Ann's very personal, highly biased and incomplete guide to the ecovillage ... in a nutshell. With only a small amount of (necessary) hyperbole, this time.
Suggestions for reading this Nutshell Niblet –
If you want loosey-goosey creative writing about why I love this village, then start with “Studies show that”
If you want to get to the good stuff about what we’re really doing, scroll down to “Community Meeting”
If you want a beautiful poem by Wendell Berry, that’s at the very bottom.
And to follow progress in construction, jump past the Niblets entirely and scroll down the blog.
Studies Show that...
We’ve burst our seams for our weekly resident community dinners in the last while.... no room is large enough to hold the whole mess of us. Too many people around here! Now, by the dividing the group in half, we do two dinners per week. Hmmmm, I’ve noticed one or two people, mainly one person actually, with the initial ‘J’, who shows up for both meals, bowl in hand! Hhummmm! Wait a minute!!!
To be fair, he can’t wait to be chef on double-duty, too, so that’s alright. Chuck of http://www.cohousingco.com/ tells us that when we have our regular commonhouse and are serving six meals a week, not every person comes to every meal. At his cohousing village, the average is 3-4 appearances out of the possible 6. When there’s abundance on offer instead of scarcity, it’s easier not to over-stuff. And in consequence, our commonhouse dining room is planned efficiently to be the right size.
I’m hoping I get to be paired to cook with ‘J’, when it’s my turn. It’s happened before, in a delightful way– he’s been the chef and I’ve been the sous-chef, or one of the sous-slaves, who chop huge piles of vegetables according to his strict instructions. Every possible bowl in (my!) kitchen is dirty, every surface covered. Chef J sautés the chilies until our eyes water, and we cry for mercy... which is the sign of a perfectly cooked hot pepper. By the end of the process, the giant wok is steaming full of fragrant deliciousness and the waiting crowd is roaring with hunger.
My turn at being a passive, grateful meal-taker was last night. We were the right size of cosy group in my neighbours’ home- plenty of space on the table for the food and a little gentle jostle-chuckling for elbow-room around it.
As always, the conversation was free-range and local (Say! Where have I heard that description before?) Our bright young whipper-snapper had something particularly interesting to say.
“There are recent studies.” She went on ... monkeys, when offered a choice between cocaine and food, will always choose cocaine, to the point of starvation.
And that between monkeys who have had a fully socialised upbringing, in a troupe with lots of interacting adults, and those who are more deprived, then the latter choose cocaine more often than the former. This proves community life is natural and healthy for children, she said.
Hmmm, that may be true, I thought, but the conclusion I’d come to from that story, is that ecovillagers are monkeys at heart. And as if to prove it, as I was leaving for my quiet home, the male monkeys among us, adults and children, including the dog-monkey, were wrestling on the floor of the playroom, a tangle of limbs and muffled yelling so that the other female of the troupe asked if she could come home with me.
Hmmm, that may be true, I thought, but the conclusion I’d come to from that story, is that ecovillagers are monkeys at heart. And as if to prove it, as I was leaving for my quiet home, the male monkeys among us, adults and children, including the dog-monkey, were wrestling on the floor of the playroom, a tangle of limbs and muffled yelling so that the other female of the troupe asked if she could come home with me.
Be warned, any of you thinking of joining our ecovillage. Yikes!
But you know, when I can’t handle the joyous mayhem anymore, I’ll just move into the Not-for-Seniors’ cohousing we’re planning for the front, for a more gentle way of retired monkey life!
Community Meeting
We’ve just had another Groundswell Community meeting- the forum where villagers and neighbours-in-waiting are making decisions about how we want to live together. I’m not going to give you the ‘minutes’ – those come out later and are for a different, more official purpose. Here’s my quick, overview impression, as biased as usual :>)
Waste Water system- the first phase done, and we’re girding our loins for the next phase (crucial to next construction phase after this one). We’ll soon have a sturdier bridge for crossing the Creek ... Beverly found a deal on Craigslist for about a 10th the price of a new one.Yay, Beverly!
Yonas reporting – ask him for more details.
Strata Plans in the works – this will complete the shift to our chosen style of home-ownership. Ditto for questions to Yonas
Construction proceeding a’pace on our duplex and triplex ... see blog on website for pictures. Progress is faster than I can write about it!
Landscape- our Farm and Landscaping teams are offering a design workshop for the input of ecovillagers later this month. We have so many ideas of how we’ll situate strolling paths, shade and fruiting trees, bog gardens, swimming holes and fire hydrants. There might even be room for farming acres!
Membership policy – ( my own Member/Marketing Team’s baby) We now have a consensus for our new policy-
That every adult who lives in Groundswell cohousing as a tenant, or an owner, needs to be member of YES coop with a share purchase and a joining fee.
We all agree that we won’t have joint memberships any more; we value the equality between residents that removing that category gives us. And we have a good understanding of how we’re balancing our values and needs to inform and underpin our new policy, both from an individual and a collective point of view. Any one of us can tell you at what point a teen becomes an adult and for how long a tenant or visitor can be here, before being asked to step forward as a fully participating villager. Groundswellers have given their trust, by approving MMTeam’s mandate to negotiate individual adjustments; MMT balances by being accountable and transparent- by reporting back.
Beaver Sighting- a neighbor saw 5 beavers waddling along our creek bank about a month ago. They kept on going. Fingers crossed.
Poem of the Week – Wendell Berry
How long does it take to make the woods?
As long as it takes to make the world.
The woods is present as the world is, the presence
of all its past and of all its time to come.
It is always finished, it is always being made, the act
of its making forever greater than the act of its destruction.
It is a part of eternity for its end and beginning
belong to the end and beginning of all things,
the beginning lost in the end, the end in the beginning.
As long as it takes to make the world.
The woods is present as the world is, the presence
of all its past and of all its time to come.
It is always finished, it is always being made, the act
of its making forever greater than the act of its destruction.
It is a part of eternity for its end and beginning
belong to the end and beginning of all things,
the beginning lost in the end, the end in the beginning.
What is the way to the woods, how do you go there?
By climbing up through the six days’ field,
kept in all the body’s years, the body’s
sorrow, weariness, and joy. By passing through
the narrow gate on the far side of that field
where the pasture grass of the body’s life gives way
to the high, original standing of the trees.
By coming into the shadow, the shadow
of the grace of the strait way’s ending,
the shadow of the mercy of light.
Why must the gate be narrow?
Because you cannot pass beyond it burdened.
To come into the woods you must leave behind
the six days’ world, all of it, all of its plans and hopes.
You must come without weapon or tool, alone,
expecting nothing, remembering nothing,
into the ease of sight, the brotherhood of eye and leaf.
Because you cannot pass beyond it burdened.
To come into the woods you must leave behind
the six days’ world, all of it, all of its plans and hopes.
You must come without weapon or tool, alone,
expecting nothing, remembering nothing,
into the ease of sight, the brotherhood of eye and leaf.
~ Wendell Berry ~
(A Timbered Choir)
(A Timbered Choir)
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