That concludes this chapter of a multi-phase plan to promote intentional communities, specifically Eco-villages, as a most reasonable and effective response to the many extremely dangerous situations confronting human civilization in the 21st century. Apart from the issues of sustainability, I have also tried to highlight the numerous true benefits of this mode of living simply from a 'quality-of-life' viewpoint. I want to express sincere appreciation for all of you who hosted us, gifted us with resources of all types, and encouraged us to continue with this work. Over the two years, I documented around 100 different projects, met so many incredible people doing so many incredible things, travelled over 50000 kms (half of which was accomplished with used fryer vegetable oil as fuel), compiled over 5000 photographs, and accumulated countless stories and experiences which can transform our collective future. The next phase will be to synthesize all of the information from these trips with my many years of prior study, and fashion a travelling slide-show presentation for Ontario. I intend to soon find out if public consciousness is ready for turning our cultural path around...

Stay tuned, as I may provide updates on this work... as I seek now to form a viable and useful collaboration among some Ontario non-profits... including my friends at Wholevillage... for the purposes of getting the roadshow formed, funding confirmed, and the venues established.

In keeping with earlier entries to this Eco-tour Blog, when I expressed many thanks for the much appreciated help and companionship gifted to me from my previous trip partners, Bruce and Maria, I want to now openly state my deep sense of gratitude and pure admiration for your effort on this third trip... Melissa. A self-professed city girl who was experiencing some degree of employment synergy coming together for you in Toronto, you courageously left that comfortable world behind, jumped at this opportunity, and showed an immensely impressive level of resiliency and determination when faced with the hardships of the research tour! With a certain sense of pride, I will always remember how you met the challenge... You are like the wild beautiful daisies in the field ---pretty, adorable, persistent. Thank you! *big hug* As our special friendship continues, I sincerely wish for you great meaning and joy as you examine the many future rewards and new possibilities stemming from your dedication to this ecovillage research, and the incredible education you now own!

This image (captured inside Greenhaven) is perhaps the best one to close out this two-year Eco-tour. Melissa and I participated in a WV 'workbee,' which are get-togethers wherein all supporters are invited to the farm to help with various jobs and be treated to a delicious potluck. These events have created a real tradition at WV, and on this day I was again reminded of the energy that exists in this atmosphere... as we always ate lunch and dinner together as a community. WV members still take turns cooking and share supper each night. The friendships and relationships fostered through these community meals and workbees provide a powerful demonstration of the nearly limitless potential of Ecovillages...

The Whole Village project is also intended to be a solution for two difficult problems: the steady loss of farmland to urbanization and the devastating effects of low commodity prices on farmers and the rural communities that they belong to. Through a comprehensive conservation easement, most of the land is preserved for 999 years as farmland, managed forest, or natural areas. When considering these goals, the WV community-run farm co-op is an extremely important pioneering effort for rural Ontario...

Wholevillage members were excited this year to see the huge century-old barn on the property actually become a home for animals! Aerron and Amanda have facilitated the first animal husbandry program for cattle, and they are considering sheep. The barn is now full of hay upstairs, and home to free-range chickens and ducks downstairs. Animals complete the cycle, in the biodynamic vision of farming... which is one of the founding goals of WV.

With about 2 acres under production, and help from two hoop-houses, the WV Farm CSA has continually expanded operations over the last several years to now include weekly baskets of produce over the season that can contain anything ready for harvest--- lettuce, spinach, chard, kale, herbs and green onions, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, squash, beets, onions, parsnips, potatoes and corn... plus even cut flowers. All this, without the use of any chemicals, artificial fertilizers or GMO’s. The CSA uses human labour whenever possible, to reduce dependence on fossil fuel, and grows heirloom varieties of vegetables to preserve plant genetic diversity.

Another founding member, Jeff, showed Melissa and me around the property... showing us some recent changes. This small building, which served as a tool shed and car garage before, has now been transformed into the CSA pickup location. A plethora of gardening tools fill the attached lean-to. This year, the CSA fared very well, selling about 40 shares to WV members, local food establishment, and folks who live in the surrounding vicinity.

This year, while Melissa and I were on the road, members of the community initiated a major overhaul of the surrounding landscape... planting gardens, such as a kitchen garden, edible landscapes and ornamentals, and evolving the installed permaculture components, such as walkways, composters, clothes lines, and windbreaks. Brenda reported that the scenery around the building this summer was extremely gratifying. Elsewhere on the farm, WV members attempt to protect and enhance the natural habitat through a system of land stewardship embracing the unique geographical, historical, cultural, and biological attributes of the land.

