~A collective vission board for a intentional community. Created Spring, 2012.~
DISTANCE
- Not too far from Toronto, and also not too close, something around 1-2.5 hours away
- No more than 90min to allow for relatively easy transport back and forth as well as close enough to a major airport for visiting from other parts of the country/world
- Land that is a safe and sufficient distance away from large cities, major highways, airports, electrical wires, nuclear power plants, sewage facilities, landfill sites, military testing sites, etc.
- 40min from the ski hill (Blue Mountain)
- Relatively close to some sort of public transit (Go Bus, Go train)
- Close to Bruce Trail
NUMBER OF FAMILIES
Community size of 20-50 people to start, with room for expansion to ideally 100, but definitely not more than 200
SIZE
- Minimum of 2.5 acres of land per family or individual (if single)
- Anything between 75 acres to 300 acres
GEOGRAPHY
- Zone 4-5
- Preferably rolling hills with a view of the horizon
- Diversified layout
- Forest
- Rocks, cliffs, caves
- Good soil, positive energetic frequency
- Source of water as a spring fed pond, river, lake or stream
- Land with native species of vegetation, orchards, vegetables, flowers & medicinal herbs growing in abundance
LANDSCAPING IDEAS AND ARHITECTURE
- The design is based on the petal flower or flower of life or a crop circle.
- The idea of building the community in the liking of a Eukaryotic Cell
- Living fences around properties
- Anastasia’s vision
- Park with an alley for festivals and celebrations
- No vehicle parking in the village, other than an isolated pathway from entrance to outer edge of communal hub(s), with a designated parking area
- A big communal garden (permaculture) as well as our personal mini gardens.
- Various types of unconventional eco-friendly housing (ex. Earthship, cob houses, log homes, earthbag homes)
-There will be an area for spiritual retreat, including a meditation hall.
-There will also be a sauna, sweat lodge and single standing cottages.
- There will be an area for activities, bike paths, climbing wall.
- There will be an area for arts, painting, sculpture, sewing, woodworking, blacksmithing, glass blowing.
- all of our needs in the community to be walking distance, so have the architectural and social design reflective of that.
- Paths for biking and walking in the village, and tunnels for traveling through major access points during harsh Canadian weather.
- Several large greenhouses for the tender greens during the colder months and also for some tropical produce trees.
- Many natural landscape play areas for children to explore; hills, caves, dunes, burrows.
- Quiet places throughout for solitude, quiet reflection, meditation and privacy.
- Large comfortable lounge area with big screen projector for viewing documentaries in a group setting.
- A herbal dispensary, drying room, storage and apothecary for medicine making, creams, lotions, salves, soaps, etc
- A shared library stocked full of great books contributed by the members of the community.
- Large well stocked kitchen with jars full of superfoods, herbs, living food ingredients, spices.
- Large room for crafts like painting, drawing, sewing, etc
- Large natural space for gatherings…yoga, dance studio, drum circles, meeting hall – the building to be made with as many earth materials as possible – beautiful wooden round structures made from cob or straw-bale or earthships, and using recycled materials – we hold workshops for wood working and building things the natural way.
- Outdoor showers and bathtubs, sweat lodge, sauna, green tea hot pool or natural hot springs if possible.
- Campground area, yurts, farmers market, gnome style homes and tree houses of all kinds.
- Cedar plank diving board; rope hanging from a tree swinging over the water.
- No animal slaughter.
- Designed area for animals to be raised and peacefully killed for the ones who still choose to consume meat.
DWELLING
- Single homes surrounding the common area
- Ability to live in a shared space, as well as private individual dwellings.
- Minimum of 2.5 acres of land for family ****
- Community land trust/subdivision
- Separate properties of intimately connected and conspiring peoples/families.
- Connectedness to facets of the community and similarly-minded locals and properties
- Sacred geometric, crop circle like design if seen from up above.
- Our homes would be surrounded and hugged by nature. We would create a living painting that can be admired from up close and above. Living art.
SUSTAINABILITY
-Permaculture
- To live undependably from the system
- Food sustainability
- Healthy, organic and wild foods
- Energy sustainability (wind power, geothermal, free energy, solar)
- Good collection of seeds
- Self sufficient for all of our needs, from clothing, to health care, and everything in between.
- Organic forest farming a long with green houses to harvest and grow food all year round.
