Future Builders Crash Course Logistics

LOGISTICS

Workshop fee includes workshop tuition only.

Accommodations

Participants may secure a hotel in Cameron, Missouri (15 miles away). Please note that there is no public transportation between Cameron and Factor e Farm and that we cannot pick you up or drop you off on a daily basis during the workshop. Car rentals are available at the KCI airport.

We have 18 spots for participants who want to stay at the HabLab—our shared-room dorm. There is no extra cost for staying at the dorm and spots are filled on a “first come, first served” basis. Please note that this is a very rudimentary earth building and our accommodations are rough. The dorm rooms may be noisy due to late night conversations by participants. Factor e Farm is an experimental facility that is permanently under construction, so please gauge your expectations accordingly. If you want a more comfortable stay, we recommend that you stay in a hotel.

We also have primitive camping on site which includes a composting toilet. Showers and a bathroom are located in the HabLab and there is a kitchen for basic food preparation. There are 2 showers and 2 toilets.

We are installing 30A RV hookups (but not sewer) - so if you would like to connect to power for your RV that will be $30 per day.

Transportation

The nearest airport is Kansas City International (MCI), about 1:15 hours away from Factor e Farm. FeF is located in a rural zone and there is no public transportation of any kind in the area. We can pick you up from the airport the day before the workshop and drop you off the day after. Car rentals are available at the KCI airport, if you’d rather not wait for pick up.

We can pick up participants who are arriving by plane at the Kansas City International Airport the evening before the December 1 start. Please schedule your departure on the day after the Crash Course if you need a ride to the airport. We will coordinate this in the Logistics form that we send out prior to the workshop.

If someone gets a flight way early - you'll have to wait for the latest arrival. If someone arrives way late - you may need to get an Uber etc to our site - but we will try to coordinate all this prior to the event.

To the extent that it’s possible, we request that you try to schedule your flight arrival and departure times between mid morning and late afternoon. Everyone on site will be working hard and very early/late pick-ups and drop-offs can be quite challenging for a potentially sleep-deprived crew.

Meals

OSE will provide lunch and dinner. Breakfast is on your own. We will have a grill and sandwich bar where you can serve yourself - for lunch. For dinner, we will also continue a salad bar and provide some catering. Liited catering is available from local restaurants. However, since we’re in an isolated area, the number of restaurants available and the quality of the food may not be what you’re used to. There are only 3 restaurants in the area that do catering: a Mexican restaurant, a Chinese restaurant, and a Subway. Another option is for us to provide the ingredients and allow participants to self-organize dinner preparation (which means some of you would volunteer to cook for the group). Upon registration, we survey the group to find out what is the preferred option.

There is a local grocery store in Maysville, which is 2 miles from Factor e Farm. If you need additional food, Cameron, Missouri, is 15 miles away and has a food store and a Walmart. We can organize trips to Cameron or you can coordinate with other participants to go on your own.

What to Pack

You are welcome to bring your own tools if you wish to. But we will have all the necessary tools on site—as well as work gloves, protective eyewear, and hard hats - though they may be well used. If possible, bring steel-toe boots – as that’s the safest footwear for any workshop. If not, please bring the sturdiest boots/shoes you have.

This being Missouri, the weather is highly unpredictable. It could be hot, it could be cold, it could rain or snow – possibly all 3 on the same day. Bring clothes for all eventualities and weather. It can also get quite muddy when it rains, so sturdy boots are recommended. We are working largely indoors - in a large hangar - so outside of walking to the hangar, weather should not be an issue.

If you are staying in our HabLab hostel - please also bring a sleeping bag and a bath towel. If you’re staying in the HabLab, we have fitted sheets, pillows and pillow cases available – but you may want to bring your own pillow if that’s something that is important to you. If you’re camping, please pack everything you’d normally pack for a camping trip.

Materials to Bring in short = work clothes and work gloves, safety work boots. PPE – personal safety items: eye and ear protection, dust mask.

Registration

Sponsor another participant: Sponsor the tuition below to fund attendance of someone who is on the waiting list for financial assistance by making a donation. You can use the Donate to OSE option in the registration form or send a check.

Work Exchange: If you’re a student or if the workshop fee constitutes hardship, we can consider a work exchange arrangement. In the WEP, you pay a deeply discounted fee in exchange for helping us with site work prior to the workshop. Email us for details: info at openbuildinginstitute dot org, or info@opensourceecology.org - and see below for more details.

Group Rate: If you can bring a group of 3 or more people including you – we can give you a discount. Email us for details: info at openbuildinginstitute dot org

True Fans of OSE: As supporting members of OSE, True Fans who have been part of the program for 3 months or more receive a 25% discount on all of our workshops–on top of the discounts above. You can sign up as a True Fan now to become eligible for the True Fans discount on future workshops.

Workshop fee includes workshop tuition only. See information above for transportation, meals and accommodation.

Work Exchange

You are welcome to do work exchange. Here are the Work Exchange Program terms, which apply in addition to all the other terms at the event announcement, so please read all the terms on this logistics page.

