Shambhala Collective and Permaculture Educational Center

  • Community

About the Community

What we do

Our 40-acre farm lies in the quiet back country of northeast Tennessee at the foothills of the Appalachian Mountain range, locally known as the Great Smokey Mountains, near the borders of North Carolina and Virginia. We welcome visitors who want to get their hands dirty learning the permaculture way of growing, living, and perpetuating life! To book a visit, please email us, if you’d like to stay longer (weekend, week, month, or season on Shambhala), please visit our WWOOF host page to learn more. This is not a rest stop, this is an experience to teach you food sovereignty, self sufficiency and a kinship with nature. We feel the traditional farming model is expiring. Farmers are isolated, underpaid, and lack the freedoms to travel and enjoy life outside the farm. A cooperative farming model like ours helps us stay connected to our families and hold on to our dreams of traveling while still having a sanctuary like Shambhala to come home to and sustain us for the long term. Together we can care for what’s needed to sustain us more simply, efficiently, and cooperatively. We currently have 3 member families on site, and we’re seeking 6 more to reach our 9 total to share this land with us, build tiny homes or small cabins, and sustain our future together through gardens, food forests, living off grid, making the most of our surroundings, using our natural resources wisely, and educating others to do the same. To learn more about our Guidelines, Values, and Vision, you can download our document here.

Our Mission

It is our intention: To encourage, foster, and educate on community-style living and permaculture sustainable practices for long-term success and self-reliance. We intend and expect to leave the land and space better than how we found it. Our primary focuses are on community, sustainability, land stewarding, and self sufficiency. Our primary goals are to be self sufficient in energy, water, and food, to be a zero-waste and universally-designed community, with a strong focus on reducing and eliminating waste through best practices, composting, reusing and recycling.

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How to join

To become a member of Shambhala, members must go through our application process, and that document can be provided. Members are approved by consensus with an equal-share buy-in for land. Members home structures are the financial responsibility of each member/family, but can be community-built. Membership and land stewardship are separate categories. Members have equal voting rights on community decisions and share responsibility for all projects and farming practices.

Decision-making process

  • Full Consensus

Everyone must agree before moving forward.

Economic model

  • Partial Income-Sharing

Members contribute a percentage of income to community funds.

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

Common House, Garden(s), Greenhouse(s), Library, Workshop, Outbuilding(s), Outdoor Kitchen, Tractor & Farm Equipment, Fire pit, Recreational vehicles, Internet, Creek and springs

Frequency of communal meals

  • About once a week

Substance use culture

  • Substance use occurs primarily at celebrations or ceremonies

Property status

  • Privately owned

Property owner

Setting

  • Rural

Countryside locations with significant distance from urban centers.

Self-produced energy

  • Over 66%

Self-produced food

  • Up to 33%

Local, organic, or fair trade food

  • 33 - 66%
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Location

  • United States

Shambhala Collective and Permaculture Educational Center

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