The large 200 acre property was previously an historic farmstead, and it is split into two separate lots. All of the farm buildings existed on one lot, so Greenhaven was built on the other. In 2004-05, as a member of the construction crew on Greenhaven, I had the fantastic opportunity to experience a real ecovillage setting... where life revolved around the updated farmhouse (pictured). I learned a great deal about formal meetings, consensus decision making, interpersonal issues within intentional communities, and better forms of communication. There are now about 5 people living in this building, including renting members and the the farm couple-- Aerron and Amanda-- who operate the CSA. This farmhouse holds many incredible memories for me...

Again, our visit in November featured poor weather for outdoor photography, so I am indebted to the creator of this beautiful picture of the massive 15000 square foot Greenhaven building. The photo is lifted from WVs improved website at http://www.wholevillage.org/index.html (I encourage you to check out the new features and photographs). Greenhaven has 11 private suites and 6300 square feet of common space. The suites are currently full, although two of them are for sale. There are about 20 people residing here now. The living situation resembles co-housing, and the membership pledges to operate a biodynamic farm as an integral part of the community and to achieve these goals consistent with principles of sustainable land stewardship. For an indepth treatment of the many various 'green' aspects of the home, please click on 'Greenhaven Technical Information' on the WV website...

Now having traveled over 25000 kms on this leg of the Eco-tour, we rolled into the ecovillage that gave me my start in this work. After completing an internet course in 'eco- psychology,' I discovered ecovillages on-line in 2003 and immediately planned my life around the building project at Wholevillage (WV), scheduled for a 2004 start. When Greenhaven, the new community common-house residence, was mostly complete... I planned the Eco-tour. It was just over two years ago that I left WV, as I began this research trip adventure. Melissa became an Associate Member of WV, while living in Toronto last year, and that is how we met in January. She listens to founding member, Brenda, a good friend of ours at WV, as she speaks about the new strawberry field (background) planted this year...

Another stock photo here shows a summertime picture of the HomeAlive! project, on the Everdale Farm. The strawbale house features hundreds of ideas for a changed style of ecological living... from permaculture landscaping and PV power, to a composting toilet and solar hot water. I helped install a few of the components of this house back in 2004. To learn more about the Everdale facility, and all of the wonderful programs being offered here next year, please check out http://www.everdale.org/

Lynn showed us into another newly constructed building on the farm, which will serve as the base for the EverPURE Biodiesel Co-op. She explained the process by which they hope to make the biodiesel co-op more integrated with local systems. The idea is to grow biofuel crops and press the oil locally. The oil then can be used by local restaurants for frying. After it is used for cooking, the vegetable oil can be recovered and brought back to this facility. Here, biodiesel is made with the used oil as one of the main components. The biodiesel can be then used in farm equipment and vehicles, as well as in the modern oil-injection furnace for the new large barn-facility. If they can make this circular-system co-op work out, Everdale will have established a viable demonstration model of how future systems can be localized.

The CSA incorporates a really neat system for people to get the local veggies that they desire. The Farm Store at Everdale has recently expanded. In this unique program, Melissa and I learned that CSA shoppers come to the store and are awarded a certain number of points. There are four levels of membership, corresponding to four incremental prices and point-endowments. The member-customers can then pick items from the store based on their point total. Non-member shoppers can pay normal dollars, as in a regular store. Everdale is now also supplementing locally produced food with shipped organics that cannot be feasibly grown here. These are wonderful and important experiments in relocalizing food distribution and economics...

It would probably be fair to say that Everdale would not even exist if it were not for hundreds of supporters... key people who have donated to the project over the years. Lynn, and her co-founders, have struggled at times to keep the programs going... and have done a brilliant job. Everdale gets a lot of support from volunteers, and folks donating used items too. I've always appreciated their reuse of materials, examples of which are plentiful around the farm and witnessed here in turning old bathtubs into vegetable washing stations. Lynn reports that everyone loves the room and convenience provided by the new facility.

