Join us this weekend as we celebrate Baldur's Hoff National Event, Braithback! We have a lot going on this weekend and a lot of great events coming up this fall, so make sure to stay tuned for all of the details!
00:05:57.520should go ahead and plug winter nights in october if you are planning a little ways out we've got
00:06:03.440winter nights in october this time for the first time ever it's going to be held in new hampshire
00:06:08.640it's the first big afa event that we have done north of
00:06:17.040north of pennsylvania so this is really exciting uh i've never been to new hampshire i'm looking
00:06:22.800forward to it it's going to be awesome um more info to come as you're looking forward to it
00:06:30.800uh again reach out to one of our folk voters we can get you all set up if you'd like to attend
00:06:35.040but it's going to be an amazing event very it's going to be beautiful that time of year in that
00:06:41.280part of the country so definitely something to get on your calendars and think about going if
00:06:45.920you can go to it and then kind of closing out what we've got scheduled so far for the year as far as
00:06:53.600big national events we have feast of the iron yard coming up in november november 8th through 10th
00:07:01.440in south dakota so if that's something you guys would like to make it to or able to make it to
00:07:06.560i'd love to see you there love to see you guys at any of these events or all of these events
00:07:12.320would be even better so if you guys want to come out meet folks see what it's all about we would
00:07:17.280love to have you there if you're a member and you haven't been to one of these why not you should do
00:07:22.720it we got a big spread we got something going on in minnesota and in montana and new hampshire
00:07:30.640and south dakota so kind of all spread out a lot of cool things going on we would love to have you
00:07:35.840guys be a part of it um other stuff top of the show uh really appreciate all of the donations
00:07:49.040over the last few months we've done really really well on paying down our uh
00:07:54.320our debt on york's off that's going to be the first step in us getting phrase off is to pay off
00:08:02.400the remaining balance on york's off so you guys have been great we've made a lot of progress on
00:08:09.300that still got a ways to go but we appreciate all your guys generous donations your generosity is
00:08:15.180much much appreciated and yeah thank you as it looks now we've got 81 600 to go
00:08:22.320um sounds like a lot is a lot but it gets chipped away every time one of you guys donates
00:08:29.820a little goes a long way and if everybody does a little we'll get there uh sooner than we think
00:08:35.760so thank you very much for everyone who's done that um i should also mention at the top of the
00:08:41.980show some merchandise we have tonight um these are particularly dynamic with the the red and
00:08:50.800black i think that's pretty cool looking um some athletic athletic wear along with some hoodies
00:09:00.480for uh odin's off so that's pretty exciting i think those look neat hopefully these will be
00:09:06.320big sellers if you guys are interested you never know how long we're going to have these products
00:09:12.400we're still you know we're in a figuring out process on our store so far this stuff's been
00:09:17.920really nice quality so that's really nice people have been pretty satisfied i think we've had some
00:09:22.960really good designs so if you guys are interested we really appreciate your your contributions
00:09:29.760um looks like we have got jeff jones joining us for the first time or at least first time
00:09:37.680watching us live over in the chat room welcome jeff glad to have you with us
00:09:42.080um checking to see if there's any other stuff to hit at the top of the program
00:09:50.080not sure if there is i want to introduce the folks we have with us looks like ashley disappeared but
00:09:57.840that ah she has risen um so before we introduce our uh special guest uh
00:10:08.880uh yeah I suppose I'm still hosting so our special guests for the evening I want to
00:10:15.840first in case this like Jeff may be their first broadcast0.88
00:10:22.860to manage the house true folk assembly we have divided up the world but the vast majority of
00:10:32.160our members in the United States but it's important to remember all of our brothers
00:10:35.940sisters who are in other countries around the world we have members in 14 different countries
00:10:42.580right now but this kind of is a is a diagram and breaks it down into what the hoff districts are
00:10:52.100so we have a district that is i guess rough roughly surrounded by and focused around
00:11:01.220one of our Hoffs. We have four Hoffs and so as you can see we have separated them by the
