kitchen Archives - Earthaven Ecovillage

Build it, and They Will Come

Earthaven Admin Team — Tue, 20 Oct 2020 16:23:32 +0000

By Deborah Clark, Medicine Wheel Collective

Greetings from Medicine Wheel Collective!

As summer rolls into fall, and wave after wave of change sweeps the wider world, we find ourselves deep in a season of change at Medicine Wheel. As the pandemic prohibited us from hosting our normal summer crew of work exchangers, visitors, and renters, it’s a bit wilder in our garden than usual.

Inside the house, it’s a bit wilder too. We are living in a construction zone.

We are rebuilding Medicine Wheel’s heart and hearth: the kitchen. Having sustained and nurtured residents, students, and Earthaven visitors for nearly twenty years, it desperately needed an overhaul. Lyndon and I—along with our advisory board—have paused with gratitude to consider how many thousands of meals have been cooked and eaten here.

As we rise to meet this challenge, we’re searching our hearts for answers to a couple of big questions: What are Medicine Wheel’s most authentic expressions of service? How does that service mesh with our individual personalities, needs, and visions for the future?

Ever since Patricia Allison—Medicine Wheel’s founder, and our beloved teacher and mentor—passed on more than two years ago, we’ve been examining and refining our purpose and goals, while striving to honor the depth of her commitment.

Lyndon is enthused about continuing the Medicine Wheel tradition of hosting permaculture classes and inspirational events. I am especially excited about the interplay between the bounty of the garden and that age-old question: What’s for dinner?

One thing we’re both sure of: we desire to serve those who want to learn to live more sustainably, for generations to come. That’s what gets us out of bed in the morning.

The kitchen is the hub of the Wheel. We envision being able to serve larger groups, with more ease and grace. When we ask you to contribute to our campaign to fund the Medicine Wheel kitchen renovation, we are asking you to join us in that prayer.

Consider Donating Today https://charity.gofundme.com/medicine-wheel-kitchen

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Village Arts Building – It’s a Sign!

Earthaven Admin Team — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 16:26:07 +0000

Growing a community from the forest forward happens on so many levels. Creating decision-making protocols and gaining skill with them; discovering the lay of the land and working out site plans; developing infrastructure and sources of funding. Living with each other and deepening our connections. On and on it goes.

Now, in our fifteenth year, we can say we’ve done quite a bit of groundwork, and still the process continues. Today, and for the foreseeable tomorrows, long-term economic needs are getting extra attention. As a group, we’re looking into ways to help support individual entrepreneurial ventures, including building a code-approved kitchen in which to prepare foods for market, perhaps through a member co-op. The kitchen is likely to be housed in the new community building we’ve sited next to the Council Hall. The building could also contain start-up space for office and retail ventures. Expanding our hospitality potential with ample indoor accommodations could soon turn into both private and community-owned projects.

Another economically promising endeavor ready to jump off the drawing board is Paul Caron’s dream of an artists and craftspeople co-op, envisioned as an amalgamation of individual studios housed in one wing of the woodshop compound, where artists and artisans ply their trades independently (and also cooperatively on some projects), enjoying the camaraderie and reduced costs that co-ops provide.

Paul’s natural building work exchange and apprentice program officially began this year, and its first project—building a big shed roof adjacent to the woodshop—yielded much-needed storage space and a place for a wildly colorful sign dedicating the expansion of the shop into the future Village Arts Building, “a studio co-op.” (Pictured in the photo are sign painters Kimchi Rylander, Paul, Ian Snesrud, Flora Checknoff, and Dylan McBridewood.)

Paul is a master woodworker and “furniture magician,” and the designer of our Council Hall and the peeled, round-pole post and beam timber frame construction technique used on many buildings at Earthaven. His comprehensive woodshop is already well used by pro and amateur woodworkers for community projects, prototypes for market, and other woodworking needs. The existing shop is planned to contain the dustiest aspects of woodworking, while the ground floor of the wing will be devoted more to assembly and the cleaner aspects of the work. The second floor of the wing will house the free-style studios, and a third floor is envisioned for potential co-op member housing and social space.

To thrive in community, we need places and spaces that encourage us to build economic foundations we can rely on. The studio co-op idea has successfully supported the needs of artists and crafters throughout the world. If you are interested in Earthaven as a long-term adventure and think your art or craft could thrive in this kind of setting, or if you feel attracted to a natural building apprenticeship, please let us know.

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Kids’ Space News

Earthaven Admin Team — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 17:01:13 +0000

by Mana and Arjuna

Nothing is what it seems at Earthaven! For example, once upon a time in this experiment to create a different kind of life, the testing of building styles—which calls for a lot of creativity—was a top priority. “Time is money” was thrown out the window; projects could take years to complete, if at all. This can get pretty frustrating, especially when it comes time to turn a little mud-walled experiment into a useful space, not to mention something it wasn’t intended to be. This is the ballad of the languishing Hamlet Kitchen Annex.

At last, several Earthaven women began to promote the importance of having more indoor space for children. It would be nice for us to have a space right near the Hamlet kitchen, and it might be also attractive to other families with children. If we built some play room, would they find us more child friendly? And come visit more?

The plan was made and approved to let the Three-(or Four-) Women-and-a-Toolbox crew (plus friends) turn the Annex into The Kidspace We’ve Been Waiting For. Once again, building construction seems to be the solution to life’s problems.

Three-Women and their friends can dedicate time to this project because we are all child-free. Four child-free people are creating a place for children, yes, but we’re listening. The moms, and child caregivers, and teachers are in the lead about how the kids’ space will be managed, and we’re looking forward to getting toys, books, and movable furniture in there once the work is done.

If you’d like to contribute to our kids’ fun and games, please consider donations of books, games, or even suggestions of your children’s favorites. Cash contributions also will be well used.

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