Back in the lower part of the new building, Lynn shows us the huge room now committed to vegetable washing, sorting and preparation. The 6-8 farm interns that enroll in Everdale's program each year get an intense training experience from spring until fall, as they provide the backbone to one of the largest and most successful CSA (community supported agriculture) programs I've seen... currently sitting at 200+ members!... integrating 150 acres of certified organic land, including 15 acres of vegetables and 20 acres of grain, raised poultry and pigs and sheep, and bees. They also grow certified organic seeds in partnership with Seeds of Diversity Canada.

The recently improved interior decor of the educational building has posted displays revealing the breadth and depth of Everdale's programs. Lynn informed us that Everdale has now shifted its focus more towards farming... and therefore some of the learning programs that I completed in 2004 are no longer available. The new streamlined agenda is understandably the proper response to a portfolio that had become too diversified and hard to financially manage. Everdale will now put an even stronger emphasis on programs related to 'Future Farmers' and farm-related ecological issues...

This stock photo, that a friend took in 2003, shows some of the first projects completed by workshop participants and supporting members. In the foreground, for the purposes of providing showers for the interns, solar water heating panels were installed below an outdoor water tank and work through thermo-siphoning. In the background, to the right, an outdoor toilet facility was constructed... which has now been updated to be a composting system...

Across the yard, this multi-use building was immediately renovated after the Everdale facility was injected with new life. Like much of the infrastructure, it was in serious disrepair, but the folks instrumental in the process formed the necessary organizational components and rolled up their sleeves to get the program underway. Eight years later, hundreds of students have attended workshops in this building, or elsewhere on-site, learning about everything from solar power to permaculture. Not only has Everdale hosted dozens of ecological workshops, it became one of the premiere training sites in Canada for future farmers. In all my travels, I have yet to encounter a program that educates young organic farmers with the same energy and success. Many year-long interns have gone on to start their own farms...

The new building on-site (still being finished up) represents a continuum of activity at Everdale dating all the way back to the mid-60s, when a 'free school' was created. Over the years, Everdale has gone through many phases, culminating with the birth of the Environmental Learning Center in 1998 (with the aforementioned four founders resurrecting the facility). Yet, the foundational goal of exploring more ecological and egalitarian modes for human existence has remained constant. Finally, during our visit here, the snow suddenly came (reminding us in no uncertain terms that we were 'home'), reducing my options for outdoor photography. This multi-use strawbale 'barn' will serve many functions... housing offices, upstairs sleeping quarters, and a lower space for vegetable washing and cooling.

On Thursday, Nov. 8, Melissa and I visited a place that was extremely influential for my initiation into sustainable living ideas and organic farming. We met with Lynn at Everdale Farm and Environmental Learning Center. Back in 2004, I completed about a dozen of the summertime workshops offered at the learning center, which is just 13kms down the road from Wholevillage. Lynn sits at her desk situated in the newly constructed offices at Everdale. She is one of just four founding members of this project, and therefore is highly responsible for the success of the programs here...

Immediately after leaving the Potter's place, on November 7th, Melissa and I headed further south and a couple hours of driving brought us to Lee Davies' house in Uxbridge. Lee is the current president of the Ecovillage Network of Canada (ENC), and has served as co-president for the Ecovillage Network of the Americas (ENA). For years now, he has been involved with the ecovillage movement in this part of the world, also traveling many times to projects in other countries. These two organizations are actually regional chapters of a massive Global Ecovillage Network (GEN = http://gen.ecovillage.org/index.html) which links together 100s of ecovillage projects from all corners of the earth! I encourage people to explore the websites and discover the many exciting communities being formed! You will then sense the source of my original motivation and energy for these Ecotours. I will be most likely working closely with Lee as I move forward, as we work together with other nonprofits and communities to see if Ontarians are ready to shift their lifestyles...

Earlier this year (see archives, April '07), I had recorded a visit to Chuck and Pat Potter's earthship near Bancroft, ON. Melissa was eager to satisfy her desire to see the unique home that I had frequently talked about throughout our shared trip. Luckily, we travelled right past the Potter's front gate! A quick tour was in order. Melissa was able to see the greens that Pat had just transplanted indoors from the outside garden... and otherwise get a chance to learn more about what earthship living was like. This active couple, always game for energetic discussions about the state of the world, have increased local interest through earthship building workshops and report that 8 new tire homes will break ground next spring. Great work you two!