00:11:10.640kind of color of our Hoffs heraldry. And we've gone through and we did our first two Hoffs which
00:11:19.840were Odin's Hoff that you see there in red, Thor's Hoff that you see in orange, and now we're on the
00:11:27.500third half of the austro folk assembly baldershoff and that baldershoff itself is located in murdoch
00:11:34.220minnesota but all those states you see in the blue there and corresponding kind of take those lines
00:11:42.620and draw them up through canada that is what baldershoff district currently is so wisconsin
00:11:50.700minnesota illinois missouri iowa nebraska north dakota south dakota and the other one
00:12:08.300kansas kansas uh i feel a little bit better because i have not been to kansas so give me
00:12:15.740a little bit of an excuse but only a little um but yeah there we go that is the district this
00:12:21.500represents and a couple of a few different folks to talk with you this evening and that may change
00:12:31.180over the course of the broadcast but let's introduce the folks that we have and we're
00:12:34.860going to go around in the order that it is my screens everybody's screen i'm so used to seeing
00:12:41.260folks like this on a video call not on one of our live victory never sleeps episodes so chris mcdowell
00:12:49.420this is your first time welcome to victory never sleeps tell folks who you are how you
00:12:57.020how you came to alsatru how you came to the astro folk assembly and where you're where
00:13:02.060you're working out of, if you would please. I'm out in Iowa. I've claimed Ausitru for
00:13:11.740just over a year now. I found the AFA through that, I believe it was the Guardian hit piece
00:13:21.580that wrote about the AFA and Baldershof. And hearing some of the things that had to be said,
00:13:28.940i decided to do my own research and i've come to found out uh this is exactly where i needed
00:13:34.460to be and it's what i've been looking for my entire life i was raised with a christian
00:13:42.620background and it never connected with me and for years i've always tried to
00:13:52.060find what was supposed to be and after i had my first uh experience my first bloat with folk
00:13:58.220builder jason gallagher for voting on the peak in hudson wisconsin i felt that connection
00:14:04.380immediately and i knew i was where i needed to be and i wanted to start uh sharing that
00:14:10.140same experience that i felt and have been missing out my life to uh do the same thing and start
00:14:15.660bringing folk home well welcome we are glad you're here with us um other two folks have
00:14:28.060been on before but still please introduce yourselves tell you tell us um i don't know
00:14:35.820give folks an introduction if they haven't heard from you before and kind of tell them where you're
00:14:39.820located jason welcome jason you are on mute oh oh that was nick that was nick
00:14:53.100My name is Jason Gallagher. I'm a folk builder in Bloomington, Minnesota. I've been around for a
00:15:01.980little while. I also run the Kindred program. We've been hosting, I am part of Northern Blood
00:15:09.060Kindred too, part of, in this part of Minnesota. And we've been hosting events for quite a few
00:15:14.880years. And this will be the ninth fall fest that we've had. And fun fact, Matt, you and I are the
00:15:21.220only two that have been to every single one of these wow okay i hadn't realized yeah last year
00:15:28.920after i kind of looked at the attendance and everything and throughout the years yeah it's
00:15:33.560just you and me but it's amazing how far we've come and that beautiful hop that we have and we
00:15:39.360have such great folk and yeah it's it's it is amazing to have a hop to go to i mean it's great
00:15:45.580be with your folk standing in a circle it's cool in the backyard but it's even more awesome when
00:15:51.900you're at a hop the piety and everything and balder's hop the energy there is just amazing
00:16:00.620well excellent we're glad to have you on with us this evening and then ashley tell folks about you
00:16:09.660and where you're coming to us from i'm coming to you from alder's hof um i'm at the hop right now
00:16:17.180but i live in um we're in minnesota as well just a couple hours from from the hop um when i found
00:16:25.420the afa was through a an article it was accidental um happened to be a time in my life where i was
00:16:31.900very um i was definitely in some need of spiritual guidance and pregnant with my youngest and um
00:16:40.380i just lost my husband who had um introduced me to aussitrew and i'm in a small wonderful small
00:16:46.220town but a very very christian town um and then i found this article and all i saw was there's a
00:16:51.740church in milmer and um looked it up and um mapped it out and from my doorstep to the doorstep at
