Membership Information
Due to a lack of winterized housing and suitable roads to building areas members will not have anywhere to stay or build permanently at this time. We still welcome visitors and potential members to visit but building your own residence will not be possible until the road to the future ecovillage center is completed. The road will hopefully be completed during the summer of 2011.
Also, at this time children are not conducive to the situation at Maya Creek. All of our energy is focused on building infrastructure, and there is little or no time to give children the attention they need. While this situation will change in the future, we will not be accepting members with children for several years when there is more space and critical infrastructure is in place. We recognize how important it is that children be introduced to nature, and we hope to hold child-friendly events on a regular basis in the interim.
That said, we are seeking like-minded, friendly, and motivated people to join us on our ecovillage. To say we are looking for members doesn't quite say it. Really what we're looking for are friends who are driven and share our values. We won't rule anyone out based on age, but it's our experience that the greater the age difference the greater the generation gap and since we would like to have a very close-knit core group of members at first we're looking for people roughly around our age(25-35). After we have a solid core group we will be much more open to a wider spectrum of ages.
We are looking for people with emotional maturity that have good self-confidence, and can get along with others in a group situation. No hands-on experience is necessary, but an overwhelming desire to learn, participate, and cooperate is essential. It is also imperative that potential members can give constructive feedback as well as receive it without becoming angry or touchy. As a side note, Maya Creek is not a commune, and while "free love" may be noble, in practice it almost inevitably leads to interpersonal conflict and drama, which are the achilles heel of intentional communities. So please take that into consideration.
The people we are looking for have likely been dreaming, thinking, and even studying about homesteading and sustainable lifestyles for quite some time. They consider themselves environmentalists and believe in things like man-made global warming. They feel a kinship with nature and want to live a life more closely tied to natural systems, cycles, and beings. They are hard-working and ambitious especially when they believe in their project. They may also crave more meaningful relationships with other people and are looking for kindred spirits.
Right now our membership process is informal. We anticipate the formal process will be multi-step and begin with some intial communication telling us about yourself, followed by a visit, and then a provisional membership, and if things are still going well after some yet-to-be-determined amount of time, you become a full voting member.
Decision-Making
We would like to use concensus decision making until the size of our membership makes this too unwieldy, at which point we will move to some as-yet-undecided percentage majority. This will be determined by the members when it is deemed necessary.
Community Hours
Much of the way Maya Creek will be set up to run is going to be decided when we have more members, yet we have come up with a basic framework we wish to begin with. A major part of this framework is how ownership and community will function. In order to avoid dues and monetary exchange we will have a set number of community hours per week to exchange for rent and communal expenses. The idea behind this is to avoid excluding people based on finances as well as to avoid property disputes and to build solidarity as a community.
We have not determined the exact number of hours required, but it will likely fluctuate with work needed around the ecovillage, whether it be construction and expansion, or day-to-day workings and maintenance. As the typical person usually spends 1/3 of their income on rent and utilities we will start the weekly hours at 14 hours. While this may sound like a large number, the majority of hours may be spent working on one's own home. Property ownership will be discussed in the following section.
Some hours each week will be necessary tasks that need to be done for the ecovillage, such as road maintenance, maintaining the composting toilets, water systems, solar/wind power systems, etc. Once all of these tasks have been taken care of, the remaining community hours may be used in a variety of ways such as on one's personal home. We imagine that these mandatory hours would be somewhere around 3-5 hours each week, but that is pure speculation at this point. It will depend upon the amount of work needed and the number of members.
If a member is putting in more than the weekly number of hours, which will likely occur during home construction, the extra hours will be saved and can be exchanged for free time or vacation at a later date. While members may have large numbers of accumulated community hours, unless they are completely on vacation all members will be expected to participate in mandatory hours each week in order to keep the basics of the community functioning.
Property Ownership
We believe we have come up with a way to avoid divisive property disputes. The main reason all time spent on home construction is creditted as community hours is because all homes built on the property will be considered community property. This does not mean that you will have your home taken away from you or be forced to share it, it will be your home as long as you choose to live in it and you choose to follow the ecovillage guidelines.
Although this will not be a requirement we highly recommend that anyone who plans to make Maya Creek their permanent residence and build a home of significant size, that they become a voting member of the land trust. We are currently working out an arrangement with the land trust, and all land use issues will be voted on by them. Becoming a voting member will give ecovillage members more power and say in their investment. Currently a voting share is $12,134.00 but this cost will only go down as more members join the land trust and each member will be reimbursed so that all have paid the same amount.
Any approved expenses for your home can be converted into community hours. For example, if you were to install a $3,000 dollar solar power system into your home and a community hour was valued at $10/hr then you would be creditted with 300 community hours. The purchases that convert to community hours will need to be approved by a committee or group meeting, the specifics of this will be worked out in the future.
We recognize this issue has the potential to cause conflict and we are still contemplating problems that may arise with this way of dealing with property ownership. For now we believe it is a reasonable approach.
Community Fundraising
Because no direct money will be taken from members we will use community hours to hold fundraising events when money is needed for community projects such as equipment, construction materials for a community building, etc. These events will likely be workshops and classes teaching sustainable living techniques. They may also include the sale of arts, crafts, or food produced by members with their community hours.
Personal Finance
Members will be in charge of their own personal finances. It will be possible to commute to nearby Fulton, MO and potentially possible even to commute to Columbia, however we encourage our members to find ways of generating personal income that do not involve travel or use of petrochemicals. The internet has allowed the tether of the workplace to be broken and it is now possible for many people to telecommute. Another option is starting your own business that sells products or even services that the community will help be sold through the Online Store on this website.
