Our June 21 Third Thursday event fell on the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year.  About 2 dozen people arrived at Hart’s Nest to celebrate the abundance of summer with food, juggling, music, and playmaking.  Though the rain held off, the air was thick with steamy heat.  Victuals sizzled on the grill.   Two jugglers—Felipe and Tain—joined forces with a spellbinding performance, culminating in a fire-y finale with flying torches. 

We gathered inside around a table laden with fresh and tasty potluck fare, some of it grown on the Hart’s Mill land.   As dusk began to approach, it was time for the enchantments to begin!  Anthony and Amy have a long-standing tradition of offering a reading Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream on this day.  On this occasion, Anthony found a shorter version for us to enact so that the evening might end at a reasonable hour. 

With a flourish on his trombone kazoo, Anthony introduced the play and revealed the characters—nobles, fairies, lovers, and “rude mechanicals”—and each found a willing impersonator in the assembly.  Costumes were hastily concocted out of colorful shawls, fascinators, and baubles brought along by Amy, Marilyn, and Victoria.  With a pinch of fairy dust supplied by Puck, we were ready to entertain each other with bewichments.  The best laid plans of kings and queens quickly went awry and the mischief commenced. 

It was hilarious!  Can’t wait to do it again next year… 

Our gracious hosts, Jane and Darin, offered their beautiful barn (and a few kerosene heaters) to us for this event.  Many of our members came early to add flowers, candles, and other touches of beauty and comfort to the room.  Finally, all was ready to receive our visitors.

We had ample space for visiting and meeting many new people….

     …sampling delicious food from Sweetie’s Catering, including a whole salmon with cucumber scales and a festive cake decorated with our brand new logo, designed by Margret Mueller

 …dancing to uplifting Gypsy jazz music from the Onyx Club Boys

…presenting and displaying our new architecture schematic design developed by Frank Harmon Associates

…putting on a program, including a brand new video, made by Randy Dodd

…marveling at an appearance by our namesake,Thomas Hart, in the flesh, talking about life in the 18^th-century when he owned this land

…rambling around the farm, taking in the chickens, shitake logs, the garden produce, and the winding Wendell Berry trail.

We encouraged guests to get involved in this visionary and important enterprise.  Now, more than ever, the world needs sustainable communities based on living in justice and harmony and with each other and the land.  Please contact us if you would like to participate in making Hart’s Mill a reality.

We extend our deepest gratitude to all who participated in this event: hosts, members, purveyors of food and music, program contributors, and our architectural collaborators.  It was a grand Celebration!

Photo by Joe Cole

I was just back from Wisconsin, Amy was still in New York City, so I was alone for New Year’s night and decided to spend it on the land and at Hart’s Ease. The minute I got a fire built and started to watch the last sunset of the year I decided that I wanted to write some sort of year-end/year-forward missive, so here goes. Of course these are only my views, but perhaps they will help prompt some discussion and new moves.

 We should recognize and celebrate what a huge year 2106 was for Hart’s Mill:

• We achieved fully functional Functional Circles and two in-house sociocracy trainings, continuing to actualize the power of sociocratic organization.
• We set and now are quickly nearing a firm date to buy the land, and we have more than enough money to do so.
• We consolidated our determination to set ourselves up as a co-op.
• We launched a new web site with an active blog and a new creatures, plants, and mushrooms inventory
• We acquired a tractor, built a shed for it in a series of workdays culminating in a Memorial Day work-camp, and subsequently ourselves are mowing a major portion of the open land, including the Far Field that daunted all of us but Jeffry.
• We (mainly Anthony) built a charming retreat cubby called Heart’s Ease.
• We expanded the garden, growing tomatoes, pole beans, basil, sage, and more using both organic and strictly biodynamic techniques
• We finished the trail network and now have some 2.5 kilometers of trails making a loop around the land from the pond to McGowan creek. 
• We established a new loo – complete with a painted seat and privacy tent.
• We started 3rd Thursday Common House Night, learning some great new games and enjoying whole new aspects of each other in the process.
• And perhaps most amazingly, we went from having no idea what HM might look like to a schematic design that is still fluid, of course, but also is definite, liveable, and, to many of us, potentially lovely: a full-year process during which multiple committees and groups, involving large numbers of members, interviewed a variety of architects, selected a design partner, and undertook an extensive series of workshops. All of this and more is due to so many people and so many different ways that I cannot even begin to name them/us. Kudos to everyone!

A huge year… and given the national political scene, we must continue, maybe even double-down on, what we are doing – building an alternative while remaining active in the larger society and, well, being celebratory and creative in all we do, like our Mission Statement says. What a privilege to be able to respond to so much dismal news with such generative and regenerative work.

Hart’s Mill Ecovillage moves, develops, evolves, and thrives because of YOU.  Thank you to everyone who came to the table, the land, the workshops, and who wished us well.  We look forward to growing with you in 2017. 

Photo by Joe Cole

With colder weather settling in and gardening on the land over for the season, it’s time to pause and look back on this year for which we give many thanks.  What a truly spectacular year it has been for Hart’s Mill!  Much movement forward and several hurdles behind us.  It seems like the perfect time to be in touch with our more distant friends and members, to review the status of the Hart’s Mill Ecovillage project as 2013 quiets down, and to share some plans for 2014.  So… warm greetings to each of you!