00:16:58.860at Baldur's Hof at the time, it was 44 minutes, you know, and at the time there was, it was
00:17:03.900just opening. So not even dedicated yet, but so just three hops. So being that close to one of
00:17:11.000three in the country, it was pretty astounding to me. And I reached out and I talked to Jason
00:17:15.320that night and then I was a member and here we are. Excellent. So, well, actually first GW Farnsworth
00:17:26.440bought us five coffees 25 donation thank you very much we appreciate it
00:17:33.240um yeah if anybody wants to do the donate us coffee thing there are instructions in the uh
00:17:40.280description of the video we appreciate that um yeah thank you so two of you guys mentioned that
00:17:50.760you found all of this through uh the hit piece by the guardian um i know we've talked about it
00:18:00.920on the program before but i know we get you know new listeners that haven't been on i'm not sure
00:18:08.760you about this yet ashley but i know we haven't talked to you about it chris um
00:18:13.960um yeah it's it's really interesting those of you that might not know um
00:18:23.560Baldershof itself was a former uh Lutheran uh church and in a short interval it had gotten
00:18:34.000rezoned for residential and the people who took on that uh that job and thought they
00:18:43.300to turn it into a house got a very very small start on that process and then decided not to
00:18:50.980so we did not really realize when we got in there but we had to go through a zoning process to get
00:18:57.860it zoned back to its original purpose as a house of worship and that involved
00:19:03.300having to have the uh i don't know that proposal go in front of the city council and as such
00:19:14.940uh antifa in minneapolis got a hold of it and it caused a big kerfuffle about it and in doing so
00:19:25.680uh folks at the guardian ran a a hit piece on us that they kind of presented in a really
00:19:32.340dishonest way and it was one of the best things to ever happen to us um it drastically increased
00:19:41.780our membership certainly there locally and continues to bring members to us to this day
00:19:48.980so that was kind of a fortuitous happenstance that occurred with that um
00:19:55.220Um, what, what do you remember about that, Chris?
00:20:02.380Like what about, what about that, uh, video brought you to having an interest in the AustroFolka Center?
00:20:14.880They would speak a lot about the hate that would be about us or about the AFA in general before I, well, because I wasn't a part of.
00:20:25.220But I would just look up and I would see pictures and it just it seems just like a gathering of just amazing folk having a grand time and worshiping their gods.
00:20:36.740And I was like, OK, this doesn't seem like what I'm being told.
00:20:51.720i had a conversation with folk builder jesse schaefer and she explained everything else and
00:20:57.960i was like okay i want to go and be a part of this and actually see what this is about
00:21:04.280told me about the moot and ever since then i knew that it had nothing to do with hate
00:21:09.240because all the only that was the only word i could keep hearing was hate hate hate
00:21:12.760and all we talk about is love and honor so here i am now well excellent glad glad you're with us
00:21:23.220and i see jeff uh our new new visitor over in the chat room says that's uh how he heard about
00:21:30.120the austral folk assembly as well so there you go um
00:21:35.660Um, Ashley, same, same question. Um, well, to, to clarify my, um, I guess exposure or introduction
00:21:48.560to the AFA was a different hit piece, a more local one. It was just in the Wilmer paper had
00:21:54.820something about this, um, white supremacist church that was coming to Wilmer and blah, blah, blah,
00:21:59.360you know, just lots of stuff. And you kind of read, you know, read through all that and just
00:22:03.620kind of um found the facts and looked into it myself but it was um it was just a kind of this
00:22:12.200perfect trifecta of a time period in Minnesota especially because it was right after the George
00:22:18.080Floyd situation happened and so there's all this this uproar and this anxiety and all just you know
00:22:24.020craziness going on here and it was 2020 COVID everybody was just at home with nothing to do
00:22:30.200but to find things to, um, either fear or complain about, or, um, you know, be ridiculous about. And0.67
00:22:37.120so all those things just kind of fueled this, you know, this kind of big to do about, um, about us,
00:22:43.420you know, but, you know, I, again, you know, the half being 44 minutes from where I was standing,
00:22:50.940finding that out was just astounding. Cause I was, like I said, pregnant with my, my youngest,
