Coincidentally, and awesomely, YES! Magazine was on site at Dancing Rabbit while I was there, and, talking to the Wabi Sabi Community, April and Ziggy made the front page! This is just 30 feet or so from the trench Aaron and I dug for the Carletons. Check it out!
(Yes! Magazine was started by someone who also wrote this awesome book,
http://www.davidkorten.org/whencorps)
http://small-scale.net/yearofmud/2010/08/05/my-cob-house-featured-in-yes-magazine/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/smallape/4864276848/
Some other particularly notable and relentless ideas have been:
---the limits of consensus for groups larger than 50 (and its importance to acculturating new members)
---questioning the importance for bunches (aka , more than 40 or 30 acres) of land... especially when there's a public national large forest all around, and many other sympathetic groups
-- how well strawbale would work here (Western North Carolina)... it seems like it wouldn't be the most practical. We'll see.
--- if it took Dancing Rabbit 15 years to reach 50+ members (including kids),, then wouldn't it make more sense to just start small, and let nature and time takes its course? Although, I'm still very ambitious, and would like to actively help other/sister groups form , as nearby as possible.
--- whether being so close to a city could also be a detriment, as people will inevitably want to commute to find a higher paying job, which (A) bring more "city" energy and stress back to the community, and (B) raise internal village prices--- but maybe not. People at Dancing Rabbit continually didn't think this would be a problem (being an hour away.... as they are at least 4 hours from a major city.. and 1 hour to a 20,000 person city)
--- And LASTLY, whether the Eco-village format or Intentional Community (the community itself) wouldn't be best served as a subset of a "Research organization". I would push for, an ecological landscape design research, measuring plants and water use, or Green Building Research, measuring energy use & indoor /outdoor temperatures for different building materials, and heating sources.
(Actually, I can think of a few places that do this, or accidentally do this... Maxpot in Austin, Mountain Homestead in Oregon, Rocky Mountain Institute in CO, Gaviotas in Colombia, Arcosanti in AZ is almost like this, but says they aren't...).
---oops....one more. Solar panels and large battery stores seem to have quite a few draw backs! Every 6 to 10 years each battery store for each dwelling much be replaced, at a cost of about 6000 dollars, or about One Thousand dollars a year. It might be better to be hooked up to the grid, with a back up batteries for security, but not in use, relying more on Wind Turbines.... to be researched more.
(Subtext:::: Dancing Rabbit has been off the grid for 14 years...and just voted to go ON THE Grid!--- because they're going to invest in a medium/large wind turbine that will produce more than they need for quite a few years...and would make them a little money by paying it to the Electric Company. Although the exchange is by no means equal. If they were short, they would buy at a much higher rate. )
The key to Dancing Rabbit seems to be:
--- A strong empathetic and ambitious culture
--- Strong & Clear initial Vision Statement and Core Covenants--- to attract new members, and guide village direction
--- Not using any private loans. They have relied entirely on Family Loans, which we SHOULD be able to do. It shouldn't be a problem.
--- Low initial entry fees. A system that biases WORK HOURS strongly over MONEY SPENT. I don't know if they meant it that way. But their requirement to use recycled or locally harvested materials necessitates it.
--- The above also acts like a self-selecting system for new membership
--- A strong culture of voluntarism-- ALSO! A bunch of visitor programs and Work-Traders, that basically act like the recruitment process
--- Being a long way away from anywhere else, means that you really appreciate being there. There's no where better for MILES! :-)
--- Being close to Mennonites, much better neighbors than regular rednecks (in my opinion)
--- Also of course, is the fact they bought 280 acres for 180K !! , and they use an extended (initial 10 year, now renewed for a little bit, but maybe not renewed after 2012) Government Program (CRP) that pays them 60$/acre/yr to keep them in a "prairie-like' state...and "ready-for-the-plow". Interesting. Largely helped pay their mortgage.
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| Karaoke cum Consensus. Cynder's Birthday in the Common House, also where Town Meetings take place. |
