Earth Abides

  • Community
  • 2 followers

About the Community

  • Forming
  • Rural

What we do

Earth Abides is located in a remote area in the Sierra Nevada foothills, in Central Sierra Miwuk lands.
We are a rural, intentional community and since 2019 Earth Abides is under the auspices of Canticle Farm, an Oakland, California-based nonprofit. Canticle Farm is an urban farm and educational center, an intentional community, and an experiment in faith-based activism, nonviolence, and restorative justice. Earth Abides was originally founded in 1976 in the lineage of the Catholic Worker movement, by people seeking to create a Catholic Worker Farm – one of the pillars of Peter Maurin’s three step program of social reconstruction (round table discussions, houses of hospitality, and farm communes or agronomic universities). You can learn more about our history on our website.

Surrounded by vast areas of wildlands, we have frequent encounters with a rich diversity of non-human kin, ranging from the smallest of organisms to large ones such as bear and cougar. We are currently building the foundation of our relationship to this place by learning how to harmonize ourselves with the ones who have already been living here in the form of human, plant, animal and elemental beings. Life here can be rugged at times. Examples include rural roads, social isolation, water and/or power limitations, being snowed in, chopping wood for wood stove heating, and living with fire hazard. Except for satellite internet and a landline, we are off-grid. Currently there are three people living full time on the land, with plenty of visitors and beautiful extended community members coming often.

Our main initiatives at this time are:
– Cleaning up waste left by previous occupants
– Wildfire fuels reduction
– Food, water, shelter and medicine sovereignty
– Building relationship with and creating land access for the Sierra Miwuk on their ancestral lands with the intention of honoring and being led by their ancestral wisdom.
– Educational offerings: Permaculture, nonviolence, restorative justice, and much more..

Our Vision

We are living the ‘Great Turning’ while experiencing the simultaneous ‘Great Unraveling’ and charting our service path and role in the planetary shift from an industrial-growth society to a life-sustaining society.

Our Mission

We are living the ‘Great Turning’ while experiencing the simultaneous ‘Great Unraveling’ and charting our service path and role in the planetary shift from an industrial-growth society to a life-sustaining society.

  • Community type
  • Ecovillage
  • Intentional Neighborhoods
  • Activities
  • Education
  • Others
  • 4 Total members
  • Open to new members
  • Open to visitors
  • Open to volunteers
Total
4

How to join

Our membership is relational and thus earned in the dynamic long-term process of building intimacy and trust through serving in good works together on the land.
In other words, membership is not purchased but rather created from mutual discovery of how one’s gifts fit into the relations on the land and in the community.

Basic expectations or agreements for members

Our invitation at this time is to come serve with us in our daily and seasonal efforts of tending and restoration of the land. In this way we hope to build quality long-term relationships with those who are a good fit for the land and our community vision here.
Please email us at [email protected] to explore visiting/volunteer opportunities.

Primary decision-making authority

  • Small Leadership Group

A few people (not elected by the broader community) make the major decisions.

Governance structure

  • Collaborative/Horizontal

Power and responsibility are shared relatively equally among members.

Economic model

  • Independent Finances

Members maintain separate personal finances with minimal sharing.

Economic scenarios for this community

  • There is a labor obligation
  • Members typically need to have their own job or other personal source of income to cover their expenses while living in the community?

Additional economic information

Labor: Encouraged or suggested
Members with pre-existing debt: Yes
Financially we operate on a gift economy model. Insofar as labor is concerned, we are an off-grid community working towards self-sufficiency. As such we expect people to ‘step up’ and lend a helping hand to any one or more tasks that are always in the queue.

Shared resources and amenities that are accessible to everyone in the community

Common House, Garden(s), Library, Workshop, Outbuilding(s), Swimming pond or pool, Outdoor Kitchen, Large Scale Kitchen, Tractor & Farm Equipment, Fire pit, Swingsets & play areas, Internet

Frequency of communal meals

  • About once a week

Substance use culture

  • Substance use occurs primarily at celebrations or ceremonies

Property status

  • Privately owned

Setting

  • Rural

Countryside locations with significant distance from urban centers.

Self-produced energy

  • Over 66%

Energy sources used

  • Photovoltaic Solar
  • Biomass (from wood or other organic materials)