00:22:56.340i already had a nine month old and my late husband was the guru of all this you know he'd explain it
00:23:01.380to me in very easy ways um but i was novice at best you know and i was really trying to do some
00:23:08.100readings and i was having some difficulty there because i didn't know where to start i just didn't
00:23:12.180have i didn't have anybody i didn't have anybody talk to or ask um and this just presented itself
00:23:18.420whether it was you know mass and hate or not um but to piggyback off the hate thing you know um
00:23:24.820we get a lot of um attention to through the um i don't want to um credit their name here but
00:23:32.420organizations have put together things like hate lists and hate maps and all these hate hateful
00:23:37.300things that um are just so such a um is so hypocritical and in and of themselves to
00:23:44.500be calling us hateful when they're you know compiling lists of people that they see is hateful0.53
00:23:49.380Yeah, that would seem self-evident, but yeah, the folks that talk so much about tolerance and how hateful we are, the ones trying to get people to protest our exercise of our religion and causing threats to be made towards our houses of worship and a lot of nonsense.
00:24:18.740but so that's that silliness is cool because it brought everybody or brought so many people here
00:24:26.880and so many people home to also true but the I don't know the cooler I guess part of the story
00:24:33.940and this is something I want you guys to speak on and Jason maybe you've got something to start
00:24:38.960us with on this but how has our relationship with the town of of murdoch and like the general
00:24:47.920area been how's that developed over the years it's um it's turned into like a really great
00:24:58.480friendship we we figured that once they they learned who we really were through our deeds
00:25:04.080and didn't listen to all the stuff they were reading and hearing online they would realize
00:25:08.800the town folk would realize that we were decent people and we started building relationships with
00:25:13.680our neighbors and people would stop by when we were working on the hop in the early days and
00:25:18.480whatever and we would wave and people would be like hey what's going on and they would ask us
00:25:22.640questions and as time went on we built more or more relationships with the local people and
00:25:28.720with the food pantry especially i mean ashley can speak on that that that's really what's created a
00:25:34.800nice bond with people and we have the regulars that come in and whatever and it's just it's
00:25:38.960come a long way because i remember before we got the hop and whatever i remember thinking yep
00:25:43.760they're gonna go crazy because you know you go back to the very first fall fest how we got kicked
00:25:48.800out of our first place and blah blah blah long story but you know we knew that being minneapolis
00:25:53.680like ashley said with the george floyd thing just happening recently everybody was losing their
00:25:58.480and whatever so to speak so we knew we were in for a ride but once we got to that small town and
00:26:04.800they realized everything and and started seeing everything we built it it took a little time but
00:26:10.000that's what it's all about is through deeds and doing good things and building those relationships
00:26:15.520and all our neighbors love us yeah yeah certainly true that's that's what i've seen there um
00:29:59.580different or amped up around the holidays um there's the thing you do with school supplies
00:30:08.060let people know kind of what we do there as far as charitable outreach yeah so this um
00:30:13.260this month is probably my my favorite um food shelf that we do and that's we do the school
00:30:18.060supply giveaway um so what what it's kind of evolved into is i um i split up donated backpacks
00:30:27.580um kind of younger crowd and older crowd boys and girls and then just take a peek at the local
00:30:33.420school supply list and just get a good idea of um what they need and we we pack these backpacks full
00:30:39.580of um really everything um you know minus the kleenex boxes and stuff like that but the the
00:30:46.220cool part is is um i get pretty cool backpacks and so then when they come through the food shelf line
00:30:51.020if they're um if they're with you know um sometimes i'll go home and grab them and come back um
00:30:56.940and they can come over and pick out, um, a backpack. The first year I did it, um, Matt,
00:31:02.720you were here as you've been at everyone. Um, and the first two that came over were the two
00:31:07.180little girls from across the street and one loves kitties and one loves unicorns and one got a
00:31:11.900kitty backpack and one got a unicorn backpack and they were so excited and it was just, it was great.
