Conquering the Greenhouse Effect

Rooster Summit

The Rensing Center proves its worth as a conference venue! Here are some of our favorite entrepreneurs, the partnership of the RedRooster Coffee Roasters of Floyd, VA, who chose our multi-faceted location (nicely equipped with a digital projector, good scotch, and some comfortable beds) for their board retreat. Nearby Greenville supplied a world-class restaurant, as well as a few more modest offerings, to celebrate Becky's shiny new MIT (Master of Information Technology) from University of Georgia. We are immensely proud, and hope they will make this a regular event.

Studio's ready!

The Paper (part of an old art installation) is waiting to begin a new era for the woodshop: a WOOD and PAPER shop!

But first there's a wedding here. The walls are white, except for the admonitions we inherited from the original occupants. The guests are arriving, many of them our oldest friends, from far and wide.

Shelby and Crystal will be the next generation to inspire this place, from close by and far away. We welcome the artists they bring from Portland, and hope they have fun.

Hagood Mill's well-oiled machine

Reid Severance knows this mill inside out, and so does his brilliant and curious son Ethan. We pulled some strings (ahem) to get the secret CLOTH bags of fresh-ground grits for the campers to take home,
but the best thing was the experience of the place. Just down the road a piece. Come visit? They also have a great new coloring book about Milly the pig.

Tony's Ride!

This is certainly not the only reason we love Tony, but several of us were pretty eager to board his carefully tended and incredibly sweet vehicle. And it's really environmentally sensitive! Really!

Eat Hearty and Local!

The campers tucked into a lot of vittles, prepared lovingly by Adrian and Lindsey, or by Molly Hayes, or the local BBQ emporium, or Annette...We do love to eat, and the conversation was up to the food! What a great event. Come back soon!

A coat of paint

The signs we inherited from the first occupants of the old studio have become icons of the refurbished version. Jamie wielded a heavy whitewashing brush for a couple of weeks before ArtCamp, and the campers were appropriately dazzled by the cleaned-up wood shop. Benjie hardly recognized his old haunt, but he knew enough to guide people around the 220 outlets he had installed during his stay here in 2006.

Kelly at the keys

Kelly Ward became an instant favorite as she sat down to the keyboard of the just-in-time piano, and floored us with her talent. Look for a chance to hear her in a modest concert here soon.

Marco feeds us

Another discerning audience soaks up the techniques, and the results, of Marco's annual (we hope!) Italian Cooking class! His cuisine again delighted us both in instructions and in the creative, local, seasonal and organic product. While Marco's English is improving in great leaps, Lorenzo provided vast interpretive and sous-chef skills. The guest list was lively and impressive. New friends were forged.

Lasagna looked and tasted gorgeous. Home grown broccoli was featured in one of four delicious courses. Sign up for next year!

The Piano Arrives

Deedie Marshall, our muscular and generous minister at Ascension Episcopal Church provides gracious help to Jamie and Benjie as they move our new (to us) Baldwin piano to its new digs at the Main Hall in the Studio. The next day, our new resident Kelly Ward shows up to play Bach and Gershwin on it with stunning affection and skill.

Stay tuned!! We do mean, we hope it will STAY TUNED!!

Driveway is happening!

Our new door will have a new path to it, and the thundering herds of weary, curious and creative feet will not have to bushwhack to get here! Come leave your footprints!

Our new front door

Remember where that window used to be? Benjie's at work on the beautiful new double door, to provide a more graceful(and accessible!) entrance to our main hall at the studio building...The new driveway will be started Wednesday. A favorite EKO quilt is being prepared for our spot on the Heritage Quilt Trail.

Mile Creek Road, put on your sunglasses. We are about to dazzle!

Mary Tribble Comes to play

Mary showed us how to balance, and walked down to the waterfall with me and Mom. We hope she had a great retreat, as she writes her way into her new life. We sure enjoyed her company, and her inauguration of the new version of Shelby's room. It loves being a yoga studio!

Live Deliberately!

We launched our year-long series of conversations on January 25, with an appropriate theme: THINK! Nicole Troyer guided our conversation, and that was great, as it was her brainchild to begin with. We will continue it every fourth Thursday, at 7, at various places. Join us for stimulating chat, and dinner.

Liz, Sam and Jason as Druids

The summer ended on a wonderful note, as Charleston's Sam Sfirri of the New Music Collective gifted us with a great team of musicians and thinkers. The Michael Pisaro tour was his effort, and we were proud to be one of three stops in SC for this talented experimental musician from LA.

The next morning's hike put us all in our place...right in the fairyland of Lycopodium (a gorgeous ancient plant that was around with the dinosaurs) that likes it near our waterfall. So do we! Liz Stehling, Sam, and Jason Brogan seem to be honoring a coffee cup. Seems fitting...