Merry Christmas, wherever you are.

Hi Folks,

I'm not your normal Blogging Voice. Christmas is a funny time, and the ecovillage changes this time of year. Many leave to visit family, some stay close to home and have people in. Common Meals may be quiet, or full of new faces of company that has come to see what all the fuss is about. The one thing you can count on is that The Villagers are with loved-ones, in one form or another.

My voice comes from afar. Edmonton to be exact, where my husband and I live as Neighbours-In-Waiting with our children. When you fall in love with a home that is so far away from your... well... home, you feel a calling to make the trek at the Holidays. To see the overwhelming progress the village has made since you last visited, to reconnect with your future neighbours, and even to steady your resolve of moving towards the unknown. Sometimes moving a province away seems scary and even foolish. We have good friends here, you see. And compared to many of our fellow suburbians, I really think we have excellent relations with neighbours. Throughout the years we've collected so many wonderful people and I can proudly tell you I know at least 8 of our neighbours well enough to exchange baked-goods with this time of year. There are days, as much as we love the ecovillage, when we suddenly start to think we should just stay put. Why give up what we know is good? Why are we moving oh-so-far-away when we have so much going for us here?

When we realize we're slipping, we know we need to make the trek back to Yarrow to replenish and remind ourselves why we're moving. This year we planned a trip out for Christmas. A gruelling 16 hour trip through snowy mountains with three young children. We were crushed when it turned out we wouldn't be able to make the trip. Some things went south for us with some spontaneous renovations we are doing in order to ready our home for sale when we finally get to move into Groundswell.

This is the kind of neighbourhood you buy into at the ecovillage folks. After letting some of the neighbours know that we wouldn't be able to make it this time we got a call; they would come to us! One of the families who had some other family in the area decided they could change up their Christmas plans and make the trip to us.

So here I sit in Edmonton with ten of us gaily enjoying each other's company. Six kids, four adults, a few board games and wine. The kids are playing splendidly, and we're enjoying every minute of it. It gives us a good taste of what village life will be like; people around to help with dishes, fantastic meals made by one and enjoyed by many, kids with playmates. However the greater thing we're moving to is neighbours that will drop everything (even Christmas plans) for you when need it.

So Merry Christmas to you folks! Wherever you are. If you're a Resident, I hope to see you soon. If you're a fellow Neighbour-In-Waiting, I can't wait to be neighbours with you. If you are just a curious onlooker from afar I highly recommend you make your own trek out to see what all the fuss is about. Maybe in the New Year.

NutShell Niblets #23- - November 22nd, 2010

Ann's very personal, highly biased and incomplete guide to the ecovillage ... in a nutshell.

Stream Team

On Friday November 19th, two instructors Dan and Jeremy from Columbia Bible College, brought their class of Environmental Sustainability/Outdoors students to work on our Stream rehab project.

Workparty events ---from Shauna

I just wanted to update everyone on how the Work Party went with Dan and his class on Friday. We were a little worried about the sudden change in weather, but they arrived gung ho, & ready to go. So we all moseyed on over to the creek, talking about what we do here at YES the whole way. Once we got out there, Joe' took over and showed them what needed to be done, and we all went to it. And wow, they must have been really tired of sitting, because they pulled those canes faster than we could have ever anticipated. We had all the canes pulled, the willow pruned, the leaf mulch laid, and the logs moved away from the bridge, all within only 2 hours. AMAZING! We really didn't ask that much of them, but they were tackling anything we threw at them and were asking for more. lol.
After all the work was done, everybody came back and washed up for lunch in the Bunker Silo. After lunch we had a quick presentation regarding Stream Restoration, and about how the work they did helped. Many, many thanks to instructors Dan and Jeremy and their class of Quest sustainability students!
The day was a Huge Success, everyone. Thank you so much to Ann for lunch, Joe for hard work and energy, Michael for the tractor , Gerry for washing water
Editor's note: Shauna brought everyone together in a wonderful, enthusiastic way and pulled off a highly enjoyable and productive day. Thank you Shauna!
　
What's a CSA Box? .... Animal, Vegetable or Mineral ?

In the spring, when the first vegetables are ready for harvesting, we'll be able to buy fresh produce from our farmers on a weekly basis.
Community Shared Agriculture) (CSA) is a socio-economic model of agriculture and food distribution. A CSA consists of a community of individuals who pledge support to a farming operation where the growers and consumers share the risks and benefits of food production. CSAs usually consist of a system of weekly delivery or pick-up of vegetables and fruit, in a vegetable box scheme, and sometimes includes dairy products and meat.(Wiki)
Lucky us!
　
We love TED http://www.ted.com/talks
TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas worth spreading -- through TED.com, our annual conferences, the annual TED Prize
and TEDx which is designed to give communities, organizations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at the local level. TEDx events are fully planned and coordinated independently, on a community-by-community basis
From Michael- Brene' Brown - connection and vulnerability- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4Qm9cGRub0
from Britta- Jeremy Rifkin --- Empathetic Civilization http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReQ4iuTNYtA
From Liz - John Hardy off-the-grid school in Bali http://www.ted.com/talks/john_hardy_my_green_school_dream.html
from Cher - the Story of Stuff http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GorqroigqM
　
November's Groundswell Community Meeting
Many, many of us gathered - residents and new buyers ... we're out-growing our meeting spaces!
In a nutshell...
To determine our Strata fees, we're going to go with a levy system that is combination of - household, person and and assessed value. For example- Snow-clearing would be per household, water use by #persons in household, and insurance by assessed value. Our Adhoc Strata Team of Beverly, Maureen and others will take the next steps and bring back their findings and recommendations to the next meeting for consensus.
Britta and Krishna presented their initiatives for counting Work Contribution Hours. We're learning from the experience of other cohousers that yes, hours do need to be counted so that we know who's doing what, what work is needed, workers are accountable and contributions are appreciated. Folks will either undertake a set minimum number of hours per month, or pay for someone else to do it. We're going for an easy-to-manage, no-hassle system of advance post-dated cheques for a dollar value of a minimum work requirement, to be refunded if work-hours are completed. And there'll be some sensible flexibility in there, too. We're not slave-drivers ready to crack a blaming whip.

NutShell Niblets #22- - November 4th, 2010

Ann's very personal, highly biased and incomplete guide to the ecovillage ... in a nutshell.
　
　
How much does it cost to live here?

Beverly has finished and finessed identifying each home-unit on the plan, that're still available to buy, attaching an appropriate price for its lease and approximating reasonable construction costs. If you're interested in seeing how you'd fit in here, please let us know by replying to welcome@yarrowecovillage.ca and Beverly will take you through the available homes on her site plan.

