Are you disappointed by the lack of options when it comes to buying art supplies? Can't afford to take advantage of wholesale prices, when shopping online for supplies? Lets all get together and do some collective art supply shopping! Click here to to network with other local artists.
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"Fire" A metaphor representing spiritual growth through extreme change. "Well" A metaphor representing the place from which you draw the basic nourishment of life.
When I first began developing the concept of the Fire Well Community, my goal was to create a safe house. I felt that it was important to offer a space to folks who are struggling with physical, spiritual, or mental hardships, and would benefit from the healthy support of an interactive supportive community. The concept quickly outgrew one roof and the Fire Well Community Collective was born. Like many big plans, the ambition was greater than the resources, and I pushed myself beyond my own limits by overextending my "help" beyond my capability to maintain to collective. A learning experience to say the least. The Recycling Route came to an abrupt halt when my truck was clearly beyond repair, and I recycled it. One by one, I had to walk away from the properties I had invested in. I had to admit that I had tried to do too much by myself, and thought that I had failed. I have since continued to receive messages from people who were interested in joining the collective. With careful consideration I have decided to bring the "collective" back to life. Restarting as a "virtual collective", I hope to be able to redevelop and nurture this collective concept. The first feature that I am bringing back is our Fire Well Community Classified Barter Page. If you have goods or services that you are willing to offer at a sliding scale, or for barter, please send me a message. I will be glad to advertise you for free! More to come! ~Charles F Burnell Just in case you are interested in information about the recycling project, heres the info that used to be on the front page of our site:
We have a fantastic new project started and are looking for locals in the Noble and Norman area that would like to participate in the Fire Well Community Recycling & Compost Project. We will recycle paper, plastics, glass, & aluminum; we will also pick up compostable material for our community garden. We will pick up on Tuesdays between 9am and 6pm; please complete the form at the bottom of the page if you would like to be added to the route. We request your recyclables be rinsed and broken down or compacted (except for glass). We are not charging a fee for this service, however, any donations (loose change ok) will help offset fuel and supply costs, and will be greatly appreciated. We look forward to including more of the community with this project. We would really benefit from donations! Send us a message for more info if you're interested. Letter from the founder also found on http://firewellcommunity.weebly.com/about-us.html
As many children do, I grew up bouncing in between my mother's and my father's worlds. This provided me with an opportunity to actively participate in two different ways of living. The perspective this experience provided inspired me in many ways throughout the last 20 years. My fathers world taught me the importance of hard work and focused determination. My mothers world taught me the importance of community and the strength of family. As an artist, I recognize that we all have inside us teachers & students, healers & soldiers, creators & destroyers. Knowledge is power. When we acknowledge our power we must also embrace our responsibility. As a passionate artist, I see the world through my own looking glass and envision a community in which we all take care of each other. In my experience, living with other artists helps to nourish the muse. As a spiritual person, I embrace my existence as pivotal and equally insignificant. My beliefs strongly affect my personal choices and I openly embrace diversity. I have long envisioned a community of people who operated as a family, taking care of each other by openly sharing skills and projects the way villages have in the past. While the romantic ideal may not meet the speed of our current society, The Fire Well Community is challenging the notion by developing a modern network of collective living. And yes, this is my baby...growing and developing. Like a child discovering the world for the first time, we are in the beginning stages and exploding with new ideas. The goal of the Fire Well Collective is to develop a network of households throughout the greater metro area. Each of the participating houses offer “room & board” for a combination of money and barter. Our policy of incorporating the barter of skills sharing throughout the collective of households lowers overall costs of living and encourages community support and involvement. In short we are creating an interdependent community of people, a family. Welcome to The Fire Well Collective. I hope you enjoy your stay. ~Charles As you know we've begun planting our garden for this year and we wanted to share some of the photo's we've taken over the