Earthaven is an aspiring ecovillage founded in 1994 on 329 acres in the mountain forests of western North Carolina, about 50 minutes from Asheville. We are spiritually diverse, and value sustainable ecological systems, permaculture design, elegant simplicity, right livelihood, and healthy social relations. We have both vegetarians and omnivores, and some of us raise livestock for food. We hope to become empowered, responsible, ecologically literate citizens who model bioregionally appropriate culture for our time and place.
We intend to become a village of at least 150. We use a modified form of the N Street Consensus Method for decision making, and have paid for and own title to our land. We pay annual dues. As of 2024 we have about 60 members. We have built roads and bridges, community buildings, members’ homes, multi-household residences, gardens, constructed wetlands, and off-grid power and water systems.
We are developing a small village-scale economy. Some of us work in small, onsite businesses or nonprofits owned or run by members, including Useful Plants Nursery; Culture’s Edge, an educational nonprofit and its the School of Integrated Living (SOIL); or by offering services such as tours, campground lodging, carpentry and home construction, home care, child care, and healing arts. Others raise and sell food, work at a nearby school, commute into town, or telecommute.
As a learning community dedicated to sharing our resources with the public, we offer workshops in Permaculture design, natural building, consensus decision-making, creating new ecovillages, herbal medicine, health and healing, and women’s mysteries. We welcome students and other learning groups, and support homeschool parents of children at Earthaven and nearby. We are seeking hardworking, entrepreneurial people, including but not limited to organic growers and farmers; people with solar system, electrical, plumbing, and mechanical skills; healers, artists, and families with children.
Creating a living laboratory for a sustainable future.
People live here as guests, non-member residents, and work exchangers. If they want to become a member, they get an invitation to join a pod and become Provisional Members. Provisional Members can apply to become Full Members to be eligible to purchase a residence. We also have Sustaining Members – people who used to be members but we still consider them members of the Earthaven family.
Contact us at Earthaven. We have regularly scheduled tours most Saturdays and can also arrange customized tours at other times. Visits are by appointment only.
The whole membership decides collectively.
Generally seek agreement, but have backup methods when consensus isn’t reached.
Power and responsibility are shared relatively equally among members.
Our decision-making method is a combination of the N St. Consensus Method and an 85% supermajority method, and we choose annual officers in a process derived from Socicoracy’s “Selecting People for Roles” (elections) process.
Members maintain separate personal finances with minimal sharing.
Join fee: Yes
Regular fees: Yes
Labor: Yes
Community labor requirements are 2-4 hours/week; 1500 hours total in first 10 years.
The joining fee amount is divided between an amount to the community itself ($8,000 total), and another amount, depending on which neighborhood a new member joins.
Annual dues & fees range between approximately $600 to $900 per year.
Common House, Outbuilding(s), Tractor & Farm Equipment, Fire pit, Swingsets & play areas
Countryside locations with significant distance from urban centers.
Private homes with shared common facilities, designed for neighborly
interaction while maintaining independence.
Shared living spaces with private bedrooms/bathrooms and communal
kitchens, dining, and social areas.
Integrated communities designed around ecological principles with sustainable living practices.
A residential project: people live here as their primary home.
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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