Journal

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Latest updates from Waterbear Field School

Fri Feb 20 2026

Designing a Supercapacitor Battery Model

Designing a simple supercapacitor circuit that models battery charging and discharging on a fast, observable timescale — and doubles as a crank-powered flashlight for workshops.

Fri Jan 30 2026

Debugging the Iridium ERA3 Epoch Transition

A satellite modem time sync was corrupting our RTC with dates from 2015. The culprit: Iridium's ERA3 epoch transition on January 14, 2026.

Sun Jan 25 2026

LiFePO4 Battery Testing for Grass Nomads

Testing lithium iron phosphate batteries for cold-weather solar power in our remote water monitoring system.

Workshops

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Our workshops are typically held outdoors, in most weather. Pricing, format, and location vary by workshop and by teacher. Click on a workshop below to find out more!

⚡ Energy

February 2026

Greater Boston

A Gentle Introduction to Local Energy Resilience

A hands-on introduction to human-scale renewable energy—build intuition for what's possible and learn practical approaches to generating and using power off-grid.

Learn more

📡 Communication

Recurring

Greater Boston

Mesh Radio

Hands-on introduction to decentralized radio communication that works without cellular service or internet.

Learn more

Recently

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Here are some workshops we've held in the past, and may offer again soon. Click through to see photos and details!

⚡ Energy

Event

October 2025

Waltham, MA

Waltham Fields Community Farm: Farm Day 2025

Hands-on solar demos, hand drills, and DIY fun at Waltham Fields Community Farm

📡 Communication

Camp

July 2025

Danville, VT

Off-Grid DIY Radio Communicators

Hands-on workshop building mesh radio communicators at Otherwise Summer Camp

⚡ Energy

Workshop

October 2025

Belmont, MA

Solar 101 at Beaver Brook

Introduction to off-grid solar power - experimenting with panels, batteries, and motors

📡 Communication

Workshop

July 2025

Cranston, RI

Edgewood Sailing School: Telemetry Workshop

DIY local radio telemetry workshop

💧 Water

Workshop

August 2025

Cranston, RI

Edgewood Sailing School: Salinity Workshop

Intro to salinity measurement and telemetry techniques

🔧 Fabrication

Workshop

November 2021

Lincoln, MA

Intro to Welding

Hands-on beginners introduction to MIG welding

Projects

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Ongoing projects and upcoming workshops. If you'd be interested to attend (or teach) any of them — or have ideas for other projects — please reach out!

info@waterbearfieldschool.org

🚲 Transport

Future Workshop

Bike Maintenance Basics

Learn essential bike maintenance and repair skills for keeping your bicycle in top condition

🔧 Fabrication

Future Workshop

Build & Repair Meetup

A hands-on workshop developing repair and fabrication skills for small farms and small-scale food production

🌱 Food

Future Workshop

Building a Cob Oven

Build an outdoor clay oven for baking bread, pizza, and more using ancient techniques. (Image: Wikipedia)

📡 Communication

Future Workshop

Building a DIY 4G Phone

Build your own open-source mobile phone with calls, texts, and only the features you choose

🔧 Fabrication

Future Workshop

Cardboard Fabrication

Build creative structures from cardboard using a solar-powered nibbler and kid-safe tools

🌬️ Air

Future Workshop

DIY Air Filtration

Learn how to build and assess simple, low-cost, effective DIY air purifiers.

🚲 Transport

Future Workshop

DIY Bike Trailers

Build a low-cost cargo bike trailer from readily-available hardware store materials

🌬️ Air

Future Workshop

DIY CO2 Monitoring

Building a low-cost DIY CO2 monitor with graphing and local storage

🌱 Food

Future Workshop

DIY Cold Frames

Build a cold frame from reclaimed windows for season extension gardening

🔧 Fabrication

Future Workshop

DIY Printing Press

Create your own printing blocks and print custom designs on paper

🌡️ Heating/Cooling

Future Workshop

Heating Small Spaces Off-Grid

Learn to estimate energy needs for heating tiny homes, animal shelters, and off-grid spaces using hands-on experiments and basic heat transfer principles.

⚡ Energy

Future Workshop

Intro to Off-Grid Power for Sailing Vessels

Build practical intuition for marine electrical systems—understand your energy needs, battery storage, solar charging, and monitoring for cruising sailboats.

🔧 Fabrication

Future Workshop

Intro to Sandcasting

Learn the ancient art of casting metal objects using sand molds. (Image: Wikipedia)

🔧 Fabrication

Future Workshop

Introduction to Welding

Learn basic welding skills while creating a musical Butaphone instrument from a gas bottle

💧 Water

Future Workshop

Making Biochar Water Filters

Build a low-cost water filtration system using locally-produced biochar. (Image: Kearns et al, 2023)

📡 Communication

Future Workshop

Off-Grid Monitoring of Temperature (and other things!) using local, low-power radios

Tracking e.g. the temperature of a hoop house, or the water level in a tank, without using cellular or wifi networks.

💧 Water

Future Workshop

Off-Grid Water Level Monitoring

Build solar-powered sensors to track water levels in wells, streams, and tanks

🎨 Arts & Crafts

Future Workshop

Wire Sculpture

Create 3D forms from wire using techniques inspired by artists like Ruth Asawa and Ariel Matisse. (Image: Wikipedia)

💧 Water

UV254 Spectrophotometer

Building a low-cost UV spectrophotometer for assessing water filter effectiveness and dissolved organic matter in drinking water.

💧 Water

Water Storage Monitoring

Satellite modem-based water level monitoring for remote ranch tanks using LoRa sensors and ultrasonic depth measurement.

💧 Water

Biochar Water Filters

DIY water filtration systems using locally-produced biochar, based on designs by Aqueous Solutions and Dr. Josh Kearns.

🚲 Transport

Crate Carts for Small Farms

Low-cost DIY carts for transporting vegetable crates, using recycled bicycle wheels and electrical conduit.

🌬️ Air

CO2 Ventilation Assessment

Using CO2 monitors to assess indoor ventilation rates and air quality for healthier indoor spaces.

🌬️ Air

DIY Air Purifiers

Building effective, low-cost air purifiers using box fans and MERV-13 filters - the Corsi-Rosenthal box design.

Foundations

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We're building a comprehensive curriculum for practical resilience - foundations covering the essential systems that sustain households and communities.