Looking for permie farmers

Ok, how many of you actually own Mollison's 576 page tome? 
It was a complete and welcome revelation when I first cracked it in 1995! Then came the ecovillage movement, lot's of self-education and today...

We aim for consensus, but our Coop's bylaws let's us go with 80% if needed. Our operation is organic and permaculture based. 540 acres of beautiful land with river frontage would respond to more stewardship. We have 6 members + kids. More mutual benefit with more members.

www.kakwaecovillage.com

Hi Russ

I don't own it but a friend has lent it to me for awhile. I've combed through a lot of it. Its a lot to take in but its great to have.

I'm part of an ecovillage in Ontario. We've only had our land for 14 months, we've got 100 acres, and an acre market garden which is all no-till, with fruit trees and bushes mixed in. Our plans are ambitious but we have been pretty methodical and goal oriented. Its working so far.

Hey Travis,

When my grandfather was raising his children they actually taught ag science in high school! Mollison and Holmgren are classic individuals. I'm grateful that people are still around willing to share their knowledge. I'm doing my best to pass it forward.

Tell me the name of your ecovillage project? Sounds like you've accomplished a lot in 14 mos! Look forward to hearing more...

Imagine that...Apparently at my old highschool they are now growing a lot of the vegetables used in the cafeteria which is amazing to hear.

Our name is Greenshire Eco Farms. There's a clickable link on the bottom of my post in blue lettering.

If you have any questions about the hugelkultur or the root cellar feel free to ask.

Question for you: HAve you heard of Greenbarn nursery/their reputation? I've heard both good and bad things. They're in Quebec near montreal.

It is exciting to hear of greenhouses at schools and local fresh food purchases for school lunch programmes...

Don't hear much about nurseries in Quebec...however we have a number of people involved with ENC who are in ON & QC. You should join and connect: http://ecovillagenetworkcanada.ning.com/

I'm familiar with Whole Village and the zoning nightmare they experienced. How does the horizon look for Greenshire?

Well we had a zoning bomb dropped on us last fall...There was one existing home on the property and we wanted to put a second one in as well. So we went through all the proper channels and permits (or so we thought) and got the second house here. THEN the city tells us that we have to pay a $3000 development fee!!! There was no mention of this beforehand, and it had only been enacted a few weeks before we put our house on the property...That was a major burn to our pocket books. We could've done so much with that money, and are just now finishing paying for it. We're not even allowed to have any more than two houses, even with this damned fee paid. Our eventual plan is to get a 16 unit tire-walled earthship built here, and change one of the existing houses into a store of some sort.

Development can be the hard part of ecovillage creation...

Of course every city is different. It's not unusual for time in the saddle to count to your benefit. This is  particularly true for a successful business with multiple partners/residents, who vote and pay taxes to be given more latitude with request for a zoning change or upgrade.

Look forward to future tales...

We took part in a pretty high profile municipal farm tour this year which helped raise awareness about us. And our regional councillor is very supportive of our cause. When we went before council to appeal the development fee he voted in our favour and tried swaying the council. Unfortunately he's also supportive of the new Wal Mart slated to come to town...