At this weekend's Community Meeting, the group of current and soon-to-be residents will decide the first steps of figuring out our strata fees. ( The monthly fee homeowners will pay for shared expenses - regular maintenance, insurance, contingency fund etc) Will we count a fair share by household? by number of people in each household? by assessment of home value ? ..... or .... might we try a combination? -- to mitigate for those on fixed incomes, with families, spreadout in larger/squeezed in smaller units?

If you were here right now, we'd expect that you would join us in tussling this out. It might not even be very easy ... consensus takes effort and practice. But you'd be part of the decision-making that affects your everyday life. And you wouldn't be paying your fees to some mysterious, remote management company. We'd be figuring it all out together, for our own benefit.

Same thing with creating this village by building homes... we're doing it ourselves, for our own benefit.

Now, that's a good deal of the good deal!
　
　
Shark Sighting

I walk along the north side of our stretch of Stewart Creek, coming back from a morning walk with the black dog. The fall rye that's planted for ground cover is poking spears through the straw that was laid on top, making a strong matrix to protect the soil. The growth happens so quickly, you could be fooled into thinking it's spring. But there's snow on the cap of Mt. Cheam to the east. It's winter coming, not anything warm!

We're moving ahead, with Dept of Fisheries' help, to stabilise and plant the newly cleared north bank. Joe' has been rooting Osier Dogwood cuttings so they take hold this winter and coming spring. The next steps are to bring in nurse logs that provide good habitat for young trees and keep whacking back any blackberry canes. Vigilance is required.

On the days after rain, the stream swells and rushes through the channel, making many varied whorls and eddies as it floods into the swim-hole. In one quick glance, I see a large dorsal fin rise from the water and surge forward. A fin as large as my hand! Joe and Shayne say there are seven kinds of fish in Stewart Creek and salmon make it as far as the next road over, swimming through channels in the stream-grass that the otters have kept open.

As we replant and restore this stretch, we hope to be able to inspire our neighbours to make changes to their sections of creek too, and bring back the species of flora and fauna that thrive in and around healthy, productive waters. Perhaps this is where the learning centre we want to create is; with the rush of water under the shade of evergreen trees, the birds singing in the bushes and fish returning to spawn.
　
Our Next Door Neighbours
- first in a series to introduce you to the interesting people who live in Yarrow

Shelley White.
Shelley is the hard-working nurse, doting new grandmother, friendly,cheerful community member and talented potter who lives next door. You can slide through the hedge at the end of our row of houses and into the glory of dahlias that is her garden. They're fading now with recent cool nights , but they have been leaning their brilliantly colourful faces over the fence, our way, for months now.

They're a riot of colours that make me dance inside. Shelley tells me she has at least a hundred varieties. "It's one of my passions", she says.

One? There are more ... besides being a full-time nurse?

Yes! Creating elegant, wearable jewelry rings Shelley's bells. And making functional, everyday, beautiful pottery is another passion.

Shelley is talented with her glazes and hand-wrought shapes. Her firing technique is raku, an ancient Japanese art that produces unique and remarkable finishes. Take a look at how Shelley uses horsehair to make startling lines. Truly!

Stroll through her showroom chock full with easily buyable bowls, mugs, plates, and pots and try to come out empty handed!. It's a treat to visit- these are pottery pieces to treasure and use in daily life.

Let the beauty we love, be what we do. (Rumi)

And the beauty of Shelley is what she does, and who she is, in our village.

Visit her and her studio on Erkert Street , one block to the west of us. Open many weekends and at the Chilliwack Christmas Craft sale- November 19th to 21st http://www.chilliwackartscouncil.com/index.php?id=51
　
My Life Here...
　
I have noticed for the very first time, that the glory of leaf's fall colour extends in a long sliver up the stem too. A crimson leaf has a crimson stem.

At dusk, when I stand in quiet on the bridge over the stream, ducks in loose flocks wheel in circles and peep to each other as they settle for the night into the hazelnut groves.

A small boy with guileless stealth opens my front door and slides unannounced into my spare bedroom to find the PlayMobil. My house is within his familiar realm; he will learn to knock before he is four. In the minute before I call his parents, I revel in a special feeling of his belonging, and mine.
　
http://www.stopandenjoyyarrow.com/

Consuelo is creating a website for businesses in Yarrow to buy in and promote their wares and services. She is building relationships between our eco-community and the village of Yarrow. Working together, we'll flourish together
　
Julia says....
I was surfing the web over at Moosewood Restaurant, and found this paragraph. I think it defines Consensus really well and I wanted to share that with you....

Consensus is a widely misunderstood process, and we're still learning how to best use it. It's not just another word for unanimity. The discussions that happen on the way to consensus raise lots of alternatives and disagreement. People have to keep paying attention. Someone has to summarize once in a while to keep ideas alive and available. When someone objects to a proposal, it's not always easy or popular to say so or explain why. We're constantly learning the importance of dissent, listening to each other, and being patient. When we reach agreement, we may not have found the ideal solution, but we believe it's the best we can do for the time being. And when the decision doesn't reflect our personal opinion, the hard part is having the self-discipline to support the group decision and to consciously avoid undermining it. This is a more challenging lesson.

Keep in mind, they have been doing this since 1973...... Julia

read more at http://www.moosewoodrestaurant.com/collective.html

Blog-happy!

Happiness is a website with blog that reflects how we are... a great team of folks, working at our best and creating the village we all want to live in and share.
Thank you , thank you, website team!

ECo-mmunity Bulletin #20 October 14th 2010

NutShell Niblets-
Ann's highly personal, mostly true, meant to inform and amuse , guide to the ecovillage ... in a nutshell.

Repair-ian Zone-Last week --- to our surprise and delight, an excavator arrives and in a twinkling, rips out and buries one hundred metres of blackberry canes on the north side of our creek. Wow! Then, if that's not enough, the Stream-Dream Team band wagon, looking a lot like a stagecoach at full gallop, pulls up. Joe', our enthusiatic conductor, springs out . . "Hey, you, Native Plant enthusiasts! Let's repair our riparian zone!" He yells. "I have ideas and drawings ... come and see! Jump on board, bring your ideas, too! We can do this together!" ( to get put onto our google doc discussion, email Matthew -Team lead mattredekop@gmail.com and Joe Tessier - joetessier_ca@yahoo.com)Waste waterNo news, but steady progress of the right kind.Carpentry ShopAt our last Community meeting, we decided together where to put the shared carpentry shop.... at the south end of our Groundswell parking. And then, with the generosity and resiliency of an ecovillage farmer, Soban moved his precious fruit trees, making room for the new building. Thank you, Soban. In the spring, his newly-placed plum trees will dance and blossom in a spritely row on his acre's westerly border. I can't wait to see them.Our Town - the LibraryI was going to write about the many virtues of our local library--- only three blocks away on the other side of the road, and part of the Fraser Valley library system, so one can order special books on-line and pick them up 5 minutes walk away.Join the Ad Hoc Team for South of creek acres useWe decided at the last Community Meeting, that we need to coordinate the many ideas for future uses and needs of the South pasture. There's buffers, zones, fields, lanes, paths, barns, fences, greenhouses, mountains and molehills ... all need planning. Email Tam to join in. tamara.bonnemaison@gmail.com

Wow!!! The energy! I like to stand beside Joe' so even a little of his life-force can rub off on me. Keeps me young!

