Visitor Information

The following information will help plan what to bring with you for your visit, to answer some of the most common questions, and will make you aware of some of our policies.

Tours

If you would just like a simple tour of the property to see what we're up to we will be giving tours on Saturday afternoons as long as the weather is reasonable. Full tours involve a 2 mile hike. Please contact us to set this up and get directions.

Work Exchange

There is no fee for camping, but for each day that you stay you are expected to help out at least 2 hours on projects or chores. The projects will vary, but chores would include things like weeding the garden, cooking community meals, washing community meal dishes, picking up garbage along the road, sharpening and cleaning tools, etc.

Summer apprentices and people staying more than a couple days are expected to help out more like 3-3.5 hours a day, but will receive food staples and garden produce for their extra effort as well as the extra knowledge that comes with more in-depth experience with the various projects

Clothing and Footwear

If you plan on getting your hands dirty, then your clothes will get dirty too so be prepared. When it rains it can get muddy here so check the weather before you come and bring boots or galoshes. You can also call and ask if you need them.

Also, if you will be helping out and have work gloves please bring them. We always seem to have a shortage of them.

Food & Water

Clean drinking water is available, but you may want to bring a water bottle. If you plan on drinking beer please try to bring cans as bottles are heavy and harder to recycle.

Basic staples like rice, beans, potatoes, canned vegetables, bread, etc are available and other groceries can be requested. Snacks and specialty or high-priced foods are not provided.

We rotate cooking and dish-washing duty, so be prepared to help out. Most meals at Maya Creek tend to be vegetarian, but this is by no means a rule. Keep in mind that there is very limited refrigerated space, if you bring things that need be refrigerated then bring your own cooler.

Pets

There are currently several chickens and guineas living at Maya Creek as well as a puppy. If your dog does not get along well with any of those creatures then please either do not bring them or be prepared to keep them on a leash or run. Also, no dogs are allowed in the garden. If you'd like to bring your dog please mention that in the visitor questionnaire or contact emial.

Camping

There are currently several tent platforms with tents and mattresses already set up on them. You will need to bring your own bedding and pillows. You will need to ask ahead of time to see if those are available, otherwise there are areas to pitch tents.

Many people find LED headlamps to be very useful. Also, you may want to bring ear plugs since tents aren't exactly sound proof and everyone will not want to sleep at the same time.

Insects

Insect populations rise and fall, some years or months certain bugs may be worse than others. The main insects to contend with are ticks and mosquitoes. Cases of lyme disease and ehrlichiosis have been reported in the area. You will need to check yourself regularly and just be generally aware. The only recommended method for removing ticks that have already attached themselves is to grab as close to where the tick is attach and pull from there. Do not grab the main body as this can squeeze the tick back into your blood stream. Blech!

Visitors are responsible for their own bug repellant although some may be available. Many people choose to use all-natural repellants suchs a lavendar or neem oil, but I personally find that Off Skintastic is effective and does not leave an oily residue.

Composting Toilet

Our composting toilet essentially consists of a bucket. When you finish using the bathroom you will place several scoops of sawdust in the bucket from one of the adjoining bins. The key is to keep the contents of the bucket dry so it doesn't smell, so guys need to urinate outside, and ladies please place extra scoops of sawdust if you urinate in the bucket. Toilet paper and other biodegradable waste needs to go in the composting toilet itself. Only non-biodegradables go in the outhouse trash can!

Solar Shower

The solar show is very primitive. There are essentially a couple of black barrels in the garden filled with water, which can get very hot on a sunny day, and be pretty cold on an overcast day.

The procedure is to use the small 2 gallon bucket by the shower and fill up the main showering bucket above the showering area with water from the black barrels. Please bring a towel. Douglas Adams' put it quite well:

... a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: nonhitchhiker) discovers that a hitchhiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, washcloth, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet-weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitchhiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitchhiker might accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

The Garden

The garden consists of raised beds using an organic no-till system. Because we do not till the soil, we have to avoid compaction at all costs. So please do not walk on the garden beds and stay on the paths as much as possible. Also, no dogs are allowed in the fenced garden area.

Tools & Materials

While there is currently no shed or very organized place for tools, please try to put any tools or materials at least back in the general area where you found them.

If you're coming for a work party, the work party description should list other tools that will be useful to bring.

Garbage

There are two 55 gallon drums next to each other in the campground area by the picnic table. One is green, and is for recyclables such as plastics #1 & #2 and alumninum and tin cans. Cardboard and paper can be placed beside the green barrel in the milk crates. The other barrel is black, and is for non-recyclables (boo!).

This should go without saying, but please do not litter. If you are a smoker, please dispose of your cigarette butts properly.

Laundry

Until the straw bale house is finished laundry can either be done at the laundromat in nearby Fulton, or it can be done by hand for the more adventurous. There is a 55 gallon drum by the solar shower with a metal plunger to agitate and a clothes line is set up there as well.

Laundry days tend to be days where it is either too rainy or hot to do anything else. The library and a cafe with wi-fi are located next door to the laundromat.

Liability Waiver

Because we do not have insurance and there are numerous ways one can hurt themselves in the woods, let alone while doing construction and working with power tools, we ask that all visitors print and sign the Liability Waiver. If you do not have an easy way to print it, we have copies that you can sign upon your arrival.

Directions

You will not find directions posted publicly on the website. Please fill out the Visitor Questionnaire to introduce yourself and we will provide you with directions at that point.

Summary of what to bring

Liability waiver
Appropriate clothing and footwear
Food and snacks
Water bottle
Bedding and pillows
Tent (If none of the pre-setup ones are available)
Towel
LED Headlamp or Flashlight
Good attitude!

Maya Creek Ecovillage