Maya Creek Ecovillage

Self-Sufficiency and Sustainability Resources

The following are a list of web sites and communities that we have found particularly useful in formulating our vision for our homestead as well as specific plans for sustainability and self-sufficiency projects that we will be initiating. We hope you find them as useful as we have.

General Resources

• Journey to Forever

  This is a small NGO that does work on rural development in poor areas around the world. They have excellent information on organic gardening, composting, homesteading, biofuels, and all kinds of other things.

• Mother Earth News Magazine

  The original guide to living wisely as they say. This is a classic resource and they now have many of their articles available on-line for free!

• Homesteading.org

  Articles and how-tos on various aspects of simple rural homesteading life.

Missouri Resources

• Arch Reactor

  It seems to be just starting but I imagine that this will become a great resource for learning tech skills and DIY projects.

• Dancing Rabbit

  An established ecovillage in northern Missouri. They also have a good deal of articles on different sustainable skills.

• Evergreen Institute

  They offer workshops on renewable energy systems as well as on some natural building techniques.

• Show Me Solar

  Online photovoltaic seminars as well as hands-on workshops.

Permaculture

• Midwest Permaculture

  Probably the best place to take a class for our region and climate as they're located in Illinois.

• The Permaculture Research Institute of Australia

  This is the original permaculture institute where it all started with Bill Mollison and David Holmgren.

• The Permaculture Institute of US

  The institute is located in Santa Fe, NM although they teach classes in other places as well. It's a good place to find a class or learn the basics of permaculture on-line.

Alternative Energy

• Sun Electronics

  By far the cheapest place we've found to buy solar panels

• Off-Grid.net

  An excellent resource for independant power news and articles.

Biodiesel

• Make your own biodiesel

  By far the best free resource for DIY biodiesel. Created by Journey to Forever

• Mike Pelly's Biodiesel Method
• Making lye from wood ash

  Lye is used as a catalyst in the production of biodiesel.

Off-Grid Water Systems

• How to Harvest Rainwater

  Good walkthrough on the basics of rainwater harvesting

• Rainwater Calculator

  Calculate the amount of water you can harvest in your area with your roof size.

• The Homestead Cistern

  A Mother Earth News article about building a cistern. For some reason there seems to be limited information on-line and otherwise about DIY cistern construction so take what you can get.

• Bike Powered Clothes Wringer

  Although it doesn't wash the clothes it's a cool way to handle the spin cycle.

• Bike Powered Washing Machine

  This could complement the system above as it would wash the clothes but not wring them.

• Very Efficient Washing Machine

  This model only uses 130 watt-hours of power per load compared to 600 for a traditional. It also only uses 15 gallons of water compared with 45 for a typical washer.

Missouri Links

• Wild Edibles of Missouri

Good Clicks

The following sites use revenue from advertising displayed after clicking on a link to protect endangered habitat, remove CO₂, buy food for the hungry, etc. You can click these links every day to make a donation simply by taking a few minutes while browsing the web. We recommend letting the pages completely load after clicking the links to make sure your visit gets registered with the advertisers.

• Ecology Fund

  Protect 70 ft² of rain forest, 16.5 ft² of parrot nesting grounds, remove 4lbs. of CO₂ from the atmosphere, etc.

• The Hunger Site

  This is actually 6 sites in one which donate food to the hungry, health care to children, mammograms to those who can't afford it, books to children, protect rain forest, and donate food to animal shelters. Just click each tab at the top.

Ecovillage Community

We are in contact with each of the ecovillages and cohousing groups below and they are all alive and kicking.

• 611 Ecovillage

  An inner-city, Oakland ecovillage retrofit.

• Alternate Theory

  Bradley and Nada in Tennessee

• The Alchemical Nursery Project

  The goal of the Alchemical Nursery Project (ANP) is to develop an urban ecovillage ("urban fractal") by building capacity through the growth of a Green Trades Association. This Association will establish the foundation for a neighborhood based village economy and an ecologically sustainable infrastructure.

• Braziers Park

  Braziers Park is a community, a residential college and an architectural treasure hidden deep in the south Oxfordshire countryside.

• Breitenbush Hot Springs Retreat and Conference Center

  Breitenbush Hot Springs Retreat and Conference Center is a worker-owned cooperative and intentional community, off the grid in the Oregon Cascades.

• Clearwater Commons

  Clearwater Commons is an intentional, ecologically-responsible community situated on a 7.4 acre site on Bothell's North Creek in Washington State.

• Culver Way Ecovillage

  Located in nearby St. Louis, MO this couhousing community is diverse in that for some it is a student coop, for others it is a "back to the earth" urban experiment complete with grey water re-use, a methane digester, etc, for others it is "condos" with a green slant. In the extended community they have members with young children to those who are retired or semi retired and all the ages in between. If you are more interested in city dwelling than rurual living, Culver Way is environmentally friendly and has strong community.

• Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage

  An ecovillage located in northern Missouri that we found to be inspirational.

• Deohako

  Deohako is the brain child of a couple who are tired of living in a world completely separated from nature. The idea of Deohako meaning Life supporters in Iroquois, is to get closer to nature.

• EarthArt Village

  EarthArt Village (EAV) is being created to fulfill a vision of living and demonstrating sustainable community, in all its aspects. The scope envisioned for EarthArt Village is that of a small scale homesteading project that embodies the principles and demonstrates the practices of sustainable "village" life to the benefit of its members and to others locally, bioregionally and beyond.

• Eco International

  A forming eco community who also host a catalog, green pages, classifieds, listings, and other eco-friendly resources.

• Ecoversity

  Ecoversity is a non-profit educational center in Santa Fe New Mexico, which explores and demonstrates concepts of sustainable living, ecological design, and responsibility for the wise stewardship of the Earth.

• Ecovillage Directory

  A directory of global ecovillages.

• Ecovilla Viver Simples

  Viver Simples is a project created in Brazil by Brazilians and foreigners. Living simple is a way to return to the simple and natural way of life to follow a sustainable path in direction to the future.

• Edinstvo Ecovillage

  More than 50 families plan to live in Edinstvo ecovillage founded in March 2004. It is located in Kagalnitskiy district of Rostov, Russia.

• Factor E Farm

  Factor E is another ecovillage also located in Missouri and they are a group working to develop a world class research center for decentralization technologies that can be used in sustainable communities around the world.

• Kohatu Toa Ecovillage

  Kohatu Toa Eco-village is situated approximately one and a half hours drive from Auckland, New Zealand.

• Lammas

  An innovative low-impact settlement in Wales, UK. Lots of high-quality free resources for planning ecovillages.

• Laytonville Ecovillage

  An ecovillage forming in Northern California.

• Maple Hill Farm

  Maple Hill is a 50 acre income sharing intentional community with an organic farm and bed and breakfast in Northeastern PA. They rely on horse power and minimum gas powered inputs to fuel our farm work. They are also planning on offering retreats and workshops in diverse areas concerning everything from art to sustainable farming techniques. They always love visitors.

• O.U.R. Ecovillage

  O.U.R. ECOVILLAGE is a sustainable learning community and demonstration site committed to a path of resiliency, compassionate action and healthy interdependence where we are learning a new way to live with one another that honours the earth, personal and community development, inclusiveness, balance and prosperity.

• The Rainbow Ranch

  A small community forming in Colorado Springs, Colorado, dedicated to sustainable living with the earth and each other, in a paradigm of non-consumerism.