Three Groves Ecovillage

Three Groves Ecovillage Open House at Dansko

OPEN HOUSE
SATURDAY, MARCH 27, 2010
3-7 PM DANSKO HEADQUARTERS

Join us for an informative and fun-filled afternoon at Dansko (33 Federal Road, West Grove PA). We invite neighbors to learn about our project to build a green community, setting an international example of what sustainable living can be. We will seek LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum certification, the highest LEED certification available. Come meet future residents and the developer.

• Keynote Speaker: SANDY WIGGINS
  NET ZERO ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTALLY RESPONSIVE RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT 4 PM
• Followed by ANTHONY AUFDENKAMPE
  THREE GROVES ECOVILLAGE PROJECT
• Q & A SESSION
  Moderated by BOB VANELLA
• TOUR OF DANSKO HEADQUARTERS
  LEED® Gold Certified Building
• WINE & CHEESE RECEPTION
• 10% DISCOUNT AT THE DANSKO COMPANY STORE

RSVP Requested: 610.643.4411 or threegrovesecovillage@gmail.com

Download and share our flyer, or use it as a poster.

Mid-Atlantic Cohousing Conference

Mid-Atlantic Cohousing and the University of Maryland School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation present ...

Cohousing: Growing Smart Communities

A one-day conference for people passionate about community in the Mid-Atlantic Region on Saturday, March 20, 2010.

The conference is followed by Open House tours at local cohousing communities on Sunday, March 21, 2010.

Come rub shoulders, elbows and toes with the people who have created, are creating or helping others to create their cohousing community. This is YOUR local conference for those of you who are building cohousing, living in cohousing, interested in the idea, or who are professionals in the field.

When you are ready to register, go to the Registration Page.

The growing list of those committed to presenting include Zev Paiss (Keynote Speaker), Neshama Abraham, John Buck, CT Butler, Elana Kann (developer), Dene Peterson, Laird Schaub, Don Tucker (developer), Sharon Villines and Jack Wilbern (developer/architect.)

In these pages, you will find information about the upcoming conference, including presenters, workshops, time and place, how to register ... oh ... just everything!

Registration is handled through an event registration service. When you click on any of the Registration links in these pages you will leave this website. There is a link on the registration home page that will bring you back to this web site.

Please note: This is a work in progress. They are adding details to information that’s here already as well as new workshops, speakers, events, and more ... daily! Check back often here!

(Special Note: Three Groves will have a table at the Conference.)

Cohousing Newsletter - Fall 2009

Periodically, I get a Newsletter from the Coho Association. I started reading, and thought I should share with you all. Enjoy!

Cohousing Now! #14

Cohousing Now! provides timely information on Cohousing... Now! It's from the Cohousing Association of the United States, highlighting new information from Cohousing.org. This email is assembled at www.cohousing.org/now for those who prefer to web browse its content.

IN THE NEWS

The Boston Globe (MA) - 11/22/09
A model for the future with an eye to the past

Learn about the relatively new cohousing community in New Hampshire, Nubanusit Neighborhood and Farm, and how they have created a community close to the land and close to each other.

OregonLive.com (OR) - 11/20/09
Northeast Portland cohousing group blends sustainability and sociability

Read about how one early cohousing group created their own sustainable community on a small scale.

The Durango Herald (CO) - 11/17/09
Senior cohousing gains initial interest from residents  The turnout was unexpectedly high at a recent meeting held to gauge interest in a senior cohousing community in Durango, CO.

San Diego GreenLife (CA) - 11/16/09
Growing Green Communities: Eco-villages & Co-housing Read about how some cohousing communities and eco-villages have used green technology to lower their carbon footprint.

Trendhunter Magazine (National) - 11/14/09
Detached Accessory Structures: Garden Cottages Add Residential Capacity in Portland A housing ordinance provision for cohousing creates new options for Portland, Oregon, homeowners.

Serialized Cohousing Books

Recent installments of our Online Cohousing Books.

