For people who care about the future and each other!!!
Index:
1. Statement
2. Vision
3. Values
4. Management
5. Community siting and land use
6. Areas to be considered
7. Building and design
8. Building with Straw Bales
9. Why build with straw bales
12. Building guidelines
13. Materials
14. Equipment
15. Fire and Safety Practices
16. Appendices:
App1: Community Members and Staff Members
App2: Retreat Centre
App3: Sacred Spaces
App4: Healing Centre
App5: Self Catering Cottages
App6: Restaurant
App7: Camping Facilities
App8: Centre for Creative Education
App9: Community Hall
App10: Dairy Farming
App11: Bakery
App13: Organic Vegetable and Fruit Farming
App14: Organic Herb Farming
App15: Farm Animals
App16: Water Management Scheme
App17: Waste Management Scheme
App18: Storage and Processing Area for Recyclables
App19: Holding Agreements to Membership Covenants
App20: Site Holding Agreement
App21: Concluding Statement
My Sacred Quest
Compiled by Greg J de Castro 10 January 2003
1. Statement
Hearty welcome! My name is Greg de Castro and my sacred quest is to establish a self sustaining community and retreat centre in South Africa that will be made up of like minded individuals that will allow and encourage one another to live sustainably. I believe that together we can encourage one another as a community to grow to the size and recognition necessary to have an influence on the global community. Focusing on healthy living and healthy creative minds for children and and adults alike seems like a positive and empowering step towards the future of our growing country - South Africa.
Firstly, I would like it to be known that this is a shortened version that has materialised after many years of contemplation. Up until now it is still just a dream... I do believe in miracles. Anyhow, I have managed to put it together with a great deal of satisfaction as I now see this as proof of my intention and willingness to serve mankind and God. It is written. My sacred quest has begun.
Secondly, I understand that my dream and vision is not expected to be achieved quickly or simply. This is meant as a theoretical goal as I realize that many compromises may need to be made as I strive ever so patiently towards this goal.
Thirdly, and it is not of my words but that of another that I have embraced as my own truth. It goes as follows, “I believe that order is better than chaos, creation better than destruction. I prefer gentleness to violence, forgiveness to vendetta. On the whole I think that knowledge is preferable to ignorance, and I am sure that human sympathy is more valuable than ideology. I believe that, in spite of recent triumphs of science, men haven’t changed much in the past 2000 years, and in consequence we must still learn from history. History is ourselves. I also hold one or two beliefs that are more difficult to put shortly. For example I believe in courtesy, the ritual by which we avoid hurting other people’s feelings by satisfying our own egos, and I think we should remember that we are part of a great whole which, for convenience, we call nature. All living things are our brothers and sisters.” Clarke
“I am not concerned if my beginnings into this spiritual life are small. I believe that all good things have small beginnings. The mighty oak starts from a tiny acorn. From a tiny seed the most wonderful plants and flowers spring forth. From a tiny seed of love many lives can be changed. From a tiny thought of faith and belief wonder upon wonder can come about. Little things grow into big things. I am grateful for all”. Eileen Caddy
I celebrate in discovering truth and I will always strive to live in truth.
2. Vision
My dream is to establish a community that will bring together like minded people that will share in the vision where all life is celebrated and beauty in all its forms treasured for this and future generations. No religion or cult practices shall dominate another.
Each person will be free to follow his or her own bona fide tradition– seriously, deeply, genuinely, and should be free to access higher universal realizations and understanding.
It will be based on shared ecological, social and spiritual values, working with the simple principle of not taking more away from the Earth than one gives back.
A lifetime commitment to a vegan or lacto-vegetarian diet will be encouraged, but will not be enforced for people living in this community.
Each person shall refrain from killing or harming other living creatures. Each person shall do an honest days work.
This community will strive to be culturally diverse enough to provide a home for people from any background and with many different desires. People of varying education, ethnicity, ability or socioeconomic status will be welcomed. Cooperation is important, but the need for individual responsibility and freedom is an essential aim. Bylaws of this community will include provisions defining the bounds of sustainable living. These will most likely include rules regarding the use of non-sustainable materials and practices, such as petroleum products, pesticides, and inorganic fertilizers. This community will also have a land management plan, setting aside land for ecosystem preservation, farming, housing, and community use.
This community will not legislate or direct the internal workings of individual homes, beyond the guidelines for ecological sustainability. (As a lease implies an exchange, there will most likely be expectations for leaseholders to "give back" to this community in some fashion.) People will be encouraged to make their settlements around a central gathering point, creating an atmosphere which allows people to share resources and promote community interaction.
In short, this way of life hopes to provide like minded people with the opportunity to live with the freedom to define their lifestyle within the new sustainable structure. My conception of sustainable living requires both lifestyle and technological choices quite different from those which have become typical for modern society. I cannot predict the choices exactly; what may follow is a general description of the kind of life that I would call sacred living, and examples of only some of the practices and structures that will most likely be found in the community that I aim to establish.
What little I can assert is that local production and local employment are essential. Life as we know is becoming more and more challenging. Jobs are scarce, transport accounts for the bulk of energy use. There is huge material waste, pollution and so on. It is therefore important that systems of food production, soil fertility management, home energy, sanitation, etc., are integrated in a manner such that materials and energy are reused efficiently without depleting the local resource base or fouling surrounding natural systems. Every subsystem above, and the manner in which they are integrated, can be designed for the local climate, soils, etc. Food, in particular, can be produced locally, providing the basis for economic independence. Organic growing practices that rely principally upon human labour and biological processes can similarly replace machinery and material inputs. Conventional high-input food production can seriously degrade the long-term productivity of agricultural soils. One technique with which there has been success is the biointensive model, which allows high yields from a very small area. However, there is a wide range of sustainable farming systems to be tried.
Living "off our national grid" will automatically improve the sustainability of this community and municipal energy use. In the beginning this may be a difficult proposition. One of the first challenges will be to find ways to minimize consumption through efficient design and pursuit of alternative routes to any goal, as even renewable sources have environmental cost; the idea would be to generate power only for cases where a goal cannot be served without it. Second, no power should be used that cannot generate sustainably, meaning that windmills, small hydroelectric generators, etc., should be the way to go.