We are also looking into starting cottage industries such as having groups of members come together and grow/sell gourmet mushroooms, start a CSA, or making other crafts and products. There will also be possible opportunities teaching workshops and classes at the learning center in lieu of community hours.
The Commons
Members will be given sufficient space around their home plots to have large gardens that should sufficiently cover most if not more than enough of members vegetable needs. We will also seriously be considering growing our own grains communally as well as growing an orchard or edible forest garden and communal livestock facilities. The harvests of the grain and orchard would be split equally among members, and those preferring more fruit or grain could take more of one and less of another provided sufficient supplies remain.
Another very important common member facility will be the main Community Center which will be used to house many of the shared resources of the community such as internet and computer facilities, a large kitchen with canning and food processing equipment, message boards, etc. It will also have a large dining room that will be used for community dinners and group meetings. It will also be the eventual site of the Learning Center's workshops, classes, as well as other events held at the ecovillage.
The area surrounding the Community Center of the ecovillage will likely be allocated for members who wish to live alone to build simple small dwellings that only provide shelter from the elements and heat in the winter. These members would share the facilities in the Community Center such as hot water showers, composting toilets, kitchen and dining area, which those members in the area would help maintain in particular.
Religion/Spirituality
We are NOT a cult. We respect everyone's right to their own beliefs as long as those beliefs include respecting everyone else's right to their own beliefs. We are not looking for anyone who feels compelled to push their beliefs on us or anyone else.
Many intentional communities embrace and actively express their spirituality as a group through singing, meditation, holding hands in a circle, sending out positive energy, etc however, we will not be practicing these types of acts at our formal gatherings. Of course we would never restrict anyone from freely joining in such activities outside of formal meetings unless otherwise agreed to.
The reason for this, apart from our own preference, is that we wish to have a very pragmatic and accessible atmosphere at Maya Creek, one in which visitors will not feel alienated and can better understand our community as a mutually beneficial partnership between members of the community which does not require unfamiliar spiritual practices.
Children
A fundamental and often under-discussed aspect of sustainability is population control. Emotions seems to run high on this topic. Most often this takes the form of anger that people, brothers, and sisters, would never have been born if their parents had stopped at only 2, a sustainable level. We do not view these people as mistakes, but we must be realistic about the future and the fact that having more than a sustainable amount of children negatively impacts the quality of life for everyone else.
Restraining one's self to having only a replacement number of children may be the single most sustainable act that can be done. We feel strongly that zero-population growth is not only intelligent but moral and ethical as well. Therefore, if you intend to have more than a replacement number of children we respectfully ask that you not apply for membership into our ecovillage.
For those who wish to have more children, adoption and acting as a foster parent are both great options.
Animals
We have not yet determined the exact way in which we will determine how many pets and livestock will be allowed in the community. One basic principle which underlies all of our decisions is sustainability and self-sufficiency so the number of animals will be limited by how much feed we can grow for them. For instance, if we cannot produce enough feed for all of our animals then we will not be acquiring more until we can.
Also, due to the overabundance of cats and dogs in animal shelters, all cats and dogs must be spade or neutered. We will also likely have some limit on the number of dogs and cats allowed in the ecovillage, although how many and how we will limit them is yet to be seen. Any pets members bring with them should be good natured and trusted around children and other animals.
We will not be allowing hunting on the property for several reasons. The first is that the land is part of a land trust and will be treated as a type of nature preserve to provide a safe haven for wildlife as the ecosystems world wide have already suffered more than enough damage. Secondly, we would like the land to be safe for our members to explore without fear of accidentally being shot, stepping on a trap, etc. If exceptions are made for an invasive species or population explosion, those will be made by the members if approved by the land trust.
Diet
There are no dietary restrictions generally speaking. We welcome omnivores, vegetarians, vegans and raw foodites. We do take issue with the typical American diet of meat at every meal with no concern given to the inhumanity of its production and treatment while alive.
Not only are there ethical concerns, there are environmentally sustainable concerns as well as health questions with excessive animal protein intake being directly linked to cancer, heart disease, and a large number of other diseases associated with "affluent" societies. We urge everyone to read the findings of The China Study.
We are interested in members, whom if they choose to eat meat, are interested in raising and butchering their own livestock humanely and/or purchasing locally-raised free-range meat.
Energy Consumption
The entire ecovillage will be "off-grid", meaning we will not be connecting to city electricity. All electricity used will be generated on-site. Generally, each household will be responsible for generating it's own power, however, we foresee groups of people making large purchases together, such as wind generators, and sharing the electricity generated.
We will also be moving towards bio-deisel powered transportation unless other more efficient or appropriate forms become available. We are currently learning about bio-diesel derived from algae. We will also emphasize car-pooling and would like to eventually have community vehicles for our main source of longer distance transportation.
Tell Us About Yourself
The following are some questions and topics for you to discuss when and if you write us to tell us about yourself.
- Tell us about you, your life experiences, religion, employment, places you’ve lived, what your future plans are, or any other information that will help us to get to know you.
- List your skills, passions and hobbies. Make sure to include anything that may be useful to the ecovillage, and what you enjoy doing in your spare time.
- Why are you interested in this lifestyle? Are there any areas that are of particular interest to you, such as community, growing your own food, solar/wind power, natural building, etc?
- How old are you?
- Do you feel you are an emotionally mature person? How do you deal with conflict?
- Are you interested in visiting? If so, when do you think you would want to come and how long would you want to stay?
You can e-mail us at info@planbecovillage.org or just use the web contact form here. Also, please remember to print out and sign the liability waiver and bring it with you. We do no currently have insurance covering visitors.