Logo for The Eden Project eco-village community with mountain background.

The Eden Project

  • Communities

About the Communities

  • Forming
  • Ecological
  • Rural

Founding year

  • 1991

What we do

Eden has been designed around a 2,000 acre Valley that will allow us to be able to grow all the food we would ever need, where we can build all our own naturally passive solar homes in a circle of homesteads all around the rim of this unique and beautiful Valley.
The Spirit of Place
To link people up with a real Connection to the Land and to reinforce their commitment to this community each of those individuals, couples or extended family groups who live in Eden will each be given 5 acres of Eden to build a home on, grow food on and to live on.
The Three Acre Homesteads
This is the place for you to build a home on within a one acre Circle within which you will do most of the things you do around your home and on a Homestead.
There you may do some gardening, plant some trees, keep some animals, build a workshop or a greenhouse and maybe a cabin for your friends.
The other 2 acres of the Homestead are to be left as wild and free as we find them to protect the natural flow of the land around them.
The Two Acre Farm Sites
Another 2 acres goes along with each Homestead and right across from it as much as possible.
These are the Farm Sites where you may be able to do some serious small farming, and to practice the Natural Art of Permaculture on.
Or you may want to just grow your own food on that to have for sale and trade within in the community and beyond.
Self – Sustainability
Some people will be able to make a fairly good living right off their own Farm Sites, and that could be enough to support our self quite well.
Others will have a lot of other things that they may do as artists, musicians, and alternative builders and eco-designers and creators of natural products of all kinds.
The Community Farm
This will probably be about 300 acres in raspberries out in the valley that is run like a Community Business to create jobs and to support our own Sustainable Micro-Economy.
Village Foods
We will probably want to have our own home grown natural food store in the nearby town of Willits which is about 3 hours North of the Golden Gate Bridge.
There we will be able to sell some of the things we will be producing in Eden.
This will create even more jobs and a steady flow of income that will circulate in many different ways.
Ancient Valley
There will be a large camping and retreat area which already has 2 beautiful lakes in it and that will be set aside as a natural area along with the surrounding mountains.
That will be left very much the way it is right now and will be used only minimally that will not be developed in any way except for Green Burials way up in the farthest reaches.
Eden Village
There will be a large 64 acre area along one of the many Creeks that will be where Eden Village is actually centered and that area will be set aside for Community purposes.
There we will have meetings or other community activities, like art and music and workshops and story telling celebrations of freedom and abundance.
Child Centered
Everything we do here is for the Children. They are the future Children of Eden.
It is for that reason that Eden is considered to be more of a Womens’ Centered Community as we now must learn to honor the new Voices of the Feminine Spirit.
Women are the child bearers, and raising healthy and happy children in a Human Scale EcoVillage Community Environment is something that no amount of money can buy without Good Mothers.
Wilderness Area
We are backed up against over 50 thousand acres of extensive Protected Wilderness lands all along the east side of the valley that runs right up into Mendocino National Forest and beyond. We have worked very hard to get this turned into a designated wilderness area.
Over 700 Members

Our Mission

We come from the Earth
Our Roots are in the Mountains and the Valleys and the Cool Green Forests that we climbed out of not so very long ago. Our roots are in the Oceans and the Rivers that we climbed out of not so very long ago.
Our Roots are in the Planets among the Distant Stars in the Starry Skies we came gently down from not so very long ago. And now it is time to reclaim our Natural Rights of Universal Freedom. But along with that Freedom comes Universal Responsibility.
We are here for a reason or we could be if we chose to be and we are the people who do choose to be. We do choose to be here for the protection of this biosphere and the care and the propagation of all life here there and everywhere. Life must be passed on or it will die.
These times of transitioning right into the heart of the Global Environmental Crisis may be a very necessary sign to get us to wake up to the imperative of taking the next step along the way of this vision that we find ourselves walking in the midst of and to begin to act on what we can already very clearly conceive. And Eden is all about Conception. Life on Earth itself may need to be reborn.

  • Purpose
  • Ecological
  • Community type
  • Ecovillage
  • Sustainability practices
  • Ecosystem restoration
  • Renewable energy systems
  • Permaculture design
  • Activities
  • Property management
  • Farming
  • Education
  • Experiences
  • Networking
  • Services Business
  • Others

Commemorative dates

  • January 1, 1991
  • Started planning
  • January 1, 2025
  • Started living together

Gallery

  • 1 Total member
  • Open to new members
  • Open to visitors
Total
1

How to join

We ask new Members to come to one of our Meetings, and then to join us at one of our EcoSystem Restoration Camps. We are looking for more people, who want to help us, to Save the Earth.

Basic expectations or agreements for members

Send us a letter of Intruduction, by Email. And then you wlll be able to join our Email Group. Come to our Meetings, and then join us, at one of our Restoration Camps, in the Spring and the Fall.

Primary decision-making authority

  • Single Leader or Founding Couple

One person or partnership has ultimate authority.

