trip to the farm midwifery workshop
20 - 27 September 2008 |
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We are now taking bookings for this workshop. If you are interested in attending and have not yet received information from us, please contact us at withwomanuk@yahoo.co.uk Please note that we have had
to increase the fee for the workshop this year to accommodate price
rises. |
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Would you like to visit The Farm and experience for yourself the roots and the birthplace of Spiritual Midwifery? We are delighted to be able to offer midwives and student midwives the opportunity to join us for our ninth workshop at The Farm Midwifery Center in Tennessee, USA.
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Together with The Farm Midwives, we have created a unique week-long workshop during which you will have the opportunity to: Learn about birth on The Farm and in the United States Experience life on The Farm Spend time with Ina May Gaskin and The Farm Midwives Visit an Amish midwife in her home Tour the maternity wing of a hospital Visit a freestanding birth center Tour The Farm and see some of its unique projects Attend a five-day workshop led by Farm Midwives Ina May Gaskin and Pamela Hunt and the withwoman team of Lorna Davies and Sara Wickham, which covers topics relating to midwifery practice, women's lives, parenting, spirituality, sexuality and birth politics. (N.B Shopping opportunities also included!)
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outline of our itinerary
We will pick you up from Nashville airport, Tennessee on Saturday. The drive from the airport to The Farm takes around ninety minutes and we hope to have everyone on The Farm in time for a light supper of home made soup and Farm-recipe bread rolls! Our experience tells us that most people will be tired by this point, so we will simply feed you, tell you only what you will need to know before the morning and help you get to your bed! Our activities begin on Sunday, with a day-long trip to visit a local hospital and shopping mall! Back on The Farm, you will meet some of The Farm midwives and spend the evening orientating, settling in, exploring the setting and getting to know each other over supper. The midwifery workshop begins on Monday morning and continues through Friday. As above, a wide variety of topics are covered. (A draft workshop programme will be sent to you in the application pack). There are two main workshop sessions each day, from 9 - 12 and 1 - 4. Lunch is on our own; most people go to The Farm Store. Two hours are left free each day between 4 and 6; hikes are sometimes organised during this time, and participants are invited to volunteer to help prepare supper one evening ~ which offers an opportunity to have a chat about vegan cookery with the experts! We eat dinner together each night, before returning to the midwives' room for an informal evening session (be prepared to laugh, cry and sing!) During the week, we leave The Farm briefly for trips to a local birth center and also the Amish community to meet an Amish midwife in her home. We will also take a tour of The Farm and visit some of the businesses and projects run there. On Saturday, we will take you back to the airport in time for your flight. The UK flights tend to leave mid to late afternoon, which means you can spend the Saturday morning on The Farm as you choose; returning to parts of The Farm you would like to visit, hanging out or doing last-minute shopping in The Farm Store or simply meditating in the woods! Flights to the UK usually involve overnight connections, so if you leave on the Saturday, you will land in the UK on the Sunday morning.
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flexy travel and individualising your trip... We are very flexible and offer a number of options for you to fit your flight and any other holiday plans in with our workshop. As above, we will arrange to pick you up and drop you off at Nashville airport and take you to and from The Farm. If you are coming just for the workshop, and leaving straight afterwards, we have standard collection and drop-off times which will accommodate most of the international flight arrivals into Nashville. (By the way, the airport code is BNA if you want to check prices and times!) Some people choose to arrive a day or two ahead of time and spend some time sightseeing (and recovering from any jet lag!) in Nashville before the trip, some spend a week elsewhere in the States with their families before flying in and some like to stay in the US for a few days after the workshop. Whatever you choose, you can either make your plans around our standard collection and drop-off times, or you can opt for an individual or small group pick-up or drop off at a time that suits you better at an additional cost. We will send you more details about these options once you have booked. We will also happily give you help and advice on booking your flight, on how to get the best prices and on getting in touch with any other midwives coming from the same area as you, so that you can fly or travel to and from the airport together. an international flavour... Although this workshop began as a trip for British midwives, we welcome women from all around the world, with the aim of bringing an international flavour to the workshop and enabling midwives to share their experiences with each other. Payment needs to be made in UK pounds, but we are open to a variety of payment options in order to make it as easy as possible for you.
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individualising
your accommodation... We offer two different options for accommodation. Communal: The first is a cabin next to the Midwives' Clinic, which offers Farm-style clean, cosy, communal accommodation which the vast majority of people have loved! One of the bedrooms is pictured opposite, top left. Accommodation in the communal cabin is included in the price for the first eight people to book their place on the workshop and request this, but it doesn't have its own toilet, so you have to nip outside and walk a few yards to get to the bathroom in the Clinic! This cabin has small dorm-style rooms, with two to four beds in each and there is also a kitchen in the Clinic, which will be filled with food for your breakfasts! Because The Farm Midwives can only fit a limited number of people in the communal cabin, we ask that, to avoid disappointment, you please book early if you want to be sure of getting a bed! Homestay: If you would prefer to have a room to yourself, want a bit of extra space (in any sense of the word) or want to experience one of the houses on The Farm firsthand, we can arrange a homestay in the home of a Farm Community member for you at an additional charge of $20 per night ($140 for the week, which will be paid to your host on arrival rather than through us). The Farm Midwives will match you with a nice community member or family who lives within walking distance of the Clinic, and you will be able to join the main group for all of your meals and other activities. Women who have chosen this option have appreciated the space that a private room gives them, as well as the opportunity to spend time in one of the houses on The Farm. One further option for groups: The bottom picture on the left shows one of the small-group cabins which sleeps up to four people in rooms with no more than two beds in each. These cabins have a toilet, shower and kitchen space, and you can choose to have your breakfast there, or in the Clinic with the larger group. If you are coming in a group and want to be together, we can arrange for you to stay in a small-group cabin at an additional cost. Please ask us about this option when you book, as we need to check cabin availability. |
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more information... The
cost of the trip is £740 plus whatever it costs you to get from your
starting point to Nashville airport. (While it is obviously difficult
to predict flight prices in the current climate, the cost of flights
from the UK to Nashville this year was around £320-£350.
If you do want to combine this workshop with a layover in Chicago, sightseeing
in Nashville or something equally exciting elsewhere, you may, of course,
be able to get a discount for booking a hotel or car and flight together.)
The successful applicants will be offered the opportunity to join a group specific Yahoo e-list. This is essentially an opportunity to directly communicate by email, with others who will be taking the trip. It will offer the chance to make introductions, discuss travel arrangements, get to know each other and to receive ongoing information about the planned visit. Previous groups have found this to be really useful and have remiained in contact with each other via this list. We already have a lot of interest in this workshop ~ please contact us soon if you are keen to come, as we do get booked up quickly and this really is the kind of trip that takes time to plan! If you would like to find out more, please email us ~ we will be happy to answer all your questions! |
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Where
to Click for Lots More Information... |
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An interview with Ina May Gaskin. Ina May talks to Sara about The Farm, her career as a midwife, birth politics and her current passions. (Jan 2002) |
Funding your trip of a lifetime This article has been written by three of the women who came on The Farm workshop and tells how they raised the money to go. |
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Reflections on a Farm birth Clinical experience is not something The Farm midwives can offer to workshop participants, but, as an old friend of The Farm midwives, Lorna was lucky enough to attend a birth - this is her story. |
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