Port Townsend EcoVillage

  • Communities

About the Communities

  • Established
  • Ecological
  • Town/Small City

Founding year

  • 2004

What we do

We are a small-town, multigenerational EcoVillage on 7.5 acres in Port Townsend, WA, a historic seaport of 10,000 residents. We have a core group of a 46 active participants: 35 adults and 11 children, most of whom live on site. All the residential sites have houses completed, but we occasionally have rental units available.
Residents share ample common gardens, fields, woods, a large shop/art/recreation center and a beautiful Common House. We use some of our best land to grow food using permaculture, restorative agriculture principles, and other organic methods, and may develop cottage industries. We embrace and seek diversity and are especially glad for the broad range of ages present among us.
We share meals and celebrate solstice and other diverse earth and life cycle days together. Fun and connecting activities happen often – recent examples: crafting time, singing gatherings, gifting circle, food preserving, as well as ongoing garden and construction work.
Structured as a Home Owners Association, most of our members own their own lots and the homes they built on them, and thus have access to mortgages, federal tax deductions and tax credits for renewable energy and energy efficiency initiatives. HOA members collectively own a large 2-kitchen home with 4 bedrooms and one of the lots on which there are 3 tiny houses.
We offer tours once a month prior to our monthly community meeting on the second Sunday of each month, and can sometimes arrange for a tour on another date. Email us to arrange a visit!

Our Mission

Vision Statement: Port Townsend EcoVillage is a community of people dedicated to living in harmony with each other and with the earth, exploring together ways to live more sustainably and joyfully.
Areas of focus: permaculture, ecovillage, multi-generational living, Non-Violent Communication, consent/sociocracy, growing food, sustainability, harmony, diversity and social justice

  • Purpose
  • Ecological
  • Community type
  • Cohousing
  • Ecovillage
  • Sustainability practices
  • Renewable energy systems
  • Permaculture design
  • Activities
  • Property management

Commemorative dates

  • January 1, 2004
  • Started planning
  • January 1, 2004
  • Started living together
  • 35 Total members
  • Open to new members
  • Open to visitors
Total
46

How to join

See Membership Process on our website for further information.

Basic expectations or agreements for members

See our website, then contact us by email.

Primary decision-making authority

  • Small Leadership Group

A few people (not elected by the broader community) make the major decisions.

Decision-making process

  • Consent-Based (Sociocracy)

Decisions proceed unless someone has a reasoned objection.

Governance structure

  • Sociocratic/Circle-Based

Organized in circles or domains with distributed authority.

Conflict resolution approach

Currently using Sociocracy. Before that, used Formal Consensus by C. T. Butler.

Economic model

  • Independent Finances

Members maintain separate personal finances with minimal sharing.

Economic scenarios for this community

  • There is a one-time fee, investment, or share purchase to join the community separate from accessing housing
  • Members need to pay fees, dues, or similar to live there on a per month or per year basis
  • There is a labor obligation
  • Members typically need to have their own job or other personal source of income to cover their expenses while living in the community?

Additional economic information

Join fee: Yes
Regular fees: Yes
Labor: Encouraged or suggested (0 hrs/week)
Members with pre-existing debt: allowed
Currently our assessments are at zero, covered by rents, but that may change.
All residents are encouraged to provide a minimum of 8 hrs/month but most contribute much much more. Some flexibility according to need.

Shared resources and amenities that are accessible to everyone in the community

Common House, Garden(s), Greenhouse(s), Library, Workshop, Outbuilding(s), Large Scale Kitchen, Tractor & Farm Equipment, Fire pit, Swingsets & play areas, Gym or sports area, Internet

Frequency of communal meals

  • 1-3 times per month

Significant food acquisition practices

  • Locally sourced

Dietary type

  • Vegetarian Only

Dietary restriction

  • People can cook and eat what they want in their own residence

Community activities and engagement

  • Neighborhood, Community Housing, or Homeowner's Association

Substance use culture

  • Substance use appears in public spaces but no pressure
  • Substance use is prohibited in the community

Gender composition

  • Roughly balanced (no group over 60%)

Age demographics

  • Family-focused (many children and parents)

Property status

  • Privately owned

Property owner

  • By several individuals through an LLC or a Tenancy In Common agreement

Setting

  • Town/Small City

Smaller municipalities with local services but rural character.

Community type

  • Cohousing

    Private homes with shared common facilities, designed for neighborly
    interaction while maintaining independence.

  • Ecovillage

    Integrated communities designed around ecological principles with sustainable living practices.