INFRASTRUCTURE
- Own constitution
- Own culture, with its own special days and festivals among others
- A marketplace to sell or exchange our fresh vegetables, herbs
- Community centre for meeting, dancing
- Learning centre for kids and adults
- Craft shop, medicines, health & wellness services - yoga, acupuncture, massage, energy healing, creativity centre for self expression
- Eco-friendly community generated supplemental income
- Shared public resources (ex: tools, transportation)
- Network with other eco-villages around the world
- Shared vehicle access
- Every good or service acquired as a group should be treated as a public resource support system for transitioning new people into the community, and providing space for
visitors who come and go, all in alignment with a charter for free exchange
- Daily rituals such as sharing tea and quiet reflective time; plenty of laughter to be heard
- The community is to produce as little to no waste as humanly possible – compost and re-use as much as we can
- Regular ceremonies celebrating the cycles of the year, changing seasons and landmark events like birthdays and anniversaries; full moon circle gatherings
- People living with us spanning all generations, from newborns to elders and every age in between.
- Giving back to the world through products, services, education, workshops and information
- Homeschooling children
- Many activities for the children to do – creating a self-learning environment; story time, free play
SOCIAL ENVIROMENT
- A safe nurturing environment, for children and their families
Openness and acceptance of all different nationalities, gender, sexual preference, and age
- To work as a collective
- Support each other
- Incorporating each personal "dream"
- Community with individuals who share similar values
- Open communication and respect
- Free support system for transitioning new people into the community, and providing space for visitors who come and go, all in alignment with a charter for free exchange.
VALUES
- Harmony with nature
- Total mind body spirit connections
- Open communication and respect
GOVERNANCE
- Unless a strategic and intuitive system for arriving at decisions can be implemented, then a rotating volunteer council for major decision making could be implemented.
- The social dynamic should be inclusive with a rotating scheduled assignment of all communal chores/tasks
- Every good or service acquired as a group should be treated as a public resource.
QUOTES:
“to create a scenario where we can focus our passions and efforts towards inner development, enhancing the community standards of living, and letting everyone the
liberty to focus more time to wake up when its natural, practice yoga, be as healthy as possible and live at a slower pace, so we can really bring into our conscious capacities
gratitude for every moment.”
“Abundance in every aspect. No need to settle for less than ideal.”
“any part of the Earth can be turned in to a piece of paradise, so I would be grateful for whatever landscape that I am given and treat it as a canvas to paint something beautiful
with”
“to rejuvenate our lovely planet and co-create with nature and other living beings to build restore its beauty.”
“A place where everyone values the relationship that they have within themselves, their body, friends, lovers, and environment and strives to learn and expand their perspectives to co-create beautiful realities and strive to reach their potentials.”
“to have workshops and community centres built to help build awareness for othermliving beings that want to learn skills and values to enhance their lives so that they can
transition to the life that they have desired and longed for.”
“Living art”
“This is time for real living, meditation, and realizing the divine purpose.”
"Delighting in the co-creation".
“A village where people have realized their divine nature”
“A village with natural buildings, where our lodgings can fit into the idea of permaculture, and we can live harmoniously with not just "no-impact", but a positive impact on the environment, and thrive. “
“People do not hold onto fear they only have love in their hearts, and the very earth around them can feel that and reciprocate. They no longer have to do any mundane
and degrading tasks, they can pluck fruit from their garden with ease as they need, and there is abundance enough to sustain everyone with harmony because they have worked
together for the greater good, not for a selfish desire. Now that everything is flowing with grace and ease, there is a lot of "free time", in essence, freedom itself.”
“The children that will be born will be the leaders and the new teachers, because they are born without pain and suffering and trauma that accompanies them in our society
now. They are raised in freedom and can realize their potential as full and divine human beings. Instead of controlling and "guiding" the children, it is most important to learn from these new souls and what they have to teach us will be most amazing.”
“Harmonious living that includes working hard and playing hard”
“The people will make the community a paradise by loving and helping others.”
“Everyone, from all "walks of life" coming together, each with their own set of professional and personal skills, to work as a collective whole on a multi-dimensional, self-sustaining, dream paradise eco-village; incorporating each personal "dream" and making them all one unified reality.”
“a community of people interwoven with nature”
“a Utopia where a better way of living can become a model for other societies to learn from. “
“... MOUNTAINS and Ocean side, plenty of wild food, ... sea
vegetables, ... Sun !”
“The world (and universe itself) is one village, a garden of eden, with all doing what they are best at and most enjoy.”
“All is All, and All is Love.”
“Truly sustaining and fostering growth in every imaginable way.”
“Vision that embodies strategic/efficient/functional elements of community that meet all essential human needs and modest creature comforts, while working in tandem with the cycles of nature.”