We are a group of people in the process of creating a cooperative agrarian community — an ecovillage* — in the Triangle area of North Carolina. As part of a transition to a less fossil-fuel dependent lifestyle, we intend to provide for our basic needs within a relocalized economy, which we will help to create by fostering relationships throughout the surrounding community and with other ecologically minded food producers in our bioregion. Within our community, we will work on developing healthy social relations and participatory governance and decision-making processes. Reaching beyond our community, we will share with others what we learn about all these endeavors.

Some of the actions we will take to carry out our mission:

• Find and develop a parcel of land large enough for a minimum of 36 – 48 people and a maximum of 50 – 100, depending on the carrying capacity of the land.
• Hold common land with a conservation easement or similar tool that will protect woods, farmland and wild areas from development.
• Develop a community currency.
• Plan the site to maximize open space and agricultural land.
• Create a pedestrian-oriented site plan.
• Adopt energy efficiency techniques and technology.
• Develop energy sources that are both local and renewable.
• Develop a variety of food preservation techniques to include root cellars, canning, drying, pickling and other food preservation technologies.
• Build greenhouses and develop other season extension methods.
• Develop rainwater catchment systems.
• Develop graywater recycling systems.
• Compost biodegradable waste.
• Sub-divide our community into smaller groups or “pods” of 15 people or less, organized around a particular goal or lifestyle preference.
  

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  * We have adapted Robert Gilman's definition of an ecovillage as "A human-scale, full-featured settlement in which human activities are harmlessly integrated into the natural world in a way that is supportive of healthy human development, with multiple centers of initiative, and (which) can successfully be continued into the indefinite future."