Sustainability approach

  • Renewable energy systems
  • Permaculture design

Land practices in our community

  • The community practices permaculture

Self-produced energy

  • 33 - 66%

Energy sources used

  • Photovoltaic Solar

Self-produced food

  • Up to 33%

Local, organic, or fair trade food

  • Up to 33%

Food systems

  • Community garden
  • Greenhouse / aquaponics
  • Land area size
    7.5 acres

Guest Book

Written reviews are available for plus members. Click here to upgrade.

Location

  • Washington, United States

Port Townsend EcoVillage

Needs and Offers

Connecting people and communities through an intentional online marketplace

  • Promoted
Offer
  • Real Estate For Sale
1 week ago

Beautiful 3+ Bed, 2.5 Bath Townhome in Established West Emerald CoHousing, Seattle

A rare home is available at West Emerald Cohousing, an established all-ages intentional community in West Seattle. For those considering a move to the Pacific Northwest—or hoping to join a mature community rather than one still in the forming stages—West Emerald offers decades of community life, beautiful gardens, shared resources and a peaceful setting within the city in a convenient location since 1999. This unit has a unique floor plan that is ideal for co-buying, co-living, or for one household. The home itself offers a flexible 3+ bedroom, 2.5 bath layout: Garden-level room with a separate exterior entrance and half bath—ideal for a home office, studio, guest space or client-facing business Main-level bedroom and full bath, laundry, making one-level living possible Open great room with large windows overlooking gardens filled with birdsong Well-designed kitchen with generous storage and pantry Two additional light-filled spacious bedrooms and a full bath upstairs Thoughtfully maintained and updated Located at the end of a common pathway for added privacy and garden views, Just feet from parking, which is out of view West Emerald community amenities include: Common House with gathering and activity spaces Community meals and events Mature gardens and shared outdoor spaces Workshop/maker spaces and bike barn Exercise room EV charging opportunity Excellent Metro access to Downtown Seattle just minutes away Nestled into a dell, it’s Seattle’s best-kept secret South Seattle College and lifelong learning, NW Wine Academy, the Seattle Chinese Garden are nearby, with easy access to Alki Beach, Lincoln Park, magnet schools, ferries, and the shops and restaurants of the West Seattle Junction. 6000 17th Ave SW, Seattle, WA Is a wonderful opportunity to have your own comfortable, private home while becoming part of a vibrant and well-established Seattle all-ages cohousing community. For more information contact the friendly Realtor at 206-579-9066, or at ki**********@**********te.com who will be happy to meet you there or do a facetime tour.
  • Promoted
Offer
  • Communities with Openings
3 months ago

Do you feel called to help co-create a small, newly forming eco-spiritual community?

Old structures are crumbling. New ways of living are calling. We are answering that call. Wild Grace is an eco-spiritual community located in the Sierra foothills 30 minutes from Grass Valley, California. We recently completed new homes for those who feel called to our vision. Currently there are four of us living on this sacred 80 acres of land although we are a hub for an expanded neighborhood community. Many join us weekly for potlucks, expressive dance, Qi Gong, monthly musical gatherings, and seasonal celebrations in our temple, as well as tending to our orchard. We are excited to welcome others to join us on the land who are dedicating their lives to spiritual growth and ready to live in a more focused and intimate heart-centered lifestyle. Might that be you or someone you know? The fundamentals are simple. Spirit. We listen personally and collectively together most mornings, usually starting with a musical offering, a prayer, or a short reading, followed by about 40 minutes of what we call “sacred silence.” Heart Circles. About once a week we gather to share and listen. We are informed by authentic and compassionate communication practices. Nature. The land itself—an 80-acre oasis of field and forest perched above the wild and scenic South Yuba River—calls for our stewardship in the gardens, orchard, greenhouses, and general care. In turn, nature feeds us abundantly, both literally and spiritually. Interbeing. We join with others to share inspiration and connection as we host monthly gatherings of song, story and prayer that draws from the larger community in addition to other events we share with our closer neighbors. As we attend to these fundamentals, Grace flows to and through us—often in “Wild” or unexpected ways. Grace catalyzes through us, but is not something we possess. Because we all are connected, we feel that Grace actively transforms n
Offer
Offer
  • Communities with Openings
2 days ago

