Intentional Community Tour Day Two
This morning we woke up in the guest rooms at Ganas (http://www.ganas.org/). Two of us participated in their most-mornings planning meeting while the other two had coffee, did laundry, got some work done, etc. The meeting involved a lot of status updates from various members and groups, and some discussions toward decision making. We departed around 10AM and crossed out of New York for the last time on this trip.
Our first stop today was at Bryn Gweled Homesteads (http://www.bryngweled.org/), a community of dozens of homes on separate parcels, with the land owned by the community and leased to residents who own the houses. We saw their community center and walked around seeing many of their houses, in a variety of architectural styles. Some of the houses have small amounts of livestock and some other aspects of living in connection to nature, which is a common theme across the community that is embodied differently by each of the residents. We talked a lot about their history and governance model and trials in dealing with the local government.
Our second stop was at Altair EcoVillage (http://www.altairecovillage.org/) which hasn't been built yet. We met the founders, saw their model of the community, and walked around on their land for a tour in our imaginations. “Over here imagine there's a two story townhouse” etc. They are building a 55+ community with a focus on sustainable living in modern construction housing. We talked mostly about their planning process, buying and re-zoning the land, etc.
Our third and final stop of the day was at Camphill Village Kimberton Hills (http://www.camphillkimberton.org/), a huge community that is part of the larger Camphill Village meta community. They have many communally owned buildings with many elder and mentally challenged residents, couples that manage the households, and younger “co-worker” residents who assist with all aspects of the community. They operate a small dairy farm and have a variety of workshops including a bakery, weavery, pottery, fiber arts, and others. We split up to each have dinner with a different household, which seemed to produce a bunch of different experiences that we'll be sharing with each other in the coming day(s). My group asked me a lot of questions about myself and my trip, and I learned about their history as a househole and with the larger community.
Unfortunately on arrival at our final stop one of the bus tires was punctured. Due to the location and timing we are currently semi-stranded and waiting for either roadside assistance to become available in the morning or for me to hazard a 15 mile drive with a flat tire (fortunately on a dually axle) to a shop also in the morning. I have a spare tire but not a spare wheel (which the bus has 3 different types of anyway), which will hopefully increase our odds of getting help. We're about to go to sleep in the bus, and that decision will come in the morning after breakfast with one of the residents here who was shepherding our visit. Wish us luck!
PS: “Fortunately”, our first planned stop tomorrow canceled due to a COVID outbreak in their house, so we have some wiggle room on timing that will hopefully accommodate one or more tire repair efforts in the morning.