Typical homes are expensive and waste huge quantities of energy for temperature control, lighting and food storage. Simple, common-sense design changes can make homes dramatically more energy efficient as their temperature is controlled by the sun and earth. Some of the most efficient alternative home-building techniques and materials allow homes to be built cheaply by human labour. Straw bale constructions, for example, are ancient, proven methods.
Energy independence and economic independence, is possibly the greatest challenge. To reinforce the sense of self-sufficiency will encourage residents and visitors alike. When a way is found to minimise the cost of energy, a form of bartering or a similar internal exchange system could enable people to exchange goods and services. Although I plan for economic independence long-term, this community as an entity will always need money, as will individual members. Early on I would expect major expenses will be for the setup of infrastructure. As much as possible the necessary labour will be done by members, and most raw materials will be obtained onsite or obtained from the waste of mainstream society. Any goods or services that absolutely need to be bought, every attempt to purchase locally, must be the focus point by giving back to our neighbours. As a community we should apply our standards of sustainability when choosing such suppliers, and hope that all the residents will do the same with individual purchases. When necessary, this community may provide cooperatively for medicine and food products that are not available. As this community becomes more established and each household becomes more able to provide for itself, our reliance on unsustainably products should be continually diminishing. Because our high quality of life will stem from local sources, our cash needs should be quite small.
3. Values
This intentional project will strive to be a working example of a liveable, ecologically designed system that will be financially and economically viable.
It will comprise building an inclusive living and learning community that includes both old and modern technologies.
It will demonstrate in practice what it means to live in sustainable ways that could also provide initiatives to the wider community.
A high priority will be put on ecological building, renewable energy systems, local organic food production, sustainable economics, and social and family support schemes including: cultural diversity, rituals and celebrations, inclusive decision making processes and holistic health care.
It will be a constantly evolving model providing human and social needs while at the same time working in partnership with the environment to offer an enhanced quality of life for all.
This community will work with the environment and will be based on the premise that new strategies for sustainable life on Earth must incorporate fundamental changes to the way we relate to ourselves, one another and to nature.
The life of this community will focus on children.
4. Management
When forming this community, the need for members to be clear on agreements will be necessary. For this reason, several documents, some of which hold sacred, while others are simply guidelines should be in place. A Membership Covenant, for example, will be a signed agreement to which everyone will live by when joining this community. In it can be our goals, beliefs, and basic agreements. See attached appendicle on pages 32-34. A Site holding Agreement can do with design, building and land use. See attached appendicle on pages 35-41.
The community process will be guided by Permaculture principles; the site agreement can have good examples of how to apply these principles.
Meetings could be held weekly; comprised of the chairs of each sub-committee and committee members; empowered to make timely decisions during the design and construction phases, and all humane, financial and legal issues involving this community.
Usury: The practice of lending money at exorbitant interest, especially at higher interest than is allowed by law: such as interest shall not be permitted on behalf of the community, or as an individual living in the community.
Commercial ventures, youth and basic adult educational schemes will be part of the sustainable programme.
5. Community siting and land use
Land-use, roads, building design materials and construction strategies will remain a priority throughout the development stages.
Every effort must be put towards finding a way for all power used at this community centre to be from renewable and sustainable sources.
All gardening, landscaping, horticulture, silviculture and agriculture conducted should conform to the standards as set by organic procedures and processing. In addition, no petrochemical biocides should be used or stored on the property for household or other purposes.
Vehicles should be limited to certain areas only.
6. Areas to be considered are as follows:
- Community members
- Staff members
- Staff facilities
- Organic vegetable farming
- Organic fruit farming
- Organic herb growing
- Organic dairy farming
- Camping facilities
- Creative educational centre
- Arts and crafts centre
- Community hall
- Retreat centre
- Sacred spaces
- Healing centre
- Conference room and library centre
- Self catering cottages
- Restaurant
- Bakery
- Water management scheme
- Waste management scheme
- Storage and processing area for recyclables.
7. Building and design
Older buildings will be conscientiously renovated, as far as possible, with natural materials towards sustainable living. New development will focus on optimizing the use of interior space through careful design so that the overall building sizes and resource use in constructing and operating it is kept to a minimum. When the building works with Nature, rather than in spite of Nature, the occupants will avoid the huge expenses incurred in cooling overexposed rooms or heating the too protected ones. The house should be “intelligent” and use natural mechanisms and materials passively. This is a non-intrusive existence, where natural forms and shapes, flows and lines lend results in shapes and lines that are more organic, move beautiful and tranquil, and softer on both the eye, one’s spirit and to the community at large. What our ancestors brought to designing and building was personal involvement and an understanding of infusing the building with their lives and in harmony with nature. Previously building materials were harvested from nature and later when needed, they were replaced with new. There was a natural process of growth, decay and replacement. Synthetics, in their final forms, are very difficult for Nature to draw back into her cycles. The mechanical, thermal or chemical production causes huge amounts of pollution. The result is the escalating environmental destruction we see around us today. Because people are becoming concerned, they are moving towards traditional building materials, designs and styles, where they can have an intimate and personal relationship between themselves and the land. As we become increasingly aware of our surroundings and the effects we cause , natural architecture takes into account the insight, sensitivity, care and concern, thus contributing towards the ecological balance, physical health, and growth.
8. Building with Straw Bales
It is my intention to use straw bales as the main theme for construction throughout this community.
All natural materials within the communities environment will be considered.
Corrugated metal sheets will have preference over thatch roofs to prevent fires..
9. Why build with straw bales
There are many benefits to building with straw, and even for those people who are not ”environmentally conscious," like so many of us are in today's society, straw bale is still the way to go for energy-efficient, low cost, low maintenance housing.
Straw-bale building is an exciting and environmentally friendly way to build homes, classrooms, greenhouses, commercial buildings, and virtually any other structure.