00:31:15.960It was, it was fun. Um, and being a mom myself, you know, back to school stuff is crazy, you know?
00:31:22.860So though it might not check off the whole list, you know, it's, it's a, it's a decent and helpful chunk. And we've been very fortunate to have those things all fall into line by, I mean, happenstance really. I mean, the first year all those backpacks were donated because I was doing what I do and talking to the person at the checkout while I was waiting for the savers manager to come up and put in our tax exempt stuff.
00:31:50.220so next time we come in to get things it would be um um it would be uh tax exempt and so
00:31:56.660i was just talking to him and he had mentioned that um his girlfriend works at dollar general
00:32:01.760and they'd just gotten a bunch of the the uh backpacks dropped out to a penny so he grabbed
00:32:06.28025 of them and he was just going to donate them to sabers and did i want them yeah yes yes i do
00:32:12.560want all those 25 backpacks and so um all those things are you know you can't necessarily plan or
00:32:18.180you know or I guess have a backup plan for if it doesn't happen it's just it's just a an energy and
00:32:27.220a I don't know a genuine being that we all collectively kind of put into what we do and
00:32:32.640it works out pretty well most of the time because we we mean it you know so no that's awesome
00:32:39.380Yeah, and if folks don't know, it's a little bit different at each of the Hoffs on exactly the, you know, shape some of that takes, but we do the food pantry once a month at each of our Hoffs, no matter what, we always make sure that happens.
00:33:05.800and then different hosts house different things uh going at different uh different holidays
00:33:11.700different times of the year different things depending on the community but
00:33:15.240that's something i'm very proud that we do and has been a tremendous thing to build our reputation
00:33:23.960in the community and also to just meet the members of the community and be part of the area in which
00:33:29.280who live. It's a big deal. And some of these towns that we're in are relatively small and
00:33:36.560we're able to be a significant force for something positive in those communities. And that's
00:33:42.580really nice. Very fortunate that we have that opportunity. We have a question here. Goethe
00:33:55.560trent east wants to know for the baldur's hof leaders which hof do you plan to visit next chris
00:34:04.680odin's off would be my next one i've already had a chance to visit and you're it's off
00:34:11.640excellent when you coming out to odin's off i plan for midsummer next year all right that'd be
00:34:17.960fantastic um jason what half are you gonna visit next well i've always said i wanted to go to
00:34:25.240thor's house since i've been to odin's half three times but with next summer being the 30th
00:34:30.600anniversary i know tons of people are going so i'll probably end up at owens hop before i'd end
00:34:37.320up at doors off but doors off would be the next one on my list for sure all right ashley what
00:41:00.680he's happy about it too we have more leadership they're just in the woods or something i don't
00:41:04.440yeah um it's sparse tonight a lot of people there's so many of us
00:41:10.640so for a variety of reasons i know a number of our uh our leaders especially our gothar in the
00:41:18.600area and some from outside of the area are involved in a spiritual retreat right now
00:41:22.740um in preparation for this weekend's event and so that's that's affecting stuff but everybody
00:41:28.880else is kind of hustling with last minute things and it sounds like there's some
00:41:32.700questionable weather in certain parts that are making a little bit more challenging for folks
00:41:38.940to get on we do have more read more leaders in that blue space than just these three folks
00:41:45.300um but you have to take a word for it for right now uh cody wants to ask what's your favorite
00:41:54.300baldur's hoff tradition chris what's your favorite baldur's hoff tradition
00:41:58.440so far i would have to say that my favorite tradition would be
00:42:05.060the boulders bowl that witten brandy facett has us uh dance to at every major event
00:42:14.260or by major i mean like every like three-day event
00:42:16.880so you planning to bust a move this weekend i'll uh i'll try to knock out a few i may uh
00:42:27.180tip over with my bad back, but you know what? I think it'll bring plenty of good laughs and have
00:42:31.800a good time nonetheless. There you go. Jason, what's your favorite tradition that y'all have?