Reinventing Community

 

• What I Learned from Children about Giving and Receiving
   
  
  
• Sharingwood Stories
   

2010 National Cohousing Conference - Featured Speaker: Dave Wann!

We're pleased to announce that Dave Wann will be a featured speaker at the 2010 National Cohousing Conference (June 16-20 in Boulder, CO)

 

. In addition to being a widely sought after public speaker, Dave authored Reinventing Community; Stories from the Walkways of Cohousing

 

. This fine book is published serially on Cohousing.org (see above) - the stories are a great way to help people understand Cohousing on a human level.

Please Won't You Be My Neighbor?

Nearly every ecovillage or cohousing neighborhood has experienced it, and now we have too – neighbors who fear the worst.  Last week sometime a sign was put on our proposed land with the following message:

Wake Up London Grove
No Ecovillage, No Septic? No Commune
It will co$t London Grove!!
Not here!

A friend and supporter of ours pulled it out of the ground and brought it to us, knowing that the accusations were far off target from what we plan.  We’re fine with open dialog and debate with anyone who doesn’t understand or even disagrees with our approach to building a neighborhood. Seeing this sign, however, was really discouraging. We have a detractor who doesn’t understand what we are planning or what we are about, yet who has imagined and fears the worst.

The bottom line is that we want to be good and helpful neighbors to all of West Grove and London Grove.  In fact, we’re very interested in feedback from the community.  One future neighbor on Thistle Court expressed concern about the “Natural Pool” (naturally filtered swimming pool) that was shown against his property line in our earliest Concept Sketch. He didn’t specifically request it, but we moved it away from his property. No problem.  Also, partially because of concerns about obstructing views to the homes north of the property, our plan is place all of our homes further down the hill, preserving the pristine meadow to the north.  Not everything will be so easy, but we do want to work with our future neighbors to create a win-win solution. We’re not a typical big-wig development company who wants to sell big houses, make big profit, and move on to the next town. We’re future residents who would like to be friends, neighbors, and supporters of the community.

In that neighborly spirit, and knowing that the negative reaction is based on misunderstanding, now is a great time to clarify what we plan. Since the creator of the sign didn’t discuss his or her concerns directly with us, I will have to assume that his/her concerns are similar to other conversations or questions we’ve had. Let me try to address them based on the phrases in the sign.

“No Septic?” OK, this one is true. We don’t want to use septic systems; we want to do better than that. Modern plumbing is really cool and I won’t live without it. You sit in comfortable and private surroundings, finish your business, flush, and the “problem” goes away…right? In truth, a septic system simply re-locates the “problem” to an underground tank where the solids settle but the liquids drain into the earth via a “leach field”.  In principle, pollutants and germs are removed by biological activity in the few feet before the waste water reaches the shallow ground water, but in practice septic sytems have contributed to highly polluted groundwaters throughout the country. Public sewer mixes the “problem” with a lot of water, pumps it across town, treats it biologically and chemically, and then typically dumps it into the nearest stream or river.  The direct economic costs of municipal sewage treatment are considerable, but the indirect economic costs of polluted streams and rivers is probably higher. 

We want to be responsible for our own “problems”. Just as the septic system was a vast improvement over the outhouse, Constructed Wetlands are a vast improvement over the septic system.  These systems drain the liquid waste from a settling tank through a series of lined, gravel-bed rooting zones of wetland plants, where naturally occurring “good” microbes and plant roots break-down wastes and take up the excess nutrients.  The wastewater is always 1-2 feet below ground and can not leak.  There is no smell.  The result is that water is purified to levels that are cleaner than local streams and groundwater (it’s nearly drinkable) before it is released, usually via subsurface irrigation to landscaping. No septic system, and few municipal sewage treatment plants, will match that; we are setting our standards very high. We are aware that most people are not familiar with this technology, but the state is advocating it, and in fact, has given a grant to the Stroud Water Research Center to build the first one in our area. We understand that approvals will have to be given, but we’re willing to go to bat for the area’s groundwater.

