Shambhala Collective and Permaculture Educational Center

  • Community
  • 0 followers

About the Community

  • Forming
  • Rural

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 Vision

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.

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.

  • Community type
  • Cohousing
  • Ecovillage
  • Commune
  • Activities
  • Education
  • Others

Video

Gallery

  • 6 Total members
  • Open to new members
  • Open to visitors
  • Open to volunteers
Total
6

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.

Basic expectations or agreements for members

We welcome visitors, please book tours by contacting us directly. We also welcome WWOOFers, to get a deeper, richer experience, and stay the night if you care to do so. All overnight visitors must be registered with WWOOF, and can view our profile here:
https://wwoofusa.org/en/host/39242

Primary decision-making authority

  • Single Leader or Founding Couple

One person or partnership has ultimate authority.

Governance structure

  • Collaborative/Horizontal

Power and responsibility are shared relatively equally among members.

Economic model

  • Partial Income-Sharing

Members contribute a percentage of income to community funds.

Economic scenarios for this community

  • There is a one-time fee, investment, or share purchase to join the community separate from accessing housing
  • Members need to pay fees, dues, or similar to live there on a per month or per year basis
  • There is a labor obligation

Additional economic information

Join fee: $38000
Monthly fees/dues: $0
Labor required: Yes
Members with pre-existing debt: Yes (some debt)

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
  • Religions
  • Christian
  • Buddhist
  • Hindu
  • Wiccan, Paganism, or Earth Religions

Property status

  • Privately owned

Property owner

  • By a Land Trust, Home Owners Association, or corporation

Setting

  • Rural

Countryside locations with significant distance from urban centers.

Self-produced energy

  • Over 66%

Energy sources used

  • Photovoltaic Solar

Self-produced food

  • 33 - 66%
  • Land area size
    40 acres

Reviews

Location

  • Tennessee, United States

Shambhala Collective and Permaculture Educational Center

Promoted Needs and Offers

Need
  • Communities with Openings
9 months ago

Seeking Couples Interested in Long Term Deep Connection & Farming (open to singles)

Description Our  sloped and terraced community farm has far more potential than we have time and energy to use to the fullest. We have been in community for 15 years now, but feeling pulled to the deeper nourishment we find in long-term residents over shorter-term interns.  We seek one to two couples (or super aligned singles) who are interested in conscious connection, intimate conversation, personal growth and healing, regenerative agriculture, and serious about a building a life in community.  Although we hold space and flexibility for shifts in needs, we desire humans who plan to stay for all or part of a season (1-3 months at a minimum), after which we would explore longer-term alignment and relationships.  We MAY also be open to folks wanting to live off-site, as long as we prioritize ample time to explore how we work together before we get too deep. Current Use Heart 2 Heart Farms is a small, forested, 10 acre Permaculture farm nestled in the fertile hills of the Willamette Valley. Between the quaint towns of Newberg and Sherwood, this oasis is in the middle of wine country, just 30 minutes south of Portland, has been an intentional community and teaching facility for over 15 years, hosting a myriad of community outreach, up-cycling, homesteading, and prepping workshops.  Although we have recently slowed substantially, residents should be prepared for both a busy environment, and shared, informal, mixed-use spaces. We are almost completely self-sufficient, producing large varieties of heirloom fruits and vegetables, and we breed, butcher, and sometimes sell heritage chickens, turkeys, rabbits, pigs, goats, sheep, and cattle. We tan hides, carve bone, save seed, occasionally blow glass, throw pottery, create alternative/green energy, dig root cellars, and build constantly. We have three large un/under-utilized areas available: The front hill is a terraced and amended south-facing slope that has LOTS of room and potential. We also have a poultry pasture is 2 acres of partially wooded Douglas Fir, an additional 4 acres of wooded mixed use browsing space and native habitat that’s virtually unused at the moment, two large greenhouses (including one set up aquaponically), and lots of space to expand the orchard and rotational grazing system. Additionally, we have a 20’x40′ healing center and sacred space we use for yoga, massage, reiki, ceremony (including traditional Lakota sweat lodge and grief/trauma work), and make available to local practitioners to offer their services to the community. If you are wanting to connect deeply, work hard, learn and expand your experience base, and participate in a small but established intentional community, shoot us a note and let’s explore. Owner’s Short Term Vision for the Property Our short-term goal is to find/train a few young/new farmers to assist with land stewardship and increase productivity of the existing space to spread out the work/responsibility and assist in overall streamlining and cleanup of the existing farm/operations. Owner’s Long Term Vision for the Property Our long-term vision is to continue to use this space as a teaching and educational facility, expanding the diversity and frequency of events we can host and services we can offer. Over the next few years, we hope to find an a couple interested in learning/independently managing most of the farm production, which will allow us to dig deeper into the training and certification we make available, to include natural building, basic and advanced Permaculture technique and application, beekeeping, horticulture, animal husbandry, food preservation, fermentation, plant identification/natural foraging, and primitive skills. Available Water / Irrigation Extensive rainwater collection on site, as well as a high-flow/capacity well. Soil Type / Quality Sandy loam with great organic matter, good clay content, and established vermiculture and mycorrhizal network. Buildings and Structures Available for Farm Use We have multiple barns and greenhouse space for use, or lease, depending on the particulars of use/situation. Farm Equipment Available for Use We have a skid steer on site, as well as rototiller, chipper, 26′ truck, and pickup trucks for use. Hand tools are also available, depending on the arrangement. Any Restrictions That Could Limit Agricultural Production Creating and supporting natural borders, food forests, and wildlife habitat (and incorporating these into a holistic/natural pest management strategy) is a very high priority to us, so intensive mono-crop/large machine harvesting and/or crops needing spraying/chemicals are not likely a fit on this site. County: Washington Total Acreage: 10 Acreage Available to Landseeker: 5 Current Farming Practices: Organic, Not Certified, Biodynamic, Dry Farming, Season Extension Farming Practices Allowed: Certified Organic, Organic, Not Certified, Biodynamic, Dry Farming, Season Extension Agriculture Types Suitable: Beans, Bees, Berries, Dairy, Fiber Animals, Flowers, Goats, Herbs, Hogs, Mushrooms, Nursery Stock, Nuts, Orchard/Fruit, Pasture, Poultry, Rabbits, Sheep, Vegetables, Vineyard, Other

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