00:42:42.080There's so many, I can't really pin one down. I mean, like Chris said, the baller's ball is kind
00:42:48.280of fun, but I like the offering things that we do in the morning, the dedication to the altars.
00:42:55.500i don't know if they do that other hops too but we do the dedication to lc and then to balder and
00:43:00.940then to the ancestors different things people take turns going up to the different altars
00:43:06.700i i do enjoy that that is something that i never experienced until we went to the hop
00:43:12.060i don't know if that is something that is kind of been used at every one or if it's just um
00:43:17.980exclusively the balder's hop um it's a balder's hop thing that i think other hops have
00:43:23.820incorporated to one degree or another but i think it definitely certainly in the way that it's done
00:43:28.940originates at baldershoff uh for folks that may not be familiar each of our hoffs has a a hero of
00:43:38.060our faith that is kind of their patron hero uh and the hero for baldershoff is the folk mother
00:43:45.580lc christensen and so she has a special altar space there and uh you know a special spot to
00:43:54.380be remembered and worshiped there at the hof by you know all of us who are so very grateful to
00:43:59.980the contribution she made to to alsatru and to our folk um what is your favorite hof tradition ashley
00:44:09.580um i'd say our um our colning and our blessing of the mead beforehand call it our um women magic
00:44:22.940and other fun names um but it's you know the the idea and the concept of the women folk being
00:44:32.300required to bless the need and the the centralized focus um of what we're offering to the gods that
00:44:41.900that being a necessity for a ceremony is something that's just really important to me growing up
00:44:47.340catholic you were always you know there we were there you know but there wasn't a lot of um need
00:44:54.780you know of us you didn't feel um it never had an opportunity to make any connection or whatnot so
00:45:00.300So being fortunate enough to have Brandy, you know, and to have, you know, just to have that centralized focus on what we can all do is great.
00:45:15.540And combing is fun and at first awkward and feels strange a little bit, but then it's really, really empowering.
00:53:36.120Anyways, when you're not engaged in Alpine activities, uh, can you tell folks who may
00:53:42.480not have seen you in your previous appearances where you are coming to us from and a little
00:53:49.780bit about yourself so they know who they're talking to. Sure. That is an Alpenhorn, by the way.
00:53:59.860So I'm coming to you tonight from Iowa, where I live now, but I spent most of my time in the AFA
00:54:07.900and my adult life in Virginia, but I'm here in Iowa now in Baldursoff country. A little bit about
00:54:16.360me um i'm been in the afa since 2018 uh i was a folk builder and um and then a gothe my daughter
00:54:27.800scarlet was the first baby named to thoris off when it first opened so that's kind of a pride point
00:54:33.800um and uh i've been also true uh i found it in the military so it's it's been a long time 20 years or
00:54:42.760so excellent well thank you for joining us this evening so for those of you who don't know
00:54:56.200go through rob stam is the dean of the austro academy and that is our afa homeschool program
00:55:04.520and we are about to start or are starting or i'm not sure we're kind of on the overlap period
00:55:11.560of the very beginning of the third year of that program and rob can you tell people
00:55:19.560who aren't familiar have never heard of it before tell them what it is and you know what we have to
00:55:26.760offer with that program as of now uh sure so this fall we'll be uh doing kindergarten through sixth
00:55:36.040grade um what it is homeschool in general is it's scary to some parents because they think
00:55:44.840wow i don't have seven hours a day to devote to education but really that's that's not what the
00:55:51.400case with homeschool you don't really need that um a lot of the school day in a traditional brick
00:55:56.840and mortar school is filler time it's not actual instruction a lot of parents don't realize just
00:56:02.680how many everyday opportunities or every every activities or opportunities to learn and for
00:56:08.680instruction so it's really not as bad or as scary as one might think now our program we have as our
00:56:15.960academic backbone we have what's called waldorf waldorf homeschool some of you may be familiar
00:56:21.960with that it's a developmentally based education program it's pretty traditional that was one of
00:56:29.480our requirements when we were looking for an academic backbone to our program. There are
00:56:35.080Waldorf schools all over the country. It's not a fly-by-night new thing. It's very, you know,
00:56:40.200it's set, it's been around a long time, and it's proven. So that is our academic backbone. And then
00:56:46.520we have religious instruction that myself and Githya McNailen and other folk builders and
00:56:54.760and and and uh gothar have put together um to to go along with that academic construction
00:57:02.840now on top of that so for example in uh in waldorf there is a section uh that the kids learn about
00:57:10.200saints christian saints well we've rewritten that to to have them learn about afa heroes
00:57:16.760rather than christian saints uh so we go through and we look where we can take where we have to
00:57:22.520to take a little bit out and put our own stuff in. And then we also supplement heavily with
00:57:28.540our own religious material that we've written. We have videos from various members of leadership
00:57:35.240that have contributed their time, whether it be reading stories or telling of the lore, etc.