The Anderman family were abundantly kind and extremely helpful to us, as we were winding down the last week of our exhausting 6 month adventure. We immediately felt welcomed like family... and they extended many gifts, for which we are deeply grateful. We wish them all the best in their struggle to maintain a viable market for 'Cool Hemp'... also peace and meaning and joy in the continuing journey of the homesteader! The chances seem good that we will cross paths again in the near future, since these folks are so close to 'home'... yes, geographically, but we also felt 'home' was close by, a feeling that touched us with the warm glow emanating from the old-fashioned kitchen... To check out the Cool Hemp website, click on http://www.coolhemp.com/en_home.htm

We enjoyed our time conversing with Robbie and Christina, as we worked in the gardens, completing some jobs before the snow arrived. We prepared some beds for next spring... weeding some, then layering in compost before mulching others. It is estimated that Morninglory land trust community grows somewhere between a quarter and a half of all its food on the property. This year, the population comprised about 15 members, including children, plus about 8 non-member residents. This would suggest that the gardens, and orchards, are quite productive!... no doubt due to daily communal labour contributions...

Here is a unique idea! While enumerating all of the possible uses for mothballed vehicles, I'll bet that not many people have thought about converting a van into a house for honey bees! So this setup accomplishes the same basic task, documented earlier on the ecotour, seen at the Lofstedt Farm. As in B.C., bears can cause a great deal of disturbance, if they are hungry enough to topple unprotected honey 'supers.' Suspecting that the 'Beware of Bees' sign on the front windshield will not help with less-educated bears, the creators of this safe haven have secured the slightly-ajar sliding door with a rope. The bees can access their combs inside, through that crack...

Robbie has learned the art of grafting, through reading, trial and error, and lots of experience. The photo displays what looks like a successful graft, where he has taken a desirable shoot (darker in colour) and integrated it into a different young tree, which is clipped. We could clearly see that Robbie's acquired knowledge and experience in this artform has served the resident members at Morninglory very well, by providing increasingly delicious and hardy fruit... and I would feel quite certain in stating that just about every other community project would do well to have such a master on the land. This is just one type of knowledge that we simply cannot afford to let slip into oblivion! This is one of the powers of community... the facilitation of self-sufficiency.

The community has a wonderful fruit tree orchard, which Robbie was eager to share with us. Many nurtured trees gift the residents with multiple varieties of apples and pears... and lots of them! Robbie informed us that just one amazing pear tree this year provided 80 bushels!! (please confirm or correct me, Robbie, if I misunderstood you)... This number seems to defy logic! At any rate, so many people over the last few years have asked me what the best possible use for 'humanure' might be... and in my opinion, in this photo, you are looking at it. The safely composted human poop is spread around the fruit tree (notice the ring of light coloured mulch), and worked into the ground slightly, exactly where the lead roots are looking for useful nutrients.

A tour of the land showcased for Melissa and me the simple-living strategies that allow these folks to keep a small ecological footprint. We got to peek inside this recently updated root cellar, which could obviously hold hundreds of pounds of food... causing the happy linkage of this theme back to Manitoba's 'Prairies Edge,' where we had just visited.

Alongside Wholevillage, Morninglory Farm is recognized as one of the two most influential intentional communities/ ecovillages in Ontario, and may have the longest established history of any similar type of project in all of Canada. Without a doubt, a good portion of Morninglory's notoriety stems from the 'Cool Hemp' products that Robbie and Christina began making about 10 years ago. Robbie told us that hemp is a miracle product, which can be used for manufacturing everything from clothing and rope, to a hard plastic replacement, to fuel oil, to edible products... like their ice cream substitute (pictured). Perhaps some readers of this Blog have tasted this delicious product? With great interest, we listened as Christina explained how they got started in this successful Morninglory cottage industry... but also learned the sad news that corporate shenanigans are threatening to push them out of the business (a story all-too-familiar for me, having myself a previous 20 year history in food retail).

I was delighted when Robbie showed me into his workshop, where he tinkers, creates, repairs and invents. Every wall of the room was loaded with handtools, some of them antique or extremely unique (all in good working order), reminding me very vividly of another workshop I had photographed in New York... belonging to Ed at 'Ness Community' (see my pics Nov. '06). The connections just kept adding up, as Robbie informed us that they have maintained friendly (and influential) contact with Ed... and they have exchanged a few visits over the years. In the center of this shot, you will notice that Robbie also skillfully crafts his own dulcimers... a musical instrument that gained popular awareness in the 60s...

