Hickory Nut Forest Eco-Community

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

About the Communities

  • Established
  • English
  • Ecological
  • Rural

Founding year

  • 2005

What we do

Hickory Nut Forest is an eco community near Asheville in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Located on over 100 acres in beautiful Hickory Nut Gorge, we are a sustainable community where adults and children live and work among caring neighbors, sharing their inspiration and enthusiasm with each other. As well as protecting the land’s biodiversity, we are growing vegetables and fruits, designing green homes, and using renewable energy from water and sun.
We have kept the special places wild for all to enjoy: cascading streams, tumbling waterfalls, sheer cliffs, and distant vistas. Over 15 miles of hiking trails exist to the adjoining 800 acres in the Florence Nature Preserve. Chimney Rock State Park is down the gorge with another 3500 acres of waterfalls and cliffs.
Laughing Waters is our community center and gathering place as well as a retreat site and educational center. We host workshops, weddings and private retreats. We have a large fire circle for bonfires, potlucks, and social gatherings.
Hickory Nut Forest has 20 lots. Community members purchase their own lots and design and build their homes. Community members may serve on committees to help with particular community aspects: land protection, trail building, renewable energy, growing organic foods, and green building. Currently, 6 homes have been built, 3 are being designed, and 9 lots are still for sale.
In addition to the magic of living in the abundance of the Blue Ridge Mountains, we are a 25-minute drive from Asheville, NC which is a cultural mecca. Restaurants, arts venues of all kinds, farmers’ markets, and opportunities for environmental activism provide an urban experience if and when the residents of Hickory Nut Forest want to participate in these types of activities.
We are continually expanding and growing and invite you to visit and learn more!

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

Commemorative dates

  • January 1, 2005
  • Started living together
  • Open to new members
  • Open to visitors
Total
17

How to join

Please contact our property manager at (828) 571-0366

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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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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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