00:57:43.140So it's a pretty comprehensive program. And then on top of that, so if your state requires, because different states require different things. So some states require letters, some require testing, some require you keep a portfolio of all the work, these things.
00:58:05.980we we walk you through the requirements for your state and then we help you uh we we help you uh
00:58:12.300stay in compliance with that now of course being homeschool ultimately the parent is responsible
00:58:17.580for staying in in compliance but we certainly uh we help you with that we uh we help you write it
00:58:23.740or help you keep track of it as best we can and uh there shouldn't be any surprises
00:58:28.460fantastic what um what grades do we currently have available that we're enrolling kids for
00:58:42.700uh currently we have kindergarten through sixth grade
01:21:57.980i don't go out to nebraska and make events happen go but it doesn't work like that um
01:22:06.620every place that we have afa community afa activity and eventually afa hoffs are because
01:22:15.020someone stepped up looked around said hey i want to do stuff there's nobody near me doing anything
01:22:23.740how about how about i try to make stuff happen and that is such a huge step and i don't mean
01:22:31.260to make it sound like it's smaller than it is it's a big thing but it's a very simple thing
01:22:39.020um i think a lot of people and and there's there's so first
01:22:45.660if you want to be a folk builder cool we would love to have you if that's something that you
01:22:52.780want to do and that's something you're called to do we would love to have you serve in that capacity
01:22:58.300and we can get you set up and we always need folk builders and these folk builders make this stuff
01:23:04.140happen and organize it and get it set up but something else that they do is they coordinate
01:23:11.660individuals who want to set things up and make things happen in their area maybe you don't want
01:23:17.340to go all in on folk building but you're willing to host something you're willing to make something
01:23:22.620happen you're willing to be that guy that goes and does stuff so much of this starts from one person
01:23:32.220opening up their home and saying hey let's have some people come over and we'll host a dinner
01:23:40.300that's huge that's how so much this starts or maybe that you know isn't what you like to do
01:23:45.900are not something you're comfortable with hey folk builder i'm gonna go to i don't know
01:23:54.860tito's bar and grill this weekend and have a burger and a beer how about you have some people
01:24:00.060come join me there counts that's a moot it's a thing and if you and one other afa member get
01:24:06.380together and enjoy your burger and your brew fantastic maybe next month you guys do it again
01:24:14.220and there's a third one that shows up all these things start from that kind of grassroots simple
01:24:25.260but fun interaction that's how this that's how this happens i think it's really easy to see
01:24:33.260the broad strokes of hoffs or national events or these these big things but they're all built
01:24:40.300upon all those little small things on hosting a moop where you're at and saying you know hey
01:24:46.780folk builder how about you help me get some people to show up to this thing i want to do
01:24:52.940doesn't have to be fancy doesn't have to be elaborate what it does have to be is one afa
01:24:58.540member reaching out and saying hey help me see if there's another afa member near me maybe we can
01:25:04.620get together and do something and that's how really amazing things start so think about that
01:25:10.540if it's something that you're interested in and credit in minnesota for that goes to mr gallagher
01:25:16.780for sure you know his the boots on the ground flyer hanging you know uh folk building that he
01:25:24.060did was the absolute basis and core for everything that you know not just minnesota but bouldershoff
01:25:31.180is uh now and it just started with those little you know those little things yeah jason snuck off
01:25:39.100and disappeared on us um but yeah it started from next to nothing it started
01:25:50.300this meeting is happening because jason gallagher way back when
01:25:55.420wanted wanted to see this or something like it and stepped up um with a number of health concerns