But I had a hot-toasted chicken and brie panini from the Deli's new menu yesterday and it was so delicious I've determined that I'll spend less time reading and more time eating. I have the rest of Shauna's latest specialty delectables to work my way through. I'm going to borrow dvd's from the library instead, so I can watch and eat in style.

Inspirations... I'm making a list of useful, interesting books and websites to recommend to newbie Groundswellians....any contributions you'd like to add? Would you like to write a book report and we'll create a bibliography on our website?Diana Leafe ChristianMarshall Rosenberg’s vision has been to teach people of any age, gender, ethnicity or background a much more effective alternative. At present, hundreds of certified NVC trainers and suppporters are teaching NVC skills to people from all walks of life around the globe. 　One of the familes in Middle Road Community in Nelson is selling their home. If you know anyone looking for a Co-Housing Community in the Kootenays, here are the details.
http://www.bchomesforsale.com/view/nelson/lilli/Default.htmAnd... we have Groundswell homes for sale too, of course. Put your money down now and receive a dandy bous off the final purchase price. Buy two, and rent one out later!: www.dianaleafechristian.org/ 'Creating a Life Together' --- Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and intentional communities--- New Society Publishers ---

Charles Durrett - www.cohousingco.com 'Cohousing' A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves' We've employed Chuck and his wife Katie McCamant to great effect in 5 planning workshops thta have made our dreams real and achievable.

Marshall Rosenburg --- Non-Violent Communication -- www.cnvc.org/

Since developing the Nonviolent Communication (NVC) process in the 1960’s,

Christopher Alexander - 'A Pattern Language' http://www.patternlanguage.com/

presents a theory of architecture, building and planning with an archetypal language which allows lay people to design for themselves.

Tree Bressen- facilitition trainer for group process in intentional communities ... http://treegroup.info/

Owning your own Ecovillage home

ECo-mmunity Bulletin #19 --- NutShell Niblets- - Sept 27th 2010

Ann's very personal, highly biased and incomplete guide to the ecovillage ... in a nutshell.





House Colours

Chuck Durrett has asked us to consider two different methods to pick house colours for the new village. Either we strike a committee and choose our own, or find architect-designers to do it for us.

Not surprisingly, his strong recommendation was the latter. At the last workshop, he showed us some villages where the home-owners picked the colours and it wasn't pretty. To be sure, Windsong Cohousing has recently re-painted their housefronts and it looks great, but our Coco (coordination) Team is thinking it takes an experienced group to pull that off successfully, and is recommending to the Community Meeting that we ask Chuck to include colour in his final plan. ( And no doubt it would be a culminating pleasure for him in the designing of our village, don't you think?).

Also, Coco has noted that it works very well at Windsong that each household is distinguished by its own colour. Would we want Chuck to do that for us, too? Bring yourcolourful comments to the Community Meeting on October 3rd.



There's been a

Groundswell of support for Blackberry CommonsAlan Carpenter has given us a spirited defense of Blackberry Commons as our new name -

"I have been trying out 'Blackberry' and have come to really like it. Blackberries are relentless, and fight back no matter what. To get this far, we have had to be relentless and always there, no matter what, just like the blackberries.
Also, often we may have been a thorn in someone's side, but we are still here."Alan's comments have inspired a number of other fiesty supporters forBlackberry. There are yet others who are keen on Groundswell (for good reason, I might add) . Our minds are open for more ideas until Sept 30 at midnight. Britta has set her alarm.



Red Card -



Our Facilitation Team members have pointed out a mistake in my previous Niblets explanation of the coloured card system use in the Naming process. A Red Card is a much more serious indication of feeling than I had said, and as such, should be a rare occurence.

Tree Bressen, facilitation trainer, says " In a well-functioning group, blocks (our red card) shouldn't happen very often. Consensus guru Caroline Estes is known for saying that a person should only block up to half a dozen times in their lifetime, total, for all the groups they participate in."

Read more abut blocking at http://treegroup.info/topics/A9-blocking.html

So, if you're not at all keen on one of the name suggestions, it's a

yellow card. A red card would indicate you think our community is contradicting its own values, and in a way that's kept you wake in the night.Say! Here's another name idea-- "Green Card Commons". I'm going to stop thinking of new names as of right now. But just because I have, doesn't mean you committed ecovillagers shouldn't. Send any last name ideas to Britta and then be prepared to cast your email vote between October 1st and 10th.



Stream cleanup- Blackberries (or Weeds) Rule!

I've been looking at the bank of blackberries (and canary grass) along the creek with a certain amount of apprehension. When the time comes for stream rehabilitation, how will we ever remove those dastardly canes !?! A healthy creek is good permaculture and besides, I just plain want to see and enjoy the stream more! But, oooouuuch, those thorns!

I'm hearing a Matthew-generated (true) rumour that Dept of Fisheries will help in the removal the blackberries , when we can present a plan for how we'll then keep them cleared away.

There's help available! Isn't that a fantastic concept?

Knowing how we'll remove that massive bank has me sleeping better at night, reassured that if we name ourselves Blackberry Commons, and say "Blackberries Rule!" then that's us, and not them!



A fantastic gift idea



.... give your loved one a gift certificate for a pampering or healing massage from our in-village Massage Therapist.

Genevieve, RMT in Quebec, has a portable table and gifted hands! Leave her a message on 823-0088's massage (that's French for message) machine.



A wee gift idea for the Ecovillage, while you're still thinking early Christmas.



Does anyone have a few hours to spare in the next week, to fill out some forms and take a few pictures, to submit to the Ministry of Environment for stream crossing for waste water pipes? Thereby saving us from hiring the (expensive) engineer from doing it? It's easy, peasy for anyone who's good at filling out forms. Call Yonas (and I'll throw you an apple pie ... sorry, I won't throw, I'll hand over gently!)



