Because it Takes a Whole Village
The Eden Project
Eden Valley has been chosen as the most optimal site for an EcoVillage Community like this anywhere up in Northern Mendocino County. Other sites have been selected in other parts of the world. But Eden is perfectly well situated within this EcoRegion and within its own Watershed. The vision has come down to us very much from the unique nature of Eden Valley itself. I am sure you might want to take a little Hike up into the surrounding areas and got a good feel for the relative wildness of the area. But the project came together out of a respect for the unique shape and size of Eden Valley.All the Homesteads around the outside rim of the valley to save all that good farmland which is rare and beautiful and to have the views of all that open space spreading out before us and nobody up the hill behind us. That is Key.
The Village Commons
The Village does need to be fairly central and it already is stocked with a few barns and ponds and shady trees along the creek which would be the most ideal spot for The Village which is going to be about 64 park like acres in the Heart of Eden for General Community Uses. There is an artists rendering of what The Village might look like off the home page. Who else can afford to even do that? We can. Because Eden is real the people have had to get real as well.The Vegan Village
That will be up in the northeast corner which is like a self organizing cooperative within the larger community. That will be like a smaller community that probably will be more fully communal within a larger community that is not. Why? Some people need their own space.Here we will integrate different things on different scales that work in different ways to see how they might fit together to form a whole community that has a place for everyone even those who do not come in the usual family sized groupings that will fit so well on the homesteads and that will give us more diversity. And that means Higher Stability and Greater Productivity in any forest.
The Land comes First
Everything we do comes out of the land. We are totally focused on Eden Valley as a place and the people of this community as the people for that place. A lot of people may want to escape from the city before it becomes a disaster area.Others may choose to remain behind. Here in Eden we will build everything to be Earthquake Proof which is not much harder as long as you stay close to the Earth.
Who are the People
We need the people who are ready to become a very real part of something like this and to be able to work in good cooperation with others in community towards common goals and a higher purpose. Kids who play well with the other kids and are not in a dysfunctional relationship with society and the environment would be a good place to start.Good People in commitment to a dream. The money shows up and the land soon follows. People who are too impatient will not be welcomed. A certain degree of self control of ones looser ends may be necessary and this is a healthy living community where fitness is a way of life. Even older people here are active and busily involved in various ways.
Full Circle
We envision one big full circle of deeply committed people to share in the effort of creating Eden. If we build it they will come. But we need people who are ready to become a working part of this project. To become a working part of Eden you have got to become a real member. No one gets the red carpet treatment. I don't even think we even have one. If we do I would certainly like to see it.Good People
A lot of people may want to join in with us in doing something like this but then it turns out that we are never going to be just exactly right for everybody for some reason or other. Someone is always going to choose to go off on us at their own great peril.We have no time for that kind of thing and we really do need to know just who can be counted on to be there with us right now and from this point onward. We aren't trying to squeeze blood out of a stone. You know who you are. It's not for me to say if you are right for Eden or if Eden is right for you unless you are not right for Eden.
The Wedding Ceremony
We do need to know what you can do and where you are coming from even if you live far away and can't make it to the meetings before the Wedding Ceremony. You can still become a part of the Stewards Council which will become the main governing body of this community. And that has to happen before we buy the land.We do need you to become willing to take action on this. The time for hesitation it is through. This is something we must do. And we do expect much more from you here among us in Eden than it might be somewhere else. We are not that heavily interested in those who may just want to space out into anonymous isolation right here in our midst, so you do have to prove to be an amicable person who does have a lot to give.
The Low Cost Pledges
The low cost ConTribs starting at $28.800 are really only for Seniors who may wish to do without the 2 acre Farmsite that will normally come with every 3 acre Homestead. That is generally for older folks who can't be expected to get out there and do a lot of work on a Farmsite.Otherwise it would only be unfair to them to expect them to pay as much when they really have no use for that much land. And this way it won't just sit there with no way to use it. We will find some other folks who really do need a chance to do some serious work on that farm site like some young folks who will want some space for their own farming projects.
