Person swimming in a rocky river at Edenhope Nature Preserve.

Edenhope Nature Preserve

  • Communities

About the Communities

  • Established
  • Ecological
  • Rural

Founding year

  • 2010

What we do

In one of the wildest and most remote places on earth, we are a community of friends living in harmony with nature on the path of self-realization and mindfulness. Established over a decade ago by Stephen and Ruth Quinto, our community is located in a designated Community Conservation Area on the West Coast of Espiritu Santo Island, Vanuatu.
Since the origin of the Edenhope projects, the Founders’ dream was to establish a sanctuary in the heart of nature, a community where seekers of truth could congregate and live harmoniously together to contribute to the highest good for mankind.
↠ our daily lives are structured around active community service, mindfulness practices and quiet communion with nature.
↠ we integrate the discipline of meditation into the practicalities of daily life in an off-grid ecovillage
↠ as a group, we are co-creating a field of living awareness that uplifts each & every community member
↠ as an energy management principle, conservation is a way of living without causing or suffering from the impacts of environmental stress, and this principle applies to the community as well as to each individual living here
↠ our ecovillage is located in a registered Conservation Area in the Espiritu Santo Mountain Chain, a globally recognised Biodiversity Hotspot and is the only Nature Preserve that we know of which includes homo sapiens as a protected species.
↠ we follow practices and teachings from traditions that nurture spiritual development
↠ the way of life we offer is profoundly healing & transformative in its simplicity; we are all here to share in the journey of Self-realisation
↠ we offer a sanctuary from the dissonance of the contemporary world with guidance & friendship to support spiritual growth

Our Mission

The purpose of Edenhope Nature is to live in communion and allow it to grow, simply enjoying nature as it is: living in harmony with nature and at peace with the world.
Man as an integral and symbiotic component of nature, neither separate from nor dominating her.

  • Purpose
  • Ecological
  • Community type
  • Ecovillage
  • Commune
  • Activities
  • Farming
  • Education
  • Experiences

Commemorative dates

  • January 1, 2010
  • Started planning
  • January 1, 2010
  • Started living together
  • 3 Total members
  • Open to new members
  • Open to visitors
Total
9

How to join

All long-term members of Edenhope Nature Preserve must first undertake a period of up to twelve months as a volunteer. We have a wide range of roles available for volunteers to serve in, so if you have experience in one or more of the below skillsets please let us know as part of your inquiry to us
↠ Organic gardening, permaculture or syntropic agroforestry
↠ Off-grid systems management (solar and micro-hydro power, water supply)
↠ Vehicle maintenance (electric vehicles, ATVs/motorboat)
↠ Carpentry, furniture-making and joinery
↠ Cooking and food preparation
↠ Housekeeping, tidying, and domestic management
↠ Childcare, homeschooling and early learning
↠ Repairs, mending, sewing or crafts
↠ Publicity, digital media and communications
↠ Videography and filmmaking

Basic expectations or agreements for members

We accept visitors on a volunteer basis, as prospective members, or as guests on a retreat program.
We recommend that prospective visitors read through the “stay with us” page on our website for more information on visiting our project: https://www.edenhope.org/stay
All prospective visitors need to fill in the questionnaire form. We will then arrange a video chat to assess compatibility.

Primary decision-making authority

  • Small Leadership Group

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

Decision-making process

  • Leadership Decides

A single person, couple, or small group makes most major decisions.

Governance structure

  • Founder/Leader-led

Primary authority rests with the community’s founder(s) or designated leader(s).

Economic model

  • Partial Income-Sharing

Members contribute a percentage of income to community funds.

Economic scenarios for this community

  • There is a labor obligation

Additional economic information

Labor: Yes (24 hrs/week)
Edenhope Nature Preserve runs on a service-based economy, meaning that we provide all meals, accommodation for visitors and residents in exchange for community participation and work on our ecovillage.
However, except in special circumstances that we take on a case-by-case basis, we expect anyone coming to stay here in the long-term will have enough savings to cover:
↠ Immigration and visa requirements
↠ Personal travel within Vanuatu and abroad
↠ Medical and dental services (including health insurance)
To meet personal expenses, residents of Edenhope Nature Preserve may work online for around 10 hours per week, as long as their paid work does not interfere with community participation and active service to our projects on the land.
There is also the opportunity to contribute to paid events we are running at the ecovillage, such as events and workshops, that will provide financial support for residents’ livelihoods.