Rail for the Valley

http://railforthevalley.wordpress.com/2010/09/20/groundbreaking-report-on-interurban-light-rail-released-today/

Rail For The Valley is extremely excited to announce the release of a

comprehensive independent analysis of the potential for light rail service on the existing and publicly owned Interurban Rail Corridor, connecting communities from Chilliwack to Vancouver with an affordable, sustainable public transportation system. The study, now complete, was performed by Leewood Projects.Leewood Projects is a British-based company that has professional expertise in light rail solutions, providing comprehensive project management and planning services to the international railway industry. Leewood Projects has in the past had involvement in prestigious rail projects such as the Channel Tunnel.

Beverly says

I read the report, and I think I've figured out where the Yarrow/Cultus Lake stop would be -- 1 km from the ecovillage on Yarrow Central Road!

The report suggests that trains would run every 20 to 30 minutes and that it would take about 70 minutes from here to Surrey skytrain.

This is the most comprehensive light rail study ever undertaken in this province, performed by a company with professional expertise in light rail solutions. This report at long last provides us with an honest accounting of the potential for light rail service on the Interurban corridor.

-John Buker, Founder, Rail For The Valley


Poem of the Week

Moon on the water

broken and broken again.

Still it is there

Basho

Community Bulletin #18 --- NutShell Chunks- organic, unsalted - Sept 21th 2010

Ann's very personal, highly biased and incomplete guide to the ecovillage ... in a nutshell.

Dream House

What's my idea of a dream home?

I bet you think that I already have mine ... a timber-framed, cordwood beauty with a view to die for. I love it, I do. But I said 'dream', and mine's a reality, so it doesn't count. The dream homes I have in mind, are being built right outside my window ... units 1/2 and 11/13.

The new construction of homes next door are dreams coming true, because they're being build by all of us ... in collaboration ... they're being built with love, care, attention and ... extra insulation for warmth in the winter and coolth in the summer.

Imagine!

Our neighbours are wielding the hammers, over-seeing the quality of construction, choosing eco-features, putting money to good work and understanding what creates community. They're making homes for new friends in cohousing, nested in an Ecovillage. And you're included in all sorts of ways, because that's what cohousing is - people making their own villages.

Does this make your dream home, too?

And lest you think I've gone off the deep end of idealism ...well, I have, and it's okay!

I hope you know me by now, that I write from a personal perspective about what I see really going on here. Warts and all - septic systems, construction loans, struggles of all kinds. I don't hold back. I want you to know what you're in for, when you come here.

And I can write about beauty, seeking, pleasure, simplicity, friendship and abundance, too, just as easily and sincerely.

So tell me, am I being starry-eyed, or realistic?

　

Lots more Beauty on the way.

Consuelo, our newest Village shopkeeper, is setting up a 'Beauty Booth' snuggled under the Chestnut trees, beside the Deli. This new location for her retail shop puts her into our commercial zoning and allows her to sell all manner of good stuff, besides her beauty and skin merchanise. She'll continue the manufacturing part at the end of what we affectionately call the 'Machine Shed'

Ecovillage Money : First installment :

Construction Financing- where it comes from, where it goes, and how we make very good use of it in between.

Prepare to be inspired!

Here's the conventional way to finance construction ... it works here at the village, too.

Buyers: you make a down payment, securing your chosen unit. If you need financing to buy a home, you approach a lending institution and determine your qualification for a conventional take-out mortgage, (your on-going monthly payments after move-in), based on your credit rating, income and ability to pay it back, etc. There are various servicing costs involved in this process.

In the meantime, Cohousing Village, as the builder, gets construction financing from a financial institution, based on the total amount of money raised from new purchasers, (or from Chief - more about this special option later). The more our members raise, the less we have to ask from the banks. The bank or credit union supplies the funds to the builder in stages, as the building progesses.

Of course, if you have the necessary savings, you may be able to pay for your home outright, instead. (Perhaps you've been able to sell a home prior to coming.) You would supply your own financing as construction progresses, just as a conventional lender would do. You'll be saving on the extra charges and interest that banks would have added on, had you gone that direction. And there are additional routes for circumstances where you haven't yet sold your previous house, but I don't know what they are. Luckily there are knowledgeable people to ask!

OR ... You can take advantage of

a special and extra option here in the cohousing world. You may pay the whole amount right up front, and receive a discount dividend off the final purchase price. You'll have saved Coho from borrowing money and paying interest, and so you can share in the benefit of that.



Now something special

- CHIEF investments to contribute to, or benefit from.

CHIEF

You too, and your friends as well, may invest, and choose either to support a particular unit ( your own, or a friend's) or construction in general. Unless you're rolling it into your own purchase, you'll be given the opportunity to withdraw your investment upon completion of the specific building, or asked if you'd like to keep your money in for a longer term.

A number of the units here have taken the Chief route, and avoided the rigmarole of conventional construction financing. As a result, they have saved the many extra charges a bank would have demanded. Also, folks who might not otherwise qualify for regular financing, receive the support of cohousing friends, who understand, in a way banks and even credit unions don't, how stable and safe an investment in cohousing is.

This is an excellent and easy way to participate in the creation of the Ecovillage, putting your money where your heart is.

This has been an artist's summary of how construction financing works here... we have folks here who are talented at finding creative funding options and can give you lots more details. ( And I'm expecting that you'd ask them penetrating questions to make sure my portrayal of cohousing and Chief as safe investments is accurate.) Try them!

is a lending, investing and borrowing vehicle, administered by Alan Carpenter. CHIEF (Cohousing Investment Equity Fund) was created especially for the support and creation of cohousing villages. Friends of cohousing invest their money in Chief and receive a reasonable return, about 5% per annum, based on the risk and length of time of the investment. Chief funds currently are being put towards construction financing at Yarrow Ecovillage, and are properly secured by a mortgage on the property.



The next Ecovillage Money installment will cover-- What you get with your purchase price... the land lease, the house unit purchase and a share of common facilities. And the realtor fee - what about that? Stay tuned.

Community Bulletin #17 --- NutShell Niblets --- September 13th 2010

Ann's very personal, highly biased and incomplete guide to the village ... in a nutshell.

Sunday's Community Meeting - in a nutshell

It was raining, the loft was chillier than expected, the facilitation was excellent. We discussed --Strata fees, Waste water treatment, and How to share more information. I coerced the group to make animal noises and Yonas gave a development report. We wish you'd been there too, but did okay without you.

Surprise!

The folks who are building houses right now, want to be able to move in when they're finished and flush their toilets. Can you believe how fussy they are ??? They want to flush!

Just kidding.

