Breaking News
Third Neighborhood Reaches Capacity! PDF Print E-mail

The growing Third Residential EcoVillage Experience neighborhood (TREE) has almost all housing slots filled and is developing a waiting list.  This is important because the neighborhood now has the membership and the funds to go full speed ahead with getting town approvals. If all goes well, TREE looks forward to beginning infrastructure work this fall with construction starting in the spring of 2011.

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TREE members celebrate with champagne the signing on of the 30th household.
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Group portrait of the new community: TREEs in front, the pond in the middle and trees in back.
 
Maypole dance PDF Print E-mail
On May 1st, an intergenerational group of folks danced around a Maypole on the land in celebration of Mayday. You can see a short video of this simple, family friendly activity by clicking HERE.
 
Revitalizing consensus agreements PDF Print E-mail

On Friday, March 12, folks from FROG, SoNG and TREE met from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM in the FROG Common House to upgrade, refine and revitalize the consensus making agreements in the neighborhoods.

In the beginning workshop facilitators gave participants the core principles and strategies of consensus and related them to the concerns about consensus at EVI.

Participants were then prompted (through brainstorming techniques) to list all the problems that have arisen though the use of the consensus process (where everyone must agree to a proposal before it is adopted). The group then chose the most relevant problems to work on and discussed them in smaller sub groups using specific steps laid out by the facilitators. Afterward, a report from each sub group was given to the entire gathering.

Feedback after the meeting indicated that it was a great success and much useful information was learned.

 

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Workshop co-facilitator Kirby welcomes folks to the workshop and helps explain the objectives for the day.
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More than 75 people attended this workshop which had representation from FROG, SoNG and TREE.

 

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Blue dots were given to workshop participants who placed them next to what they felt were the most important topics (as determined by an earlier brainstorming session).
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The highest scoring of these topics were given to six self selected teams who worked from a pattern given by workshop leaders to begin guiding folks to a rational conclusion.
 
Photovoltaics on the FROG Common House! PDF Print E-mail

The Frog common house is nearing completion on our new 6KW solar photovoltaic system.  We have 30 210 watt panels from Evergreen Solar connected to a sophisticated Xantrex XW inverter.  We expect it will generate at least 50% of the total power needed for the common house, averaged over a year.

The system includes 8 hefty batteries which should provide at least 24 hours of backup power during a power failure, allowing us to run the heating system, lights, kitchen stoves, refrigerators and freezers and keep our internet connection live.  In case of a longer outage when solar production is limited, the system includes a generator connection outside, which will allow us to use our Kubota small diesel tractor to drive a generator off its PTO (rear power-take-off) to recharge the batteries.

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Solar panels on the CH face due south.

 
Progress in TREE neighborhood PDF Print E-mail

TREE architect Jerry Weisburd recently gave a presentation to members of FROG, SoNG and TREE about the progress in the design of the TREE neighborhood and its interface with the rest of the village. You can see excerpts from his presentation by clicking

HERE -- for his talk on Village Interface,

HERE -- for  a segment on the Village Commons and

HERE --  for accessibility in the TREE Common House.

 
EVI To Be Part of Univ of Wisconsin Study PDF Print E-mail

The Global Environmental Management Education Center (GEM) at University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point has named EVI one of 40 communities worldwide that demonstrate "renowned sustainability operations and facilities." From GEM: "We are impressed with the sustainability efforts of your community and have included Ecovillage at Ithaca on our list of selected communities to showcase commitment to future sustainability."

 
Play With Your Food: The 'Iron Chef' Comes to EVI PDF Print E-mail

On a sunny afternoon in August, campers in the GIAC Preteen Green Camp completed six sessions of Play With Your Food during a heated Iron Chef battle in the Frog common house at Ecovillage. A grassroots program designed and directed by Audrey Baker, a recent Cornell University graduate, and supported by dedicated volunteers, generous non-profits and farms, and passionate community leaders, Play With Your Food allowed a diverse group of young adults to explore--through hands-on gardening, composting, cooking, a downtown harvest tour, a market day of selling specialty pesto and other garden produce, and a food market scavenger hunt--interconnections between the soil and the food they eat. Campers learned to consider environmental issues, human health, cost, and convenience as trade-offs when planning for meals.

On day one, most campers were hesitant to chop vegetables, skeptical of vegetarian food, and afraid of dirty lettuce; by the Iron Chef at Ecovillage six weeks later, however, two teams (Bayzel and Delisioso) were engaged in collaborative planning for complex meals by exercising an array of individual skills, from artwork to advertising to leadership to pizzaz. In the end, each team presented a beautiful three-course, plant-based, low-cost and creative meal to a panel of community leaders, boasting of the local, organic, and garden-grown ingredients. Many thanks to Liz Walker at Ecovillage for hosting this wildly successful event.

See this article about the event.

Funding and resource support provided by the New York Coalition for Healthy School Foods and Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County.

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Dequan and Mikayla prepare berries for the Delicioso team's dessert, a triple-berry crumble.
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The Bayzel team's curry dish entree (sweet potato, fingerling potato, swiss chard, glazed carrots, multicolored peppers, and brown rice), garnished with fresh basil from the Play With Your Food garden, waits to be served to the judges.

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The Bayzel team menu on the judges' table, placed alongside hot mint-ginger tea and the main course.
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Meisha, Jocelyn, and Alexis (from left to right) serve Jemila Sequeira, Whole Community Project coordinator, and Josh Dolan, Gardens for Humanity coordinator and Master Gardener at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County.
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Todd McLane, manager of West Haven Farms at EcoVillage and provider of over 20 types of organic vegetable plant starters for the Play With Your Food garden, announces Bayzel's curry dish as "Most Colorful" -- the Iron Chef battle ended as a tie, and other prizes were "Most Surprising," "Most Local," and "Best Presentation."
 
New EcoVillage Tractor PDF Print E-mail

Members of the Outdoor Team begin working with a new $18,000 Kubota diesel tractor purchased by the village. The price includes such accessories as a snow blower, mowing unit,  and front end loader. Much research went into this purchase as well as much discussion before reaching a consenus on this machine. The engine is very fuel efficient and has the capability to run on biodiesel.

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