The Medicine Wheel Handbook

So. I have taken on an incredibly challenging (but much-needed) project. I am writing "The Medicine Wheel Handbook: Everything You Need to Know about Life at Medicine Wheel." There are so many people coming and going through Medicine Wheel that it is impossible for Lyndon and Patricia to make sure that they tell everyone everything, and some really important information sometimes slips through the cracks. Plus, there is just so much to know about living at Medicine Wheel that it will be helpful to have most of it in one place. Thus, I have taken on the challenge of compiling as much as knowledge as possible and forming it into a handbook. While I am nowhere near to finished, this is the introduction...

Part I: The Medicine Wheel Collective Mission and Vision

Mission:

- To cooperatively own and steward the Medicine Wheel neighborhood – all sites and all buildings, and other agreed-upon assets – as a roadless human habitat for 20 - 40 people.

- To live as sustainably as possible – protecting the forest, water, and soil – while providing as much food for humans as possible.

- To design Medicine Wheel House as a neighborhood common house with living space for some members and as a major producer of water and electricity.

- To create very small, commonly owned and built “detached bedrooms” with no need of a summer solar envelope. This will allow members the privilege of living in whatever cabin or portion of the house seems most appropriate for each member in each season of their lives.

Vision:

- Around 25 people live most of their days at Medicine Wheel. They are growing and preparing food, tending children and elders and animals, expanding plantings, chopping wood, building, repairing. At the same time, they are educating, learning, singing, gossiping, praying, exercising, discovering, playing, and participating in ecospiritual seasonal celebration and ritual.

- Some of the food, plantings, animals, child/eldercare, education, or music generate money income, and some is for trade, but most is for home use.

- Their food needs are simple – mostly grazing semi-constantly for most of the day, with usually a prepared meal in the early evening. They are lean, strong people. Their diet consists of vegetables, nuts, fruits, eggs, roots & herbs, with some pressed oils and occasional meat and dairy products bartered with neighbors.

Realized Vision:

- As of summer 2011, Medicine Wheel Collective (MWC) neighborhood consists of Medicine Wheel House, a large terraced garden, a developing orchard, one small cabin, and several acres of woods with spaces for camping.