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Frequently Asked Questions
Structure of Earthaven Visiting and Workshops Joining Earthaven Beliefs and Culture Structure of Earthaven 2. What is your land like? How many acres? Our 320 acres of forested mountain land consists of three converging valleys with abundant streams and springs, flood plains, bottom land, and steeper ridge slopes, lying between 2000 and 2600 feet in elevation. Our site plan includes areas for residential neighborhoods and compact business sites, as well as areas suitable for leased agriculture sites, orchards, market gardens, and wetlands. Much of Earthaven is still under construction. Physical infrastructure so far includes roads, footpaths, bridges, campgrounds, ponds, constructed wetlands, off-grid power systems, gardens, our Council Hall, a kitchen-dining room, many small dwellings, a few full-sized homes, and three multi-family dwellings. 3. How many people? Earthaven has about 60 members, with 40-50 living on the land. We intend to become a village of at least 150 people on 56 homesites. 4. What is your mission and purpose? What are your values? Our ReMembership Covenant reads: "We are dedicated to caring for people and the Earth by learning and demonstrating a holistic, sustainable culture." We hope to become empowered, responsible, and ecologically literate citizens, modeling bioregionally appropriate culture for our time and place. We value sustainable ecological systems, permaculture design, elegant simplicity, right livelihood, and healthy social relations. We are spiritually diverse. We have both vegetarians and omnivores; some members raise livestock. 5. What is an "ecovillage"? We like Robert and Diane Gilman's definition: "Ecovillages are human-scale, full-featured settlements in which human activities are harmlessly integrated into the natural world in a way that is supportive of healthy human development, and which can be successfully continued into the indefinite future." 6. Are you an ecovillage yet? No. We're an aspiring ecovillage. 7. Who owns the land? We all own title to our land together, through a Homeowners Association, financed by private loans from members and friends. We lease our individual homesites from the community through 99-year, renewable, transferable leases. In 2004 we paid off most of our loan. 8. How do you make decisions? We govern ourselves with a consensus decision-making process and a Council and committee structure. Visiting and Workshops 10. Do you have internships or work exchange opportunities? Yes! While Earthaven is not offering formal internships at this time, we do have many work exchange and apprenticeship opportunities through our members. See Internships. 11. Do you offer workshops in ecovillages? Yes! We offer workshops on how to start a successful ecovillage (by Diana Leafe Christian, Communities magazine editor and author of Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities); ecovillage site planning and building design (with award-winning architect Gregg Ramsey); and consensus facilitation (with experienced consensus trainer Arjuna da Silva). See our Calendar. 12. Do you offer workshops in permaculture design? Yes! We offer workshops on Permaculture Fundamentals with Patricia Allison, Permaculture Instructor and Earthaven resident for over ten years, and Chuck Marsh, 1998 North American Permaculture Teacher of the Year. Graduates of the Fundamentals course can go on to the Permaculture Practicum: Applying Ecological Design week-long program with Patricia Allison. See our Calendar. 13. Do you offer workshops in natural building? Yes! We offer workshops on homesite site design with permaculture designer Chuck Marsh, 1998 North American Permaculture Teacher of the Year; building design with natural builder Paul Caron; earthen building introduction, building with earth and straw, and earthen paints, with natural builder Mollie Curry; and earthen plaster with Chuck Marsh. See our Calendar. 14. Do you offer workshops in natural health and healing? Yes! Among other teachers, Corinna Wood, director of Southeast Wise Women, has been connecting people with the wisdom of the earth, the plants, and their own bodies for 15 years. Other natural health classes that have been offered range from Qigong (Chinese energy cultivation) to Homeopathy, and much more. See our calendar for classes, including healing herbs and food; fertility and sexuality; and women's courses in herbal medicine and women's health. Joining Earthaven 16. What does it cost to join? The one-time Joining Fee is $4,000; it can be paid in a lump sum or in installments. In 2007 the one-time Site Lease fees are $20,000 for a full site and $12,000 for a compact site; site fees can also be paid in a lump sum or in installments. Our annual dues and fees currently range between about $800 and $1,100 a year, depending on the facilities used and whether or not a member has a car on the land. See Membership. 17. How do you determine your Joining Fees and Site Lease Fees? We base these fees on our debt load, our current annual expenses, our ongoing schedule for developing our physical infrastructure, local land values, financing costs, the cost of essential professional services, and the costs of fees, permits, and building materials. 18. How do people make a living at Earthaven? We encourage small, ecologically sound businesses at Earthaven. So far these include a permaculture plant nursery; carpentry and home construction services; tool-rental; solar system installation; plumbing and electrical installation; candle-lanterns and other wooden craft items; and consultants and courses. See Making a Living. 19. Are families with children welcome? Yes! See Families and Children at Earthaven. 20. Do you offer an on-site educational program for Earthaven children? Yes! See the Forest Children Program. 21. Are pets welcome? It depends. We have certain restrictions on pets. While Full Members may have dogs or cats on their homesites under certain conditions, a Provisional Member who wants to bring a pet to Earthaven during the Provisional Membership period would have to get special permission first, and such request may or may not be granted. After becoming a Full Member, the person's pet would be considered for acceptance at Earthaven separately from the person, and the pet's behaviors and impact on the community would be taken into consideration. If there are no concerns about the pet, there might be a provisional term for the pet as well. Beliefs and Culture 23. Do you share meals as a community? Yes and no. Some residents are members of the Hut Hamlet, Bellavia, or Village Terrace neighborhood kitchens, sharing meals and food expenses with other members of those neighborhood kitchens; some members cook their own meals in their homes. The A&A House also serves meals to community members. Once a week (and sometimes more) members gather for potlucks, including a cook-out every Tuesday and a potluck at the Earthship every Monday. Members hope to construct a community-wide kitchen and dining room building. See Spirit and Culture at Earthaven. 24. Are you vegetarians? We have many diet choices at Earthaven. Some are vegetasrians; some have been vegans; most are omnivores. Some members raise livestock. We encourage our members to buy organic, locally grown or raised food. See Spirit and Culture at Earthaven. |