But seriously, the Solar Aquatics waste water company hasn't started digging yet, the current system isn't large enough to accommodate these homes without spending more money and we want these families to move into their homes as expeditously as possible. I see some worried faces. But you know what? We're all in this together, and at the October 3rd Community Meeting 1pm -3pm - together- we'll make sure it happens.

Families will be flushing soon.

Strata fees-

At our Community Meeting on Sunday, Beverly and Maureen presented an exercise from their Ad Hoc Strata-fee-determining Team, to get us moving towards a consensus of how we'll pay for the everyday, shared, expenses of living here. And so we have no surprises later, they asked us first to brainstorm and then list all the possible fees we might need to cover - from lawn-mowing to house insurance and Common House maintenance etc. And next, they asked how we might balance various ways of determining fairness in paying--- by household --- by assessed value -- by square footage etc. Wearing various 'hats' like 'single person in small unit' and 'large family in large house' we put ourselves into others' situations and expressed our/their values and concerns about the various routes.

For example- If we determine by income level, it is certainly a way to share payment responsibility between those who have plenty, and those with less; but it might challenge folks' wish for privacy about their sharing their income information.

Community Bulletin #14 --- Nutshell Niblets

August 25th, 2010

Chuck This Weekend



This is the last and best workshop before the Maestro ( Chuck Durrett www.cohousingco.com) turns toward the audience, bows and leaves us with our final plans for our Site, Common House, Outbuildings, Landscaping and Private home layouts. Visitors welcome to tour our village on Friday at 10am (free -- RSVP) and observe our workshop on Saturday at $40 per household with lunch - (RSVP).

We're Not Seniors (and We love Kids but Don't Want to Live with Them) Cohousing



Our cohousing plans for adults above the shops in the front are going ahead with gusto. Come and meet Chuck . Friday at 2pm in the barn loft --- RSVP to Alan Carpenter- alan.carpenter@gmail.com






New people in new homes



Welcome to these recent red letter folks... you're hardly here yet and we love you already!

These folks are moving into new homes the next several months: Krishna, Britta, Joe', Tam and Joel , Shauna and Nevin,

These are hot on their heels next spring or sooner: Maureen and Ken, Beverly and Matthew, Janice and Bill, Brenda and Jim, Linda , Cheryl, Yonas and Julia, Shayne and Cher, Allan and Lin

And these folks are waiting in the wings : Nicole and Robin, Dorothy and Meg, Vivian and Paul, Marjanne, Liz,

Everything you need to know about Chuck’s Design Closure Workshop - August 26-29

Charles Durrett –www.cohousingco.com – Planner-Designer Extraordinaire of our Village since Jan 2010

Chuck is here to finalise and affirm plans for our site, our common house, and private homes.

Friday August 27th

10am --- Tour of Ecovillage (RSVP if coming!)

Anniversary Celebration on Saturday, August 21 @ 7:00

Come celebrate ten years since the founders began meeting and eight years since the land was purchased! The concert and celebration will be upstairs in the old barn at 7:00.

August 28 Design Closure Workshop

Everybody please come

Saturday August 28^th one day only Design Closure Workshop

“The Return of Chuck”



Chuck Durrett ( www.cohousingco.com) is our Finesser of Fine-tuning and Master of Moving On. Our village is hot! Come see our final plans and buy a new home!

Chuck will bring together all of our village planning --- common house, mixed use (shops, businesses and the second floor housing in our front town square) and our private co-housing homes, in

one concluding and glorious workshop

Cohousing Slide Show any one?

Draft Site Plan

This is still a work in progress: we'll finalize quite a few things when Chuck returns on August 28. That hot tub probably needs to move somewhere else, but this is where we're at right now. (Units 3-6 are already built and units 7-10 are more than halfway done, so they won't be moving anywhere!)

About ten homes are still available.

Community Intensive at Yarrow Ecovillage

[caption id="attachment_665" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Marjanne and the tea"][/caption]

The sixth community intensive for Tree Bressen's BC cohousing students was here in Yarrow. The weekend was heavy and light: we're feeling more together as we push forward with more building and more decisions.

I'll let others write about the deep and meaningful stuff. I especially enjoyed Linda's amazing food and singing under starlight with cohousers from all over BC. Daniel's guitar was magical, and I am hungry to learn all of Dorothy's songs.

Ann took loads of pictures.

[caption id="attachment_668" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Britta and Ken"][/caption]

Otesha this Monday

Otesha will be here on Monday (not Sunday), July 5. Here's a link to their site: http://www.otesha.ca/.

It's going to be a great show at 7:00; supper will be a potluck (Indian food theme!) beforehand. Come on by!

Green in Tooth

I haven’t written a Village Tale in a long time, but still every morning, as before, I take the same walk with the same black dog, down our lane to the pasture at the foot of Vedder Mountain.  (My previous Tales are near the bottom of the blog on our website)

It used to be, not long ago, that I could go over the stream’s bridge and down the truck tracks to the back corner and the apple trees.  But now the grass is high, dense and wet and no-one but a deer has been there for ages.   I push my way a few paces in, until I’m surrounded by a windy, noisy audience of canary grass, rubbing its grass fronds together in applause.  I soak in some gratitude and when it’s all too much, I retreat.

Beauty Shack

Here are some pictures of the Beauty Shack when we first started. I will be taking some more today and then of course at the end when we are all done!

My corporate website is www.beautifullyholisticcreations.com and my two main brands are www.outsideincosmetics.com and www.dingabear.com

Hope you are having a great day!

Yarrow Community Spirit

Where is the Yarrow Ecovillage located? Right smack in downtown Yarrow, a village with the kind of community spirit that wins awards like this.

The ecovillage itself is a treasure, and its setting is spectacular. I feel so grateful to be a part of both.

Talking about us in Boulder, Colorado

Take a look here to see a session at the 2010 National Cohousing Conference which focuses on, well, us.

CSA 2011

Joel's been around a few times in the last week: he fixed the tractor and fields seem to be getting ploughed.

Look at Tam and Joel's website: Osprey Farm. They're still in Cawston for the 2010 growing season, but they are headed this way this fall.

A dozen of us were delighted to purchase CSA boxes on Joel's last trip out: how glorious to think that this time next year, we'll be eating Osprey Farm vegetables grown right under our very noses!

Soban and Dana have been farming here for a few years now; this year, they have expanded into Michael and Suzanne's former fields. Here are some pictures from last year:

A Name of Its Own

As Yarrow Ecovillage grows and thrives, the seperate entities that form the whole will need their own names. Osprey Organic Farm will be one of our farms; the commercial/mixed use out front will be called Yarrow Central.

What will the first intergenerational cohousing be called? I'll post the brainstorm to date: please feel welcome to add your own comments and ideas. Ann is lobbying hard for Wood Duck Commons. At some point we will gather the community together to work through the list and name ourselves.

