To be realized, all good visions need good plans. Moreover, all good plans are the result of creative and dedicated minds listening long and hard to the folks who use, operate, support, and love a place or institution. That is exactly the dynamic that we at Yestermorrow are working hard to establish through our School Zone Masterplanning Process. We are making this process as open and inclusive as possible and hope that students, instructors and friends will feel free to join us for ongoing planning meetings, including the June 2nd Design Charrette to be held at Yestermorrow from 9:00 AM to 1 PM. If you cannot attend the meeting, please look at the diagrams, programming documents and drawings on our website and let us know what you think.

And thanks to former board member Bill Maclay and his firm, William Maclay Architects and Planners (www.wmap-aia.com), for helping drive this process, and to Ross Workhoven and Alicia Batista from the Conway School of Landscape Design (www.csld.edu) for helping us assemble and refine our thoughts, dreams and schemes.

Food might very well be the way to a person's heart, but it is so much more than that. As Yestermorrow's new meal program demonstrates, food is also a way of building a stronger community, in addition to being a great educational tool and a means to more sustainable living.

"We first considered adding an onsite meal program because students wanted the convenience it would provide," said Yestermorrow Executive Director Bob Ferris. "But we created it knowing we would be able to design a program that also supports local farms and farmers, as well as providing a fertile stage for community building, networking and the exchange of ideas."

Students can choose between our three-meal-a-day Community Meal Plan, or our lunch-only Commuter Plan. Our kitchen team of Heidi, Austin and Bradley are working to source organic and local ingredients whenever possible. And Bradley is focusing effort on maximizing the productivity of our vegetable and herb gardens for use in the program.

With the inauguration of Yestermorrow's first ever Natural Building Certificate Program this summer, the school finds itself privileged to host Tim Rieth as the program's lead instructor and general natural-building guru. Tim has taught the school's Intro to Cob Building courses for the last three years, wowing students with his knowledge of the materials, his hands-on teaching skills, and his low-key approachability.

As lead instructor in the Certificate Program, Tim is the central clearing house for the eight Certificate enrollees, forty other "drop-in" students, and a revolving cadre of eight co-instructors, as they design and build, from the foundation up, a structure highlighting a variety of natural building techniques over the course of ten classes and workshops during the next three months.

"I learn a lot from teaching," Tim says, "because students provide a fresh look at situations, materials, designs, etc., that are often great solutions and ideas. Additionally, I love witnessing those 'ah-ha' moments students experience when you see things click and they're making a leap forward in their comprehension and design. All in all it is just so much fun."

Tim co-founded Seven Generations Natural Builders in 2003, after two years studying and building with the Cob Cottage Company. He teaches workshops in earth and strawbale construction -- including cob, wattle and daub, clay block, and natural plasters -- throughout the U.S. And in his spare time, Tim has earned both Bachelors and Masters degrees in anthropology at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa with a focus on Fijian and Somoan prehistory.

When Yestermorrow began 27 years ago in John Connell's backyard, the first offering was called Home Design/Build. It provided an opportunity for builders, designers and homeowners to engage in the demystification of the architectural and construction processes by picking up drafting pencils and hammers, and by putting them to use. Almost three decades later, Home Design/Build, and its sister course, Home Design, are still at the heart of the Yestermorrow curriculum. And with over 1000 graduates over the years, those two offerings have likely compelled the creation of several hundred beautiful, functional, sustainable structures.

But what about the interiors? Now, Home Design and Design/Build grads have the opportunity to take the process to the next level with Home Design II: On the Inside. Led by instructors Sam Cribbs and Paul Hanke, students will learn what makes a house unique and intellectually, aesthetically, and emotionally satisfying to live in. Topics will include planning kitchens, baths, storage and other spaces, room conversions, circulation, furniture arrangement, spatial definition, selecting materials and finishes, color schemes, accessibility, trim work, lighting, comfort and climate control, introduction to mechanical systems, fireplaces, and much more. Course dates are July 22-27. Come join us. We'd love to see you again.