When covered in plaster, straw-bale walls have a greater fireproof level than wood-frame buildings, which is a significant benefit for the Western Cape and other fire prone areas of South Africa.
Using straw bales creates houses that are much more efficient than conventional wood-frame buildings. These homes are comfortable in hot or cold weather, and save money on utility bills. If passive and active solar design is added, the utility savings are even greater. Straw is completely sustainable it can be grown in one season.
Straw has no nutritional value.
It is a waste product. It is not used for feed, like hay.
Straw is usually burned to prepare the fields for the next planting, adding to air-pollution levels. By making use of this waste, we save the air from pollution, as well as make use of an excellent insulator.
Building with straw both clears the air, and puts an otherwise wasted product to highly efficient use.
Straw bale is often referred to as a sustainable building material, this means that the system or building could perpetuate forever, be self supporting and living.
You do not need to sacrifice the best land for straw, in China straw is grown between rows of fruit trees.
Another consideration is the amount of energy consumed manufacturing the product; straw bales bypass much of the energy and waste produced by other manufactured building materials.
Straw is also biodegradable, another plus for the environment
As far as the building goes, it is easy to modify, and flexible enough to be used in a variety of different ways, yet solid and sustainable, and durable over time.
It is easily maintained, and construction wise, it is affordable and easily acquired, plus there are no expensive tools required and only unskilled labourers, even kids, and grandparents can help in the wall raising.
Straw is a forgiving form of building, and it encourages creativity.
Straw bale buildings have a good width to height ratio and can be easily and effectively reinforced with wood, bamboo, or metal pins. The nature of the bales, their flexibility and strength, are ideal for seismic design as the connections between the bale wall system and the roof and foundation are adequate. Bale walls may actually absorb much of the shock of an earthquake, instead of transferring it all to the roof as in conventionally built structures.
Straw bale buildings are capable of successfully surviving humid climates and moisture so long as the roof and plaster is done quickly and in dry weather conditions.
The straw bales/mortar structure wall has proven to be exceptionally resistant to fire. The straw bales hold enough air to provide good insulation value but because they are compacted firmly they don’t hold enough air to permit combustion.
There are several straw bale homes and other structures still standing around the world that are over, or close to a hundred years old.
Straw appears small and light, and most people do not know how really weighty it is. If people knew the true value of straw, a human revolution could occur, which would become powerful enough to solve the housing problem of the world.
For more technical advice on how to build - refer to “The straw bale house book.” ISB-N-O930031-71-7.8.20
10. Example 1 - House design under construction using straw bales
11. Example 2 - Completed straw bale house.
12. The following guidelines should be considered before any building is erected:
Design an energy-efficient building: Use high levels of insulation, high-performance windows, and tight construction. Design buildings to use renewable energy: Passive solar heating, day lighting, and natural cooling can be incorporated cost-effectively into most buildings. Also consider solar water heating --or design buildings for future solar installations.
Optimise material use: Minimize waste by designing for standard ceiling heights and building dimensions. Avoid waste from structural over-design. Simplify building geometry.
Design water-efficient, low-maintenance landscaping: Conventional lawns have a high impact because of water use, pesticide use, and pollution generated from mowing.
Landscape with drought-resistant indigenous perennial ground covers makes it easy for occupants to recycle waste: Make provisions for storage and processing of recyclables: recycling bins near the kitchen, under sink compost receptacles, and the like.
Look into the feasibility of grey water: Water from sinks, showers, or clothes washers (grey water) can be recycled for irrigation in some areas. If current codes prevent grey water recycling, consider designing the plumbing for easy future adaptation.
Design for durability: To spread the environmental impacts of building over as long a period as possible, the structure must be durable. A building with a durable style ("timeless architecture") will be more likely to realize a long life. Design for future reuse and adaptability: Make the structure adaptable to other uses, and choose materials and components that can be reused or recycled.
Avoid potential health hazards: radon, mould, pesticides: Follow recommended practices to minimize radon entry into the building and provide for future mitigation if necessary. Provide detailing that will avoid moisture problems, which could cause mould and mildew growth. Design insect-resistant detailing that will require minimal use of pesticides.
Minimize automobile dependence: Locate buildings to minimize environmental impact: Cluster buildings or build attached units to preserve open space and wildlife habitats, avoid especially sensitive areas including wetlands, and keep roads and service lines short. Leave the most pristine areas untouched, and look for areas that have been previously damaged to build on. Seek to restore damaged ecosystems.
Value site resources: Early in the siting process carry out a careful site evaluation: solar access, soils, vegetation, water resources, important natural areas, etc., and let this information guide the design.
Provide responsible on-site water management: Design landscapes to absorb rainwater runoff (storm water) rather than having to carry it off-site in storm sewers. In arid areas, rooftop water catchments systems should be considered for collecting rainwater and using it for landscape irrigation.
Situate buildings to benefit from existing vegetation: Trees on the east and west sides of a building can dramatically reduce cooling loads. Hedge rows and shrubbery can block cold winter winds or help channel cool summer breezes into buildings
13. Materials
Choose low-maintenance building materials: Where possible, select building materials that will require little maintenance (painting, retreatment, waterproofing, etc.), or whose maintenance will have minimal environmental impact.
Choose building materials with low embodied energy: Heavily processed or manufactured products and materials are usually more energy intensive. As long as durability and performance will not be sacrificed, choose low-embodied-energy materials.
Buy locally produced building materials: Transportation is costly in both energy use and pollution generation.
Look for locally produced materials.
Use building products made from recycled materials: Building products made from recycled materials reduce solid waste problems, cut energy consumption in manufacturing, and save on natural resource use.
Use salvaged building materials when possible: Reduce landfill pressure and save natural resources by using salvaged materials: lumber, millwork, certain plumbing fixtures, and hardware, for example. Make sure these materials are safe (test for lead paint and asbestos), and don't sacrifice energy efficiency or water efficiency by reusing old windows or toilets.
Seek responsible wood supplies.
