Starting an ecovillage

[TanksHill]

Wow, this sound involved.

Perhaps you cold find an old summer camp in SC. Common kitchen, some sort of sleeping quarters. Have it be a learning center for adults. Like Marianne suggested you could bring in instructors to teach certain topics. Building, animals other sustainable projects. Then your campers would do the work. Their stay would be temporary unless you choose for them to become a more permanent part of your village. Kinda like an interview.

Wow, that sound kinda fun. Wish I could go.

 

[Leta]

I would charge at least $3000 to join. That's real money, but not so much that it's impossible to save up. I think I would also do some sort of multi person discount. Like $3000 per person, $4000 per couple, $5000 for a family of four, etc.

IMO, and there's no real way of knowing this ahead of time, the most important factors would be a desire to learn and a willingness to work hard. I mean, if you think of something like "Frontier House", the just graduated academics were the most successful, primarily because they weren't afraid of work. And stuff like how to split and stack firewood, or how to can, I learned that stuff in an afternoon. Sustainable forestry management and gardening take longer to learn (As Jefferson said, "I am an aged man, but a young gardener") but you can get the basics down quickly. A willing student and a good teacher make short work of ignorance.

 

[flaja]

Wow, this sound involved.

Perhaps you cold find an old summer camp in SC. Common kitchen, some sort of sleeping quarters. Have it be a learning center for adults. Like Marianne suggested you could bring in instructors to teach certain topics. Building, animals other sustainable projects. Then your campers would do the work. Their stay would be temporary unless you choose for them to become a more permanent part of your village. Kinda like an interview.

Wow, that sound kinda fun. Wish I could go.

I've looked online for campgrounds and mobile home parks, but I haven't been able to find anything of any size that I can afford. I don't want to have a mortgage of any kind (I won't live long enough to see it paid off) so I am looking for property that I can pay cash for so the ecovillage can own the property free and clear. I don't want anyone to be a position where they could lose their home because of missing a mortgage payment.

 

[flaja]

I would charge at least $3000 to join. That's real money, but not so much that it's impossible to save up. I think I would also do some sort of multi person discount. Like $3000 per person, $4000 per couple, $5000 for a family of four, etc.

IMO, and there's no real way of knowing this ahead of time, the most important factors would be a desire to learn and a willingness to work hard. I mean, if you think of something like "Frontier House", the just graduated academics were the most successful, primarily because they weren't afraid of work. And stuff like how to split and stack firewood, or how to can, I learned that stuff in an afternoon. Sustainable forestry management and gardening take longer to learn (As Jefferson said, "I am an aged man, but a young gardener") but you can get the basics down quickly. A willing student and a good teacher make short work of ignorance.

I am thinking in terms of opening the ecovillage to individual persons and family groups. I wouldnt consider letting unmarried couples join because I dont want the ecovilalge to ever be put in the middle of a palimony situation, and a married couple would be more stable than an unmarried couple and this stability would be reflected in how the ecovillage operates.

Having people with the same political/religious ideology would be good, but my own politics/religion is so out of the American mainstream I dont think Id find people that are compatible with me on these grounds.