Volunteer Bees

A swarm of volunteer bees appeared last week, so Alan Carpenter phoned his wife, Tricia, whose friend Echota was on a "swarm wait list." (Who knew such things existed?) These photos show their process of collecting the bees to take them home to her hive.

We’re-Not-Seniors Seniors’ Cohousing

We’re-Not-Seniors Seniors’ Cohousing

Are you, like me, and tucking a few more years under your belt? ... feeling mature, and still capable, but knowing that if you’re to age gracefully you need to plan a home and community that still keeps your quality of life high in your latter years? Or ... do you know someone else like this?

Then you, (or they), will be interested in
Yarrow Ecovillage’s 50+ Cohousing First Organising Gathering

For meeting like-minded folks ready to share their energy and get this going.

Saturday June 19th 2pm to 4pm
Yarrow Ecovillage
3 upper -42312 Yarrow Central Road

RSVP or questions ...Ann ... 604-823-0232
Refreshments will be served

Yarrow Days Pictures (Link)

There are loads of pictures to be seen here.

Community Everything Bulletin #8

Community Everything Bulletin #8 ---- June 8, 2010
( Ann’s highly biased, incomplete and personal view of our village)

Chuck Workshop/ Yarrow Days/Welcome New Folks Weekend was hectic fun, inspiringly connective, exhilarating hard work. I’m dying to tell you all about the grand progress we’re making, but first I have to share a special joy with you.
The folks of the Farm Team are mowing the field on this side of the creek in preparation for plowing and cover cropping. Next year there will be rows of vegetables there.

T-shirt = Destiny

Yarrow Days gave us one perfect day of summer weather, mid-monsoon. This picture shows Shayne in the 1975(ish) Yarrow Days t-shirt and Matthew in the 2010 edition.

Both Chilliwack papers covered the public presentation to be given by Chuck Durrett on Friday

Both Chilliwack papers covered the public presentation to be given by Chuck Durrett on Friday:

Cohousing for boomers tackled at talk Friday by Jennifer Fineberg, Chilliwack Progress

Speaks on cohousing by Paul Henderson, Chilliwack Times

Its at 7:00 p.m. at Evergreen Hall (Slesse Room), 9291 Corbould St., in Chilliwack.

Ecovillage, like the food it produces is organic

Brian Lewis of the province wrote an article about us here:

http://www.theprovince.com/business/Ecovillage+like+food+produces+organic/3089177/story.html



Barn owl pictures by Perry Stehr

Yarrow Days 2010

If you've been looking for an excuse to poke around in Yarrow, here is the schedule for Yarrow Days June 5 & 6. (This is copied from the Yarrow Newsletter: you can pick up a copy at the deli or in the library.)

Saturday, June 5 in Yarrow Central Park

8:00 Fun Run begins at Yarrow Station 42375 Yarrow Central

10:00 parade leaves Yarrow Elementary school (Click "more" to the right to read the rest of this long list.)

Recent press

This was on page six of today's Province.

Friday, June 4, at Chilliwack's Evergreen Hall

Yarrow Days June 5 - 6

June 5 is a busy ecovillage day (Chuck unveils our new common house at 8:00), but we're taking a break at 9:45 to attend the Yarrow Days parade.

Apparently events run right through until Sunday afternoon. As I find out more, I'll keep you posted.

I found this website with pictures from last year: http://www.yarrowbc.ca/other/yarrowdays2009.html

My first Yarrow Days: can't wait!

Facebook page

If you use such things, you can "like" us on Facebook if you click here.

Growing

The houses are growing, the new gardens are growing, and so is the community. The pictures above show homes 7, 8, 9, 10 as of May 16. The beautiful people are from our community meeting on May 9. It was such a nice, sunny afternoon with great company: I'm looking forward to everyone living two minutes away instead of hours!

The next community meeting is Sunday, May 30. If you come early (1:00), you can see the...baby owls? owlings? owlets? The Fraser Valley's nurturer of barn owls, Dan Clegg, will be here to bring the nesting box down from our silo to band them.

Chuck Durrett to speak in Chilliwack June 4

FREE PRESENTATION and COHOUSING SLIDE SHOW with Charles Durrett, architect and author of Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves and The Senior Cohousing Handbook. A dynamic and entertaining speaker, he will present on cohousing as a building block of the Yarrow Ecovillage. Evergreen Hall, Chilliwack. June 4, 7 - 9 pm.

Tell your friends! (You can invite them via our Facebook event if you use such things.)

Burning ears

I just found this blog post about our open house back in March. All of Rose's pictures are beautiful!

Pod Hunks

Continuing to read and share my morning's email with you...

Ann wrote, "I brought them coffee and muffins and got 2 marriage proposals."

Community Garden Everything Bulletin #2a – April 21 ½ 2010

Your humble reporter is nothing if not ..... humble! I’ve made a mistake.

9/10 Duplex.
The foundations are done and the guys are putting on the floor joists over the crawl space. First floor walls go up next. You haven’t forgotten that the single family side (of `1060 square feet) isn’t sold yet, have you?
The bad news ...Number 9 isn’t for sale... the good news ... it’s for rent! $1050/month for a (charming) almost 1000 sq feet. Rent will rise a little when the Common house is finished.

Contritely,
Ann’s evil twin,
Ann

Liz's Dreams

(I've clipped this out of a recent email by Liz...she does this kind of thing. She sends a regular email full of logistics and business, but tosses a beautiful inspiration like this right in the middle. -- Beverly)


I've been dreaming of a walled garden where we could espalier apricot, peach, cheery, fig and kiwi trees. Is it possible? Can you imagine a team of bakers making pies and crumbles for the freezer for our winter time dinners!!! Wouldn't we have fun building with bricks and mortar. Is it doable to see of community interest and if so, start this later this summer?

Community Garden (Well, Everything) Bulletin #2 April 21st 2010

Hi Folks,
Please forgive my previous lapse in thinking I would write only about the garden. I can’t confine my enthusiasm. There’re way too many exciting things going on for me to stay so constrained.

In the Garden:
A large area is under our green thumb now, ready for more digging/weeding/dividing into plots. Many folks want to garden but can’t manage their own plot ... so we’re putting in a communal area for sharing. And not surprisingly, many of you also want to share seeds, fertilizer, tools, ideas, expertise, watering, and children.
The answer is YES! All we ask is that you eventually return stray children to the lost and found area.

