we believe in a better way of being human. together, we can create the conditions for our bio-spiritual organisms to thrive. join us in building a new world.
It is our goal to experience healthy, meaningful existence rooted in the interconnected web of all live. We renounce our roles as consumers, rejecting our place in the factory-to-landfill conveyor belt in exchange for our place in the family of things. We intend to become creators, makers, gardeners — active participants in our own lives.
Get Updates
Connect via Signal, social media, or email to get updates, invitations, poems, and pictures as the Minnesota Ecovillage project unfolds.
Work With Us
Join us for off-grid camping, hard work, shared meals, and frolicking in the woods - for a day or for a lifetime!
Support the Project
Contributions are used to build common structures, steward the land, and feed anybody who shows up to work or play.
WHY SUPPORT THE MINNESOTA ECOVILLAGE PROJECT?
- you are concerned about human impact on our ecosystems and environment
- you want to build economic systems not fueled by greed or exploitation
- you dream of a future where we can live ethical, meaningful lives in harmony with the earth
- you want to experiment with permaculture, sustainable energy, and high-efficiency buildings
- you value creativity, curiosity, collaboration, alternative economies, and non-heirarchial governance
- you believe that we are meant to be stewards, not owners of the land
We believe in the power of human creativity united by a common purpose -- to live ethical, meaningful, sustainable lives in the light and by the power of the sun. Here's how you can be part of this story:
LABOR
Join us in the beautiful work of building a farm / village / playground / retreat center on 66 acres of diverse Minnesota ecosystems. We will be camping on the Land as we make this world a reality, and invite you to join us for a day, a week, a month, or forever.
Phase 1 Projects (Spring 2024): cleaning up overgrowth and making foot-paths, removing garbage and barbed wire, cutting / splitting / stacking firewood from deadfall, creating composting toilet system, building a large screened-in common area / outdoor kitchen, creating fenced-in vegetable gardens, planning permaculture expansion, establishing water access and electricity
Phase 2 Projects (Summer/Fall 2024): designing and building a large pole barn as a common area, designing and building cabins for long-term residents and guests, swimming, gardening, canning and food preservation, sauna, root cellars and preparation for winter
Phase 3 Projects (Winter 2024 / Spring 2025): Begin construction on earthship-style common house, ongoing infrastructure, etc.
Additional work will include childcare, community care, and meal preparation as we work together as a team.
MATERIALS / OBJECTS
As part of our experiment in sustainable building, we are attempting to use discarded / scavenged / reclaimed materials as much as possible. Additionally, we intend to hold in common a library of tools, clothing, snow gear, art supplies, and musical instruments so that participation is not limited by access to capital.
Materials we can use: Lumber, decking, wood flooring, tin roofing, insulation, windows, screens, bricks, garden fencing, clawfoot tubs, commercial kitchen sinks / counters, wood stoves, chain, rope
Objects we can use: hand tools of all kinds, garden tools, chain saws, clippers, axes/mauls, hammers, ladders, helmets / ear protection, work gloves, snow gear, cross country skis, solar powered lights, solar powered anything, wool socks, heavy jackets, camp chairs, sleeping bags, hammocks, cast iron cooking gear, greenhouses, chicken equipment, horse equipment, fishing gear, cars, trucks, tractors, mountain bikes, wheelbarrows, ratchet straps, musical instruments, computers, cameras
WISDOM / EXPERTISE
We desire to be a repository of human knowledge -- reclaiming the forgotten wisdom of our our ancestors and integrating the newest information from today's curious scientists. To this end, we are building networks of shared knowledge, learning so that we can teach others.
Seeking wisdom / hands-on help in the following areas: sustainable/earthship architecture, permaculture / food-forest design and layout, foraging, canning and food preservation, solar electricity systems design, water filtration systems, pond and river management, mosquito management, Minnesota ecosystems, grant writing, legal structures and paperwork (cooperative and nonprofit), sociocracy, non-violent communication, video production / digital storytelling, singing/music, community rituals, anti-racism, education.
(In addition to learning these skills ourselves, we desire that our Ecovillage can be a place where people of all ages can come to learn from experts in these areas and take that experience home to their own communities)
FINANCIAL SUPPORT
The Minnesota Ecovillage Project is currently being funded by a very small number of founding investors. Our goal is to create a self-sustaining economy where humans can thrive without being dependent on wages, where we measure our wealth in water and food and sunsets rather than dollars, where we grow and make and scavenge and barter before we buy. Our property will be held by a member-owned cooperative LLC who will work together to steward the land while building equity for the future.
We have a vision of creating an economic engine that is an asset to the community around us -- both the local community of our township and the community of friends and family in the Twin Cities, Duluth, and around the world. We dream of selling locally grown food and locally made products, hosting intimate meals and joyful festivals, facilitating spiritual and educational encounters with the rivers, trees, ponds, and gardens in our care.
Your financial contributions can help make this vision a reality.
In the short term, funds are used for common meals during work days, building materials for common spaces (outdoor kitchen! gardens!), and infrastructure (water, electricity, internet). Whether you want to donate $5 to fund coffee for breakfast one day or loan $50,000 to build a solar field, we are grateful for your financial involvement.
(Contributions are not tax-deductible at this time. If you are involved in a non-profit that would be interested in fiscal sponsorship, please let us know)
To contribute via PayPal, click here.
For capital loans or donations, email minnesotaecovillage@gmail.com