Ecovillage Partners Sought
EcoReality Sustainable Land Use and Education Co-operative is looking for some good people who want to work toward sustainable food and energy production for themselves and our surrounding community, while teaching such skills to the broader public.
The Site
We have a lovely 43 acre site on beautiful Salt Spring Island in British Columbia. While diesel fuel is relatively cheap, we can draw on the metropolitan areas of nearby Victoria and Vancouver for markets, and if TSHTF, it will be nice to have a moat around us.
But being on an island has much deeper significance. We are part of a greater mutually-dependent community. It costs an extra ~$50 in ferries to go to Costco or Mall*Wart, so islanders do business with each other.
We picked the site for its water and its neighbours. We have two streams, with water licenses on each, and an easement to a 50 megalitre reservoir and buried irrigation system, which is essential in this cool Mediterranean climate.
Our neighbours include a 61 acre community farm, a 70 acre organic vegetable farm, an 83 acre organic beef farm, and thousands of acres of wild public parkland, stretching from our southern boundary to the highest peak, down to the ocean, and up to the second-highest peak. We have great relations with our neighbours, share-cropping the hay with one through a cashless barter system by which we have access to organic manure and farm equipment.
About half of the 43 acres is cleared farmland, most of it in hay at the present. Our first major project was to enclose nearly four acres of that in deer fencing, essential to growing food here. A twelve-acre woodlot is used for heating, and we’re continually planting coppice belts for heating and foraging.
There are two houses here, and plans to convert part of one into a private suite are progressing. We currently have building rights to three other houses of any size and a 600 sqft cottage, but we believe the Official Community Plan and BC law would allow us to have a total of thirteen residences here, which we plan to create using “zero mile” materials and techniques.
There is also a building with a heated garage, workshop, and 40-person classroom, and we’ve begun construction of a 3,600 sqft greenhouse.
The property and all structures are owned by the co-op. Individuals own various kinds of shares in the co-op, and at certain levels of “vesting,” have long-term habitation rights.
About You
We’d expect as a minimum that you agree with our shared values, and that you can work well with others. That’s not to say there won’t be disagreements nor room for individualism, just that we want to be with people who stay aware of others and their needs.
Nice would be some good practical skills, in agriculture, small-scale energy production, natural building, etc. We use Permaculture, and as David Holmgren says, we try to be a “jack of all trades, and master of one.” You can try to change our minds, but we haven’t had great experience with people who were highly specialized in less practical skills.
Superb would be if you came with a good chunk of change. We’re hoping to eventually have thirteen units at about $150,000 each — about 1/3rd the market rate for a tiny cottage on a postage-stamp lot here — but getting to that is going to require a smaller number of people with greater resources. That’s not to say we’ll turn away people with wonderful skills and fewer resources, but the money to do this debt-free has to come from somewhere.
Next Steps
We would like to engage you in a “stepped commitment” process by which we can gain mutual trust and get to know each other over some period of time. We have multiple levels of involvement, starting with $50 for a share of our herd of dairy goats or our biodiesel production facility.
For more information, visit our website, or send us email, or give us a call (+1 250-653-2024) or even send us snail mail: EcoReality Co-op, 2152 Fulford-Ganges Road, Salt Spring Island, BC V8K 1Z7, Canada.
We hope to hear from you soon — before everything falls apart! 
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We are located in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, about halfway between Eugene and Corvallis in the foothills. The commute to Eugene is 30 minutes and to Corvallis about 40.
Looking for others who would like to split the costs of all living expenses, including rent and utilities, sharing resources and helping to develop a way to generate income that will benefit everyone involved. Joint ownership will also be considered.
Ideal partners will be those who are living close to nature already and realize that the “business as usual” mentality is gone and won’t be coming back, not at our homestead anyways. They will share our great respect for nature and know that without it we can’t and won’t survive. They will be good communicators who are enthusiastic and creative (passion to create). Motivated couples, young families and/or individuals who share our concerns about climate change, resource depletion and surviving together through collapse of the current system, as we know it. We have enough space where all can live together harmoniously with separate living quarters determined by consensus of all concerned. There are a variety of options available. Kitchen and laundry facilities will be shared.
