Abundance EcoVillage Project
Beyond Sustainability
Care of the Earth - Care of the People
Here are planned ecovillage elements:
Agriculture
Permaculture design
Biointensive minifarms
Home garden space
Allotment
farming area
orchard area
wildlands areas
prairie
savannah
mixed hardwood
wetlands
Nursery
Greenhouse
Pest predator habitat
Bat houses
Bird houses
Frog, toad, and reptile habitat (ponds)
Umbrellifer family
Energy
solar/wind/biodiesel backup
energy system per cluster
covenants on not connecting to grid
Monitoring of power/energy for the whole cluster and unit at each unit
No furnace/ ac homes
passive solar
solar hot water
Housing
Sthapatya Ved
5-10 units per cluster
each cluster
single family
multifamily/apartments
dorms
Dorms
Single corridor w/common bath
Do more research on cool dorm designs
10-25 units
Common area/Brahmastahn
Greenhouse
Laundry
Outdoor clothes drying area, greenhouse clothes drying area
Storage
Shop - Tinker workshop idea - Berkeley, ca utne reader article, July aug 1999
Internet access / computer
phone
hostel type bunkhouse /intern/visitor
health department approved kitchen
meeting room - TV, slides,
powered by surplus power from housing clusters
offices need power in day, when housing clusters are empty
Pond in Brahmasthan
Office space
vehicle co-op
Boat/Bike/toy storage area
Open sided shed with racks - can also be use for slar rack and water catchment
tool/equipment co-op - ladders, etc
sustainability library - videos, books, tapes
Office space
Bulk orders of staples/ mini food coop
Wild areas
Prairie
savannah
mixed hardwoods
wetlands/ponds
Waste handling
Waste handled per cluster
Separate toilet and greywater streams
Toilets
vermicomposting unit with surface disposal of liquids in a coppicing forest area
disposal of solids in trenches in forest area once or twice yearly
(calculate volume of solids - anna eddy and jay baldwin anecdotes)
Greywater - water goes to subsurface irrigate orchard around cluster
possible winter problems - calculate total grey water per winter,
No problems with conventional deep disposal of liquids and wetland systems
Household waste recycling
bulk purchases to minimize packaging, trips to the store
bins for glass, paper etc
reuse paper in mulching
Orcas exchange type facility
building materials
electrical supplies
Each cluster
5-10 units
10-40 people
Mixed use - single, apartments, dorms, some small some larger
Shared energy system - meter and highest user pays for back up fuel
research other alternatives
all units have instantaneous and cumulative energy meters for their unit and the total for the cluster
vermicomposting waste handling system
liquids get dispersed
Orchard
kitchen garden per unit
connected by wilderness corridors to other units
pest predator habitat
water features/fountain/flow forms/wetland
Each unit
Kitchen Garden
Self Sufficient for heating and cooling
Heating
anna eddy style hot air system
heavy insulation
superwindows
window placement
Cooling
earth tubes
Limited vehicle access
Cabin/low cost building area
radio station
nursery
Boneyard/recycled materials area
Permaculture design course for principles in the project
How to ensure that the project doesn't turn in to suburbia
Covenants and restrictions
Philosophy of minimal interference in people's lives
covenants by design -ex limit car access by design
Quote form Max Lindegger, Crystal Waters "The perfect design would not need any laws - poor design needs many"
Energy restrictions - no commercial power
Project functions on daily budget of solar and wind w/biodiesel backup
goal of running generators no more than 2% of year (approx 180 hours)
Building restrictions
Sthapatya Ved - whose kind
Natural Materials/bioregional materials/nontoxic materials.
Clusters
Limited choice of plans
Here is a list of the plants at the Ecovillage:
- Akebia (raintree pg 48 vine with occasional fruit)
- Almond - titan zone 5
- apples
- apricots
- Aronia
- arp rosemary
- Autumn olive -
- Bamboo clumping ( Fargesia nitida nymphenburg F. muriale F. nitida all to -20)
- Bamboo running -(p. nuda and p aureosulcata aureocaulis both to -20)
- Blackberries
- Blackberries
- blue honeysuckle (lonicera caerulea edulus)
- Blueberries
- Boyers quince
- Bush Cherries (Jan and Joy - meader)
- cherries
- Chokeberry (aronia)
- cinnamon vine
- cranberries
- currants
- Damson Plum
- dawn redwood
- eastern prince magnolia vine
- Edible dogwood (cornelian cherry)'
- elderberries
- Elderberry - Adams, Johns, York
- Filazel
- French tarragon
- gingko
- gooseberries
- Grapes
- grapes
- hardy peaches (reliance)
- Hardy sweet cherries
- Hawthorn
- kinnickinnick
- Kiwi - argura, kolimita
- Maypop Passionflower (passiflora incarnata) -
- Medlar (mespilas germanica)
- Mt Ash
- Mulberry -
- Nanking Cherry
- nectarine
- Paw paw (asimina triloba)-
- pears
- Pears, asian
- Persimmon (Diospiros virginiana)- Native
- Plums - wild (prunus americana), european, japanese
- Purple beech (fagus sylvatica - nuts)
- quince (burbank van deman)
- Raspberries
- Ribes (gooseberries, black currents, red currents, josta berry)
- Saskatoon
- Sea buckthorn
- service berries (amelanchier alnifolia - smokey succes, autumn brilliance)
- Serviceberry (amalancheier ainifolia) Try selected varieties like regent or
- smoky
- Shipova
- Sour cherries
- strawberries
- strawberry magnolia vine
- Trazel
- variegated porcelain berries
- Wild plum (prunus americana)
- wintergreen