We are an income-sharing community. This means that we all work together to provide enough income for the community to thrive. Some of us may work in more income areas and some may work more in unpaid community building areas, and that doesn't matter. Our hours and effort of contribution are what we are trying to equalize.
This being said, we are trying to reduce our need for "money" as we make a lot of what we need on our own or by trading labor with the other local communities. For example, we have milking goats for milk and cheese, we build our own infrastructure and furniture, we can and preserve food, we chop our firewood, we butcher deer that the neighboring hunters don't want, can and dry the meat, tan the hides (still learning), and use the bones for broth, we make saurkraut and kombucha, save seeds, and have plans for lots of gardens and fruit and nut trees. We dumpster dive, and trade with neighboring communities for excess vegetables. We can sew clothes and repair tools. In this way, we reduce our need for money.
In developing businesses, we are particularly interested in work that provides the opportunity to increase skill, grow creatively, and free our verbal part of the brain to engage in conversation or learning.
Here are a few examples of what we are interested in:
This being said, we are trying to reduce our need for "money" as we make a lot of what we need on our own or by trading labor with the other local communities. For example, we have milking goats for milk and cheese, we build our own infrastructure and furniture, we can and preserve food, we chop our firewood, we butcher deer that the neighboring hunters don't want, can and dry the meat, tan the hides (still learning), and use the bones for broth, we make saurkraut and kombucha, save seeds, and have plans for lots of gardens and fruit and nut trees. We dumpster dive, and trade with neighboring communities for excess vegetables. We can sew clothes and repair tools. In this way, we reduce our need for money.
In developing businesses, we are particularly interested in work that provides the opportunity to increase skill, grow creatively, and free our verbal part of the brain to engage in conversation or learning.
Here are a few examples of what we are interested in:
Living Systems Exploratorium:
We are currently working on getting this business started in collaboration with Ecovillage Charlottesville and UVA. The project will feature experiential education of sustainability and the experience of inter-connectedness in nature.
The concept of sustainability will be demonstrated through a variety of small models showing a finite resource in a closed loop such as water cycle, material cycle, salt deposition and desertification, oxygen and CO2 cycles, energy flows, uptake of pollutants, etc. Closed aquariums and terrariums will be used to display these aspects.
Children will see small models of ecological footprint of different consumer choices and lifestyle. They will get to play with a variety of conventional and appropriate technology. They will get a first hand experience of of generating electrical energy through pedaling, and compare it to the power of photovoltaics, wind hydro and internal combustion engines. They will get to release the stored energy and experience the consumption rate of different appliances.
Inter-connectedness of nature will be demonstrated through a variety of models such as aquaponics, worm composting, rotational grazing, studying animal shelters and nests, bees and other pollinators, and witnessing symbiosis in whatever way can be brought to the outdoor classroom space.
Salt & Spoons: Fine Woodcrafting. We have our work at C'Ville Arts in Charlottesville, VA, Noon Whistle Pottery in Stanardsville, VA, and For the Love of the Local in Louisa, VA. www.etsy.com/shop/SaltAndSpoons.
Neighboring Communities for the Local Currency: We work at our neighboring income-sharing communities for labor exchange hours. We currently help with their preschool, woodworking, and seed business.
Approximate Utopia Research Institute: This educational institute will be devoted to the study of utopian societies for the sake of furthering their success. The institute will be working with university students and other interested parties to amass relevant research and conduct new empirical research investigating how to design better human societies. Funding for this project is minimal and yet to be determined.