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

We have Non-Profit Status. And we have set up a Non-Profit Bank Account. Contributions are Tax Free.
Those who can kick in a Tax Free Contribution of $1,500.00 will become Land Stewards.
There is a Buy-In. It starts as low as $28,800. for a 3 Acre Homestead, with the Seniors Discount, or $36,000. with a 3 Acre Homestead, and a 2 Acre Farmsite, for just $7,200 more. And so that Good Farmland is going for only $3,600. per Acre. Why so little? This is to support everyones involvement in the Land. We have drawn up some Homesteaders Agreements, which we will all have to sign off on.

Economic model

  • Partial Income-Sharing

Members contribute a percentage of income to community funds.

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

Additional economic information

Join fee: Yes
Regular fees: Yes
Labor: Yes (4 hrs/week)
Our Economy will have two sides. One side is the Jobs that are created by the Community, which will be about taking care of the Land. The Other side of the Economy, will be jobs that various individual people will be creating out of their Homesteads, and off of their Farmsites. We will have the Community Farm, and that will create Jobs, raising Raspberries, and selling them throughout our Wide Local Service Area, and then every Homesteader will have immediate access to their own Farmsites, and they might pay people to help them to built their homes, and to work their lands. And then they will be able to provide housing as well. And that will create Produce, which can be Bartered and Traded, within the Community. And then we will have the Store in Town, which will be a place where people can sell their produce. Each Homesteader can go into business, letting rooms out, or they can Build a Cabin, for Friends. And what they get back for that will pay for the Entire Buy-In. And so they will be getting their Homesteads for Free. And the Community will create Housing as well. And that will bring in Money, which will more than pay for the Community, many times over. But the Raspberries will be sold to Big Buyers like Odwalla, who will simply buy whatever we have, whenever we have it, because we will have a premium product to offer. We can all make an Easy Living off of the Two Acre Farmsites – Growing Garlic. Water is Free. Eden Valley is an almost unbelievably perfect Valley surrounded by the Mountains. And we are butted right up against Protected Wilderness Lands, which extend right into National Forest Lands, which we will be able to use for Hiking.

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

Common House, Garden(s), Greenhouse(s), Library, Workshop, Outbuilding(s), Swimming pond or pool, Hot tub or hot springs, Outdoor Kitchen, Large Scale Kitchen, Fire pit, Waterfront access

Frequency of communal meals

  • Rarely

Significant food acquisition practices

  • Locally sourced

Community activities and engagement

  • Transition Town (post-petroleum and off-grid communities.)
  • School, Educational Institute or Experience
  • Volunteer, Internship, or Apprenticeship, or WWOOF’ing
  • Neighborhood, Community Housing, or Homeowner's Association
  • Ethical Business, Investment Group, or Alternative Currency
  • Organization, Resource, or Network
  • WWOOF'ing, Guest Farming
  • Festivals, Conferences, Events

Substance use culture

  • Substance use occurs primarily at celebrations or ceremonies
  • Religions
  • Baha'i Faith
  • Christian
  • Buddhist
  • Jewish
  • Muslim
  • Hindu
  • Sufi
  • Hare Krishna
  • Native
  • Wiccan, Paganism, or Earth Religions
  • Unitarian Universalist

Gender composition

  • Roughly balanced (no group over 60%)

Age demographics

  • Mixed adults (few or no children)

Property status

  • Privately owned

Property owner

  • By a Land Trust, Home Owners Association, or corporation

Setting

  • Rural

Countryside locations with significant distance from urban centers.

Community type

  • Built or remodeled using passive solar design

Sustainability approach

  • Ecosystem restoration
  • Renewable energy systems
  • Permaculture design

Land practices in our community

  • The community practices permaculture

Community type

  • Built or remodeled using passive solar design

Some or all of the buildings are...

  • Built or remodeled using passive solar design

Self-produced energy

  • Up to 33%

Energy sources used

  • Wind
  • Photovoltaic Solar
  • Hydro

Self-produced food

  • Up to 33%

Local, organic, or fair trade food

  • 33 - 66%

Food systems

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

Guest Book

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Location

  • California, United States

Needs and Offers

Offer
Offer
  • Marketplace
6 years ago

Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves Books for Sale

Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves, Charles Durrett and Kathryn McCamant introduce Cohousing with stories and pictures of both Danish and American communities. Beautiful photographs and line drawings illustrate the warmly written account of how these communities came to be. Specific information on legal and financial aspects of working with developers, group process, and design issues make this book informative as well as inspiring. This is the book which brought Cohousing to North America. This book is the much prized second edition which has become a rarer and somewhat of a collectors item. Its community case studies were not included in the more recent publication. It preceded Creating Cohousing which is widely available. I acquired 25 cases from a local distributor who closed down. If you would like three or more copies for yourself, to share with your friends or to market your group, please let me know. I would love for them to be made useful and find great homes. Books are paperback (hard copy was not an option at the time from the publisher) all brand new, in Oakland (CA) so could be picked in Oakland or mailed to you. I would very much like to recuperate what I paid which is $10 per book. So, If you would like three or more shipped, I will add the postage, packing and handling fees. I have sold several cases (18 books per case) for $150 per case ($8 per book). I have a little wiggle room on the pricing. Please let me know if you are interested. Use the Send Message button on this page.

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A residential project: people live here as their primary home.

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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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