You are invited to The 35th Annual Convening of the Ozark Area Community Congress…

Hammond Mill Camp, West Plains, MOzarks

This current page represents last year’s gathering, and we are working to update the website to reflect the 2014 gathering.

Hi Friends,

All those who love and care about the Ozarks are invited to gather together once again to celebrate, appreciate, and learn from this phenomenal part of the Earth and each other…

Spread the word! 

OACC IS....

-The first and longest-standing bioregional congress.

-An ecologically-aware child- and family-friendly community village where together we learn, play, relax, and take care of each other.

-A meeting place for ecologically-informed, creative, talented people, growers, activists, operators of small businesses, musicians, writers and innovators; where you can meet with others about what’s of interest to you. OACC is just plain useful, valuable, and often life-changing!

-A decades-long forum for a sustainable and regenerative economy for the Ozarks.

-A place to network and get informed about significant issues affecting our lives in the Ozarks, in an ecological context.

OACC is a celebration of the Ozarks and all things restorative and  ecological! 

WHAT TO EXPECT….

- Workshops and presentations on ecologically-related subjects, campfires, music, poetry and readings, and homegrown Ozarks culture in general.

-Good vegetarian food, as locally grown and organic as possible.

-Please come ready to help out daily with your choice of volunteer, community-sustaining work, whether in the kitchen, child care, grounds cleanup, and whatever it takes to keep our little village going. It’s fun to work together as well as play, and this is one way OACC keeps its costs so low.  When you register we will sign you up for your choice of enjoyable volunteer opportunities. Your wholehearted volunteer help enables OACC to continue, and be so inexpensive to attend.

OACC 34 CO-SPONSORS….

For $125 (or more if you are able), you or your organization can be an OACC 35 Co-Sponsor.  Co-sponsorships help us keep our registration costs down while giving good people and organizations recognition. Your co-sponsorship gets you 2 free admissions to OACC, a free exhibit table at OACC, a listing on OACC’s website, and recognition at the OACC event.

You can submit your co-sponsorship information to us online here or mail it to us using the Downloadable Co-Sponsor form here. (Un-linked until updated)

For more information, please contact Co-Sponsorship Coordinator Chris Day at OACCleaf@gmail.com.

OACC 34 Co-Sponsors

- Alford Forest, Inc.  Brixey, MO

- Brian Haenke, Brixey, MO

- Chris Day, Springfield, MO

- Coming Up Roses, Willow Springs, MO

A women’s collective, offering Art, crafts, healing services and a wonderful Tea Room.  Serves lunch, organic fair trade teas and coffees, and always fresh baked goods and sweets.  Enjoy a friendly, serene atmosphere where you can sit and visit with a group or by yourself. Can accommodate groups, and are available for catering and parties.  Vegetarian food. Open Thursday and Friday 10-5.  And on Saturday 10-3. They are located at 118 E Main St in Willow Springs, Mo 65793.

- David Haenke, Bryant Creek Watershed, MO

- Doug and Cathy Strubel, Pettigrew, AR

- Elaine Hines, Renaissance Books and Gifts, Springfield, MO

- Golden Light Center, Sasha Daucus, Doniphan, MO

- Hawk Hill Community Land Trust, Drury, MO

- Mara Bosch and Susan Minyard, of Sweetwater Community Land Trust, Mansfield, MO

- Martin Turner, Columbia, MO

- Mary Mike Taylor, Mary Mike & Associates, West Plains and Springfield, MO

- Mid-Missouri Peaceworks/ The Peace Nook, Columbia, MO

Peaceworks is a grassroots, membership-based non-profit organization doing public education & advocacy to promote peace, justice & a sustainable future. The Peace Nook is the non-profit store Peaceworks operates.

- Ozarks Family Dentistry, dba, Springfield Dental Clinic, Rolla Dental Clinic, Osage Beach Family Dentistry, Meramec Family Dentistry, Flo Valley Family Dentistry

- Ozarks Green Building Coalition, Springfield and Ozarks Region

- Planet Drum Foundation, San Francisco, CA

- Regenerations Intellotech, LLC, Newkirk, OK :

We have been experimenting with Kenaf (Cannabinus Hibiscus) for over 12 years as a sustainable agricultural crop,developing products,and equipment. We also are developing ergonomic tools, alternative housing options, businesses and viable economics. We believe that innovation can use the concept of Low Tech thus reducing or eliminating innate problems inherent with complex systems, electronics, or equipment.