Community Garden Bulletin #1 April 17 2010

Dear Gardeners,
I’ve put you on this email group because I think you’ll want to garden with us in our new plots. (Please tell me if you’d like to be removed) But why wouldn’t you want to come and rub dirty elbows with the rest of us ?? ( even if you're not committed to living here yet...this is a good way to find out if you fit in our village. How can we love you, if you don't come?? :>))

This week’s Schedule...
Complete the roto-tilling, weed-whacking, raking of the garden area . Come any day ...but focus on Tuesday afternoon for a group activity. (Bring kids to play) And stay for dinner if you’d like. (Please give us notice for this )

Common House Designed

The cohousing community gathered with Chuck on the weekend of April 10 - 11 to design our common house. What a process: how does one choose whether a children's playroom or a bike stable is the higher priority? Luckily, the top dozen or so items made it, so we are all looking forward to Chuck's drawings to show us what it will look like.

What items did make it? Writing strictly from memory, our common house will have: a beautiful dining area offering meals six times per week, a gourmet kitchen, a craft room, a workshop, rumpus room (for children's boisterous play), teen room, music room,fireside lounge, laundry, bike stable, and a well-designed entry with cubbies for each family, information boards, and mail pick up.

(The quietness of the blog recently does NOT reflect quiet times at the ecovillage. Your blogger is a little busy selling her old house, but things are happening all over the place here! More new people, some returning old people, garden plots being laid out, bonfires, work parties, not to mention large construction vehicles building four new homes...it's a lively place.

Neighbours-in-waiting

Spring is glorious: my rhubarb is growing, the blueberries are covered in buds, and our membership is growing. Ten households already live on site (the picture to the left is the view from inside the dining room of #4), and we have always been looking forward to when other involved members are able to make the move out to Yarrow (another three or four households).

At our Getting it Built workshop with Chuck, it felt as though our circle made a pretty major expansion: certain "newcomers" made such helpful contributions and spoke in such committed ways that we realized they aren't newcomers at all anymore. Each household paid $300 to attend Getting it Built, and this money counts towards their $1,000 co-op share as members of YES. I now think of these fantastic people as "neighbours in waiting," and they represent another seven households!

Work Party Extravaganza This Saturday

Come early, come late.

12:55pm ---check the weather ... if not down-pouring, then...
1pm ---  Buy your Picnic lunch from the Deli ... eat with us and build up your strength for:
2pm --- Work party : Bring work-gloves--- to shovel bark mulch, dig in garden, stack wood, de-claw thistles and blackberries

( village tours... showing off our site plan, dreaming about living here)

3pm --- making hula hoops, mud puddling,  flying kites, shooting the breeze
4pm --- only a little more work in here, enough so that you've earned ....
5pm ...Bonfire ... and potluck picnic supper

after that ..   music, cider, beer, wine, hot chocolate, gum boots on fire, star gazing

RSVP

Ann
604-823-0232

Public Presentation - Location and Time

You may have heard that we are having a public presentation by Chuck Durrett on Friday, March 19, at the Langley Community Music School:

4899 207th Street, Langley at 7 p.m.

Chuck will talk about co-housing in general with some information and photos of the Yarrow Ecovillage.

Today's Good News

We're delighted to welcome Beverly, Matthew, Leo and Isaac as full new members. Congratulations and ...HOORAY!

More press

The Chilliwack Progress ran a nice article tonight about our open house and site plan.

All this could be yours... house included!

Today was day one for homes 7, 8, 9, and 10. The excavator dug very impressive holes (many small boys watched carefully), and Alan framed the forms for the foundation.

If you've been wondering where the domes will be, you can now come out and see exactly!

These holes will soon look as lovely as our completed homes.

Snowballing

I won't name names without getting permission first, but one household announced its intentions to buy a home yesterday, and two more households have asked to become members today. I know of two more households who are visiting banks and having realtors appraise the properties they need to sell this week: that's five homes spoken for this week by serious and committed people.

Getting It Built Workshop March 20-21

This is your next step in coming to live at the Yarrow Ecovillage.

(Click on the poster for a clearer view.)

If you have already put your $10,000 down for a home, this is included. If you haven't put your money down yet, but you have serious intentions, your family is welcome to join us for $300.

Some open house pictures

No captions yet...but here's some images from our beautiful day:

What is the next step?

Ann has been sharing the lovely emails rolling in to her inbox today. We appreciate your positive words about the open house and your curiosity about what to do next so that you will eventually live here (by next year!).

Roughly, here are the steps from start to finish (be sure to contact us about the Getting it Built workshop March 20-21 and the Common House design workshop if you think you are probably going to live here):

Open house was a great success!

I have no idea how many people were here on this glorious sun-soaked day. There were just so many nice people roaming all over the place...Some seemed to be friends and neighbours, lots seemed to be people who had attended Chuck's talks in Abbotsford and Kerrisdale, and others are newcomers whom we're getting to know now that they've been out three or four times.


I'm having trouble sleeping after a close friend and my family announced their intentions to move out here!

We seem to be attracting parents and naturopaths and grandparents and farmers and teachers. It felt like such a nice diversity today: I looked around at the dozens of people talking at the campfire, looking at site plans, touring our houses, and visiting, and I found myself thinking that all of these people would make lovely neighbours.

The picture here is Mira's shot of the saplings in the heritage apple orchard started at the back of the property. Annie took some very creative shots for the scavenger hunt too, so I will upload those tomorrow. (Annie: we need to get your prize to you!)

I'll write something more coherent tomorrow. If you attended today and you're wondering what the next step is, take a look at the upcoming events listed on the left of this blog. If you feel yourself drawn towards living here, you should be contacting us about attending the Getting It Built workshop on March 20 - 21.

Sunshine Predicted for Open House

Look at this weather forecast...the open house is going to be great!

Invitation for this Saturday

Please come to our Open House(s) on Saturday, March 6th, 1pm - 4pm.


We'll display and explain our new Chuck Durrett village drawings. You’ll be welcome to peek into some of our new houses and meet long-time residents.... we’re planning fun too, with a bonfire, scavenger hunt (bring your digital camera & USB cord), refreshments, garden tours and more.

Musical instruments are also welcome for the bonfire and/or woodstove fire (depending on weather). (I am particularly excited by this: one musician is bringing her guitar, loads of percussion instruments, and song sheets, and a few others are bringing their own instruments. I don't play anything, so I'll be the person singing along with a huge and appreciative grin on her face.)

This event is suitable for curious neighbours and future residents alike: you are all welcome!

February Work Party

We decided to spruce things up a bit in honour of the open house coming up on March 6. It was productive and fun: nice to meet new friends and have old members out as well. Lots of mud, kids got wet, tea tasted better by a campfire...

A first visit to the ecovillage

Emily of Liberty Tree Photography came to visit us this weekend with her husband and toddler. There's a nice write-up of her experience on her blog.


