USA – Tennessee
Emerging from the Haight-Ashbury Era as the largest gift economy in North
America, The Farm is now home to scores of climate-smart antifragile
microenterprises, including the Ecovillage Training Center.
SAMPLE COURSE TOPICS
- Alternative Wastewater Systems
- Climate Change Solutions
- Permaculture Design Principles
- Natural Building
- Right Livelihood & Gift Economies
- Holistic Health
- Organic Gardening & Carbon Farming
- Renewable Energy
LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
- PV Off-Grid & Grid Intertie Systems
- Solar Hot Water Systems
- Erosion Control & Rainkeeping
- Alternative Toilet Systems
- Community Ecoforestry
- Natural Building
- Compost, Bokashi & Vermiculture
- Tie-dye, Quilting, Papermaking
CULTURAL ACTIVITIES
- Community Dinners
- Meet and Greet New Residents
- Drumming Circles
- Sacred Fire Ceremony
- Mushroom Hunting
- Swimming Hole and Sauna
- Yoga and Tai Chi
- Monthly Market Day
COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION:
In 1971, a caravan of 80 school buses and assorted other vehicles carrying 320 hippie idealists landed on an abandoned farm in central Tennessee. They had a mission: to be a part of something bigger than themselves, to follow a peaceful and spiritual path, and to make a difference in the world.
Today The Farm is home to roughly 200 people living on seven square miles, and is an intentional community of families and friends.
The Ecovillage Training Center began in 1994 as an effort to break new ground in education by teaching people the skills necessary in the 21st Century. Over the past 20 years students have learned about appropriate technologies and permaculture consciousness that are infused throughout the buildings, organic garden, water systems, and the 4000 acres of protected woods and meadows of the greater Farm Community.