Georgics Retreat
Monticello College Campus
The idea of homesteading or farmsteading is gaining popularity in the wake of the global pandemic, supply-chain shortages, violent acts of nature, and growing government debt and social unrest. A small group of early adopters have quit their jobs, purchased a piece of land, pulled a trailer and a tank of water onto that land and begun working to build a new life of independence. We commend them.
But there is a much larger group of people who see the merits of being more independent but are looking for a way to transition into this lifestyle more gradually. If this second group describes you, our Georgics Retreat program is the right time and place to gain the knowledge and strategy to begin where you are.
During our new Georgics Retreat, you will experience nine days full of classes, discussions, and hands-on experiences in:
- The New Economy
- Soil Regeneration
- Custom Soil Analysis For Samples You Bring to Us
- Create Biochar
- Composting
- Introduction to Alternative Construction
- Introduction to Animal Husbandry Including Slaughtering Chickens
- Intensive Instruction and Hands-on Experience in Full Time Family Food Production
- Intensive Instruction and Hands-on Experience in Market Gardening
- Elements of Biodynamics
- Elements of Permaculture
- Instruction and Hands-on Experience with Natural Beekeeping and Hive Construction
Perhaps the most important take-away from this retreat experience are the new friends and the community development that always happens when people come together to address concerns and find solutions. Be sure to bring any musical instrument that you play, jam sessions around the bonfire under our amazing no light-pollution night sky are common here.
Going the extra mile, there will be a colloquium on day five covering the book, Flight From the City by Ralph Borsodi (find it on Amazon). A colloquium is a group discussion around a book we have all read. To get the most out of this experience, read this short book before arriving on campus.
GEORGICS RETREAT SCHEDULE
Day One: Monday, June 17 (Sunset – 8:45pm)
3:00pm – 5:30pm – Arrive and settle in — Snacks will be provided
4:30pm – 5:30pm – Culinary Knife Skills Class: Dan Brooks
6:00pm – 8:00pm – The New Economy 2.0 lecture: Dr. Shanon Brooks
Day Two: Tuesday, June 18 (Sunrise 5:54am/Sunset 8:45pm)
Soil Regeneration I
5:50am – Sunrise Solitude
6:05am – Chores
8:00am – Breakfast
9:00am – 1:00pm – Classroom: William DeMille
1:00pm – Lunch
2:00pm – 4:00pm – Classroom: William DeMille
4:00pm – 6:00pm – Free Time* or Culinary Class: Dan Brooks
6:00pm – Dinner
7:30pm – Biochar Demo: Dr. Brooks
9:00pm – Bonfire
Day Three: Wednesday, June 19 (Sunrise 5:54am/Sunset 8:45pm)
Soil Regeneration II
(Microscope Soil Analysis of Your Home Garden Soil Sample)
5:50am – Sunrise Solitude
6:05am – Chores
8:00am – Breakfast
9:00am – 1:00pm – Classroom: William DeMille
1:00pm – Lunch
2:00pm – 4:00pm – Hands-on: Getting Your Hands Dirty in the Greenhouse/
Garden: William DeMille
4:30pm – 6:00pm – Free Time* or Hands-on: Animal Husbandry/Goats, Rabbits, Chickens – Grooming, Deworming, Feeding, Shelter etc.: Dr. Brooks
6:00pm – Dinner
7:00pm – Group Discussion: What is Community?
Day Four: Thursday, June 20 (Sunrise 5:54am/Sunset 8:45pm)
Food Production I
5:50am – Sunrise Solitude
6:05am – Chores
8:00am – Breakfast
9:00am – 11:00am – Hands-on: Slaughter and Butchering Chickens, Goat, and
Rabbits: William DeMille/MC Students or Culinary Class: Dan Brooks
11:00am – 1:00pm – Classroom: William DeMille
1:00pm – Lunch
2:00pm – 5:00pm – Free Time* or Guided Mountain Hike: Dr. Brooks
5:00pm – (Not for everyone) Sour Dough Bread – Part One
6:00pm – Dinner
9:00pm – Bonfire (fire restrictions allowing)
10:30pm – Guided Star Gazing
Day Five: Friday, June 21 (Sunrise 5:54am/Sunset 8:45pm)
Rest Day
4:00am – (Not for everyone) Sour Dough Bread Part Two
6:05am – Chores
9:00am – Breakfast
10:00am – 1:00pm – Free time*
1:00pm – Lunch
2:00pm – 6:00pm – Free time*
6:00pm – Dinner
7:00pm – Colloquium: Flight From the City, Ralph Borsodi: Dr. Vern Cox
Day Six: Saturday, June 22 (Sunrise 5:54am/Sunset 8:45pm)
Food Production II
5:50am – Sunrise Solitude
6:05am – Chores
8:00am – Breakfast
9:00am – 11:0am Hands-on: Compost Workshop: William DeMille
11:00am – 1:00pm – Classroom: William DeMille
1:00pm – Lunch
2:00pm – 5:00pm – Free time*
6:00pm – Dinner
9:20pm – Bonfire (fire restrictions allowing)
Day Seven: Sunday, June 23 (Sunrise 5:54am/Sunset 8:45pm)
Landrace Gardening
5:50am – Sunrise Solitude
6:05am – Chores
8:00am – Breakfast
9:00am – 1:00pm – Classroom: Joseph Lofthouse
1:00pm – Lunch
2:00pm – 4:00pm – Classroom: Joseph Lofthouse
4:15pm – 6:00pm – Hands-on: Fire Making: MC Students
6:00pm – Dinner
