Tours for Visitors – Common Ground Ecovillage

March 28th (Easter Monday) Workday

Rita — Tue, 05 Apr 2016 03:13:43 +0000

We had another fine and productive workday on Monday 28 March as the morning’s cool, wet, cloudy weather gave way to glorious breezy sunshine and a dozen or so Hartsmillers met for lunch at the Cedar Pavilion and then tours and an afternoon of work, mostly around the storage unit, clearing space for temporary tractor storage and beginning the structure — setting posts — for an eventual covered tractor bay and work area on the side of the storage unit. The hoop house pieces were also rescued from tarpish oblivion and sorted — a 4-foot black rat snake made an appearance too — and Margret single-handedly finished off sporing some more of our invasive ailanthus. Many thanks to Paul, Carol, Joe, Don, Mir, Anna Ruth, Barbara, Jeffry, Margret, Steve, Linda, and Anthony!

February 20th Workday

Rita — Wed, 24 Feb 2016 21:23:17 +0000

A great workday was had by all on Saturday afternoon, February 20! One workteam led by Margret made a strong start stripping and inoculating the oldest Tree of Heaven trees with mushroom spore, which will both control the trees and hopefully yield us some mushrooms. The other team led by Anthony cleared the last remaining section of the McGowan Creek trail, linking up with the farthest-out sections of the trail near the beaver dam area, so that the entire trail system is now readily passable, though improvement and maintenance are needed when we can. We began with lunch; Paul did an afternoon tour for several interested potential members; and we concluded with conversation and hot chocolate at the Pavilion. Many thanks to Steve, Rita, Jeffry, Paul, Maple, Linda, Amy, Randy, Margret, and Anthony for a fine day on the land!

December 5th Workday

Rita — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 01:25:10 +0000

Two major events made Hart’s Mill history today – the first workday on the land after HM gained County approval for our RezoningPlan. One was the burning of the old Vincent home on the property we acquired to gain state road access to Frazier Road. The Efland Fire Department was out in force for training! In the coming weeks we will see to the clearing of the foundations, but it is already possible to visualize the path of the new road that will someday be our main entrance. The other major event was the beginning of blazing the main road and walking paths of the village in the fields and woods edges, with mowers and clearers following behind the markers. These will become our main paths on the land next year: we’ll actually be able to visualize how the village will lay out. Today two marking crews got about three-quarters of the way around the two main routes. Clearing went slower — it would help if more of the mowers and weedwhackers worked — but we got a good running start. The day was rounded out with lunch, tours, and other tasks such as continuing Tree of Heaven removal. Thanks to all who showed up in a day that started out very cold and ended pleasantly balmy! Community at work!

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October 24 work/play day

Rita — Sun, 25 Oct 2015 13:42:58 +0000

The work/play day in some sense began Friday night as Anthony, Paul, and Randy engaged in the age old fire circle ritual, with Anthony and Randy staying through the night. Much had been done to prepare for the day by mowing with the help of Daniel and gathering materials and people from far and wide, including a big load of compost from Brockwell’s in Carrboro (thanks to Paul). As folks started to gather, Randy inoculated his brand new spiffy solar oven with muffin batter. A crew dove in with work on the garden that involved pulling out the summer cover crops along with weeds, volunteer tomatoes, and a few straggling potatoes. Soil was amended with compost, turned, winter cover crops sown, and cardboard laid down as an aspirational step towards an expanded garden in the spring. After tackling a Tree of Heaven stand, (an impressive feat even for a NFL linebacker!), Anthony herded a subcrew over to the Frazier Road entrance to spiffy things up. Randy, Carol, and Sally peeked in on the bees and passed on some sucrose to help them prepare for the cold days ahead. Paul led his umpteenth tour of the land. A lunch including an impromptu kombucha tasting rounded out the day.

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August 22nd Workday

Rita — Sun, 23 Aug 2015 18:11:38 +0000

August’s workday began bright and early with campers Rita, Matt, Rachel, Leah, and Anthony welcoming the first sun with walks, coffee, and opening the Frazier gate for our neighbor Daniel on his riding mower, who proceeded to quickly mow the existing meadow paths and then finish the clearing job begun by the expanded crew of all of the above plus Amy and Donna and Vanessa on the old woods road that hugs the west edge of the Far Field. The same crew then moved on to make great strides extending the McGowan Creek Loop Trail, where we have now reached the beaver-pond area at the farthest eastward extent of the trail (it now begins to curve back). Daniel went on to clear more periphery paths; Paul and Steve (newbie) dug potatoes and mulched the garden and welcomed first time visitors Mark and Marina. All gathered back at the Pavilion for noon luncheon and discussion, after which Vanessa, Paul and Anthony cleared and mowed up at the Frazier entrance. Once again a convivial and accomplishment-filled day! The book group the evening before was also excellent and well-attended, with the setting sun, then flickering and glowing candles, and finally a fire accompanying thoughtful and provocative discussion. Thanks to all!

–Anthony

July 18th Workday

Rita — Sat, 25 Jul 2015 14:38:01 +0000

July’s work adventures actually started the night before with Anthony mowing and then camping overnight. Motors revved up again early Saturday morning with Anthony and Vanessa chain-sawing and weed-whacking while Susie and Rita, soon joined by newbies Leah and Diane, helped to extend the leading edge of the McGowan Creek Trail onto the ridge above the creek. Paul coordinated garden work and mowing back at the meadow areas, with Amy and Hope digging large buckets of potatoes in the garden. Joe, Matt, and Rachel arrived and explored the beaver pond near McGowan Creek, returning with the trail crews, picking up used tools and equipment as we came. Katy and Jane conferred at the Pavilion; around 11:30 we all gathered there for an energetic and convivial lunch, followed by introductions and general discussion of the project. After lunch our soon-to-be neighbor Daniel dropped over; some folks had to head home; a tour group headed out around the Dam Loop Trail, while another group planned more weed-whacking… but nature had other plans for all of us. Soon it was pouring and lightning was crackling all around! We took it as a sign to quit for the day. All in all a good one!

Memorial Day Workday and Cookout Report

Rita — Fri, 29 May 2015 01:46:13 +0000

Memorial Day dawned clear and cool and some intrepid Harts-Millers – Randy, Paul, Anthony – were on the land by mid-morning to mow and weed-whack. After lunch Katy arrived at the Frazier Road entrance and along with Anthony, Rita and Semion, cleared out some of the underbrush in front of Kim’s house and post-holed and installed a line of posts and rope to demarcate Kim’s drive and protect the large tree on the corner. (We finished one side; Anthony will return to the other once we’ve had some rain to loosen up the soil a little.) Alana and Diego helped Paul add layers of mulch to the potato garden, and then checked out the trails (for running!). A number of new Exploratory members and other friends came for tours and then joined the big cookout in the later afternoon, grilling all manner of food on the fire, closing out with a great lemony cheesecake Rita brought for her birthday (Happy 25th, Rita!). Amy and Catherine and Wren, along with Anthony, stayed into the night to watch the trees come alive with fireflies under the stars!

Accomplishments and Summary of 2013

Hope — Thu, 28 Nov 2013 18:35:09 +0000

Dear Friends of the Hart’s Mill Community,

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.

Fall EQUINOX Celebration!!

Hope — Sun, 25 Aug 2013 18:08:39 +0000

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