Hi I'm new on this forum, and I am promoting a project, but I think the people here (and everywhere) might really like it. I hope to develop a network here and everywhere I go promoting this thing, it's been my dream for a while and I'm very excited about sharing it. I want to encourage discussion around it and projects like it and develop crowdfunding as an incredible
sustainable financial engine for this kind of development. At this point all the project is is a crowdfunding campaign and
Facebook page, but I have a wealth of
experience myself as I've been brought up
gardening in a Earth conscious household by a naturalist mom. I have helped coordinate organic farms and taken care of countless gardens for myself and others, and have been itching for some time to get into some
land. Of
course that's the case for everybody who wants to do this and I understand others have their own projects they have painstakingly developed and promoted, and mine is not necessarily special - just mine.
I have 3 kids, 2 boys and a girl, who will be getting to school age soon, and this project is just as much for them as it is for me. I am not satisfied by the focus (or lack thereof) on natural education in the classroom, as many parents are familiar. This is one more step I'm taking to begin to assemble a life in which work and education and play can all mix harmoniously and abundance can flow through us and out into the rest of the world.
I'm not here asking for financial contributions directly, mostly to bring exposure and natural traffic (hey, it's the internet after all!) but my intention isn't to farm this place or any place but to develop correspondence and connections and yes even friendships!
This is a hopefully-above-100% sustainability lifestyle project on the Olympic Peninsula in WA State, where I am hoping to raise $180,000 (the purchase price of a 3-bedroom mortgaged house around here) through my IGG campaign to purchase at least 5 acres outright. The idea will not only be to minimize ecological impact but improve soil and
water quality - working with biology to turn the property into a water treatment center.
Housing will be green-manufactured yurts at first, but soon after we set up base camp we will start a community work project on the main house which will be a cobb / earth house.
We will be on-grid with massive
solar (that's a big chunk of the budget) to create power revenue. Since there is no
mortgage and as few expenses as possible after set up costs, revenue will go into the organization to develop a grant system whereby other startups can get going in their areas.
Education, education, education in all ways for all ages will be offered, and a documentary of the project as well as mini-docs and pamphlets and over time a veritable encyclopedia of sustainability techniques will be developed.
Aquaculture/irrigation ponds and creeks will run throughout the property, with lots of riparian/marshland species and wild rice helping to clean grey water. There will be indoor plumbing but we will try to rely mostly on
composting toilets for most of our physical body waste.
Part of the budget goes to also convert the vehicles to electric, and we hope to develop partial recharging
solar and wind systems to increase daily battery longevity and reduce reliance on charging stations and the power grid. I have experience wiring up solar and batteries, I would also like to start 'solar networking', contacting landowners and putting to use tracts of land with powerpoles that have been left bare by the housing bubble, before the houses were built.
These are just a few of the features that we have lined out for the project! Please if you are interested check it out here, and share - Like I said, people's eyeballs on the project (and constructively helpful suggestions for how to improve it) are the best currency I can ask for. Yes I need the money too, but that's not the point right now.
http://igg.me/at/sustainablelifenow/x/4441808
PM or comment here if you would like any more information. I will also be looking for live-in volunteers to help construct and maintain it as time goes on. If you are in the area and want to visit or help out you're certainly welcome! For now I need anybody interested to share this concept like seeds to the wind!
Thanks,
Brendan McNamara
Founder, EarthStar Enterprises /
Making Sustainability Real on Facebook
EDIT: SPECIFIC TO THIS
THREAD, I would like to start a discussion about crowdfunding as a viable option for
permaculture projects to get the capital they need in a hostile and barren traditional financial environment.