As the woodstove warmed our bodies after a day in the gardens, Robbie demonstrated the use of a musical invention that he designed and handcrafted. The flute is an instrument usually played while it is held at an awkward 90 degree angle away from the musician's face, and Robbie found it a challenge. He fashioned the wooden extension and mouthpiece shown in this photo, swinging the angle around to a more comfortable position... the grip similar now to that of a clarinet. Not surprisingly, Robbie and others at Morninglory have established friendly relations with Asoma Music, with several recordings now having been completed, and you will find a photo of Robbie on their website with this new invention.

For fun, the community gets together regularly for swimming in the pond, trampolining, tobogganing, snowshoeing, full-moon drumming, new moon women's circles, music jams and pot lucks. They all share a love of nature and music making. Members of Morninglory Farm have also been significantly involved with the surrounding and supportive rural community in varying degrees.

So in this 'village' of separate households scattered over 100 hilly wooded acres, single people and families have come together throughout the years to become good neighbours, homestead in varying degrees, use only off-grid electricity, homeschool and raise children, and grow organically most of their fruits and veggies. Robbie and Christina's home is a model for DIY (Do-It-Yourself) and simplicity. They have a few solar panels, a small wind generator, and a solar hot water heating system. Like the other dozen (or so) people on the land, wood is the main source for winter heating and cooking.

Melissa and I were taken for a stroll down memory lane when Robbie pulled out the several newspaper clippings that displayed the articles featuring their community over all those years. The media has loved to embellish the "hippie" theme in their reports... but I sensed that the Andermans expected that, and they show few signs of concern. After all, along with many others I've visited on these eco-tours, they remain living proof that some of the core ideals of the 60s endure today...

Just a short drive down the road from Asoma Music Studio, we arrived at our next scheduled tour destination-- Morninglory Farm Community. Members of the Anderman family, Christina, Robbie and Ethan (left to right) welcomed us into their home and regular routine for a couple of days. This intentional community, birthed the same year that I came into the world ('69), may represent the most outstanding Canadian example of a cultural legacy stretching back to the American 'back-to-the-land' movement (which accompanied civil rights, war protests, and 'flower power').

Just before the conclusion of our tour, as the sun was setting in the west, Errol took us up onto the earthship roof where we saw the clerestory windows for the second floor, the enormous square footage that they hope to utilize for rainwater catchment, and the first phases of a solar PV installation (they are off-grid). They are looking into the possibility of adding wind power generation. Errol's interest in sustainability is highly influential, since he is an acclaimed professional singer/songwriter and engineer/producer: a Juno Award winner, recipient of the Socan Song Writer of the Year award, Q107 Toronto Music Award winner and Canadian Black Music Award winner. It was a pleasure meeting these fine earthship builders, and we wish them great success as they continue to inspire others to seek alternative lifestyle methods. For several more photos, many of them far better than mine(!), check out Asoma Music online & click 'Earthship Tour'... http://www.asomamusic.com/home_page.shtml

Lisa and Melissa stand in what will be the shower, when the washroom is complete. The deep bathtub, which promises to be quite beautifully positioned right under a southern window, is in the bottom left of the photo. Again, these are cement structures with pop can walls... with the odd bottle pattern thrown in for decoration. Amazingly, we were told how the main building was constructed in basically just one summer, as they recruited many local highschool football players eager to burn off some testosterone! Hundreds of tires were pounded full of dirt, as the walls of this mammoth earthship started to go up. Errol states on the website that "This structure is a recycling dream, built mainly with discarded tires and thousands of pop cans."

Some of the wood, too, is used in the kitchen cookstove, for preparing meals. Errol and Lisa admit that the unique design of their earthship may actually hurt the overall performance of the heating systems. We know from the earthship architectural website, that people are becoming quite creative with designs. This picture shows the stairs ascending to one of the two upper levels designed into this earthship, so obviously heat will rise and their passive solar gain will be diminished. I sensed that the couple do not regret incorporating a second floor, but they do speak frankly about issues that other would-be builders should consider...

The living room in this photo has a small wood stove for heat. Our hosts informed us that they burn a little over 20 cords of wood a year, which sounds like a lot of wood, and it is, but nonetheless represents a comparatively small amount considering the sheer size of this place, the fact that the south windows are not yet insulated, and the severity of the winter temperatures. In fact, Errol mentioned that many times they have had no fire, and yet must wear tee-shirts on sunny days in January. (notice the multiple bulges forming a pattern in the walls, revealing the outlines of the tires underneath)