- Ruth and Larry Lewis, Osceola, MO

- South Central SWMD, Eunice, MO

We help cities, counties & private enterprises in our 7 county district with a variety of solid waste management issues.

- Thomas Hubbard, Southern Stars, San Francisco, CA

- Whittier Street Health Center, Roxbury, MA

- Zach Miller, Green Realtor, Murney Associates Realtor, Springfield, MO

Big Thanks to our Great Co-Sponsors!

OACC includes both pre-scheduled and spontaneous presentations. Pre-scheduled topics are listed here. Previously unscheduled events are added to the roster on Friday evening,during the Open Space Process after the Opening Circle.

This year we have a full schedule of presentations including:

The Livability Movement: Bringing it Back to the Human Scale, Saturday, Oct. 5, 1:30pm. Patty Cantrell. We are naturally progressing from the fossil-fuel-based flash in the pan of recent industrial growth to a more livable, diverse and human-scale world … much like a forest eventually matures. Patty is a nationally-recognized expert on regional food systems and Director of the Healthy Living Alliance (Springfield MO).

Primitive Skills, Saturday, Oct. 5, 10am. Bo Brown. Meet and learn from one of the true masters in wilderness skills of our bioregion.

Digging Deep: Gardening as Metaphor, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2pm. Marideth Sisco. Gardening is more than putting seeds in the ground. It’s also about nurture. Marideth is an internationally renowned and locally-rooted story-teller.

Hot Sauce: Are you Man, or Woman, Enough for Homemade Hot Sauce? Saturday, Oct. 5, 9am. Jim Long. If you grow and love hot peppers and want to make your own sauces, here are the basics; covering fermentation, cooking, freezing and canning your own sauces. Taste-testing is likely. Jim is a nationally known expert on herbs,and founder of Long Creek Herb Farm in Blue Eye, MO.

Regional Food Round-up Panel, Saturday, Oct. 5, 10am. Angela Jenkins, Rachel Reynolds Luster, Dan Leary, Patty Cantrell. Truly amazing things are going on in regional food systems in the Ozarks. Learn about it from some of the exceptional folks leading the way.

Seed Saving for Everyone, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2:45pm. Jill Henderson. Learn to save seeds of your favorite herbs and vegetables. This class is geared towards beginner and intermediate seed savers. Jill is a nationally known artist, author, and seed saver.

Village Herbalists of the Ozarks. Saturday, Oct. 5, 11:30am. Donna Dohrn, Kathy Donaldson, Betty Queen. Three local herbalists share their knowledge gained from integrating healing plants into their lives for the past several decades. In so doing, they have helped and mentored their communities, friends, families,and coworkers.

Communicating with Nature, Saturday, Oct. 5, 9am. Sasha Daucus. Become more aware of your connection to nature and make it more fully a part of your experience at OACC. Sasha has been a practicing Ozarks herbalist and energy healer for many years.

OACC 101, An Orientation to OACC, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2:45pm. Denise Vaughn and David Haenke.

Ceremonial Ecovillages and the 11th Continental Bioregional Congress. Friday Oct. 4, 4pm. David Haenke , Sasha Daucus and Larry Lewis. Facilitated by Rachel Reynolds Luster. What is a Ceremonial Village and how do we embody it at OACC? Want more of that good feeling? Next year, the Ozarks bioregion is hosting the 11th annual Continental Congress, a week-long ceremonial village. Learn more from this OACC panel discussion.

OACC Second Generation Panel Discussion and Sprouting Demonstration. Saturday, Oct. 5, 4pm. Tegan Vaughn, Tim Johnson, and Cinnamon Spence. Food acquisition and consumption habits for us while living in the city: discuss ideals/thoughts about good food, as well as decisions we’ve made about what we eat and where we get it.

Derecho! The Great Storm of 2009, Saturday, Oct. 5, 5pm. Denise Henderson-Vaughn. The 2009 derecho delivered a long-lasting jolt to Ozark forests and their owners, knocking down millions of trees,changing and landscape and challenging the local forest industry.