7:30pm – 8:30pm – Cooking Class: Dan Brooks
9:00pm – Bonfire (fire restrictions allowing)
Day Eight: Monday, June 24 (Sunrise 5:54am/Sunset 8:45pm)
Elements of Biodynamics
5:50am – Sunrise Solitude
6:05am – Chores
8:00am – Breakfast
8:00 – 10:00am – Hands-on: Alternative Construction Methods (Strawbale/Cob/CEB): Dr. Brooks
10:00am – 1:00pm – Classroom: Lloyd Nelson
1:00pm – Lunch
2:00 – 5:00pm – Classroom: Lloyd Nelson
6:00pm – Dinner
7:00pm – Movie Night: Seed: The Untold Story
Day Nine: Tuesday, June 25 (Sunrise 5:54am/Sunset 8:45pm)
Elements of Permaculture/Apiculture
5:50am – Sunrise Solitude
6:05am – Chores
8:00am – Breakfast
9:00am – 11:30am – Elements of Permaculture: Dr. Brooks
11:30am – 1:00pm – Natural Beekeeping: Dr. Brooks
1:00pm – Lunch
1:00pm – 2:30pm – Hands-on: Hive Inspection: Dr. Brooks
2:30pm – 4:30pm – Hands-on: Hive/Frame Construction: Dr. Brooks
5:00pm – 6:00pm – Discussion: Applying Skills Learned
6:00pm – Dinner
7:00pm – Event Debrief/Feedback
Retreat Cost:
Maximum Enrollment – 75
Per person (18 and over)
Before April 1, 2024: $1,100
After April 1, 2024: $1,700
Per married couple
Before April 1, 2024: $1,700
After April 1, 2024: $2,400
Cost for children
(covers meals only, children may attend all classes for free)
Ages: 0-5 – $0
Ages: 6-9 – $100
Ages: 10-13 – $150
Ages: 14-17 – $200
Parents are strongly encouraged to keep a close eye on their children. While we have never lost a child in 14 years of events on this campus, some kids have wandered away from the main areas of activity which caused a moment of stress for the parents.
For those who want to attend a class or two without worrying about their kids, childcare services will be available on a case by case scenario, let us know and we will connect you with the local providers.
Cost includes RV or camping spots (no sanitation or water/power hookups available), all meals, all instruction, limited restroom/shower facilities.
Camping or RV parking on campus is encouraged at no cost
No Pets
No Refunds Allowed After May 20, 2024
Faculty
Joseph Lofthouse
Dan Brooks
Lloyd Nelson
Shanon Brooks, PhD
Vern Cox, PhD
William DeMille
What is Georgics?
*For the Western world, the foundation of critical thinking was conceived during a time when farming was king. It was known to the ancients as georgics. Georgics, more commonly known since the 1800s as the philosophy of agrarianism, is a term that describes a culture of independent farming that engenders the qualities of duty, order, frugality, and self-control. These farming-oriented values and ethics are the same ones that create and sustain a liberal arts system of education and a political order in which citizens govern rather than being ruled by the so-called 1%ers.
The word “georgic” or “georgics” is derived from both Latin and Greek, and literally means to work the land or to engage in agricultural efforts. When I say that in the 21st century, people generally think I am suggesting that everyone should engage the profession of farming, but that is not what I am saying. I mean to say that even while a person may be a doctor, a lawyer, a bricklayer, or a salesman; we should all still engage in farming to produce food and creating a rural lifestyle.
Georgics as a concept has a strong 2,700-year history. It begins with Hesiod around 700 BC. The Roman historian Virgil picked up the torch in his poetic writings actually called “The Georgics” in 35 BC. Hilaire Belloc illuminated economic medieval history in his work The Servile State, which outlines the evolution of the term “yeoman” from servant of the king to free landholder and independent farmer from 500 to 1400 AD. Georgics as an Anglo New World concept and practice, started in 1607 with Jamestown as agriculture and georgics became the primary means of livelihood and way of thinking for the American
colonists. By the late 17th century John Locke introduced his georgic concepts of private land ownership with “Two Treatises on Government,” followed by the mid to late 18th century economic theories of the Physiocrats in Europe, which supported the growth and development of agriculture as the true means of national wealth. Early 20th century Austrian philosopher, Rudolf Steiner, the founder of the Waldorf Schools, developed the georgic concept of biodynamics in the 1920s, which was then introduced to American farmers in the 1930s, followed by the georgic concepts of permaculture presented by Bill Mollison in 1978 (chapter four covers both biodynamics and permaculture in depth).
The term georgics was adopted by the early Americans to describe a quality they not only very much admired, but one that they were determined to inculcate into the new American culture and that they were convinced would create a great land of liberty.