Avoid materials that will off gas pollutants: Solvent-based finishes, adhesives, carpeting, particleboard, and many other building products release formaldehyde and volatile organic compounds into the air. These chemicals can affect workers' and occupants' health as well as contribute to smog and ground-level ozone pollution outside.
Minimize use of pressure-treated lumber: Use detailing that will prevent soil contact and rot. Where possible, use alternatives such as recycled plastic lumber. Take measures to protect workers when cutting and handling pressure-treated wood. Scraps should never be incinerated.
14. Equipment
Installing high-efficiency heating and cooling equipment not only save the building occupants money, but also produce less pollution during operation. Install equipment with minimal risk of combustion gas spillage, such as sealed-combustion appliances.
Install high-efficiency lights and appliances: Fluorescent lighting has improved dramatically in recent years and is now suitable for homes. High-efficiency appliances offer both economic and environmental advantages over their conventional counterparts.
Install water-efficient equipment: Water-conserving toilets, showerheads, and faucet aerators not only reduce water use, they also reduce demand on septic systems or sewage treatment plants. Reducing hot water use also saves energy.
15. Fire and Safety Practices
All reasonable steps will be taken to ensure that national and international fire prevention and protection standards will be adhered to.
All reasonable steps will be taken to ensure that national and international; safety standards will be adhered to.
16. Appendices
The pages to follow will give a brief description of proposed ideas/plans to establish a self sustaining community and retreat centre.
Appendix 1
Community Members and Staff Members
Each member shall enter into a binding contract drawn up by a legal advisor/lawyer.
Essentially, the contract will determine the terms and conditions of each member and their commitment towards building and maintaining a successful self sustaining community.
All proceeds and commercial gains created by the community and retreat centre shall be controlled in such a way that all stake holders and community member’s benefit, For example: to improve and maintain land and buildings, social and family support schemes, bursaries and whatever else that management deems fit and agrees upon.
Appendix 2
Retreat Centre
1. Proposed plan for the development of a Retreat Centre.
- 7 self-catering cottages
- Each cottage will have its own unique interior design
- Each cottage will be assigned a name
2. The Retreat Centre will offer the following:
It will be an interdenominational and non-sectarian Retreat Centre. Retreatants will be welcome to honour their respective spiritual paths and traditions in a spirit of mutual openness and respect.
- Directed individual and group retreats
- An opportunity to create one’s own retreat experience
- A place where one can just relax and enjoy the peaceful surroundings
- Beautiful gardens and nature in its splendour
- Numerous meditation spaces
- Chapel
- Optional daily group meditation
- Counseling
- An emphasis placed on silence and solitude, and the privacy required for reflection *and rest'''
- Complementary healing therapies
- Conference and workshop facilities
All proceeds will go towards maintaining and upgrading the retreat and community centre.
Appendix 3
Sacred Spaces
1. Each area will be selected with the aim of reflecting spiritual harmony that *embraces all religions.'
2. Sacred spaces will be built near the retreat centre and may even be included in *other areas of the community centre.'
3. Each area will be positioned in such a way that there will be little or no *disturbance. Silence being the main objective.'
4. Sacred spaces could include the following features:
- Zen garden'
- Tranquil indigenous gardens'
- Enclosed rooms that provide a safe haven for privacy'
- Water features'
- Rock features'
- Walking the labyrinth'
- Reading area'
- And other interesting areas'
Appendix 4
Healing Centre
1. The healing centre will provide a number of private rooms
2. Each room will be unique in its design and suited for the type of healing.
3. Healing practices could include the following:
- Reiki'
- Massage therapy'
- Aromatherapy'
- Reflexology'
- Other therapeutic methods or techniques'
4. This centre can also work well with the local community clinic and medical *''profession.
5. All proceeds will go towards maintaining and upgrading the healing, retreat and *''community centre.
Appendix 5
Self Catering Cottages
1. The proposed plan for 3 self-catering cottages would be built on the outskirts of *''the community centre.
2. These cottages will be for those people who do not wish to partake in the community *''but will have the freedom to do so.
3. All proceeds will go towards maintaining and upgrading the self-catering cottages, *''retreat and community centre.
Appendix 6
Restaurant
1. The restaurant will cater for vegetarian and vegan meals only.
2. It will provide a unique environment.
3. It will serve all parts of the community centre including visitors.
4. All proceeds will go towards maintaining and upgrading the restaurant, retreat and *''community centre.
Appendix 7
Camping Facilities
1. The proposed plan would be to have a well organized camping facility away from all *''built up areas of the community centre and retreat centre.
2. It will have one building divided for male and female showers, toilets etc.
3. The idea would be to encourage schools, churches and other youth or old age groups *''to experience out door living at its best.
4. The campsite could be used for a number of creative ideas.
5. All proceeds will go towards maintaining and upgrading the camping facilities, *''retreat and community centre.
Appendix 8
Centre for Creative Education
1. The proposed plan is to have one single storey building that will have a number of *''classrooms, toilet and shower facilities.
2. The idea would be to embrace primary school children from the local community at a *reasonable cost. It will also be the aim of this community to sponsor a child or *children who cannot afford these fees.
3. Education will be based on the Waldorf approach which is inspired by the principals *of Rudolf Steiner, whose aim is to encourage the unfoldment of each child’s *individual potential, and the development of the children’s intellectual, emotional, *creative and practical abilities in relation to their age and level pf readiness. *Lessons will incorporate story telling, drama, movement, music, rhythmical activity, *environmental awareness activities, handwork and crafts, and stimulate original and *vital thinking.
4. The teachers and children will be encouraged to take part in community markets that *could bring in funds to support the schools drive to improve the dynamics of *learning.
5. The classrooms can also be used for basic adult education.
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Appendix 9
Community Hall
1. The proposed plan for a community hall will be a single storey building that will *''cater for a number of events that could include the following:
- ''Market outlet for the community, school and local areas
- ''Musical and theatrical drama
- ''Games
- ''Lectures
- ''Other community events
2. All proceeds will go towards maintaining and upgrading the retreat and community *''centre.
Appendix 10
Dairy Farming
1. Research into this project must be thoroughly investigated.
Appendix 11
Bakery
1. Research into this project must be thoroughly investigated.
Appendix 13
Organic Vegetable and Fruit Farming
1. One technique with which there has been success is the biointensive model, which *allows high yields from a very small area. However, there is a wide range of *sustainable farming systems to be tried.