last 2 weeks. The first set of pictures was taken on February 24th, the next set was on the 28th, and the last two sets of pictures were taken on March 6th and 8th. We've really excited to see the progress and couldn't wait to share with you. With cold weather expected off and on for the next month or so these little guys will be staying inside until it warms up enough to put the out in the garden. Oklahoma Conservation Commission Workshops - February 24th, 2013 Hi Everyone. Jen here, reporting on recent happenings. Spring is almost here and it seems there is already so much going on! Here is a little about what I've been up to. Recently, I had the opportunity to attend the Oklahoma Conservation Commission's hands-on Blue Thumb volunteer program introduction and a Rain Barrels 101 workshop with Charles. The volunteer information workshop was lead by the commission's state coordinator, Cheryl Cheadle, who led us outside to the Reed Center's man-made stream. From there, she showed us what Blue Thumb volunteers do to monitor and save Oklahoma's water. Cheryl demonstrated how to capture a good water sample and how to assess the quality of the stream environment. The Blue Thumb program is always looking for volunteers to help monitor a stream of your choice. If you want more information or want to volunteer with the Blue Thumb program check out their website HERE. The second part of the workshop we attended was about how to make and setup rain collection barrels. We got to take one rain barrel home for FREE, thanks again to Aunt Roxy. Check out the previous post by our local tech-meister James for pictures and more info on the rain barrel workshop! 2013 Oklahoma Food Coop Annual Meeting - March 2nd, 2013
It was a great to meet and chat with fellow coop members and local farmers/producers at this years annual food coop meeting. There was food sample's galore from Oklahoma's freshest and planet friendly producers. I got to chat with Matt from Fertile Ground about how him and biz partner Terry got where they are today. They were both super nice and I love what they are doing for OKC. Don't forget to check out their website: http://www.fertilegroundokc.com If you'd like to get involved or order food from the Oklahoma Food Coop, go to their website by clicking HERE. On Sunday, we had a team of representatives who went to the Rain Barrel and Water Conservation workshop put on by the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts. Pictured to the left are the barrels we received from going to the workshop. We have plans in the works to install a gutter system that drains into them and then will use the water to help water our garden throughout the year! see previous post for more details: http://firewellcommunity.weebly.com/1/post/2013/02/whats-happening-sunday-february-24th.html Click pictures for larger images.
The Oklahoma Association of Conservation is a statewide non-profit organization "dedicated to providing leadership, preserving, protecting, and enhancing our state's natural resources and improving the environment for generations to come."
Our wonderful Aunt Roxy entered a contest and won The Fire Well a free rain barrel. And she won! Very cool. So we will be taking a field trip up to the city today to attend the Rain Barrel class at the Reed Center. Also, for anyone who is interested in the issue of water quality, this is a great opportunity to participate in a free workshop. The OAC will be hosting! FROM THEIR WEBSITE 1:30: Join the Blue Thumb Water Quality Team! This workshop is an introduction of Oklahoma’s Blue Thumb program, which will include information about how Blue Thumb works and what volunteers do to save Oklahoma’s water and the basics of pollution prevention, an actual “in water” demonstration of water quality monitoring and stream health indicators, and information for a follow up trainings. * 2:45: Casting a Wider Net: In-depth non-point source pollution workshop, including further explanation of nonpoint source pollution as illustrated by the EnviroScape and Groundwater Models, how to use these models for water quality education, and testing kits, hands on tools, and how you can use them.* *Both of these session are being offered free of cost but any donations to cover the cost of facilities would be greatly appreciated. The Rain Barrel class will also be happening at 2:45. Maybe we will see you there? ~Charles Great news everyone! The Fire Well Community is making progress with several recent donations of clothes, materials and other goods for the “Free Closet”. We also received some kitchen supplies such as Tupperware, plates, and bowls. Also there has been a huge and positive response within the community to the Recycling & Compost Project with several of the local business signing up to have us pick up their recycling or compost materials once a week. And seedlings for the garden have been planted in recycled Styrofoam cups and placed near the south window to get a head start on next year’s harvest schedule. Pictured below are the NON-GMO seeds we have started to gather for future generations of planting and harvesting without purchasing more seeds!
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