to restore, cherish and preserve our quality of life and our environment.
Toward a
definition:
Reskilling is a remembering, reclaiming and revivifying of skills that were known fifty to seventy-five years ago. Reskilling imbues the community with the wealth of shared local knowledge of how to do, make and tend things oneself. It is a regenerative, restorative and ecologically-based methodology. All reskilled individuals would know how to grow some food and harvest some rainwater. Reskilling suggests relocalization; it brings the production of food, water, energy and essential goods closer to home.
The mission of TimeBank Santa Cruz is to build community resilience by trading services hour for hour among our members.
