Wow, where did 2018 go?! Here we are, already well into January and Minga is deep into workshops, partnerships and planning.

Even as the year ramps up, we love to take a moment to reflect on the year that was, and set some intentions for what is to come. Here is a little peek into our highlights from 2018 and what we are excited about for 2019.

Soul Searching: The two words that really sum-up 2018 for Minga are “Soul Searching.” We did a lot of it. There were a lot of big questions about what it is we really want to be creating in this world and whether “Minga Skill Building Hub” was the right medium for us to use. We wondered whether our goals and gifts were complementary or better delivered on their own. We made a few false starts when we thought we had come to the answers and then discovered we hadn’t. It was a long haul.

The outcome has been renewed energy, focus, clarity, and commitment to doing what Minga does best, and what it was always intended to be: enabling you amazing people to build new skills so that you can do all the amazing things that you have going on in your lives.

Highlights from 2018

Minga takes a stand for DIY Radicals! We know who you are, we know what you dream about, and we know how we can help! After a year of research and reflection, we’ve come through with a crystal clear picture of not just what Minga does, but why we do it and why it matters to YOU.

Minga is here for the DIY Radicals of the world. The ones who are itching to do more with their hands, not just because it’s fun, but because it’s IMPORTANT to them, their happiness, and their families and communities. Thank you to everyone who shared your thoughts, struggles, and dreams with us during this introspective time. We are re-orienting all our planning and thinking around how we can best support you to do more awesome things in your lives!

2) Coaching Launched: In 2018 we put out a little blog post called Minga 2.0, which included a declaration that Minga was now offering individual coaching for people who wanted to really figure out what you want, determine what's holding you back, and help you take the steps to bring your vision to life. Well, we opened the doors and you came running! Ami’s coaching for DIY radicals is busy, growing, and the changes occurring in our community as a result are amazing!

3) New Website: That clarity about who we are, what we do, who YOU are, what YOU do, and what you want have birthed a beautiful thing: our new website!

If you haven’t checked it out already, please do. We’re pretty proud of it! It’s got all the goodness of our former site (workshop info and blog), but more importantly, it’s got room to grow! We’re hard at work building new content for the DIY library where you’ll get to download handouts from our workshops. We’re also building bigger experiences for you to try out (think Masterclass Weekend Retreats) !!!

We love that this new site brings all the pieces of Minga’s puzzle together. We hope you like it.

Commitments for 2019

1) Masterclass Retreats! We’ve heard you!! We know you love our workshops, but they are all introductory courses. Many people have asked for opportunities to deepen their knowledge and skills with longer learning experiences that cover multiple aspects of a single topic. Think fermentation, meat butchery and preservation of the fruit and veg harvest. We expect to launch two of these multi-day, sleep-over retreats one in the spring and one in the fall so keep your eyes peeled, and if you have ideas for themes that you’d like to see, please get in touch (info@mingaskillbuilding.ca)

2) Volunteer program: We feel blessed to have so many fans in our community. We know that for many of you, the price of workshops is a real stretch. We also know that the two of us can’t possibly be present at every single workshop (at least, not without serious sacrifices to family and wellness, which we’d like to avoid). We are recruiting volunteers to support our instructors by attending workshops and taking care of the practical details of running a stellar workshop, so that participants feel taken care of and the instructors can focus on delivering their magic. By volunteering your time you will earn credit to put towards your own ticket to a workshop/ workshops of your choice.

3) DIY Resource Library: Each one of our workshops has a handout. Until now, the only way you could get one was to attend a workshop (or grab one off your buddy who attended). There is no substitute for the hands-on experience of attending a workshop, but this year we are committing to getting those handouts up into an online resource library where you can easily download our instructor’s wisdom to your hearts’ content! We are almost finished this piece of the site and we plan on having it ready by February.