What’s It Like in a Hippie Ecovillage? My Experience at Lost Valley
In 2017, I traded concrete for cob, traffic for trees, and deadlines for dandelions. For 7 transformative months, I lived at Lost Valley Educational Center, an ecovillage and educational nonprofit tucked into the lush forest of Dexter, Oregon. I joined their Holistic Sustainability Semester—a unique 3-month, immersive, dual certification program in Permaculture Design and Ecovillage Living—and walked away with more than just certificates. I gained skills, connections, and a whole new lens on what community, sustainability, and “living on purpose” can actually look like.
People often ask me after I tell them my story, my sustainability journey: “So what was it like living in a hippie community?” This post is my attempt to answer that, with honesty, nostalgia, and from my current perspective shaped by this experience.
- Published in General, Lost Valley, Nature, Road Trip, Rotator
PEAS Community Farm “Spring into Fun Day”
I went to the “Spring into Fun Day” garden tour hosted at Cummingham Elementary by PEAS (Partners for Education, Agriculture, and Sustainability.) During my time in Austin, I’ve crossed paths with PEAS’ educational and outreach efforts. I’m very impressed with what they have achieved and how they leverage partnerships within the community.
After parking and walking onto the school grounds, I headed over to the elementary school garden. This is both an educational and production garden. Students are taught how to grow and care for produce, along with science lessons.
School of Permaculture
The School of Permaculture
My 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.
- Published in General
EarthX Expo 2018
EarthX Expo 2018 – Day 1 & 2 Summary
After my eco-inspired road trip, I had a hard time getting involved with sustainability initiatives in the Dallas Metroplex area compared to my time in Oregon. However, during Earth Day weekend, April 20-22 (with Earth Day on April 22), Dallas hosted its annual EarthX Expo, and I was excited to attend for my second year in a row!
“The festival, formerly called Earth Day Texas, is the world’s largest environmental festival, having drawn as many as 130,000 people. The main festival costs $5 and runs from Friday through Sunday at Fair Park.
But there are also two weeks’ worth of events, including a film festival and professional conferences that aren’t open to the public.
The three-day expo draws the general public with a tiny house village, a petting zoo, goat yoga, a scuba diving pool and about 1,000 exhibitors. At the same time, the festival is hosting conferences to discuss sustainability initiatives in the oil and gas industry and the E-Capital Summit to link investors with clean technology startups.” – Dallas Morning News Article
Last year in 2017, I went to EarthX for networking purposes and to drum up new business for the marketing agency I was working at. And the experience was more than inspiring getting to talk with hundreds of vendors/exhibitors, touring the tiny house community, watching some award-winning documentaries, and seeing cutting-edge sustainability initiatives and technologies! (more…)
- Published in General
Eco-Road Trip – Hummingbird Community
Hummingbird Community – Summary:
- Who: Rich Ruster
- What: Visited and toured the Hummingbird Community
- When: Monday, April 9
- Where: Cleveland, NM
Quick Resources:
- Hummingbird Community Webpage
- Hummingbird Community Facebook Page
- Hummingbird Community FIC Profile
- Hummingbird Community NuMundo Profile
- Gaia Education Webpage
My Route:
Planning my Eco-Inspired Road Trip Blog Post
My Travel Story:
I left the Commons on the Alameda that morning and drove into the high mountains of New Mexico to visit the Hummingbird Community, also known as the Hummingbird Transformational Living Center.
“Nestled in a valley among the Aspens, Cottonwoods, and Ponderosa Pines in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of northern New Mexico, rests a 500-acre ranch that is home to a 20-person residential Hummingbird Community. (more…)
Eco-Road Trip – The Canelo Project
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:
- The Canelo Project Webpage
- The Canelo Project Facebook Page
- The Canelo Project NuMundo Profile
- Canelo Project 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. (more…)