Group of people dancing around a maypole in a green forest setting.

Earthaven Ecovillage

  • 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

Earthaven Ecovillage

Promoted Needs and Offers

  • Events
2 months ago

IERI (International Ecovillage Research Institute) Research Lab

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The Research Lab is a new space for connection, exchange, and inspiration, bringing together researchers, practitioners, and students interested in ecovillages and regenerative communities. Our intention is to create a vibrant laboratory where we can learn from one another, strengthen collaborations, and advance collective knowledge. 📅 Date: Wednesday September 23rd🕓 Time: 10:30 Brazil / 13:30 UTC / 15:30 CEST (1.5 hour) Zoom link: https://unibas.zoom.us/j/61404061682   Register Here: https://unibas.zoom.us/meeting/register/io_jg3SJQGqRAaIi0eXazw Transitions towards the pluriverse: Place, difference, alliances and autonomy in two Latin American ecovillages Presented by Dr. Rebeca Roysen Professor at the Graduate Program in Tourism and Hospitality, Co-leader of the Sustainability Transitions and the Pluriverse of Alternatives (TranS-PlurAL) research group, Universidade do Vale do Itajaí (UNIVALI), Brazil This study proposes an alternative analytical framework for sustainability transitions research by drawing on critical scholarship on grassroots innovations and post-development studies. Rather than focusing on scalable innovations and socio-technical regime change, it introduces the concept of Transitions Towards the Pluriverse (TTP)—a bottom-up, decolonial, and context-sensitive approach that recognizes the diversity of transition pathways and places local communities and grassroots innovations at the center of transformations. Through two case studies of Latin American ecovillages, Dr. Roysen explores four key analytical dimensions—place, difference, alliances, and autonomy—to examine how ecovillages promote (or sometimes fail to promote) transitions towards the pluriverse. Whether you are an experienced researcher, a practitioner, or a student beginning your journey, you are warmly welcome to join us. We look forward to learning, exchanging ideas, and building this community together. Recent publications by Dr. Rebeca Roysen Roysen, R., Pereira Prado, M. M., Bruehwiler, N., Kos, L., & Koehrsen, J. (2026). Transitions towards the pluriverse: Place, difference, alliances and autonomy in two Latin American ecovillages. Sustainability Science. Roysen, R., Ayala, D. H. F., Ramos-Mejía, M., Kos, L., Bruehwiler, N., & Koehrsen, J. (2026). Replicating grassroots innovations in the Global South: A case study of ecovillages for marginalized groups in Colombia. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions. Roysen, R., Fagundes, G. M., Kos, L., Bruehwiler, N., & Koehrsen, J. (2025). Building a World-Ship: A decolonial approach to just energy transitions. Human Geography. More information: Ecovillage Research Global Ecovillage Network 
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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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