2. Research into this project must be thoroughly investigated.
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Appendix 14
Organic Herb Farming
1. A variety of indigenous herbs can be grown to enhance the overhaul appearance of the *''community centre.
2. Herbs can be used for the following:
- ''Healing
- ''Eating
- ''Aroma
- ''Décor
3. Herbs grown and cultivated can also be used as a commercial product.
4. All proceeds will go towards maintaining and upgrading the retreat and community *''centre.
Appendix 15
Farm Animals
1. Research into this project must be thoroughly investigated.
Appendix 16
Water Management Scheme
1. It is a well known fact that water has become a national asset and as such, water in *general and water resource management in particular must receive ever increasing *attention. The necessity to understand the landscapes and the natural flow lines of *water over landscapes will be considered in such a way as to better develop the *lands potential. Every effort therefore to obtain viable and practical ways to use *and preserve water shall be a focus point. A plan based on water control and land *management will include the following key areas:
- ''Planning and design
- ''Soil analysis and improvement
- ''Indigenous vegetation
- ''Efficient irrigation
- ''Mulching
- ''Proper maintenance
Appendix 17
Waste Management Scheme
1. A waste management scheme will focus on proper disposal, salvage, and recycling of *''all materials on ecological principles that honour the sacredness of the earth.
2. Waste disposal systems shall reclaim organic and recyclable materials.
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Appendix 18
Storage and Processing Area for Recyclables
1. Research into this project must be thoroughly investigated.
2. Recycling is more than just a practical way of saving energy. Clearly, it is worth *doing for simple pragmatic reasons. But like necessity, it can be a source of *invention and creativity.
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Appendix 19
Holding Agreements to Membership Covenants
A covenant is a pledge, an agreement. This is the covenant that all people enter into at this Community Centre:
I desire (full, provisional, or supporting) membership in this Community Centre and am aligned with the following purpose, beliefs, agreements and goals.
Purpose:
To be a learning community village dedicated to caring for both people and the Earth by learning, living and demonstrating the skills needed to create a holistic sustainable culture recognizing the Oneness of all life.
Beliefs:
We acknowledge our spiritual bond and aspire to express in the way we live our beliefs that:
1. We come together as a circle of diverse individuals, committed to nourishing 'ourselves, others, and this planet through a simple, sustainable lifestyle which incorporates and celebrates life, love, work, play, free inquiry, learning, multi-cultural expression, and spiritual practices.
2. We honour the inherent dignity and worth of all life and of all people, regardless of age, gender, race, sexual orientation, financial resources, or spiritual and political beliefs. We commit ourselves to supporting each other in living this vision.
3. We now face a great challenge: to co-create with Spirit a wise, just and sustainable culture, in balance with the natural world, and to serve as a living example, manifesting a spiritual ecology, a vision of a new reality, in our daily lives.
4. We see cooperation as the fundamental model for human endeavour. When a proper balance exists between the independence of the individual and the interdependence of the community, each serves to enhance and complement the other. While we choose to live in a cooperative community, caring for and supporting each other's physical, emotional and spiritual well-being, we each take primary responsibility for our own actions and needs.
5. Conflict solutions generated through cooperation and mutual creativity often transcend solutions generated by any single person, and can transform the very arena of conflict itself. We commit ourselves to transcend mere compromise and to reach for truly transformative solutions.
6. Decision making power is earned by active participation in the shared life of the community.
Agreements:
I will strive to abide by these basic agreements to:
1. Live in respect with the land and one another, acknowledging the Greater Self in all things
2. Seek soft consensus of all active members concerned as the most valid basis for action in our community.
3. Deal directly, openly and honestly with each other, avoiding physical and emotional abuse in our relationships, and treating ALL LIFE with respect.
4. Remain as open and conscious as we possibly can to feedback from other community members. If conflict arises, to first seek resolution with the individual involved. If that fails, to seek mediation through the conflict resolution committee or by other means as soon as possible before the next community meeting. We also commit to supporting and encouraging each other in moving ahead with this clearing process, if we notice that conflict has arisen.
5. Sustain my individual involvement in the community by contributing my ideas, talents, and energies in the spirit of active commitment and participation.
6. Encourage my own and other's fulfilment and observance of these covenants, by holding them as a touchstone, and by living in conscious awareness of the vision and purpose that has brought us together.
Goals:
I support these goals to:
1. Make conscious our connection to Spirit and Earth and our interdependence with the web of all life.
2. Facilitate the transition toward a life of elegant simplicity.
3. Nurture an increasingly abundant world by enhancing living systems while reducing consumption of resources.
4. Foster the lifelong learning and growth of every community member, recognizing that each individual is both teacher and learner.
5. Preserve our landholding through proper stewardship, designated wilderness areas and ecologically sound use of our resources.
6. To create a learning centre that serves as a living demonstration of our beliefs.
7. Envision a positive restorative future and develop the skills needed to create it.
8. Promote personal and planetary healing on all levels.
9. Serve and reach out to the local and global community, encouraging spiritual and cultural diversity and other forms of creative expression while providing a sense of inclusion, integration and celebration through responsible community activities.
10. Encourage the growth of our community until it has become clear that we are not over stressing the land.
11. Encourage the establishment of member owned and managed ecologically sound businesses.
12. Actively support the intentional communities, permaculture and land reform movements as we are able.
I have read and agree to affirm and uphold this Covenant, the Bylaws, and related documents of this Community Centre and affirm to make it so! I have initialled each page, signed in full to commit myself and my dependants in fulfilling these and future requirements that the community may introduce to improve our lifestyle from time to time.
