HABITABLE SPACES UPCOMING PROJECTS FOR FALL OF 2021

KINGSBURY SUPPER CLUB • UTOPIA SCHOOL • KINGSBURY STORY PROJECT

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MAY 2021

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Project Summary

Here is a list of all of the projects that we have going on in the Fall.  At the moment, all three of these projects need funding. I have put a description of each project at the top, and a wish list of needed items underneath. If you would like to support any of the itemized items, we would be very grateful. As always, any donation or gift that you make to Habitable Spaces is completely tax deductible. Thank you again for your interest in our organization, and we hope to see you out here for some of our events in the future!

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Organizational Profile

A Brief History of Habitable Spaces 

Founded in 2011 by Shane and Alison Heinemeier, Habitable Spaces (HS) is a Texas-based 501c(3) community arts and agricultural project whose purpose is to create an integrated, mutually-beneficial instruction facility where artists and the rural community can take classes, learn and share ideas, and commune over the shared responsibilities and joys of a lifestyle guided by agriculture and the arts. We offer workshops and classes on sustainable farming, experimental building techniques, traditional craft, and fine art. 

 

Artist Residency

An important component of our nonprofit is the artist residency program. Our approach to this program differs from most in that we ask artists to embed themselves in the local community by creating artwork that remains on the HS campus or in the community of Kingsbury itself. Often, residents offer workshops, lectures, and learning experiences to our community as well. Each resident gains the opportunity to learn from real-world rural community members about farming, ranching, and the rural lifestyle, all while pursuing their own artistic goals through an intimate studio practice in our facilities.

 

Farm And Gardens

We use permaculture methods in our water catchment systems and in our perennial food forest systems. These systems provide fruits, nuts, berries and vegetables. Habitable Spaces guests can learn from the food forest just by walking around in it by reading food signage. Also guests can order provision boxes for their stay or farm to table meals with food made entirely from produce and protein raised on the farm.
 

Livestock And Fowl

We raise waterfowl, chickens, guinea hens, rabbits, goats, and sheep all on premises. Residents can meet the farm animals, learn to care for them, and milk them for a fee. We will also teach guests how to make cheese, keiffer, yogurt, and other products that we make on-site as part of our dairy operations.

 

Makerspace/Workshop

We have a 2,400 sqft multifunctional workshop space that features a gallery, woodshop, commercial kitchen, makerspace, and artist studios. The commercial kitchen has sliding doors that open up to a larger space for use as a classroom when our staff members teach hands-on classes on cheesemaking, butchery, canning, and other homesteading skills. The makerspace/classroom area is a space that provides tools for working with everything from motors, to coding, including equipment like 3D printers and wood-working equipment.  This is a space specifically designed and built for community innovation and creativity.

 

Organization Affiliations

HS imparts land and water conservation using native plants for xeriscaping. There are full-time staff members who work with two volunteer organizations (Work Away and WWOOF) in a gift economy situation. Work Away is an organization that allows people to travel the world for free in exchange for room and board. WWOOF (Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms) connects organic farmers to non-farmers who are interested in learning the trade within the United States. Austin and San Antonio Permaculture Groups have both hosted Perma blitzes and workshops on site. HS is an Official Master Gardeners Garden, where Master Gardeners teach gardening techniques, practice their skills, and work to become certified. 

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Our Project Goals

HS is a 501c3 Arts and agriculture nonprofit organization that has been active in the community of Kingsbury for 8 years. We teach new methods of farming and land stewardship to people in rural areas, as well as bring artists into our community where they can learn from the exchange. Collaborators teach classes and host workshops on farming, sustainable farming methods, art, natural building methods, and much more. The site is set on 80 beautiful acres and strives to contain all habitation areas on one acre with trails connecting to the rest of the landscape to conserve water and to maintain the natural habitat outside the HS Village.

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THE KINGSBURY SUPPER CLUB

Habitable Spaces advocates local food systems, and natural and humane methods of raising and slaughtering livestock. One of our main missions is to teach the general public about sustainable farming, and to advocate for a healthy local food network that supports the community around it. With the advent of Covid and the breakdown of the global food system, it becomes more important than ever to have more direct control over the food that we eat.  