“No Commune.”  If I thought a Commune was moving in next door, I’d be pretty frightened, too. Images of unemployed hippies, tin shacks, free love, rampant drug use, loud music, and hordes of mud-covered children come to mind. However, even if we use less imaginative definitions of Communes, and simply talk about pooled resources, shared labor, and commonly held property, it’s still not a model that we’re interested in.  To reiterate specific points that we’ve made before:

• Homes will be privately owned, either as Fee Simple or using a Condominium model. Projected house prices are comparable to or higher than the surrounding houses, starting at about $175,000 for a 1-bedroom, and going up to about $385,000 for a 4-bedroom. The price points obviously necessitate gainful employment or other resources.

• The Club House and most of the land will be owned by a Home Owners’ Association, just like many developments in the area.

• Paychecks will be retained by those who earn them.  A quarterly fee will be paid to the Homeowner’s Association for maintenance of the Club House, insurance, and other expenses.

• As we generally state in our presentations: “No shared houses, no shared spouses.” Although we’re positive that none of our future neighbors had to assure others on their choice of hobbies, we’re clearly stating for the record that we’re not interested in “alternative arrangements”.

• We do anticipate gathering in the Club House for community dinners a few times a week, and rotating responsibility for cooking those meals or other duties. However, this is not a requirement.  Rather, it is a way to help us get to know people and to re-create that sense of community that our pioneering forefathers had, but that seems gone from much of today’s world.  I’d be delighted if our future neighbors in the surrounding community joined us for dinner, too.

“It will co$t London Grove.”  This one is a little harder to figure out, but I think it is related to the hordes of mud-covered children produced by the hippies practicing free love. The question of whether we wanted to attract families with children did come up at the last Board of Supervisors meeting, and there is legitimacy to the question.  School taxes are assessed based on the value of the home, and each child in the home costs a certain amount to educate.  If a low-value home has many children, it produces a loss in the budget for London Grove. The most profitable thing for London Grove is to only allow high-end 50+ or retirement communities, where the number of children is limited and the homes have high value.

How many children do we expect to have in our community? Let’s put on our Statistician Hat for a moment. If we look at Census records we find that Pennsylvania averages 0.83 children per household, or 1.85 children per household with children. That is, any randomly selected household has 0.83 children, but once it is established that a household has children, the average is 1.85 children. Setting aside visions of partial children, if we build our desired 34 homes, that would work out to 28.2 children in the community. However, because our Ecovillage wants diversity of incomes and ages, we will be offering 1, 2, 3, and 4 bedroom houses. It’s my personal theory that families with children would be attracted at average rates to homes with 3-4 bedrooms, and at much less than average rates to homes with 1-2 bedrooms. If we assume 0.83 children for each of 22 larger homes, and .2 children for each of 12 smaller homes, we come out with 20.7 children.  That’s only about 75% of the children that would be expected in the typical neighborhoods around us.  Furthermore, because our home values will be higher than the median home around us, we’ll be paying more in school taxes.  In truth, I think our Ecovillage would be a benefit to the tax base as far as home value and school taxes go.

I’ve gotten a bit long-winded, but I hope that I’ve addressed some concerns that seem to be out there. Please let me know if I haven’t!

• We want to do better than septic systems.
• We’re really not hippies or a commune.
• We probably would be a plus to the tax base rather than a minus.

So, as Mr. Rogers sang, “Please, won’t you be my neighbor?”

Potluck Recipes

Whenever we have a Potluck, we never know what we will be eating. Sometimes there is a run on salad or bread, but there is invariably a dish or two that really stands out. Here are some of the recent recipes that folks have requested.

Leslie's "Egg" Salad

1 lb. tofu
1/2 c. mayo
2 T prepared mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp. turmeric
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
optional:
1/2 c. diced scallions
1/2 c. diced celery
1/2 c. dicd carrots
Drain tofu and mash well w/ ork, mix w/ spices & mayo. Add choppe veggies & mix.
Serves 4


Melanie's Toasted Quinoa & Eggplant
1/2 lb tofu, cubed
4 teaspoons reduced-sodium tamari or soy sauce, divided
1/3 cup rice vinegar
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
4 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons walnut or olive oil, divided
1 1/2 cups quinoa, rinsed well (see Tip) (i used a combo of red and white quinoa, but all white or all red is fine)
2 teaspoons minced garlic
3 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1 medium eggplant, unpeeled, sliced, salted, drained, and cubed (about 2 cups)
1/2 sliced poblano pepper
1/2 cup quartered cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup toasted pecans
1 Tb. toasted sesame seeds