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

Common House, Garden(s), Greenhouse(s), Vehicle Share, Library, Workshop, Outbuilding(s), Swimming pond or pool, Outdoor Kitchen, Large Scale Kitchen, Fire pit, Waterfront access, Internet

Frequency of communal meals

  • Approximately all meals

Significant food acquisition practices

  • Locally sourced

Dietary type

  • Vegetarian Only

Dietary restriction

  • These restrictions are throughout the community

Community activities and engagement

  • School, Educational Institute or Experience
  • Volunteer, Internship, or Apprenticeship, or WWOOF’ing
  • WWOOF'ing, Guest Farming
  • Festivals, Conferences, Events

Substance use culture

  • Substance use is prohibited in the community
  • Religions
  • Christian
  • Buddhist
  • Hindu
  • Sufi
  • Wiccan, Paganism, or Earth Religions

Gender composition

  • Roughly balanced (no group over 60%)

Age demographics

  • Multi-generational (all ages well represented)

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

  • Ecovillage

    Integrated communities designed around ecological principles with sustainable living practices.

  • Commune

    Communal living with shared resources, property, and often income or work responsibilities

Self-produced energy

  • Over 66%

Energy sources used

  • Photovoltaic Solar
  • Hydro

Self-produced food

  • 33 - 66%

Local, organic, or fair trade food

  • 33 - 66%

Food systems

  • Community garden
  • Greenhouse / aquaponics
  • Land area size
    800 hectares

Guest Book

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

Location

  • Sanma, Vanuatu

Edenhope Nature Preserve

Needs and Offers

Connecting people and communities through an intentional online marketplace

Need
  • Forming Communities
3 weeks ago

Looking for: people building relational capacity, with a view to community

What’s here now: An intention, a framework developed over five years, and a programme running in central Victoria to find people to build with. No land, no group, no timeline. The question this is organised around: What makes a community of people living together sustainable over decades – where people enjoy being there, conflict is low, and the conflict that does arise gets handled in ways people value. The distinctive premise is capacity before formation. Most communities form first and build relational skill afterwards, usually under pressure. This one proposes doing it the other way round: people build the capacities first, and the group forms from people who have them. That includes a working idea about collective capacity – that a group has a ratio, and below some threshold it can’t metabolise its own conflict and starts consuming itself. Roughly: in a group of twenty, perhaps three or four with high capacity, most in the middle, and very few without. Untested, and something this project exists to find out. Governance: Sociocracy, with the intention of testing it meaningfully at scale rather than adopting it nominally. What’s actually happening: A three-week residency at a property near Castlemaine, and a practice group running before it. The medium-term aim is twenty to forty people at a rented facility. The long-term aim is a support hub sharing the framework more widely. What I’m looking for: People who want to build this capacity seriously, and who might eventually want to build something together. Not necessarily people who want to live here – the current property probably isn’t the long-term site. Happy to hear from anyone this resonates with, including people already in community who’d rather share what they’ve learned than join anything.
Offer
  • Real Estate For Sale
4 weeks ago

Unit C-2, Woodard Lane Cohousing — Olympia, WA

Join Olympia’s first and longest-running cohousing community, in a quiet West Side neighborhood 1.6 miles from downtown, backing onto a forested ravine along Schneider Creek. Unit C-2 offers 1,904 SF. Two stories, 4 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, and a bonus loft room on the main level. It can be lived in as one spacious family home — or split into two independent living spaces, each with its own kitchen, entrance, and effective soundproofing. Great for multigenerational households, live/work arrangements, or an owner-occupied half with a rented or shared half. Upper level: bedroom, full bath, bonus room with built-in loft bed, and an open kitchen-dining-living area with a deck facing the forest. Lower level: 3 bedrooms, full bath with dual sinks, second full kitchen, laundry room, and a second patio. Features: 2 full kitchens, radiant floor heat, stained concrete floors (bamboo upstairs), double-pane windows, bolted keyed entries at both levels, dedicated laundry, concrete patios facing the ravine, shared parking with 18 EV charging stations.   Ownership includes a Common House with a guest room, full kitchen, gathering space, and kids’ play area; a shared vegetable garden; a wood shop and bike storage; and wooded grounds with a stream path and central Green. Monthly dues are $799, covering all utilities except internet. Established in 2010, Woodard Lane is home to ~40 residents across 18 homes, with shared meals, work parties, and genuine neighborliness. Learn more about Woodard Lane Cohousing  We’re looking for a buyer who wants to participate fully in community life. $630,000. Contact Kate Greene: yo******@***il.com or text: 360-789-7587.
Offer
Need

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