Better and Better Part One: Earthaven

So far in the last week I've lost my glasses (in the woods or my car), got a speeding ticket, and boggled up a great opportunity in the stock market, but still things are going great!
I've traveled from Pennsylvania, to DC, to Peninsular Maryland, to most of Western Virginia (not W. VA) and now I'm circling and coming to know the mountains around Asheville, NC better and better.

(I also found a couple really great thrift stores in VA.. I mean..one.. was really really nice. :-) ) oops.

North Carolina so far has been: Rainy Pisgah National Forest, City Bakery Internet and Quiche, Coyote, Earthaven, Wildroots-- and soon to be Spilcorn and other yet to be determined adventures & connections.

After surprise-hanging out with an old New Orleans comrade Coyote for a goodtime, including the famous friday Asheville drumcircle/dance in the middle of town, I set out for Earthaven Ecovillage near Black Mountain, NC (East of Asheville).

http://www.earthaven.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana_Leafe_Christian

http://directory.ic.org/1794/Earthaven_Ecovillage

So, like Twin Oaks and some others, Earthaven mostly invites visitors through Tours on Saturdays (asking a donation of $15), camping, and internships. That morning Coyote and I got up early for coffee (earlier than any pinche! cafe's even opened in Asheville! [except maybe starbucks]). I then headed out and had a surprisingly short & nice drive to Earthaven, even arriving somewhat early for my (what turned out to by private) tour. While we waited for any stragglers, my tour guide, Suchi, and I weeded the ironweed like grass out of a bed and started our nice chat.
Suchi was a great tour guide, and I got to see quite a bit of the maze of neighborhoods and self-supporting systems that operate at Earthaven. Originally a Mainer, I immediately liked her (and her accent!). She's lived there for about 7 of the 15 years that they've had the land.

I took many many notes: and the visit was inspiration and educational in ways that shouldn't be contained just in this brief blog, but here's a couple teasers:

Hydro-Electric plants and Lots of Solar Panels
Several Neighborhoods, almost all the wood for construction is from the land (mostly poplar/deciduous).
Leases are for either 4 adults (or pairs?) or 2 adults for the size of the land.
Membership and Leases are separate, membership is a year long process or so...
There's 40 current members, others have gone, about 20 people additionally living there doing internships and stuff. They're looking to grow to 200 or so!
They operate by consensus! And have a somewhat complex governing system.
They have quite few creeks and springs in their 320 acres! More than you'd think!

There are a couple things that "bug" me about Earthaven--- And i think this is largely due to the fact that I've studied their situation quite a bit compared to other villages, and they are a long standing inspiration to me.
First off, they are quite spread out! I can't state enough how weird this feels to me!
------This must partly be a result of how they divided their plots to lease/neighborhood-ize etc.

Second off, they .... well. there are just a couple more things that i find rather interesting--- and I seek to learn a great deal from and prevent:
Their governance and membership process (and fees) favors members so much that there are few transients (aka--- young people) there. Young people can't afford to stay there for very long without quite a bit of cash saved up. Its great that they do have a good deal of families, a few young people, and a lot of Elders-- but the energy when I was there seemed to be mostly that of Elders-- which is great-- except for the fact that a "young" community such as Earthaven needs the energy and strength of Youth to build buildings and such! (--and to attract (and breed!) new members!) ha!

One person there suggested that the Village will grow together just as they did in the old world- to create a more "city" like structure. Maybe so! Hmmm..

So much more to say-- but onto the next blog on: WildRoots

(Please check my photos on Facebook! under "Carolina del Norte"!)