1. Toss tofu with 2 teaspoons tamari (or soy sauce), vinegar and sesame oil in a medium bowl. Set aside.
2. Place a large, high-sided skillet with a tight-fitting lid over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon oil and quinoa. Cook, stirring constantly, until the quinoa begins to color, 6 to 8 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute more. Add water and salt and bring to a boil. Stir once, cover and cook over medium heat until the water is absorbed, about 15 minutes. (Do not stir.) Remove from the heat and let stand, covered, for 10 minutes.
3. Whisk 3 tablespoons oil, the remaining 2 teaspoons tamari (or soy sauce), in a large bowl. Add the quinoa; toss to coat.
4. Meanwhile, remove the tofu from the marinade. Heat a large skillet over medium-high until hot enough to evaporate a drop of water upon contact. Add the remaining 2 teaspoons  oil and cook the tofu and the eggplant until golden and just firm, about 5 minutes total. Add the poblanos and cook for 2 more minutes. Gently stir the tofu/eggplant mix into the quinoa salad. Serve garnished with tomatoes, pecans and sesame seeds.

TIP:  you must wash quinoa before cooking. Rinse twice to rid it of the saponin that naturally coats the grains.


Janet's Soft Pretzel Rolls
Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 22 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 4 1/2 cups
• 2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
• Vegetable oil, for pan
• 10 cups water
• 2/3 cup baking soda
• 1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
• Pretzel salt

Directions
Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.

Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.

In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Form each piece of dough into a ball and press a starburst pattern into it with an apple cutter or a knife.  Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan.

Place the rolls into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. (This is the step that will make them browner and chewier than a regular roll.) Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Walking the Land

As we started to walk the land that will be the future home of Three Groves Eco-village, the prospect of an environmentally sound developed community brought some thoughts to mind. In conversation with friends the night before, who are not knowledgeable of LEED, we started on the subject of what it would mean to them to live here.

I explained to them that the community itself embodies a respect for a number of things near to our hearts. Not only is the community built with regard for its own land, but that of its surroundings. It has a harmony with the wildlife, such as birds and butterflies, something that my friends found very attractive. What will be nice is that you can sit back and watch the stars at night, and actually see them. As it is constructed, it not only meets the local zoning ordinances, but thru achieving LEED as a guideline, exceeds it on many levels. It looks to allow water infiltration back to the ground and the surrounding stream, thru the use of materials that expedites this process (unlike paved parking lots that create runoff). The construction practices will return debris to the recycling centers, where it will be better for the environment.

The homes themselves will surround you with comfortable features such as good air quality, well insulated walls, windows, doors and floors. Most importantly, it will be energy efficient. They will use solar panels to harness the sun, in essence, “free” electricity. This means, no utility bills...also known as “net zero energy”. (Something that I was excited about, as I have an all electric home and the high bills to go with it)!

The Eco-Village itself will be a community within a community.You can co-exist with neighbors who embody the same ideals and where you children can roam safely.  It is looking to have a community center for central gatherings and a space for the gardener in all of us.

As I explained this to them, the anticipation of such a community took on a life of its own. They could see the possibilities of such a place to live.

The excitement is that it is here, in our own backyard.

Gray Ladybug Pajamas

Spring is the time for many things; birds and flowers, early gardens and erratic weather, and of course the Children's Wardrobe Review. Each Spring I get out the box of clothes that I put away the previous Fall, and see what is actually still usable, what can be passed along to those with smaller children, and what is more suitable for the trash. Sometimes things make it into storage more as a way of discouraging the use of sandals in December, or taking a favorite-but-too-worn garment out of circulation. At the same time, I review the items in the closet and drawers, making the same assessments and spiriting winter clothing away for Fall.

