you can’t make honey alone, and even if you could… wouldn’t you want someone to share it with?

Lately the concept of collaboration and sharing  has been at the forefront of what is going on in my life. Having received many comments about how refreshing people find it that I freely share my knowledge and skills – I am always taken a little aback – and think about why that is so unusual? Isn’t that what makes everything work? We all have our strengths and weaknesses and when we band together to share, don’t we all win?

I redesigned the website this week to encompass the changing aspects of my life and projects, but one thing has not changed, collaboration is something I hold near and dear to my heart. I have made some wonderful friends working on joint projects, everything from FeltUnited, to Ekebo our CSA farm, to the farmers market, to our Lavvo project for the school spending many a weekend sweating in the woods with a hammer and a saw.  😉

My latest endeavour, a local food coop project has suddenly grown to a collaborative effort with people in Oslo, and in turn with like minded people in the UK and Australia! Exciting is puting it mildly 🙂 Myriam Bouré from France who is leading the Kjøpelaget food cooperative project in Oslo is an advocate of collaborative economy, and has a wealth of information on the subject. I am looking forward to learning from her as we work together establishing a non-profit foundation that will help others by providing them tools that will enable them to set up cooperatives in their home towns. Stay tuned for more info!

After one of our meetings in town, Myriam brought me along to Bitraf, where I met some brilliant minds. Bitraf is a Maker Space in Oslo with great people and fabulous technology. I left with my brain bubbling having talked about open source beehives, felt, bokashi, high tech greenhouse materials, CNC routers, 3d printing, kebony, eco-tech and the list goes on! My kind of place 😉 Bitraf was co-founded by Jens Dyvik, an innovative thinker who seriously impressed me with his openness, interest and knowledge. I look forward to another Bitraf visit!

So for now, I hope you like the new website, and I look forward to sharing more with you!