Name: ______________________________________
Surname: ______________________________________
Identity Number: ______________________________________
Signed:______________________on this day ____________ month ___________ year ___________
Witness 1:
Name: ______________________________________
Surname: ______________________________________
Identity Number: ______________________________________
Signed:______________________on this day ____________ month ___________ year ___________
Witness 2:
Name: ______________________________________
Surname: ______________________________________
Identity Number: ______________________________________
Signed:______________________on this day ____________ month ___________ year ___________
Witness 3:
Name: ______________________________________
Surname: ______________________________________
Identity Number: ______________________________________
Signed:______________________on this day ____________ month ___________ year ___________
Appendix 20
Site Holding Agreement
Note that this is only a sample of what a site holding agreement may look like. Fine tuning and amending agreements must still be put together by key members of the Community Centre.
Section I: Good Neighbour Guidelines
Introduction and Intent
This is a community of choice. Because we are choosing to live compactly, moderating our human impact on the Land, we will need to balance our closeness with awareness of the impact of our activities on our neighbours. Our very presence here indicates our willingness to talk and listen to teach other as though our lives depend on it. We are committed to maintaining a flexible stance that understands that differences are valuable and are the cutting edge of creativity. In fact, the quality of our lives does depend on listening from the heart and responding from our truth. The key to living in community is awareness.
Section II: Ecological Guidelines
Vision
As members of this Community Centre we are committed to the well being of the land in our care, to its members, and to our neighbours. Together, we are creating an ecospirituality culture for ourselves and our world. In this sacred work, it is incumbent upon us humans, as junior members of the community of life, to proceed mindfully, intelligently, and with deep respect as we develop our homes, and businesses on the land. We are rediscovering and reinventing what it means to be nature based people at a time when the effects of people's disconnection from the Earth are becoming frighteningly obvious. Amidst enormous change, we have to learn rapidly how to heal the Earth and how to live in right relationship with it and with each other. To that end, we can draw wisdom from the world's surviving native cultures--peoples who regulated their activities in relation to the limits of their environment and their own deep knowing--as well as from the knowledge base of the ecological and applied sciences and the design arts.
There is no greater challenge facing humanity than to learn to live ecologically within our limits and consciously with all our relations. This Community has placed itself on the cutting edge of this work of transforming culture and consciousness. We hope that our members will choose to commit themselves and their energies to the manifestation of this great evolutionary work. We offer these guidelines as a foundation for responsible, ecological living on our land. Feel free in applying and interpreting them to draw deeply from the experience and knowledge of this Community and community members and from experienced resource people in the wider community. Together we can grow this world back to health.
Ecological Site Planning
Careful planning and design makes it easier to create nurturing environments on our sites and in our community while helping us to avert costly mistakes along the way. By applying ecological understanding we can foster many mutually beneficial relationships between ourselves and the whole life community in our care. Such an approach to planning and design requires us to develop a capacity for whole systems thinking. Design and planning is thus an ongoing learning process that can be a powerful tool in our individual and collective reconnection to the world. Ecological design is a constantly evolving spiral dance (cyclic process): we design, implement, observe, and redesign our lives and our homes.
Site Plans
Every site holder is expected to develop a carefully considered, ecologically sound design and plan for their site.
Each site plan should clearly address tree clearing, grading and earthworks, erosion control, regeneration, fire control and prevention, solar access, water harvesting and management, forestry, waste cycling, and basic building design and placement. Land Use Committee is available to assist site holders in the development of their plans, and must review and approve the plan prior to any site development activities.
Permaculture
This Community is being developed from Permaculture and ecological design principles.
From its inception this Community has created a living, learning environment that supports healthy, ecological, and spiritually conscious lives. In fostering this new culture, we are drawing widely from many approaches to sustainability, including, but not limited to, Permaculture. At its core, permaculture is a design dance between people and the natural world. Its goal is the creation of healing and sustainable human habitat that grows ever more abundant in our care. From the permaculture toolbox we can design homes, gardens, and food forests appropriate to this bioregion, landscapes that provides food and other basic human needs locally, while conserving energy and natural resources and cycling all wastes. By taking pressure off the planet's overtaxed life support systems we allow the green world to regenerate.
The Plant World
Humans could not exist on earth without plants. Plants build soils, purify water, purify and create the air we breathe, provide our food, medicine and fuel, recycle our organic wastes, and feed our souls and spirits with their wondrous beauty and gifts. Reconnecting with the plant world and realigning our lives in creative relationship with plants is an important aspect of our work at this Community Centre, i.e., building a culture in right relationship with the natural world. This means consciously practicing the connection between Earth and Spirit, and assuming our place in the cosmos as caretakers of life and evolvers of consciousness.
Plants can be our friends, our helpers, our guides, and our teachers in this awakening. In the development of this Community we will have to ask many plants to give us the sacred gift of their lives. It is our responsibility as caretakers to accept these gifts with deep respect and appreciation, and to make a commitment to restore abundant plant life to areas we disturb. Humans are earth changers. Let us learn to take only what we need and offer back our creative energies to restore the balance between humans and the earth. In this work, plants may be our greatest allies as they are the healers of earth, air, and water and the transmitters of fire.
Trees
Trees and their associated forest communities are the most important renewable biological resource in our care at this Community Centre. How deeply we understand the dynamics of our forest ecosystems and how carefully we manage our interactions with the plant world will be major factors in determining how successfully we reintegrate with the natural world.
The Land
The Land must be nurtured throughout its life by covering and shading the soil, stopping erosion, building organic matter in the soil, accumulating biomass, and purifying the waters. This will involve clearing areas for the construction of homes and community buildings, for roads and driveways, and for gardens, orchards, agricultural, and recreational areas. It is our responsibility as caretakers to perform this work safely, carefully, and consciously, taking care not to waste or misuse the gift of the trees. .The following guidelines provide a starting point for this work.
Trees for Wildlife
Healthy as well as diseased and dead trees provide food and shelter for a variety of wildlife. In particular they provide nesting and den sites for many bird and mammal species. Care should be taken to identify these special trees on site and protect them wherever possible.