Terms

• In the week prior to the course, you can volunteer on-site in exchange for attendance.
• The volunteer-to-attendance breakdown is: Work 7 days → attend the full 14-day course.
• Work exchange happens right before the workshop. For December - this means - from November 23-29. Nov 30 is a rest day. The workshop begins on Dec 1, ends on the 14th. Airport pickup would be evening of Nov 22, dropoff the morning of Dec 15.
• Each full volunteer day is 8 hours, not including lunch.
• If you need housing at our site - see the section at #Accommodations.
• The food cost is $25/day for the 14 day duration of the workshop, or $350 - with the food program as at #Meals. You are responsible for your own food prior to the workshop. There is a kitchen in HabLab.
• If you’re ready to move forward, just reply with your availability, skills, and travel flexibility.
• You can find the registration page here to pay: https://www.opensourceecology.org/builder_crash_course_2025-2/#registration Just use the “Donate to OSE” option on that page if you’re registering directly.

Preparation

Basics

1. Bring a notebook. You will be deluged with knowhow - it is up to you how much you choose to retain. A notebook with you at all times will help if you are serious about getting the most out of this course.
2. 25’ tape measure, hammer, tool belt – cordless drill if you have these - bring them. Also safety gear, as above.
3. Bring a cell phone or camera for picture upload (of notebook, people, action shots) to our event picture uploads folder - which is this for the December event -
4. Sign up to OSE Workshops FB Page – and post pictures there, too. This is our only current forum for public discussion.
5. Sign up to the OSE newsletter - here at OSEmail - or on the front page of our website (opensourceecology.org or learn.opensourceecology.org).

Remote Pre-Workshop Collaboration

If you'd like a taste of what we do day to day - it is documentation in addition to builds. Here is your change to document.

We will run several session for all registrants where we get into the nitty-gritty of creating instructionals and learning materials to advance our mission of solving for housing affordability. These will be technical documentation sessions where we work in Google Slides and use FreeCAD to produce documentation - collaboratively. This requires a basic level of computer literacy, and can be learned in a few hours.

To get inolved in this part:

1. Download OSE Linux 2 and make a live USB. You can use the live USB to work or you can install on your computer as a dual boot system. Note that we are using FreeCAD 16, not the latest FreeCAD version - to simply the workflow.
2. Practice Hiding and Unhiding Parts in FreeCAD.
3. Practice generating Technical Drawings from FreeCAD
4. Get familiar with Google Slides - such as writing and formatting text, inserting pictures, using various drawing tools within Google Slides, adding hyperlinks, embedding YouTube videos, etc.
5. Start a Work Log if you would like to contribute to upgradeable documentation, so that you can share your work with others. Embed a Time Log if you would like to count in the overall development of open source civilization.
6. Learn to upload files to the OSE wiki. See Wiki Instructions.

The prerequisite for participation in pre-workshop collaboration is each contributor starting their Work Log and embedding their Time Log. If someone can do this, they have sufficient technical skill to participate.

Documentation and CAD During the Workshop

Viewing our CAD files is the ultimate source of groundtruthing our designs. So if you want to be able to look at our source - detailed CAD models - we suggest you invest a few hours into being able to manipulate and view our CAD files - and to generate technical drawings and instructionals from them. This will allow you to get more out of our program, and is critical if you are ever going to build yourself.

We will have a computer set up with this model - but bring your own laptop for added access.

To get inolved in this part:

1. Preferred: Download OSE Linux 2 and make a live USB - which contains FreeCAD 16, an older version of FreeCAD. You can use the live USB to work or you can install on your computer as a dual boot system. Note that we are using FreeCAD 16, not the latest FreeCAD version - to simply the workflow. This will allow you to gain quick proficiency in step 3 and 4 below.
2. The Easy Way: Download the latest FreeCAD version online for your computer. But if you do this, you'll be able to readily do step 3 below, but not step 4 (unless you invest in a significantly higher learning curve than using FreeCAD 16).
3. Download the CAD from the development template for Seed Eco-Home 6. The direct link to the files is Seed_Eco-Home_6_3D_CAD. (You can also download the Sweet Home 3D file - for the conceptual design model.)
4. Practice Hiding and Unhiding Parts in FreeCAD.
5. Practice generating Technical Drawings from FreeCAD in FreeCAD 16. This process is much more complicated in the latest version of FreeCAD.

To contribute to build documentation:

1. Add to the collaborative pictures folder - Bring a cell phone or camera for picture upload (of your notebook, people, action shots) to our event picture uploads folder - https://photos.app.goo.gl/iZ8zMzoBj3Ra9jx66. This enables us to learn more about build details - such as issues encountered, actual build process, and quality of results. Remember that we are building a house to change the world.
2. Sign up to OSE Workshops FB Page – and post pictures and discussion there.
3. Sign up to OSEmail for follow-up announcements.

OSE Workshops Refunds and Other Terms

• All sales are final because it is difficult to substitute people at the last moment. In case of the unlikely events such as weather, disease, or civil unrest, we are offering the course at a later date. If a schedule conflict arises for you, you are welcome to come to our next event. Your tickets be exchangeable for another event of equal value in the future, or you can transfer the your tickets for someone else to take your place. Please see our OSE Workshops Refund Policy for more details.
• OSE takes safety seriously, and intends to create a safe and supportive learning environment for participants. OSE has a zero tolerance policy for dangerous behavior. If behavior is deemed unsafe, such as losing one's cool or throwing things and endangering others or causing property damage, we will dismiss the participant summarily. The OSE Workshops Refund Policy applies in such a case.
• OSE conflict resolution involves the right to closure or dismissal. OSE reserves the right to dismiss any participants who behave irresponsibly, in case of any conflicts, we follow the OSE Conflict Resolution Policy