In considering our homestead, we appreciate others who enjoy actively working/stewarding the land. Ideally, we want to work together with our homesteading partners to find better ways to utilize the land we are tending: (water conservation, intensive sustainable planting, composting and organic planting) along with other mutually beneficial plans for farming. Using all of our talents/ideas and experiences to grow one or several businesses together would be a plus along with the desire to continue the arrangement for an extended period of time.
Our property is five acres, all usable with a gently sloped southern exposure and 55 4×26′ raised beds, approximately 250′ of berries. We also have a young orchard of apple and pear trees. A creek runs along the bottom of our property (not on it) and a large tract of heavily wooded land lies beyond it (120+ acres).
Other resources:
10×15′ greenhouse
Diesel tractor with attachments, though our garden is tended by hand with no power equipment, has been “no till” for the last five years.
Free range chickens
Barn (with second floor space) that has electric and water (needs work).
Woodworking equipment for repairs and a possible small business
Our home also has a flex-area for that can be used for classroom space, yoga or bodywork, massage therapy, an art studio (or other venture).
Additional interests include growing and processing food (canning, drying, etc). We would like our partners to share and collaborate with the garden, food preservation, and marketing the farmstead
We have considered workshops targeting sustainable practices, setting up a network with the community for bartering or bulk food purchasing and would also like to incorporate animal husbandry, mechanical, sewing, carpentry and renewable energy skills.
If interested, please contact us with more specifics about long-term plans, interests and abilities as well as any financial or other resources you have to share.
Link on food storage: http://www.mudcitypress.com/mudkost.html
Our blog: http://embracingcollapse.blogspot.com/
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SEEKING like-minded folks to share our simple lives in rural Missouri.
My wife and I are both 35 and civil engineers by profession. In the last decade, our world view has profoundly shifted from the conventional “you are born, go to school, work, work, work, retire and die” to life is meant to be lived NOW and not deferred to the future.
Not being born in wealthy families, we have had to work to build a small nest egg. Currently, I work as an environmental engineer (Note: my job has nothing to do with protecting the environment, only abusing it more while filling out paperwork appropriately) while my wife is a stay-at-home mom, having worked as a structural engineer for 6 years. I plan on quitting my job by the end of the year or thereabouts.
We have a 3 year old daughter to whom we do not want to pass on the cultural messages we were exposed to growing up. Rather, we want her to grow up in as close to our prehistorical ancestral setting as is possible.
We have (more so I than my wife) come to believe that the only truly sustainable way of life is what we arrogantly and derogatorily call the “stone age”. But for various pragmatic reasons, including the fact that we are vegetarians and essentially have no wilderness survival skills, we are trying to find balance in voluntary simplicity and living as close to the land as possible.
We firmly believe in the healing powers of nature and the company of other like-minded people.
We find joy in natural parenting (non-coercive, co-sleeping, extended in-arms phase) and watching our daughter growing up into a happy, quasi-wild child and desperately seek for her the social nurturing that can only come from living with a varied group of people of all ages.
My wife and I are originally from India where we spent the first 22+ years of our life and have mixed feelings about the manner in which we were raised. While we grew up in the typical informal social setting widespread in India, we do not have extensive experience in communal living.
We are big believers of our experiences and have no patience for politics, sky-god(s), sin, reincarnation and the like. If forced to label our views, would call ourselves agnostic-animists.
We believe that health is wealth and consider organic/whole foods a wise investment.
If you are interested in an alliance, please email us at rschwarzg@gmail.com.
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Married couple, no kids, one dog, one cat — 30 and 35 y/o exploring opportunities for durable living arrangements. We have been consciously amassing relevant skills for the last seven years and following trends for ten. Very well versed in the collapse conversation.
