Ecological Living at Earthaven

Permaculture Design at Earthaven. Permaculture is one set of principles we draw from in designing our community. We apply the permaculture principles organically and situationally. Permaculture is a set of techniques and principles for designing sustainable human settlements with plants, animals, buildings, and organizations—and especially the relationships between them. "Ecologically sound and economically prosperous" is how some describe a sustainable settlement.

"The core of permaculture design," says Peter Bane, publisher of Permaculture Activist magazine, "is the belief that all living beings and systems have intrinsic worth, that we each bear responsibility for our own lives and the lives of our children, that human life is inextricably embedded in the web of life which is the Earth, and that if we choose patterns of land use and technologies appropriate to these ethical precepts, we will have the best chance of surviving over generations in a world we'd like to live in."

Permaculture design trainings are offered at Earthaven. See the Calendar for details.

One of our first tasks was to create a permaculture-based site plan for developing our mountain forest property. We identified sacred sites; land to remain forested; areas for gardening, farming, and orchards; locations for ponds and hydro-power stations; locations for roads, paths, and common community buildings; and locations for residential neighborhoods. We agreed to build homes only on slopes and save flat bottom land for agriculture; retain as much water on the land as possible through roof water catchments, swales, and ponds; regenerate our soil with layers of organic biomass; protect our sacred sites; and not build on ridge tops. See "Maps of Earthaven."

We build passive-solar heated buildings of natural Earth-friendly materials and generate our own off-grid power. We practice sustainable forestry and preserve many of our wilderness areas. We are not yet growing and raising most of our own food; however, this is important to us and is one of our next steps.

Passive Solar Heating. All of our community buildings and almost all of our residences are passive solar buildings on south-facing slopes, heated by the sun and woodstoves or propane heaters as back-up. Some of our buildings have radiant floor heating.

Off-Grid Power. Earthaven is 100% off the grid. Our central village area operates on hydro-power from a micro-hydro system in Rosy Branch Creek. The Hut Hamlet Kitchen and every individual hut, residence, or business operates on individual or shared solar electric systems. To run power tools, our construction crews use generators or batteries charged by the micro-hydro station. During a series of rainy, snowy, or overcast days, homes and businesses can run low on electricity, so most of us use electricity conservatively.

Many of us use propane for refrigeration. We are planning at least two more micro-hydro systems in the future, and our long-term policy is to provide electricity to every neighborhood.

Growing and Raising Food. We have about 40 acres of potential agricultural fields at Earthaven: mostly bottom land along the creeks and bench lands. We intend to grow and raise much of our own food, by gardening our own homesites and leasing agricultural fields to members for larger-scale crops and livestock-raising. However, we need to clear trees from these fields first. As of 2006 we have three cleared fields and one large cleared terraced area.

In 2004 we agreed on our Earthaven Agricultural Policy. Two members are creating a market garden in the Hut Hamlet field; some Village Terraces neighbors are raising chickens and livestock in the field below their neighborhood; another member intends to lease the terraced field for a variety of crops. Two members intend to set up a grass-rotational pasturage system in Gateway field by Earthaven's entrance, with crops rotating with movable fencing for cows, goats, chickens, and other livestock. We know this works well, as some of our members have done this before. Some of our vegetarian gardeners are currently creating fertile homesite gardens of raised beds with vegetables, fruits, and berries.

In perpetual forest stands, we're harvesting the smallest and least healthy trees first and leaving the best genetic stock to propagate and harvest later, so that the forest will get progressively healthier and preserve habitat for animals, fish, birds, and other forest creatures. Earthaven Lumber for Sale.

Automobile Use. We encourage our members to work on-site for many reasons, including to reduce driving and gas consumption. We don't yet have a community-wide policy about automobile use, however, mostly because so far we have spent our time and energy building physical infrastructure. We are beginning to look at additional ways to reduce dependency on gas-powered vehicles and individual car ownership. For example, there are now three solar-powered golf carts at Earthaven.

Some members walk or bicycle around the land; others drive even short distances here. A few people use biodiesel fuel, but most use commercial gasoline. Some take advantage of an on-site food-buying club and Asheville shopping service; others drive off-site to buy food and supplies. We encourage people to park in a way that minimizes driving through the creek crossing, but many of us still drive across the creek.

Some members operated a car co-op for a year or so, and others have talked about starting another one. Several members are talking about instituting an ethanol-based vehicle fleet, with a weekly van shuttle service to Asheville and a small number of Earthaven cars based there.