Self-produced food

  • Up to 33%
  • Land area size
    100 acres

Reviews

Location

  • California, United States

Promoted Needs and Offers

Need
  • Communities with Openings
5 months ago

Join us in the mountains of Western North Carolina

Coweeta Heritage Center/Talking Rock Farm is located in the mountains of Western North Carolina. Coweeta is located in a beautiful and diverse temperate rain forest. It feels very remote here yet we are just 12 miles from Franklin, NC. Winters can be mild. Coweeta is blessed with springs and a stream, pristine forests, and abundant wildlife. Power is provided by a hydro-electric system which is not connected to the grid. An organic garden and trout pond provide healthy food that is also shared with the local community. Hiking, kayaking, and other outdoor activities are just out the back door. Coweeta is looking for others who would like to join together to form an Intentional Community embracing the principles of Voluntary Simplicity. Simply put (no pun intended): We wish “to live simply so that others may simply live.” It is a recognition that nature provides us with valuable services and resources that we can use to enrich our lives. Utilizing local resources, appropriate technology, and working cooperatively, we can discover creative ways to meet our needs as “directly and simply as possible.”. An example of this, in the tradition of many Indigenous People”, is to gather, and use wildcrafted foods as part of our diet. There is great joy in going to nature’s grocery for our sustenance. Voluntary Simplicity is based on the recognition that “very little is needed to live well” and that “abundance is a state of mind.” Living lower on the economic ladder allows us more time and freedom to pursue other life goals: community and social engagement, family time, artistic or intellectual projects, more fulfilling employment, political participation, sustainable living, spiritual exploration, and more. According to the Voluntary Collective, “The grounding assumption of Voluntary Simplicity is that all human beings have the potential to live meaningful, free, happy and infinitely diverse lives while consuming no more than an equitable share of (the world’s) resources.” We affirm the need for a work/life balance, the right to a healthy environment and healthy food, and healthy community relationships supporting a diverse population. It is our responsibility as engineers of a new generation to make the changes that we want to see happen and pass this on to the next generations. We can’t wait for someone else to do this important work. Voluntary Simplicity is a quiet revolution that can change the world. As one person said, “we must be poets of our own lives and of a new generation.” We hope you will join us here at Coweeta or elsewhere on our journey to a healthier and more sustainable future! Temporary housing is available in a 27 foot trailer trailer with attached deck next to a creek while we build additional housing. Your basic living expenses (shelter, basic food items, power and water) are met through our market garden or other fundraising projects that you will participate in. You are expected to contribute a given amount of your time and energy to help grow our community and meet our financial obligations. Possible future plans include establishing a retreat center for healing our earth and each other. Work includes organic gardening, construction projects and other community building activities. Come join Coweeta and learn how to live lightly on the land and enjoy the Earth’s bounty! For more information, visit www.coweetaheritagecenter.com Contact [email protected] for a visit or more info.  Paul
Need
  • Communities with Openings
12 months ago

Water Birch Co-op. Urban living in central Denver.

Large, lovely house built in 1900, two blocks from Cheeseman Park in downtown Denver.  5000 square feet. The house was a Buddhist Meditation Center for 20 years before we got it and has lovely, calm vibes. We currently have ten people and have room for one more. We are an intentional community sharing dinners, 3 living rooms, 2 new kitchens and a kitchenette, & 5 baths. Staple food (organic) is bought together. The group is self-regulating as a co-op; it decides together how the house runs. There are chores ;-) Average cost per room is about $1000 ranging from $650 to $1354. Currently available room is $875. We are just finishing renovation of three bedrooms on the third floor  they are $875 each and share our largest, newest bath (shower and separate claw foot tub) and a brand new kitchenette  they all have beautiful windows and lots of light. PLEASE CHECK OUT COMMUNITY LISTINGS FOR MORE INFO. Initial lease for 3-6 months while we and you decide if we are a good fit for each other.  Deposit in the amount of one months rent is required prior to move in.  We do background checks on all members. Utilities are currently $130 per person per month and are all-inclusive.  They will change if costs go up, that amount is insufficient to cover utilities, or more people mean the cost per person goes down.  WiFi is via mesh network from gig-speed fiberoptic service.  Heat is with radiators.  Cooling is evaporative.  We have a storage room in a nearby commercial facility.  And a new large workshop in the garage. Shared food is $125 per month per person; it is a pass-through cost divided evenly among residents; it does NOT include meat or alternative protein nor any alcohol.  We will not be surprised if that needs to go up some soon ($10 or 15). We have two dogs and three cats in the house  that seems like a sufficient quantity of furry friends for now. Our community intentions include: Communication with compassion. Shared space and life. Shared meals. Shared staple foods which are non-GMO and Organic. Group decision making. Safe, inclusive space: queer and trans friendly, anti-racist, non-violent, and feminist. The purchase of the house by the co-op in about five years. The expansion of the co-op, possibly to include other housing types (like separate apartments). Weekly meetings and house committees to manage our community. We are considering implementing Sociocracy as an organizing method. Quiet hours are from 10:00pm to 8:00am. We are looking for community members who: Want to live in a community not just have a place to sleep and eat. Want to live in a beautiful, clean, and organized house and are willing to help make and keep it that way. Residents should expect to spend 16 hours per month towards this goal. Are curious, compassionate, flexible, and open to living with others who will undoubtedly have different ideas about many things. Are interested in pioneering a new co-op. There will be work involved to get there. Are responsible and communicative. Embrace enthusiastically that living in community requires introspection and personal growth. Are not joining the community as a way of running away from something.
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