Trees for Shade and Cooling
Trees are very effective microclimatic modifiers. They have beneficial effects on the summer cooling and shading of your home and workplace, however they can also block solar radiation for home heating, solar electric generation, or for gardens or orchards. Some trees are more effective than others for shading and cooling. Remember also, that trees grow: a tree that is not now shading your garden may do so in 5 or 10 years. Please consult with the committee for recommended species and strategies
Trees and Vegetation for Screening
Trees and vegetation, whether existing or planted, play an important role in creating visual and sound buffers. Low growing vegetation is especially effective. When designing hedges or screen plantings for your site, it is important to include as many multifunctional elements as possible. For example, screen plantings can incorporate a wide range of species that serve many functions in the landscape: windbreaks, erosion control, production of food, fuel, fibre, and fodder, increased soil fertility, as well as shelter for domestic animals, beneficial insects, and wildlife. Vegetation maintains privacy between houses and should not be cut without considering the needs of and consulting with residents on adjoining parcels who would be affected by the cutting.
Tree Pruning
Pruning can either enhance or destroy the health of the trees in your care. It is often possible to enhance views, augment ventilation, or improve solar access by removing lower branches or thinning branches on existing trees. This is preferable to tree removal in some situations. Tree topping or pollarding (stubbing back branches) are unacceptable arboriculture practices. The use of tree spikes for climbing trees to be pruned may result in tree injury and the introduction of disease organisms into otherwise healthy trees and is not recommended. Please consult with the committee or a qualified person in this field for further guidance on tree pruning practices.
Tree Root Care and Pruning During and After Construction
Trees need a healthy root system in order to thrive. It is important to protect the root systems of the trees you plan to leave on your site. They are especially vulnerable to compaction and severance by heavy equipment operating or digging nearby. Tree roots extend at least to the drip line, or edge of the tree canopy, and often quite far beyond. To keep a tree healthy it is important not to damage more than 25% of its root system. In addition to avoiding excessive damage, it is helpful to improve tree root environments by fertilizing and mulching the root zone.
Following these guidelines will help prevent damage to trees:
Site holders should prepare and honour a tree protection plan during construction.
Since most tree roots exist near the surface of the soil, it is critically important not to disturb the root environment. Therefore, do not compact, disturb, or fill over the soil in a tree's root zone. Specifically, do not store heavy materials nor place fill soil over the root zone of trees you intend to keep. Neither should you park nor operate construction machinery or vehicles in these sensitive areas. To prevent such occurrences, it is recommended that the site holder install temporary barrier fencing at or beyond the drip line of existing trees. If this is impossible, then protect the soil and roots from compaction by placing a thick layer of wood chip or bark mulch over areas at risk of compaction. Avoid trenching or excavating in this area.
Do not burn fires nor dump liquid construction wastes under the canopy or drip zone of existing trees. For additional help with tree and root care practices please consult with the committee. When clearing for construction or gardens, site holders will be expected to prepare a clearing plan and get approval for it from the committee prior to construction. Consider your solar access needs and those of your neighbours when planning tree removal. Prior to construction, remove any trees that are in poor health or that might endanger planned buildings when felled. It is more difficult and expensive to remove trees later. Brush that is accumulated during clearing can be chipped for mulch, piled into brush fences, or piled for wildlife habitat and eventual decomposition. Be sure to locate brush piles where they will not compound risk from wildfire.
It is best to remove as few tree stumps as possible from cleared areas. Stumps and their roots help to hold the soil and reduce erosion. It is the responsibility of the site holder carefully to dispose of uprooted stumps on site or place them in designated stump disposal areas. It is best, where possible to leave the stumps in the ground and speed their decomposition by inoculating them with useful mushroom species.
When selecting trees to retain during site development, choose clusters of trees along with their associated plant guilds in preference to solitary trees.
Forestry Guidelines
It is good practice to design forested wildlife corridors and sizable sections of wild or managed forest into your site and neighbourhood. If you plan to leave portions of the existing forest intact, it is recommended that you consult with the committee, or a qualified permaculture designer or consulting forestry member on its ecological care and management. Community forestry plans, guidelines, and best practice recommendations apply to all site holdings.
Timber Harvest
1. The Community reserves to itself all timber on the Land except that Site holder may cut trees which are located on his or her site for firewood, construction, or other reasonable personal use, providing that such cutting is done in compliance with this agreement.
2. Members may not cut timber for sale except such timber as they have planted themselves.
3. Members must protect land, soil, and water resources by using ecological forestry practices, as defined below.
4. The Community may not cut timber on the site without written consent of Site holder. Should permission to cut trees be granted, the Community shall follow ecologically sound forestry practices, must protect land, soil, and water resources, and must carry out such cutting with as little disruption to the Site holder as is reasonably possible.
Rampant, Invasive, or Noxious Plants
It is the responsibility of Site holder to control the spread of any rampant, invasive or noxious plants found on the site, whether pre-existing or introduced. Before introducing a plant species to the site, consider its growth and reproductive characteristics to determine whether it might pose a problem. Consult with the committee or a qualified permaculture or horticultural consultant prior to introducing any plant that you know or suspect to be a rampant, invasive, or noxious species. The community may develop a list of problem plants and the committee may prohibit these from being introduced to the Land.
Revegetation Strategies
As stated in the Earth section of these guidelines, it is essential to cover all bare soil promptly with either plants or mulch. When we disturb soil and remove plant cover, it becomes our responsibility as caretakers to grow more plants and soil in return. Gardening can deepen our connection to the natural world, while creating an abundance of food and beauty. Gardening can be our gift, our giveaway, our return to the world. By practicing sound permaculture and horticulture, including prompt revegetation, we become willing workers for the plant kingdom (not a typo, there are no kings, only relations), assisting plants in the unfoldment of their being, the flowering of their evolutionary potential.
A. Plant Selection
Choosing the right plant (and plant community) for the right place is the key to successful revegetation of any site: emphasize species that are multifunctional. A good guide is to select plants that can perform at least three beneficial functions.