01:26:08.820that just made you know it's never the perfect time it's never the perfect circumstance so he
01:26:17.140said you know what i'll give it a shot and he became a folk builder and he you know had a couple
01:26:23.800a couple of folks sort of near him kind of come over and do some stuff at his house
01:26:28.920and they did and he had them get together and do some you know some pizza moots they did
01:26:36.920get together and do some hike moots and they did maybe they'd get together and have a meal
01:26:42.040and do a do a bloat a ritual in his backyard and they did and you know sounds like that's
01:26:49.480way back when but not really less than you know shoot doing that for a little while relatively
01:26:58.360quickly there was enough people close by interested in doing something that we got together and we
01:27:04.360hosted uh the first um event that was kind of the prototype for this fray faxie that we're
01:27:10.840celebrating this weekend but it was originally in september and it was called fall fest and
01:27:16.280And it was in, you know, this house that was a strange house.
01:27:24.660This house was, it looked like this cobbled together Lego house of all these different little rooms and chambers.
01:27:30.840And you'd go in there and there was random halls and bedrooms and guest rooms and then like beds out in common areas.
01:27:39.700and it got set up it was a house rental for some old lady selling get-togethers
01:27:47.260and that's where where it started and where the first one was and it was amazing i loved being at
01:27:52.420it and now that was 2016 and now eight years later we're you know what four or four years
01:28:03.680into having our very own hof there with people regularly gathering at that hof every single
01:28:09.920month to honor our gods who worship balder and to celebrate with our folk and to grow together
01:28:17.760it all happened because one guy in not the most perfect circumstance said hey let's let's make
01:28:23.920this happen i want to see this become something let's do this and he did and people got together
01:28:32.160and amazing things happen that's how these things start so if you want to see more stuff near you
01:28:39.280step up and be willing to be willing to host it can be as simple as hey if i google someplace
01:28:45.520near you or if you have a recommendation how about you go sit there and we get some other people to
01:28:51.040come show up and we'll we'll make it happen that's something you want to do reach out to your local
01:28:56.000folk builder and they can help you make it happen and run all the logistics for you it's very very
01:29:01.040doable. So think about that. Another thing I want you guys to think about, if you're watching this
01:29:08.780or listening to this later down the road, and if you don't know, this is released as a podcast
01:29:13.540for the audio format on a bunch of different stuff on Spotify, on iHeartRadio, on Amazon Music,
01:29:26.320um you know however you oh also on apple podcasts on however you get your podcasts
01:29:33.280get this listen to it um or share it with other people you think might need to
01:29:38.140best thing we got is word of mouth if you think other folks would benefit from
01:29:42.880listening to this broadcast or would just enjoy it please let them know about it like share
01:29:48.560subscribe send it out there um i got a number of people uh this is primarily on youtube but we got
01:29:57.120a number of people right now watching this on odyssey we got people on entropy on twitch twitter
01:30:04.320rumble and in vk um so yeah we got a pretty healthy following over on twitter that's watching
01:30:13.440this right now so hello to our our friends on twitter um yeah so spread the word that'll help
01:30:23.600it's a big deal also if you enjoy this if you agree with what we're doing and if you're a
01:30:31.920heterosexual white person consider joining we'd love to have you be a member and be
01:30:36.960part of what we're building part of what we're doing
01:30:43.440And it's not some strange, far off thing that just happens.
01:30:51.140This is organically grown from you and from me and from every one of our, every member of our AFA family that gets together and that shares in the gift cycle with our gods.