HART’S MILL MILESTONES

After years of dreaming and planning, Hart’s Mill has reached the critical stage of actually purchasing a beautiful tract of land and hiring planning and engineering consultants to guide us through the site development process.  Exciting times!

How did we get here?  Here are the headlines.

Members:  An active core group of visionaries came together in early 2013.  Through many potlucks, work days, celebrations, circle meetings, socializing, plain hard work, we’re building commitment to each other and this work.   We’ve also been graced by many visitors who have worked alongside us.
Land purchase: We signed an option contract on November 27, 2013, to purchase 111.5 acres of fields, forest, and wetland from land-owner and Ecovillage member, Alana Ennis.

Roadway access: We’re soon to complete a purchase contract with an adjacent landowner to give us public roadway access to the land.  Now that this parcel has been secured, we can move forward with building the community.
Engaging with the land:   We held 10 workdays in 2013. We established our first community garden and have kept it happy and productive.  More critical for the long term, these festive events served to build what Diana Leafe Christian aptly calls “community glue”.  We produced a lot, and are hungry for more.

 
Cedar Pavilion: Thanks to Anthony  for his clever design and wood-working skills we erected our first building on the land.  This lovely open-air structure near our fire circle now serves as the perfect meal-sharing and occasional meeting and planning space.  The Pavilion roof functions to collect rainwater for our rain barrels and thirsty garden, and it thankfully provides shelter from the occasional summer shower.  Cedar Pavilion also provides an effective space for folks who wish to spend a star-lit night on the land.  We all tested our carpentry skills during the construction of this splendid addition to the community.

Governance:  Hart’s Mill has adopted Sociocracy to maximize effectiveness, equivalence, and transparency.  It is serving us well to guide the many decisions reached this past year.

Legal structure: Hart’s Mill, LLC, has been established to steer the development process.  We finalized our Operating Agreement on November 5th and are moving forward with financing the next phase.

Site concept planning: before the end of the year, we will participate in developing a site concept plan.  The goal is to have in place an initial plan in early 2014 to bring to Orange County to initiate the formal discussions regarding land use and permitting processes.
The next year promises to be dynamic and formative for Hart’s Mill Ecovillage.  Though our membership has doubled over the past year, at this stage in our young life, we need to grow.  We continue to benefit from additional numbers and – it must be said emphatically – also from deeper appreciation for the dreams, enthusiasm and skills each one of us brings to the effort.  Since we are no longer just an aspirational community, several details for joining, affiliating and working with the Hart’s Mill Ecovillage Community are being clarified.   Over the next few weeks we will hold events to encourage some of our Exploratory Members to move into the Associate Member category.  Nurturing our members is viewed as critically important, and we have not given sufficient attention to this task, as other time-sensitive chores have intervened.  Our first event for this new outreach is a large gathering planned for December 7th.

Acknowledgements: This past year’s activities and accomplishments have been pushed forward by the energy and talents of a dedicated core group: Katy, Amy, Lorna, Hope, Johanna, James, Paul, and Anthony.  We stand on the shoulders of earlier founders such as Christian and Linda.  And of course, none of this would be possible without our visionary land owner, Alana.

Dear Members & Friends of the Hart’s Mill Community,

What a beautiful day on the Hart’s Mill land yesterday!! Thanks to each of you who took part!

24 enthusiastic visitor/worker participants of all ages were there. I think this was our largest turnout ever!

Events & Accomplishments:
Tours of the land (lots of Q&A)
Off-loaded our new/used hoop house and irrigation drip hoses

Mowing & weed-whacking
Celebration of the Fall Equinox (thanks, Hope!)
Dedication of the Cedar Pavilion
Building a cedar table to match the pavilion (thanks, Anthony!)
Fun & games with the younger folk
Harvesting some final carrots & peppers
Shared dinner at the pavilion
Watching Venus follow the setting sun on the western horizon
Building of community & memories

Again, thanks to everyone who took part. Stay tuned for our next planned workday.

Paul

We worked hard, undeterred & refreshed by the occasional and welcomed light mist & rain. As the day progressed the sun insisted on celebrating its day, and the night brought us a perfect full moon. What could be better?!

Participants: Anthony, Amy, Ruthie, Katy, Buck, James, Ashley, Marianne, Catherine, Wren, Gregory, Hope & Paul. A big CHEER for each of you!

Accomplishments:
1) Cedar Pavilion – almost finished. Wow! What a perfect tangible beginning for Hart’s Mill.
2) Tall grass whacking & mowing – just enough to walk some places with ease.
3) Garden (weeding & harvesting)
4) Moving of rain barrels
5) Shared dinner

6) Summer Solstice celebration (fire at the fire circle, personal reflections & sharing, Summer Solstice quiz)
7) Sleep over (well… for Anthony, as he spent the night in a hammock reflecting on his beautiful creation).

Another workday in the works for sure. Date to be determined. Please stay tuned!

Paul