This Spring's review began with the discovery that almost everything I put away in the Fall was too small for our use. One box went to friends, and another will go to my sister. This is Re-use at its best since I get to see encore performances of the outfits my girls enjoyed. My girls are wearing sizes 7-8 now, but somehow we discovered a size 4 pair of pajamas still in circulation. They were threadbare and dingy gray instead of the vibrant red and white ladybug pattern they began as. The collar was stretched out, there were holes in the chest where they'd been chewed, and the hem was starting to come loose. I threw them in the pile for trash.

"But Mom, can't we give them to Emma??"

"Ummmm...no." The thought of anyone seeing the tatters my child wore the previous night stunned me.

"But Mom, what will you do with them??"

"Throw them away?"

"What a waste of perfectly good fabric!!" There was exasperation in her voice.

Ahhhhh...my budding environmentalist! Gray ladybug rags, anyone?

40 60 70...Major Milestones!

We can now say with assurance that we are doing well achieving age-diversity in our group, with members ranging in age from single-digit, all the way to 70. In the space of only a week, 3 of our members hit major birthday milestones (40, 60, and 70), so we folded away the maps and zoning ordinances and decided to gather for a little party at Bonnie and Anthony's place. It was potluck (of course), with delicious cupcakes and trick can't-blow-hard-enough-to-keep-them-extinguished candles. The kids had fun playing dress-up and dancing upstairs. Downstairs, the adults learned about Debbie's daughter's latest successes in the film industry (Production Designer of 'The Merry Gentlemen'). We laughed over the difficulties of staying sane when dealing with the insane antics of young children, and in that vein, Bonnie and Anthony related the story of why there is massive water damage in their living room ceiling. I confessed that I had harvested the last of the tilapia from my Aquaponics (small indoor re-circulating fish-veggie farm) system and sold the system to free up time to work on the ecovillage. Anthony seemed distressed at this, but it's not to worry. We can all decide to build a new one if we want to raise our own fresh fish.

We spent a lot of time wishing we were already building our homes and discussing the latest finds in the land quest. But mostly, it was great to just enjoy each others company.

Applesauce Day

While we have been getting some great compliments on the website, we want it to be even better. Graphic Designers generally charge a pretty penny for their work, but we know one who is willing to barter. (OK, she also happens to be my sister, but she does really cool work for major publications you've probably even read. See Joyce's work at Spur Design.) That leads us to Applesauce Day. Joyce loves home canned goods, but has trouble getting enough time to do the canning. Several of us decided we could make applesauce together and trade it for some graphics work. As added bonus, we got to spend a fun day chatting and getting to know one another even better.

I collected jars, lids and a bushel and a half of apples from Glen Willow Orchard. Bonnie, May and Leslie came over, and Bonnie brought a camp stove so we'd have extra burners. It turned out that each of us had one of those nifty apple-peeler-slicers where you turn the handle and end up with peeled apples cut in a spiral. With two kids and three adults, we really made short work of the apples. Elise and May worked together to peel the apples. Bits of apple peel and sticky spots decorated every surface in the kitchen, but there was also the wonderful aroma of simmering applesauce, and the happy chatter of children. By mid-afternoon we had two dozen quarts of applesauce and the satisfaction of working together to bring our dreams just a little closer to reality.

Joyce, I'll have a little something in my trunk for you when I see you at Thanksgiving.

Canoeing on the Brandywine River

One way to develop community is to doing things together. Leslie and I had been trying to get in one last kayaking trip before the water got too cold. Sunday Oct 12th looked like the best chance; but we had a Concord Ecovillage meeting scheduled for 4:00 p.m. at Bonnie and Anthony's house. When I mentioned this to Anthony, he said "Why don't we go together for a short trip down the Brandywine River?  We can get back in time to have dinner at our house; and then we'll do the meeting." What a great idea!

We met Bonnie and Anthony at Northbrook, where we put in our boats. Leslie and I were in our tandem kayak. Bonnie and Anthony had their three darling girls: Lily, Ruby, and May with them in their canoe. We did a little paddling, a little floating, a little pushing or pulling our boats through the "too shallow" places, and a lot of playing on a sand-bar about half way through the trip. The sun was out. The Autumn foliage was turning beautiful. We were building friendships-creating community.