Ecovillages

Earthaven Ecovillage
Interview with Arjuna da Silva about the structure:

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Difficulties starting (3.30m); "get a commitment in writing that your founders will stay 10 years" (5.30m); main issues (a) the challenge of income & (b) giving up one's home & garden for a tent & hut (7.30m); ongoing issue of trying to appease, fly under the radar, of inspectors (10.30m); unexpected costs arising from good intentions (12.30m); haevn't found an architect or engineer willing to take on the liability of untested or unconventional construction by rubber stamping projects without lots of costs, and state-level lobbying for special permits (14.30m); current population 70-75 members on the land, mostly adults, exceptionally challenging for young families with children (17m); children not interested in living on the land (18.30m); interns< WWOOFers and seasonal help (20m); issues with being off the grid, hydro and solar infrastructure (22m); learning to communicate (25m); more on the issues of small families trying to make it (26.30m); Physical landscape of the property & design (30m); issues with codes - "spring water districts" (32.20m); tensions between community infrastructure and personal infrastructure (34.30m); acceptance of alternative culture in the area (36m); dealing with waste water (36.30m); meeting schedule and consensus decision-making process(38.40m); why a reed-bed lagoon system for waste water isn't the best option (41m); agriculture as a key focus of the community & description of systems/activities, "everybody is learning & making mistakes" (42.30); issues with cats and dogs (46.45m); how much food available from the land throughout the year, belief in healthy commerce and local markets (47m); obstacles to food self-sufficiency (50m); provisional contract for dogs, etc (53.30m); wildlife and predators (54m); how the communal work is encouraged, structured, planned - including 1500 hours community service in first 10 years, ~3 hours/week, ccash payment if they don't at $10/hr, etc, capital revenue fund, joining fee $4k per adult, siteholding lease fee, 99 year transferrable lease, $20k for the lease for full-size site holding, quarter acre, plus commons of hundreds of acres (56m); organization of community bureaucracy and labor, including paid positions (60m); more about how a person moves there, full-size, "compact" 60% full size, and cohousing sites, cheapest can come in is $10k, different ways to pay - (a) whole thing up front cash, (b) half down + payments @ 5% interest, (c) sweat equity option where someone trades skill, usually physical but not always (63.30m); CANNOT use bank loans (66.30m); issues utilizing grants (68.30m); cooperatively run businesses/nonprofits onsite including education center & ethanol production/aquaculture/mushrooms, privately-owned plant medicine business, small wood products business,CSA, forestry & construction business, Chuck Marsh's useful plants nursery (70.45m); working on developing earned income from hospitality "if economy will allow it," building a commercial kitchen (76.30m); how to visit and phone number (82.30m)

Directory for finding intentional communities (123 in WA state!).

The Beehive Collective.

Website for learning in Ecovillages abroad.