Program Subject to Change.
Program Coordinator, David Haenke
dhaenke@webound.com 417-679-3098

GENERAL SCHEDULE….

Friday

We highly encourage you to come to OACC on Friday afternoon, register and be a part of the Opening Circle at 6 PM.  The Opening Circle is our first chance to be together as a whole group, and one of the most important aspects of OACC. It gives everyone a chance to introduce themselves to each other, find out what others are doing and    and are passionate about, where they are from, and start participating actively in OACC right away. It is at the opening circle that you get to see those who you most might want to get to know more and meet with during the rest of OACC. 

- Noon: set up begins

- 3 pm: registration opens

- 3 – 5 pm: Seed Swap! Jill Henderson. Local expert seed saver and seed swap impresario, Jill will give us the opportunity to get our next season’s seeds as well as pass on some of our excess to someone else. Bring your favorite seeds to swap!

- 4pm: Ceremonial Ecovillages and the 11th Continental Bioregional Congress. Panel discussion with David Haenke , Sasha Daucus and Larry Lewis. Facilitated by Rachel Reynolds Luster.

- 5pm: Early dinner and potluck. (We will have some simple snack-type food, and if you could bring some potluck additions, we will save our food folks much work early on as we are getting set up.  Thanks in advance if you can bring something to share!)

- 6pm. OACC overview, Opening Circle. This is your chance to introduce yourself, meet all the other participants, and find out what they are doing. Very important! Tell us where you are from, especially your home watershed, and what you are passionate about!

- 7pm or just after Opening Circle, Open Space Process- facilitated by Ruth Lewis– for those who are not on the schedule and who want to give presentations at OACC. What is Open Space Process? AT any given OACC, people attend who are working in, for instance re-localization, organic gardening and agriculture, appropriate technology, alternative health, communities, land trusts, ecological protection, forestry, home schooling, conservation, responsible media, sustainable businesses, biodiversity preservation, ecological restoration, culture, music, arts, eco-villages, and the list goes on… OACC’s program will have pre-scheduled presenters PLUS time available for anyone who wants to conduct a session after arrival. These previously non-scheduled presentations will be scheduled during an Open Space process on Friday evening after the Opening Circle. Got something to say? Here’s the place to say it! If you want to be part of the Open Space, be sure to come on Friday.

- 7:30pm – Contra Dancing, with Gloria Scarlet calling, Rachel Reynolds Luster on fiddle, and other musicians to be announced. Folks loved last year’s dance and…we’re doing it again!

- Throughout OACC: Ozarks Art Show. Work by Mara Bosch, David Lakish, Michael McClure, Susan Minyard, Julie Shaw, and more. If you would like to display your work at OACC please see the website for details.

Saturday

- 7:30 to 9am: Breakfast

- 9am:

Hot Sauce: Are you Man, or Woman, Enough for Homemade Hot Sauce? Saturday, Oct. 5, 9am. Jim Long

Communicating with Nature, Saturday, Oct. 5, 9am. Sasha Daucus

- 10am:

Regional Food Round-up Panel, Saturday, Oct. 5, 10am. Angela Jenkins, Rachel Reynolds Luster, Dan Leary, Patty Cantrell.

Primitive Skills, Saturday, Oct. 5, 10am. Bo Brown.

-11:30am

Village Herbalists of the Ozarks. Saturday, Oct. 5, 11:30am. Donna Dohrn, Kathy Donaldson, Betty Queen

- 12 Noon to 1:30pm: Lunch

- 1:30pm: The Livability Movement: Bringing it Back to the Human Scale, Saturday, Oct. 5, 1:30pm. Patty Cantrell.

-2pm: Digging Deep: Gardening as Metaphor, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2pm. Marideth Sisco.

-2:45pm:

Seed Saving for Everyone, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2:45pm. Jill Henderson.

OACC 101, An Orientation to OACC, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2:45pm. Denise Vaughn and David Haenke.

-4pm: OACC Second Generation Panel Discussion and Sprouting Demonstration. Saturday, Oct. 5, 4pm. Tegan Vaughn, Tim Johnson, and Cinnamon Spence.

- 5pm:

Derecho! The Great Storm of 2009, Saturday, Oct. 5, 5pm. Denise Henderson-Vaughn.

Memorial gathering by the bonfire: come if you’d like to share with others in honoring the losses our community has experienced this year. Feel free to bring photos and mementos.

