LifeCycling
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    • Bio
    • Festival - Imbolc >
      • Imbolc 2018
    • New Articles >
      • Living Off the Land
      • If We Could Just Get Rid of That 'Thing'
      • Follow the Resources
      • Can Capitalism and Socialism Unite for Our Future
      • An Introspective Look at Physical Education
      • Hitchhiking - The Wave of the Future?
      • Kinetic and Potential Energy and Living a Low Cost Lifestyle
      • A Change of Pace
      • Risky Business
      • Exponential Growth: A Blessing or Downfall
  • Traveling by Bicycle or Backpacking
    • Part 1 - The Great Allegheny Passage
    • Part 2 - The C and O Canal
    • Bike Trip Across the Southern Tier >
      • Chapter 1 - California
      • Chapter 2 - Arizona
      • Chapter 3 New Mexico
      • Chapter 4 - Texas-El Paso to Del Rio
      • Chapter 5 Texas-Del Rio to Austin
      • Chapter 6 Texas - Austin to Louisiana
      • Chapter 7 - Louisiana
      • Chapter 8 Mississippi and Alabama
      • Chapter 9 Florida
      • Chapter 10 The Ride Home
      • Our Nashville to New Orleans Trip: Part 1
      • Our Nashville to New Orleans Trip: Part 2
    • Traveling with Backpacks in Ireland and Scotland >
      • Irish Wedding
      • Our Travels In Ireland
      • Moving on to Scotland
      • The Isle of Eigg
      • Highlands and Northeast Scotland
      • Catterline, the Last Leg of Our Trip
    • Hitch Biking
  • Applying Sustainability
    • The True Foundation of Building >
      • The History of the Yurt >
        • Chapter 1
        • Chapter 2
        • Chapter 3
        • Chapter 4
        • Chapter 5
        • Chapter 6
        • Chapter 7
        • Chapter 8
        • A Visit to Our House
    • Education >
      • Let Simple Machines Do The Work
      • Work, Play and Carbon Sequestering
      • Eighth Graders Stack Functions While Building a Stone Wall
      • Footwear, the Foundation of Our Children's Future
      • Movement Education Part 1
      • Movement Education Part 2
    • Education Part 2 >
      • Waldorf School Eighth Grade of 2014 - Building a Hot Water Solar Panel
      • Volunteers for Peace, Part 1 - Hand Hewing and Building a Foundation
      • Volunteers for Peace, Part 2 - Timber-framing and Plastering with Clay
      • Building A Passive Refrigerator
    • Education Part 3 >
      • The Educational Divide
      • Changing the World Through Observation
      • Best of Both Worlds
      • Why Are They Playing With Strings? Shouldn't They Be Working On Mathematics?
    • Passive Water System
    • Holistic Gardening and Landscaping
    • Humanure and Urine >
      • Urine As A Fertilizer
      • Is Composting Human Waste Possible?
  • Principles of Sustainability
    • Paradigm Shift >
      • The Forward Progress of Technology?
      • Moving Towards a New Paradigm?
      • Immovable Belief
      • The Future or Not the Future?
      • Paradigm, Past, Present and Future
      • From Parasitism to Mututalism
      • Old Ideas, New Intentions
      • Freedom to Choose
      • Law of Diminishing Returns
    • Paradigm Shift Part 2 >
      • Intro to Throughput
      • Throughput: An Illustration
      • Argument for a Low Throughput Society
      • Throughput in Action
      • The Culture of Permaculture
      • Cliff Notes on Sustainability
    • Philosophy >
      • Are We Free?
      • Lucifer and Ahriman's Tug of War
      • The Age of the Will
      • Thinking, Feeling, and Willing - A Real Balancing Act
      • The Age of the Consciousness Soul
      • The Paradigm-Etheric Connection
    • Understanding Exponential Growth
    • Environmental Challenges >
      • Environmental Effects of the Clothing Industry
    • Economy >
      • Economy - Part 1
      • Economy - Part 2
      • Economy - Part 3
      • Economy - Part 4
    • Photos & Videos

About Me

In 1972, I was in college in Pennsylvania when I decided to take a bird watching course in Florida.  At the time I was a physical education major and couldn’t wait to get college credit while on ‘vacation’.  The professor was thought of as somewhat a radical and throughout the trip he presented a different global picture than the one I had been exposed to.  This new paradigm included ever increasing resource demands in a limited resource world, while simultaneously increasing amounts of  pollution of all kinds, including a new threat called  global warming  (more accurate today – climate change), which would also be increasing and demanding more resources to combat.  The consequences to our social structure would be great.  My professor gave me a list of titles of books to read and soon my life changed dramatically.  My major morphed into biology and chemistry with a strong interest in the environment.  To pay for college I worked at a gas station and learned how to repair cars and after graduation I taught chemistry for one year. Knowing I needed more skills for my future, such as carpentry, plumbing, electrical work and gardening, I embarked on this journey.  Along the way I was blessed with two daughters and a step son, Kim, Jonna and Chris. 

It was when I transplanted to Vermont with my partner Lisa that I was able to utilize my skills.  We moved onto a piece of land near the Canada border, hand- built our home, set up an off-grid solar electricity system, and grew most of our food. It was at this time that Lisa and I were introduced to Waldorf Education.  I felt I had come full circle when I was introduced to Spatial Dynamics (Physical Education for Waldorf Schools) and became a Movement Teacher at Green Mountain Waldorf School. 

Several decades later I moved to the Montpelier area and began teaching Movement at Orchard Valley Waldorf School.  There I was able to incorporate my low impact, low cost skills and ideas.  I built a Hoophouse out of trees that was used as the gym, which is described in the Movement article.  During these years of teaching it became clear what I really wanted to do next, which was to build another home that would offer a learning atmosphere demonstrating another path to be taken.   One that would consider the Earth and how to share resources with other inhabitants, a path strong in science, math and knowledge as a whole, a path where our experiences are put to use to solve challenges and not depend on the political arena solutions.  My partner Mary and I moved onto a piece of land and this website represents our progress.

- David Maynard


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