I also like her link to the movie No Impact Man. Britta's been talking about hosting a "DocumenTEA" evening (documentary, tea, and discussion): maybe this would be a good movie to start with. (I'm also intrigued by Shayne's mention of a documentary called One Hundred Mile Building...we may have to have a few evenings.) If you're interested in joining us, you're always welcome to send an email to annclement1@yahoo.ca.

Community Dinners

When our common house is complete in early 2012, we expect to have common dinners three or four times per week, with most families attending once or twice. The idea of coming home after work to go straight to a hot-cooked meal makes my heart sing!


Chuck Durrett tells us that his cohousing community has common dinners four nights a week: to make this happen, each adult needs to cook once every five weeks. This is lovely-sounding math to my ears.


It is exciting to dream about our common house, but we don't want to wait until the building is complete to begin living in this lovely way, so we've been having one community dinner every week since the beginning of this year. For now, we are alternating between the old farm house and one of the new duplex units, which can entail some serious chair transporting! It is nice to take this time together each week to relax over good food (or, in the case of last week, life-changing stupendous food! See the picture above of Joe with the wok he rebuilt to accommodate the cooking of enough Thai curry for all of us.)

Yum!

Exciting March Events!

We’ve had a grand response from interested folks since Chuck Durrett came and guided us to our new Yarrow Ecovillage plan. Now we’re writing to invite your further participation, whether you’re at early stages of interest in cohousing and ecovillages or fully committed to moving into our new Village.

And as always, you’re welcome to contact our Membership Team directly at annclement1@yahoo.ca and Ann: 604-823-0232.

Please come to our Open House on Saturday, March 6th, 1pm- 4pm

We'll display and explain our new Chuck Durrett Village drawings. You’ll be welcome to peek into some of our new houses and meet long-time residents.... we’re planning fun too, with a bonfire, scavenger hunt (bring your digital camera & USB cord...), refreshments, garden tours and more. We do hope you'll come.

There will also be Public Presentations by Chuck on March 19th.

The March 6th open house and the public presentations are suitable for everyone, even if they are unfamiliar with cohousing or ecovillages. Please feel welcome to forward this invitation far and wide. RSVPs are not mandatory, but they are gratefully appreciated for planning purposes: annclement1@yahoo.ca.

Mark these dates

Saturday afternoon Feb 27th Workparty

Saturday March 6th 1pm-4pm Open House -bring friends

Friday March 19th 7pm Chuck Durrett's Public presentation

March 20-21 Chuck's Getting it Built weekend Workshop

Friday April 9th 7pm Chuck's Public Presentation

April 10-11 Chuck's Commonhouse weekend Workshop

A Thought

Raj Patel is quoted in a Globe and Mail review of his book The Value of Nothing as saying, " The opposite of consumption isn't thrift, it's generosity."

Today's Poem

Of Moment

The particular gift
of this house
is its air
and the spaces between.

The breadth of this house
Is in rafters and posts,
the sky over head
and strong underfoot.


The force of this house
is the wind in the roof,
the trees in the beams
the rock in walls.

The heart of this house
is the hands on the rail,
the feet up the stairs,
the soup in the pot.

The love of this house
Is the colour of full,
The lying in bed,
with the breathing of walls.

Save the dates!

Saturday afternoon, March 6, 2010: open house & sharing of the site plan developed in January with Chuck Durrett

Save the dates!

Saturday afternoon, March 6, 2010: open house & sharing of the site plan developed in January with Chuck Durrett
Friday, March 19, 2010: Chuck Durrett public presentation at Langley Music School
March 20 - 21, 2010: the getting it built workshop
Loads of details to follow soon...watch this space.

Nice to live in a village...

I was sitting at the little table in the deli today with some business-type folks having a meeting. And in the hour or so that I sat there, I watched three individual ecovillagers come into the store to pick up an item- milk, a sandwich, a brownie etc. But I also watched as three eco-families including parents and kids walk by the big windows. Where were they going? The post-office? the bank? the gas station to return bottles? the movie store? so many options! I smiled inside because I didn't know specifically where they were headed, but I knew they were walking to go shopping and that their money was being spent locally and that living in Yarrow is quite a gift.

How far back does the property go?

When Matthew and I started seriously considering the ecovillage, we wanted to know how far back the land went. (I'm still hoping that the Rail for the Valley people succeed, so I wondered if our land goes right back to the railway tracks for us to walk to the train to Vancouver in the future.)

I've doodled on a Google maps capture to show where the ecovillage's 25 acres are. Look for the red scribbles on this (rather rough) picture:

You can click on this picture to make it larger and clearer.

Chuck Durrett Workshop "Designing the Common House"

Please note the date change!  (We've decided not to compete with (in) the Olympics.)

This workshop will take place on the weekend of March 13 - 14.  More details to come soon regarding location, precise dates, and price.  (Expect regular workshop prices such as those charged by UFV Continuing Education or by Hollyhock.)

Questions about the Duplex 9/10

I have been getting a lot of questions about the duplex we are building. So I thought I would post a mini faq on the duplex 9/10 as we lovingly call it.

We are starting construction on Feb 10, and aim to have the home completed by the end of June.


What I am up to is trying to get the financing to build the home so that we have a home on the site that is ready.

We are also building a large number of green features into the home, which I can post about as well.

Unit 9...
is a 970 square foot home with two bedrooms upstairs and kitchen/dining/living downstairs. There is one bathroom on either floor. We designed the home to trace the setback from the creek area, so it has an interesting shape and a nice connection with what I hope will be a wonderful private side of the home.


We are reviewing our budget one final time, but we expect the home to cost $265,000. We are starting construction on Feb 10, 2010 and aim to have the home completed in June.

I am getting the financing to build the home, but we are looking to sell it. The reason why I am financing it is so that we can have a home that is ready for someone to just move into. I want some more neighbors down here at the EcoVillage.

Unit 10... is what we calling a "pod house." It is designed so that up to 3-4 adults can share the home where each adult gets his or her own private bathroom, bedroom and sitting room.

We are selling a share of the ownership in the home for in the range of $130,000 to $165,000 and will rent some of the rooms as well.

This was inspired partially by the "quads" at UBC and by a situation where I saw my mother really bloom in a shared living situation. (Maybe I will post that story another day).

If you are interested in either of these options, you can ask our membership team about life here at the EcoVillage and how to get here.

Here are the plans, if you are interested:

Site (click to zoom)
(Also note that the proposed duplexes are not actually our site plan, since after the Chuck Durett workshop).



Main Floor (click to zoom)


Upper Floor (click to zoom)