Critical Mass
It would be really nice if some people could come through with the full amount. Like about a dozen people. Why is that? We need to be able to reach that kind of Critical mass of support up front in order to become one with a decent down payment that we can live with.We can't do this without some of that kind of immediate full blown support. We need that much more just to establish a sizeable land fund after the down payment so we can rest assured that the next 12 payments are in the bag. We can't even move into that arena until we have something that will put us not only barely in the game but that will put us way up and over the top. We may even need a real Angel or two who can assure us of their absolute backing on an even greater scale if we ever do need it for emergencies. That we can borrow large amounts of money from them without having to pay interest on that. We just have to pay it back. That is just to make sure we can always make our payments on time every time.
Super Angel
We do need you to become a real Angel or a super hero here even if you have been taught to remain dependent upon others to take all the risks in life and so go ahead and join the Stewards Council even if it kills you before the end times are upon us all.But then we will still need a quorum of at least 9 members on the Council before we can go ahead and start to make any decisions which may sound outrageous to those who have figured out that we already do have a decent decision making body in place right now meaning the perfectly fine body of T unless of course you choose to stand aside on that one.
We do have T. But it is said that he refuses to take too much further action in regards to setting the wheels into motion without all of your very real and proven commitment and support and that he does expect more from those who have less since Eden is an exact inversion of the mainstream dominator cultures of doom and gloom and guilt been spilt.
We need to see a strong Stewards Council that is way up and over the top as well very much like the Vision of Eden. Why shouldn't we expect as much from each one of you? Well we do.
On the Council
The Council will be the sole governing body of this community made up of one person from each of the Homesteads. It will make decisions by a three quarters Consensus.The reason for that is so that no one person can hang up the flow of the entire river which could endanger the whole village. People hadn't thought about that before because they were only dealing with who was going to wash the dishes when.
We do have a little bit more going on here. Some of us do anyway. And I do hope some of the rest of you folks do start to generate enough of an appetite to be willing to do a little more than just to take your hats off and pull up to the table just so you can wolf everything down before we run out of food. Notice how that would backwards as it does not correspond to the natural order of priorities.
That you might bring a little something more than all the others I do not think should be too much to ask since if you are even trying to read this you might still be among the very last and the least among us, and then you do have to be quite happy and content with that. You then may try to bring that up to a more equitable level when you finally do get around to making your contributions known. We can not show any respect for anybody for nothing. No one who has done nothing deserves anything. These are the new rules of the game. Special rights do need to be earned. The ordinary rights that are extended to every stone in space and all living things are nothing that we can grant or take away from anybody.
Sharing Families
If a family is sharing a homestead they will have to decide among themselves who will be representing their voices on the council as if they had anything real to say in the first place.Otherwise there will be lots of opportunities for all to speak who actually do have some reason to spout off. We do want to assure a few people who really do need to know that there will always be some semblance of gender balance on the council.
It will probably often be one of the women who takes more of an interest in the goings on of the Community when it comes to planning and managing finances and things like that anyway. But you will have to work it out for yourselves who will represent your homestead unit on the Stewards Council.
This is just to create a workable number of people on the Council who are deeply rooted in this Community and committed to the hilt. Other voices will also be heard from among those who have actually done something for Eden.
What you say
You need to make your commitment to that Council known. You must understand that. We need you to be among those who will fulfill that Council. We need you to step forward in a big way here and become who you always have been but never had a chance to find out about.Or maybe you're not buying into that. I don't mind. You tell me. Just do it and do it right big time. Or you can just send us a smaller contribution if you would prefer to drag your feet a little bit longer like the other cowardly lions out there who now haven't got a leg to stand on.
