Earthaven Ecovillage

Global Ecovillage Network logo with a turtle and leaf design.
  • Communities

About the Communities

  • Established
  • English
  • Ecological
  • Rural

Founding year

  • 1994

What we do

Earthaven is an aspiring ecovillage founded in 1994 on 329 acres in the mountain forests of Western North Carolina, about 50 minutes from Asheville. We are spiritually diverse and value sustainable ecological systems, permaculture design, elegant simplicity, right livelihood, and healthy social relations. We have both vegetarians and omnivores, and some of us raise livestock for food. We hope to become empowered, responsible, ecologically literate citizens who model bioregionally appropriate culture for our time and place.
We intend to become a village of at least 150. We use a modified form of the N Street Consensus Method for decision making, and have paid for and own title to our land. We have a homeowners’ association to manage our common lands, with housing coops and LLCs owning our residential areas. As of 2021, we have 70 adult residents. We have built roads and bridges, community buildings, members’ homes, multi-household residences, gardens, constructed wetlands, and off-grid power and water systems.
We are developing a small village-scale economy. Some of us work in small, onsite businesses or nonprofits, including Useful Plants Nursery; Culture’s Edge, an educational nonprofit and its School of Integrated Living (SOIL). Some of us offer services such as carpentry and home construction, consulting, house cleaning, home care, child care, and healing arts. Others telecommute or work in town.
To further Earthaven’s mission as a learning community dedicated to sharing our resources with the public, the School of Integrated Living offers in-person and online workshops and tours. We welcome students and other learning groups, and support homeschool parents of children at Earthaven and nearby. We are seeking hardworking, entrepreneurial people, including but not limited to organic growers and farmers; people with solar power, electrical, plumbing, and mechanical skills; and healers, artists, and families with children.

  • Purpose
  • Ecological
  • Languages
  • English
  • Community type
  • Ecovillage
  • Intentional Neighborhoods

Commemorative dates

  • January 1, 1994
  • Started living together
  • Open to new members
  • Open to visitors
Total
70

How to join

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Location

  • United States

Promoted Needs and Offers

  • Events
12 years ago

Gaia Ashram Internship

The Pioneers of Gaia Ashram , 5th of July– 2nd of August 2015 The Gaia Ashram Internship is a one month program on Ecovillage Design, Permaculture and Deep Ecology. The internship will be a holistic participatory learning experience & process. Interns will experience being part of the Gaia Ashram Community and we will live together for one month at– Gaia Ashram-. At Gaia Ashram we belief in holistic learning that balances the head, hands & heart. Gaia Ashram encourages participatory learning & values the power of community in holding the learning space. We design the daily & weekly structure of the internship and of our lives here based on these values and principles. Theoretical learning (Head) The theoretical sessions will be participatory and interactive. It will cover the 4 keys of Ecovillage Design Education (Social, Economical, Ecological and Worldview inspired by Gaia Education). Each week will cover one of the Ecovillage Design Keys and integrated into this we will be introduced to Permaculture Design & Deep Ecology in terms of philosophy, movement and personal experiences. Overall, We will have a maximum of 2-3 hours of theory per day on the session days, to also create lots of space for practical experiential learning. See more details of the key content below. Practical learning (Hands – on) For the hands – on practical learning we will be developing the Gaia Ashram’s farm and restoring nature on the Gaia Ashram land using permaculture strategies & techniques that are appropriate for the Rainy Season & the land and its local context. The hands-on work will focus on Gardening work i.e. developing the vegetable gardens, planting seeds & seedlings, transplanting, propagation of plants, making composts, growing and maintaining a Food Forest, planting green manures, planting lots of trees, planting seasonal crops. Apart from the Gardening we will also will be doing some natural building which mostly will focus on creating natural finishes usi

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A residential project: people live here as their primary home.

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An institution, business, network, or project that isn’t a residence (e.g. a learning center, farm, or network with no one living there full-time).

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