 

The Kingsbury Supper Club is a collaborative restaurant space where customers become direct collective owners of the livestock and the dairy, eggs, fruits and vegetables produced at the farm. In order to become a member of the Supper Club, people will have to sign a membership form that gives them collective ownership of all of the livestock that we raise. They will pay an itemized service fee for the preparation of meals, drinks and charcuterie and cheese boards. A club member can treat the Kingsbury Supper Club like a restaurant, choosing only to come and eat and drink at the club. If members would like further involvement, they will be able to meet and spend time with the animals that we are raising and will be invited to help out with their maintenance should they desire. Members will also have access to our vast array of culinary classes on everything from butchery and charcuterie to cheese and bread making.  

 

Wish list for the Kingsbury Supper Club:

Vulcan liquid propane 6 burner 60” range with 

24” manual griddle and 2 standard ovens ​​​​​    $4,600.00
 

Avantco SL512 12” Manual Gravity Feed Meat 

Slicer (for slicing prosciutto!) ​​​​​​​       $909.00
 

Regency 91” 16-gauge Stainless Steel Three 

Compartment Commercial Sink ​​​​​​​​       $579.00
 

Noble Warewashing HT-180 Multi Cycle High 

Temperature dishwasher ​​​​​​​​​    $6,309.00
 

GRAND TOTAL:​​​​​​​            $12,397.00

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UTOPIA SCHOOL

The Utopia School is a temporary free school and social center for sharing information about both failed and successful utopian projects while working towards new ones. We define Utopia as those spaces and initiatives which re-imagine the world in some crucial way. This November, 10 to 12 people from around the world are gathering to live together and run the school at Habitable Spaces as a free space for all. The school will be open Wednesday – Sunday with workshops, lectures and a communal kitchen. Participants are invited to drop in and take a class, or even sign up to teach a class to the community. The Utopia School is the brainchild of former resident artist Jamie Iglehart. 
 

Jaime is a multimedia artist exploring dreamscapes, community, healing, and the line between imagination and concrete world-building. Her projects involve socially engaged ‘play,’ dystopian fantasy and highly personal iconography involving infantile regression, fertility worship, and revolutionary melodrama.
 

Jaime‘s practice started with film, branching out into installation, performance and social sculpture. Utopia School is her most ambitious project, an effort at creating an alternate reality by seeking to reproduce the positive social constructs she has experienced, studied and documented.

 

Wish list for the Utopia School:

Artist stipend for Jaime Iglehart  ​​​​​    $1,000.00

Flights for 4 international artists @     $1,000.00​​​​-$4,000.00

Class materials for the free school​​​​​    $5,000.00

Supplemental food for the 

people’s kitchen​​​​    $1,000.00

Mailers and publicity for the classes    ​​​​​$1,000.00

 

GRAND TOTAL:  ​​​​​​​            $12,000.00

 

THE KINGSBURY STORY PROJECT

This is a project by 2021 resident artist Maria Schiel. Maria Shiel is a songwriter, musician and artist from the west of Ireland. During her time at Habitable Spaces, she would like to record seven songs that delve into the earliest histories of Kingsbury and compose pieces of music and art around them. Maria plans on interviewing and recording stories from families of the area that capture stories of the land and the people on it since the area was settled in 1875. She will record, mix and master a record at a local Kingsbury recording studio.  

 

Artist stipend for Maria Schiel ​​​​​​    $1,000.00

Flight for Maria Schiel ​​​​​​​    $1,000.00

Recording and Mastering 7 songs ​​​​​​    $5,000.00

Print 500 records with full color 

sleeves​​​​​    $3,000.00

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GRAND TOTAL    $10,000.00

 

How Donations Could Help/In Summary

Your donation towards any of these projects would be immensely helpful. As you may know, we are a tiny non-profit that operates and puts events and classes together on a shoestring budget. Because we are resourceful with what we have, you will be pleased with how far your donation goes with us! 

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