Guest Post: Emerald Earth Sanctuary

LOOK OUT! This is a guest post from Home Ghost Erin Gleeson in Oakland!

Drew and I headed north to Boonville, CA. There's an intentional community up there that practices permaculture gardening, natural building and baby rearing. They are our kind of dudes.



Food
It seems like their diet was largely vegetarian. Most of their protein would come from beans. But now, as they're trying to eat more local foods, they want to shift away from beans grown in Mexico. It seems that locally raised meat would be the most bountiful source of protein for them. While we were there, we ate a lot of fruits and vegetables grown on-site (they have two pretty large gardens and a greenhouse), but the main things (rice, noodles, olive oil, etc.) were purchased. They also raise chickens for eggs.



They're drying cherries on a screen in the greenhouse.

One of their showers is also in the greenhouse. It's beautiful.


"The Shit Cooker." Every six months, they clean out the compost toilet and put the poop in here. After another six months, they use it to fertilize trees. They don't use the mixture with vegetables b/c some diseases (ie, hepatitis) cannot be broken down in the process.

Toilet. They used materials gleaned from the land in conjunction with a couple purchased materials. It cost them about twenty dollars.

Here are my notes on the place:

Location
Located just outside of Boonville, the Sanctuary is very similar to the model that we've been discussing for MV. 180 acres, 20 minutes from a town, 2.5 hours from San Francisco. Of the 180 acres, they use 20.

History
Twenty years ago, several friends from Berkeley decided to set up their own community. One of the members came into some money, so she bought the land, which at the time only had a plywood hunting cabin on it. They established a non-profit and called it Emerald Earth Sanctuary, after their hippie drum circle. Eventually, it disintegrated, and one guy was left on the land, holding onto the hope that it would all come together. The woman that made the purchase gave the land to the non-profit. About ten years later, four plucky youngsters with natural building experience approached the last remaining drummer and asked him if they could help revive it. He was down, and the Sanctuary grew into what it is today.

Non-Profit Status
They're a 501(c)3, which means they have a Board of Directors. It all appears to work just fine. It sounded really casual and not at all like Purchase Student Government, where people demand pizza and activities based purely on their own desires.



Monthly Fees
About $300, which goes toward food, power and internet costs.

Zoning
Everything is illegal, but no one has bothered them yet.

Jobs
No one works more than three days a week. Most of the members work in Boonville, but one guy said he works from home doing computer stuff. He commutes into Boonville one day a week to meet with his employer. His wife is an acupuncturist, and another woman is a massage therapist. They both have practices in Boonville.

Buildings
Most of the buildings are smallish cob structures, but they're all hybrids of several different styles. They're really beautiful and good at keeping cool in the summer. The biggest undertaking is their new community house, which is going beyond their means. They're having a fundraiser to help with the costs. I wish I had gotten pictures of the Community House site, but we had to dig fence post holes. In essence, it's effing huge.



They Need Cars to Get Around
To get to their property, you have to drive on a narrow, hilly dirt road that isn't bike friendly. One of the members said that's his biggest problem with the place. He would like to be able to bike into town with his 18-month-old daughter, but it just isn't safe.