The Beginning of an Adventure

So, as promised, I am starting this blog to keep all of my dear family and friends up to date regarding my adventure in North Carolina. Oh, right. For those of you who are not already aware, I am leaving in approximately 18 days for an internship in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains! For about six months (June to December), I will be interning at an ecovillage called Earthaven.

Earthaven is located outside of Black Mountain, NC (a town about 45 minutes east of Asheville). Although Black Mountain is Earthaven's official address, it seems to me that many winding mountain roads lie between them, which makes me very happy that I outgrew my tendency toward car sickness!

Wait! An ecowhatnow? To pull an excellent quote from the Earthaven website:

"Ecovillages are human-scale, full-featured settlements in which human activities are harmlessly integrated into the natural world in a way that is supportive of healthy human development, and which can be successfully continued into the indefinite future."
—Robert and Diane Gilman, Ecovillages and Sustainable Commuities, 1991

The basic idea is to create an ecologically sustainable intentional community. For more information on Earthaven and its ideals and goals, feel free to peruse their website at: http://www.earthaven.org/what_is_earthaven.php

At Earthaven, I'll be living and working at a community house called Medicine Wheel. For the "living" part, I'll have my own room in the house and share the kitchen, bathroom, and living spaces with the other residents. I have no idea who I'm going to be living with, but I am excited to meet them. I can at least be assured that we will have some common interests. (Hooray intentional community!) I imagine it will be rather like going away to college, except not. I'll be sure to include profiles on my housemates in future updates.

For the "working" part, my job description is as follows: "Work includes gardens, orchards, natural building, greenhouses, ponds, rainwater catchment, animal care – and sometimes just plain housework, or hauling trash, or chopping firewood or putting up fencing for days." Aside from that, I honestly have no idea what I'll actually be doing. However, it seems I'll have plenty of fascinating stuff to do and a great deal to learn from doing it! Again, I plan to use this blog to keep you all updated on what exactly ends up happening...

So, I am very excited to begin my adventure! I can't WAIT to see the 320 acres of forested mountains. I'm looking forward to experiencing life in a community living arrangement. I love that I'll be learning and practicing permaculture (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture) daily in a hands-on, face-to-face environment.

I promise to try to take time at least once a week from experiencing these things in order to keep you all updated about them, but please bear with me if I don't get around to it quite that often.

peace

Molly