Going for greener?
Winter, spring and summer vacations lie before us, and simply a weekend away to D Acres in Rumney, New Hampshire can literally help you change your life.
Founded in 1997, D Acres is a nonprofit educational center that teaches and applies skills of sustainable living and organic farming. Participants share a communal living situation and work together to raise awareness about people’s impact on the environment, to limit consumption of fossil fuels and other resources, and to encourage on-site production and consumption. D Acres provides training for the development of skills relating to organic farming, forestry, landscaping, eco-friendly construction, and cottage crafts.
If you’re anything like me, you find yourself saying, I’d like my life to be a bit greener. I’d like to learn more about accessible things I can be doing that will help me, my community, and the environment. I want to feel better about the way I’m eating, thinking, and living. What’s really great about enjoying a weekend mini-vacation, or a longer visit at D Acres, is that work, learning, relaxation, and the arts are all mixed in together.
You can visit D Acres as a guest, enjoying the activities and workshops while staying in their guesthouse. There are guest artisans at different times and daily workshops in yoga and meditation. Or you can apply for either an apprenticeship or an internship and trade a minimum of 26 hours, for food and accommodations in a tree house, tent site, room in the Community House, or converted barn space.
The policy is that no one will be denied access to D Acres workshops and events due to an inability to pay. Work is primarily in the gardens, forest, and on building projects, and is related to the development, maintenance, and long-term economic viability of the community. All residents share cleaning and cooking tasks. Perks include access to a large commercial kitchen, living room, laundry, woodshop, research library, reading library, yoga space, wireless Internet, telephone, and the forested property. In your free time you can explore the White Mountains and the Lake District.
Carissa, a New York City tomato, has always been into farming, She was actively involved in a sustainable food campaign to use more sustainable foods when she worked in a hospital cafeteria and created a community garden. She found D Acres through a tomato friend and says, “She knew that I needed another outlet to learn and experience new life things. D Acres is much more than farming, with education, forestry, art, poetry, and amazing animals. Visiting there has taught me a new way of life.”
D Acres is a wonderful experience for people of all ages, eating whole, seasonal foods, and sharing a common space. There is also a B & B on the farm with guests coming and going. The lifestyle will give you a taste of something different, sustainable, and personally gratifying and educational too.
Check out their calendar of events and for more information: Organic Farming and Sustainable Living, Rumney, NH: D Acres of New Hampshire (P.O. Box 98, Rumney, NH; 603-786-2366; www.dacres.org; info@dacres.org).
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Sheryl Kayne is a writer, adventurer, performer, educator, public speaker, and the host of the upcoming volunteer travel television show titled Volunteer Across America TV. She is the author of two travel guidebooks. Immersion Travel USA: The Best & Most Meaningful Volunteering, Living & Learning Excursions (Countryman Press, a division of W.W. Norton & Company) was awarded The Society of American Travel Writers Foundation’s Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award for Best Travel Guidebook 2009 and Volunteer Vacations Across America (Countryman Press) was named on Amazon’s list of best new travel books 2010. Her next two books are Living the Wildlife: Volunteering, Viewing, and Protecting the Habitats of Animals Around the World and VolunTourism, EcoTourism, and Hotels with Heart: Get Involved, Give Back, and Go Green.
Kayne travels extensively and works and volunteers where she visits. She was the writer-in-residence at the Everglades National Park, Homestead, Fla. and a writing fellow at the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation in Taos, N.M. She has appeared on NPR, CNN, CBN, ABC Weekend Evening News, Lifetime Television Network, and MTV, among others.
Kayne holds Bachelor of Arts and Master of Science degrees in education and psychology. She created, owned and ran her own parent consulting business, The Mom Who Makes Housecalls, and teaches Public Speaking, Business Communication Skills, and Writing at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut. Please feel free to contact her: www.ImmersionTraveler.com and immersionTravel@aol.com
Don't just take a vacation, immerse yourself! Vacations that make a difference.
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