Knowledge share for community founders

Greetings,

Purchase land in '02 with an intentional community in mind. Spent 8 years (weekends and vacations) communing, neighboring, planting, tapping springs, mitigating land damage, and constructing an Earthship hut. A couple of decades of research/experimentation with other communities and permaculture projects has led us to switch from an IC model to an Eco Village one, similar to Ithaca and Earthhaven with the goal of 100% food & energy self-sufficiency and a net negative carbon footprint.

Also, we're in a much better place now (financial and family with multiple interested parties involved) to revisit this permaculture vision.

Are there any founders or long term eco village members out there that would be interested in menteeing us?

Pm me!

Welcome to Permies Bridy!

I am not a candidate for this position. Do you envision a volunteer or paid mentor?

Thanks Joylynn,

I have researched here for years but never joined. Incredibly grateful to all those who share their wisdom.

I was envisioning a non monetary compensation if that's required.

Also, I am the kind of learner that only asks absolutely necessary questions when there's a dearth in research material and I'm always mindful of time constraints since I have so many of my own. I would gladly mentor without pay in this way when I have more experience under my belt. I would hope there is someone out there that shares sentiments. In addition, who's to say I can't offer mentorship back? I've been the founding member of a highly productive volunteer-based alleycropped regenerative/permie farm for 7 years. Over 50 fruit and nut trees planted on less than 2 acres and 11,000 lbs of produce in one year...

I think moral support and experience sharing among founders is likely to result in a mutualistic benefit for mental health since there's obviously multiple challenges beyond that of ecovillage membership.

Another potential benefit is a greater likelihood of forming ecovillage consortiums on a bioregional scale.

Love stacking functions !

Hope that clarified things and hope there are founders reading this and on vibe.

Hi Bridget,

Welcome to Permies and congrats on the long-term work you’ve already put into the land. Switching from a classic IC model to an EcoVillage approach with full food/energy self-sufficiency and a net-negative carbon goal is solid ambition — especially with the experience you already have from the alleycropped farm

I’m not in a position to mentor either, but if you’re looking for ways to play with different community structures, governance options, resource flows, or group dynamics while you search for the right people, I built a free intentional-community simulator called VibeTribe that some founders have found useful for scenario testing:

https://vibetribe.io/community-simulator

Totally optional, of course. Wishing you good luck finding the mutual support and bioregional connections you’re looking for. Love the stacking-functions mindset.