- 6 PM: Dinner

-7:30 PM: Coffeehouse. This is our own talent show, where everyone, from the smallest child up, is encouraged to perform, be it with music, poems, theatrics, dance, or jokes. (Major fun.)

Sunday

-7:30-9am: Breakfast

- Morning: workshops, presentations, discussion groups

-10:30am: OACC 34 CONGRESS PLANNING SESSION.  All are encouraged to attend this session of the congress which determines the future of OACC, and even if we will have another OACC!

-12:30n to 1:30pm: Lunch

- After lunch: Silent auction for leftover food (great bargains  possible!), Clean up

-3pm: Closing circle.

More details on these sessions can be seen HERE.

FOOD….

We serve vegetarian meals from Friday dinner to Sunday lunch, prepared as much as possible with organic, local, or fair-trade ingredients.

Please help us keep registration costs low by donating food and/or bringing food to share. You can let us know if you have food to contribute by visiting our food donations pagewhich lists food we would like, or by contacting our Food Coordinators- Pear Schneider at ozarkotter@yahoo.com and 417-265-3753; 0r Juli at julivzm42@gmail.com.

It could be a covered dish for Friday night’s potluck, if convenient, or perhaps your garden produce, or bulk food, or wholesome items like bread, fruit or cheese. Visit the food donations page to see a list of foods that are particularly needed to fill out our menu for the weekend.

WHAT TO BRING….

• food donations
• drums, musical instruments, your songs
• acts for the coffeehouse talent show
• your kids, your friends
•  life jackets– there’s a lake, and your canoes and kayaks are welcome. [No children in canoes or kayaks without adult supervision.]

You will need

• your own soap, shampoo, towels
• sleeping bags and bedding
• cups — dishes, trays, and silverware are provided, but cups are scarce
• Clothes suitable for being outside in the Ozark fall weather: Be prepared for Ozark fall weather, which can range from mild and dry to cool and wet.

Childcare will not be provided.  Parents are welcome to work together and with us to organize cooperative childcare during the Congress.

WHAT NOT TO BRING….

PLEASE DON’T BRING DOGS AND OTHER PETS

PLEASE DON’T BRING ALCOHOL OR OTHER DRUGS

LODGING….

Ananda Kanan Ozark Retreat Center has dormitories, bathrooms, hot showers, a dining hall, excellent group meeting places, play area, large pond with canoes, and more. If it rains, we are well covered.

Bunks and mattresses are provided in the dorm rooms.BRING YOUR OWN BEDDING, SLEEPING BAGS, PILLOWS…

Tent sites are also available.

DIRECTIONS….

To be updated soon

COSTS….

Registration fees for all three days, covering everything (meals, lodging, programs, etc.; still cheaper than staying home) are:

-Adults (ages 17 & up): $45;

-Young ones (ages 5 to 16): $25

-Youngest ones, 4 and under: no cost

Attendance for the whole three days is encouraged, but day rates will be pro-rated. Please help us out and register as soon as you get to OACC.

Attendees under 18 must be accompanied by a responsible adult.

Registration Rates for Partial Attendance. For those of you who want to come for less than the whole time, such as a day, or part of a day, we will pro-rate in a fair and equitable way.

WHY IS OACC DIFFERENT AND EXCEPTIONAL? WHAT IS A “CONGRESS”?

OACC as a “congress” is distinguished clearly from a run-of-the-mill “conference” in that it is a gathering of peers (not just conference attendees passively consuming information from paid “experts” and “professionals”) who inexpensively and on a volunteer basis organize and conduct the event themselves as a temporary green “village,” take care of themselves (preparing food, providing their own entertainment and presentations from within the group itself, cleaning up, etc.), and decide among themselves by consensus the present and future directions and content of OACC as an informal “organization.”

HOW YOU CAN ENSURE A FRUITFUL AND INSPIRING OACC 34…

1)    Come to OACC and contribute your talents and energies to the community!

2)    Invite and bring one or more like-minded folks who you would like to be there with!

For Further Information:

Stuff We Need If You Can Bring It.

-We need a portable projection screen

-We need Firewood

If you can bring either of these please contact David at the email below
OACC 34 Coordinator:

David Haenke

dhaenke@webound.com