Him: college educated; work experience in communications, construction, landscaping and cooking. Currently a certified wilderness EMT and combat tracker; weapons/tactics and wilderness survival instructor — training Law enforcement, civilian contractors and Special Forces.
Her: college educated; world traveler; certified permaculturist; master gardener; highly skilled in herbology, compost creation/maintenance, food preservation and community networking.
We are not immersed in political, religious and consumer ideology. Quasi- (small l) libertarian/anarcho-primitivism is probably the closest thing to a label we would accept. That said, we are both by nature the types to avoid conflict as much as possible and take care of ourselves. Simultaneously, we each work well with others when terms and expectations are clear.
Our social skills are as developed as those above, if not more so. We admire true diplomacy, tolerance tempered with the abilities to accept reality and adapt accordingly. For the most part we are normal, stable and personable people who seek the same. In addition, we have each spent significant time employed as instructors and are capable of adequately sharing knowledge.
On a more grounded note, we are both in excellent physical condition and can flat out work. We have each spent years toiling in the dirt, in the woods, in classrooms, in the field, in kitchens, offices and various places in between. We are not looking for a sharecropping scenario per se. Instead, we specifically require either A) equal partners or B) an equal deal (though in a scenario like this we are very realistic about the many permutations wherein equality might be found and/or negotiated based on contributions and skills).
We do have a somewhat substantial amount of liquid capital to invest as well as a highly substantial store of goods and appropriate equipment.
Please forward your interest to Guy McPherson, as he is facilitating this effort: grm@ag.arizona.edu.
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Karen and Mike Sliwa are two former high school teachers from Phoenix, Arizona who have decided to stop chasing a paycheck and start pursuing a durable set of living conditions. They are looking to work for room and board on homesteads and farms worldwide. The Sliwas are also willing to care-take and house-sit as needed. Their skills include basic construction and plumbing, gardening, milking, cheese making, animal care, and a variety of daily chores that come along with sustainable living practices. If you would like to know more about them please visit http://www.cactusnewsonline.com/carrotchasing/
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Greetings fellow Doomers:
I’m pleased to be a part of this movement and glad for the collapse of the prevailing planet-destroying order. Future generations will undoubtedly look back at the late-industrial era and scratch their heads in total disbelief. So, on to the future …
I’ve been studying and practicing organic agriculture for three years: experimenting with an urban garden in Chicago, wwoofing at two small farms in Michigan, and also helping out at Strawbale Studio (http://strawbalestudio.org/). I am well-versed and skilled in sustainable design & construction, with 20+ years of experience in engineering, architecture, design and planning. In addition to concerns about health, ecology, and the food chain, my love of cooking inspires me to cultivate fresh veggies, herbs and berries near my kitchen, to share with all.
I am passionately interested in the re-localization of economies … agriculture, building, energy, manufacturing, textiles, medicine, journalism, and the arts … authentic creativity and craftsmanship that come only from a Zen-merging of mind, body and soul. The People need to preserve and safeguard these knowledge bases and critical skills. We must take such matters back into our own hands as some industries are too important to be left to the profit motive that extracts true wealth (natural capital, clean environment, labor hours, genuine relationships) from the local economy. Rebuilding culture and communities from the ground up will be the next primary concern and enterprise of humanity. I am seeking to work with like-minded people to recreate human-scaled economies and humane modes of existence on this gorgeous, finite planet that is our source of all sustenance.
My highest skills are in design+build … shelters, garden structures, furniture. So if you need affordable housing or a solar shower, a passive solar addition, chicken tractor … I am especially interested in helping in this regard. I’ve owned and run a small design/build company for 15 years and have strong business skills … web and graphic design, databases, marketing, cost estimating, project management. I gladly offer help in these areas if it would benefit your community.
Please drop by my website at www.ehrlum.com to view samples of my craft, and see my resume at http://ehrlum.com/gabportfolio/resume.pdf for complete info on my education and skills.
I am single, no children, pets, mortgage or leases. I am highly mobile and motivated, and I look forward to hearing from you.
Best regards,
Gregg Brazel
gregg@ehrlum.com