Any contributions over $100 will be credited towards your ConTrib if you do let us know you want that. Otherwise that will go towards general expenses like any other contribution and it will be jealously guarded for as long as we can until it is finally spent on something of great importance, like the publication of the next issue of the Eden Journal. We can do a lot with very little and have been doing so for a very long time.
The need to know
We do need to know who and where you are on this whole thing right now so we can memorize your name. This is not just meant to be of passing interest to a few people in the academic world of Intentional Communities and such who might want to write a humorous book about us one fine day.You must be willing to consider each and every suggestion made on this website as being almost a written Treasure Map on how to make your way to Eden. We know that people have become accustomed to talking much and doing little and we have little interest in perpetuating this myth of the importance of mass consumption.
Expectations
We need you to be doing something here and there and not just playing cat and mouse. And what we are doing here is nothing we want to talk with just any old body about. Those who really do have something real to do with us and have proven themselves worthy will have our complete attention. The rest will not. That's why we say that if you aren't the real deal either is any of this going to be. We are only going to be as real with you as you have been with us.Cutting Edge Criticism
This is what the Communities Movement should be all about and soon it will be. But that only works if you jump all over this thing when you get the chance. And that time is now. There aren't too many other real visions of community like this one that I could refer you to hook up with should you fail to make the connection with Eden. And they are pretty much all booked up so you do not want to take your sweet time for too long.One Fine Valley
Eden has been recognized as a perfectly ideal place for a community like this and it was even used for that back in the 1800's when it became an Early Community because it was even then seen as being the perfect place as it is now. Nothing has changed but the fiction of politics has dropped through the floor, but the New Spirit of Ecology has progressed greatly.I am sure that quite a few of the indigenous tribes of this area might have chosen to live there as well. Ishi comes to mind. It would have been a perfect place to live that way of life.
There probably will be some artifacts to be found but we have to be clear about our intentions not to disturb any sacred burial grounds. We do not disturb these sites if we find any in Eden out of respect for both the living and the dead.
Other plans have been made of course to try and develop the valley through conventional means. My conclusion is that it was just not meant to be anything else but an EcoVillage.
That is why I think that we are the one people on Earth who do have a good plan for the good and right and sustainable use of Eden Valley. And now when it is so very possible to do something of any real significance like this so many people are just not aware of what the realities are and what is required of them to become a part of this community. It's time to drop the attitude now isn't it?
Why have people done that? Some Truth on this:
Most people are actually not looking for a job with apple computer here. They do not see themselves as workers. They do not love the platform and they do not want to help to produce a better place for the Spirit of Eden to grow up to its full potential.
They may imagine themselves instead to be walking into just another Store with an attitude of contempt for the product being offered, and a lot of contradictory opinions meant to establish that they are not going to be easily sold on the platform, which for them is just like getting screwed again, and that is just to have some defense against the expected Sales Pressure that would normally be anticipated.
We all do this sometimes. Even with members of the opposite sex. We take the attitude of supreme disinterest even when that is not the appropriate attitude because we believe that the world is a rotten place to live where Truth and Justice never works. That may be because the natural orders of priorities have all been ripped up. And people do not know any other way of dealing with it.
Now it gets real
You must begin to respond to the call. And then everything else will just begin to flow like a river. All of its own accord. And with only a few serious obstacles. Because we do have to be able to move right on ahead with the things we really do need within this community.It's not about what it used to be about anymore. Some of that will be tolerated for awhile. But most of it is already obsolete. Because we do expect you to be able to learn to become somebody who can create your own way of life for yourself within this community before the end times are upon us all.
We now have well over 600 great big fat members in this group which is huge for any single community email group...
Thirty Five Dollars from each real member will give us something to work with over the coming year. We have not be slacking off here.
We do have some great big fat publications in the works that are just dying to be printed, and that will allow us to reach out to a lot more people. But we can only do that with your help. In return for that we will now be able to send you not only The Eden Journal which is something real that you can show to your friends, but now you will get the Free DVD along with that just as a token of our many thanks.
- T
To Save the Earth
