Tour at OUR ecovillage - KJ's 1st weekend!

There is lots to write about my visit to Koinonia - but today there was a very interesting parallel experience in our own backyard. Kailee started her internship at OUR (One United Resource) ecovillage on Wednesday. Coincidentally our British friends, Mike and Fiona - who are near the end of a 7 month tour of the US - and who we first met at Koinonia last December - were able to attend a tour of the ecovillage today. This made for quite a large number of parallels. Just last Saturday, I was helping with the Koinonia garden team. Today, Jan was helping with the OUR garden and I got a tour of the green houses. Separated by more than 3000 km, one being in the SE USA and the other in SW Canada, one founded as a radical Christian experiment in racial and economic equality and the other founded to demonstrate that people live in harmony with the earth, yet both communities share a great deal in common.

Most obviously, permaculture is forming the backbone for both. While the climate is very different, the farming techniques are amazingly similar. Community issues - all revolving around people - are central to both. There are incredible similarities in the type of people and general atmosphere.

I need to write much more detail about both places. There is a lot to share.

But tomorrow there is a work party at the ecovillage. Need to get some sleep, Jan is making something for pot-luck, and Kailee is making lists of all the things she needs to take for next week at the eco-village. Details will have to wait.

PS. the photo is the eco-village healing sanctuary. This is where KJ is staying until it is warm enough to pitch her tent. It also happens to be one of the most energy efficient buildings in all of Canada - and the world.