It is important to understand the needs, yields, beneficial associates, and inherent characteristics of plants as well as the environmental characteristics of the planting site (temperature, light, moisture, soil, wind, etc.), so that a beneficial relationship between plant and site can be fostered. Site holders should aim to establish plant (and associated animal) communities, rather than single species or monocultures.
B. Grass.
Provided there is adequate light available, a grass/clover seed blend is recommended as the initial ground cover for newly disturbed soils. A grass/clover mix will build and hold soil, and can easily be mulched out later should you want to change the plantings. Seed immediately after soil disturbance--before the soil is crusted over and eroded by rainfall. This is the optimal window of opportunity, requiring the least work and having the greatest potential for success.
C. Other Herbaceous Ground covers.
Many herbaceous perennials make excellent permanent ground covers. If the soil is humus and moist, yet well drained, it may be possible to establish native ferns and wildflowers. Perennials, herbaceous groundcovers, ornamental grasses, ferns, and wildflowers are best established from plants. Some wildflowers can be successfully seeded. Some annual vegetables can be seeded to cover bare soil temporarily. Best planting results will be achieved with a well prepared, organically amended planting bed. All planted areas should be thoroughly covered with appropriate organic mulch.
D. Trees and Shrubs.
Useful woody plants can be easily incorporated into your revegetation strategies. Trees and shrubs can either be planted initially or added later after groundcovers are well established. Planting young, smaller plants is easier and less expensive than planting more mature specimens and allows plants to adapt readily to the soils where they will have to grow. Recent research has shown that in most cases the only amendments that should be added to planting holes are rock powders (rock phosphate, green sand, granite dust, etc.) and organic fertilizers. Organic matter should be added to the surface of the soil as mulch, keeping the mulch a few centimetres away from the plant stem to prevent rodent damage to the plant. It is best to plant in wide, shallow planting holes and to water plants deeply once or twice a week until they are well established.
Preserving Diversity
One of the community's goals is that the Land becomes a biological refuge where a diverse gene pool of native and useful plants and animals can flourish and be propagated, protected, and preserved for generations to come. For a project like this to succeed, the effort must be decentralized, with plantings in many different habitats and ecological niches. We hope that all site holders will choose to participate in this work by evolving their sites as micro refuges, connected to the whole community ecostery, and potentially to the larger bioregional ecostery. These mountains have been a natural biological refuge for millions of years already, so why don't we continue this evolutionary spiral? The times seem to call for such a response.
Animals
Animals are nutrient cyclers and seed dispersers. They are a natural part of any ecosystem and exist in a dynamic balance with vegetation and other animal species. Because humans have disturbed the original balance of animals and plants in our region by removing forest, introducing crop plants, and devastating large carnivore populations, we have an extra burden and responsibility to work to restore balance in our cultivated systems. Some species of animals, most notably the larger, fast-reproducing herbivores and omnivores have flourished in and near human-disturbed environments. They have done so in the absence of large predators (other than humans) and by depending to a considerable degree on human crops and waste. By competing with us for our food supply, they have become in some situations pests, as most gardeners can attest. Other animals have suffered from human-induced disturbances, notably birds. Many of these sensitive creatures depend upon pristine forest and wetland habitats which have been removed or damaged. We can support the recovery of the frogs and the birds by managing our forests and streams to retain nesting trees, create wildlife corridors, and hold more surface water. Also important to these creatures is protection from human pets, particularly cats.
I have read and agree to affirm and uphold this Covenant, the Bylaws, and related documents of this Community Centre and affirm to make it so! I have initialled each page, signed in full to commit myself and my dependants in fulfilling these and future requirements that the community may introduce to improve our lifestyle from time to time.
Name: ______________________________________
Surname: ______________________________________
Identity Number: ______________________________________
Signed:______________________on this day ____________ month ___________ year ___________
Witness 1:
Name: ______________________________________
Surname: ______________________________________
Identity Number: ______________________________________
Signed:______________________on this day ____________ month ___________ year ___________
Witness 2:
Name: ______________________________________
Surname: ______________________________________
Identity Number: ______________________________________
Signed:______________________on this day ____________ month ___________ year ___________
Witness 3:
Name: ______________________________________
Surname: ______________________________________
Identity Number: ______________________________________
Signed:______________________on this day ____________ month ___________ year ___________
Appendix 21
Concluding Statement
I will continually strive toward what Mohandas Gandhi said, "Be the change you wish to see in the world."
My primary aim then is to establish a community in the Western Cape of Southern Africa with like minded people that will be sustainable for us and future generations not only in terms of ecological concerns, but socially and spiritually. I also aim to establish the community as a working model without compromising the privacy of individual households. This community should be able to demonstrate its various aspects to the wider community through open days, courses, internships and so on. It can be an important consideration from the beginning that we demonstrate real achievable alternatives, showing that a quality of lifestyle can be achieved both materially and environmentally, all the while aiming for sustainability and self sufficiency. This of course, will be an ongoing evolution as new people and other new factors help shape and reshape our vision without swaying it from our underlying principles of sustainability, community, and working for change.
The building system that I favour above others is straw bale construction. The buildings have stood the test of time and the method offers huge versatility of style from rustic to ultramodern. There is no doubt in my mind that whatever material can be obtained naturally or locally in view of cost should be considered or even used instead of straw.
Collectively it will be a community striving for self-sufficiency and economic independence. Outreach and education will be an integral part of our goals. We will vigorously promote ourselves as a viable example of sustainable living and spread our ideas and discoveries through visitor programs, academic and other publications, speaking engagements, and the like. It will be a sacred space for all living things.
By Greg J de Castro
Private Email: greg.decastro@absamail.co.za or greg@onelightvillage.org
Let me know if you would like to share in my sacred quest, or if you can help in any way...
I believe that OneLight Village will begin to take shape in South Africa by 2006...
11th July 2007
So far it is my website www.onelightvillage.org that is slowly taking shape. 2006 has come and gone but I remain focused on what I have always maintained to be my sacred quest. I believe that OneLight Village Community and Retreat Centre will unfold some day in the near future.
Much Love to all
Greg