General, Texas

Austin Trip – Roots Cooperative

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Roots Cooperative

My final stop of the day was at the Roots Cooperative in Austin, Texas, for their open house and ‘meet and greet’ for those interested in upcoming available rooms.

“We are one of the 8 community cooperative here in Austin Texas. Our focus is on environmental sustainability and community building. We are governed through consensus process and highly value communication. Roots was founded by 10 activists out of the Occupy movement and takes a strong political and social stance for equality by gaining awareness of societal generated oppression and creating a new standard for non-hierarchical relationships.” – Fellowship of Intentional Communities Webpage

This is a view of the rental house turned underground cohousing community, which includes a couple of trailers for additional housing space. It’s tucked into an older neighborhood that is slowly being updated and gentrified with newer homes — a consistent trend in Austin.

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General

School of Permaculture

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The School of Permaculture

School of Permaculture LogoMy experience with the School of Permaculture (SOP) started before I left for Lost Valley Education and Event Center in Oregon, where I earned my Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) and Ecovillage Design Education Certificate (EDE) as part of LV’s Holistic Sustainability Semester (HSS) program. (See past blog posts)

I officially met Nicholas Burtner and his wife, Kristi Burtner, at their suburban home demonstration site in Plano, Texas, for one of their free ‘Intro to Permaculture’ classes — which was the Friday before the start of their in-person PDC class weekend from Saturday to Sunday at the Plano Environmental Education Center.

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General, Road Trip

Eco-Road Trip – City of the Sun Pt. 1

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City of the Sun Pt. 1 & Mexico Bike Adventure – Summary:

  • Who: Sheila Bjeletich; Juan Rascon
  • What: Left the state of Arizona; Arrived at City of the Sun in Columbus, New Mexico; Biked across the Mexico border into Palomas to visit a host family and nonprofit; Biked back across the US border after the Mexico tour
  • When: Saturday, April 7
  • Where: Columbus, NM; Palomas, MX

Quick Resources:

My Route:

Planning my Eco-Inspired Road Trip Blog Post

 

My Travel Story:

Leaving Arizona, I spent the day driving through the desert into New Mexico on my way to the City of the Sun in Columbus, New Mexico, with the aim of getting there in the middle of the afternoon so we could go into Mexico and checkout the nonprofit projects my host was involved with.

I arrived at the City of the Sun, which initially looked like a mobile home park up front – but as I drove towards the back of the community, there were less manufactured mobile homes and more alternative architecture structures, tiny homes and creative compounds.

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General, Road Trip

Eco-Road Trip – The Canelo Project

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The Canelo Project – Summary:

  • Who: Bill Steen
  • What: Got lost without GPS/Cell reception; Visited the natural buildings of the Canelo Project community
  • When: Friday, April 6
  • Where: Elgin, AZ

Quick Resources:

My Route:

Planning my Eco-Inspired Road Trip Blog Post

 

My Travel Story:

After leaving Avalon Organic Gardens & Ecovillage, I spent the day driving to The Canelo Project in Elgin, AZ. While it was a beautiful countryside of grassy plains and desert parries with mountain ranges dotting the horizon – I had no cell phone reception to call or search for my GPS location – so I spent several hours lost in the area, going down wrong roads, waiting for free-range cows to cross the road, and circling back to high hills to get one or two cell bars to make calls.

I finally find the right road a few hours later, much to the exasperation of my host, and this was another destination with a long road seemingly to nowhere – passing camping grounds, a ranger station and over several cow pastures.

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General, Road Trip

Eco-Road Trip – Avalon Organic Gardens & Ecovillage

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Avalon Organic Gardens & Ecovillage – Summary:

  • Who: TaliSeen JahRing
  • What: Toured and had lunch at the Avalon Organic Gardens & Ecovillage
  • When: Friday, April 6
  • Where: Tumacacori, AZ

Quick Resources:

My Route:

Planning my Eco-Inspired Road Trip Blog Post

 

My Travel Story:

I started the day with a personal tour led by TaliSeen JahRing, the Farm Manager of Avalon Organic Gardens & Ecovillage (AOGE), an impressive ecovillage model with stacks of sustainability initiatives and green projects, built on a strong Christian foundation, spiritual exploration, vocational learning and training, and organic permaculture practices.

On my way to AOGE, I pulled over at a rest stop to take a phone call, and came across this rock – which really set the tone for the day!

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General, Road Trip

Eco-Road Trip – Wind Spirit Community

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Wind Spirit Community – Summary:

  • Who: “Don”
  • What: Visited the Wind Spirit Community
  • When: Thursday, April 5
  • Where: Winkelman, AZ

Quick Resources:

My Route:

Planning my Eco-Inspired Road Trip Blog Post

 

My Travel Story:

My second stop of the day after The Bee Oasis was after a long drive through the desert canyons and mining towns to Wind Spirit Community (WSC) in Winkelman, AZ. (This was another community with a long road seemingly to nowhere, but I pushed on and finally made it without any GPS navigation.)

A picture from my drive to Wind Spirit Community, which resembles the general terrain I was driving through.

I stopped in a mining town rest-stop and took a picture of the old refinery factory on the hillside.

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