Housing Co-op in Berkeley, CA has two member openings for 1-bedroom units

Parker Street Cooperative (PSC) – a co-owned housing co-op in Berkeley – has two openings for 1-bedroom units for new prospective members! THE APPLICATION DEADLINE IS 11:59PM ON NOV 1ST, 2026 You can find the application on our website at parkerstcoop.org Our monthly assessment for a 1-bedroom will likely be just $675 (compared with average rent of about $2,400 for a 1-bedroom in Berkeley). This covers all our shared costs. This is a great opportunity to become a fellow co-owner at a very affordable cost and secure long-term low-cost housing with a co-op community in a fantastic location in Berkeley! The current  share price for a 1-bedroom membership is about $30,600 (which is a small fraction of market rates and entirely refunded/sold back with nominal interest if a member leaves the co-op) ONE-TIME CAPITAL CONTRIBUTION FEE Lastly, if admitted, becoming a member also requires a one-time, nonrefundable $6,000 Capital Contribution Fee, which helps sustain the co-op property. For example, renovating a unit prior to move-in averages about $12,000.   CO-OP DETAILS PSC has 24 units in two buildings. We’re located in a highly convenient Berkeley location, fairly near the UC Berkeley campus, downtown, a bunch of grocery stores, Ashby Avenue, the Berkeley hills, two BART stations and other public transportation, and just two blocks west of Telegraph and two blocks south of Dwight.   The apartments have beautiful, nearly wall-to-wall windows in the living room, sizable windows in the bedroom and kitchen, hardwood floors, and original Art Deco kitchens and bathrooms. Shared spaces include common rooms, rooftop decks, beautiful though moderate garden spaces (17 fruiting plants!), high-quality fitness equipment, a very well-equipped maintenance room, bike/storage space, and a rear parking lot. MAKING IT POSSIBLE We co-own and manage the property and work together to help keep it very affordable for us and for those who come after us. For that reason, we need people who are excited and prepared to contribute substantial time, energy, and skills to the co-op, such as project leadership, budget management, facilitation, conflict mediation, administration and/or gardening. An ability to get along with a wide range of different people is also highly desirable, and prior co-op experience, or similar experience with cooperative or community-based living, is a plus. MAINTENANCE SKILLS — HIGHEST PRIORITY FOR THIS OPENING For these specific openings, substantial maintenance experience/skills are a major priority! 9-MONTH PROSPECTIVE TRIAL PERIOD The final two candidates selected after our interview process would first enter a 9-month fixed-term tenancy. As a tenant, the candidate would pay $1,675/month in rent, along with a $1,675 security deposit (which is either refunded or credited towards the share value). Near the end of the 9 months, the co-op will make a final decision about whether to offer the candidate admission as a co-op co-owner. CO-OP TOURS We’re planning to organize at least two tours of the co-op property in October before the application deadline. If you’d be interested in joining a tour, please contact us at pa***************************@***il.com and let us know. We don’t have openings that often, and each one is a special opportunity! Please feel free to share this opening with anyone who might be interested in being a new member for our community!
Need
  • Communities with Openings
7 days ago

Looking for a family-friendly farm, cohousing, or intentional community

This might be a little hard to explain, but I’m going to try. I’m 28, Colombian-American, and I have a seven-year-old daughter. Our life is a little unconventional. I travel, my work is not a normal 9–5, and I’ve realized I don’t want to keep building our life around temporary housing, hired help, and having to recreate a support system everywhere we go. I keep wondering whether there is somewhere we could actually belong. Not necessarily an “intentional community” in the formal sense. It could be a farm, a group of families, cohousing, an intergenerational household, or something I don’t have the language for yet. What I want is for my daughter to grow up around people she really knows. Other children. Adults who become familiar and trusted over time. A place where people notice when someone needs help, where meals or childcare or work sometimes overlap naturally, and where community is more than everyone living near each other. And for myself, I want people I can actually think and build with. I care a lot about spirituality, inner work, land, education, caregiving, and learning how to live differently. But I also care about power and about whether the communities we create reproduce the same things we say we’re trying to get away from. I need to be around people who can acknowledge things like racism, class, gender and systemic inequality without becoming defensive or treating those conversations as inherently divisive. I’ve been developing some of my own thinking around all of this through a framework I call Conscious Colombia, Participating Wisely, and Contemporary Sādhana. A lot of it comes down to a question I keep returning to: how do we become people who can participate in community wisely, while also creating structures that remain accountable and open to correction? I don’t have a fixed location in mind and I’m not looking to rush into anything. I’m really just trying to find the people and places where this kind of life is already being attempted — imperfectly, seriously, in real life. If you’re building something like this, living in something like this, or even asking similar questions, I’d love to talk.

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