Bitternut Homestead Collective
- Near 717 Otisco Street Syracuse
- In Syracuse
- In zip code 13204
- In New York
Mission: Ecological Social Justice, Permaculture Kitchen Gardening, Community Development Projects, Progressive Political Organizing and Activism
From www.ic.org/directory/bitternut-collective-on-otisco-st/:
The Bitternut Homestead (named after the Native American Iroquois word Otisco, or Us-te-ke, meaning "bitter-nut-hickory") is a 4 bedroom home in Syracuse's Near West Side (NWS) just off of downtown. Syracuse is a city of 145,000 people, and the NWS is an urban community with high racial, but low economic, diversity - a median income of $25,653 exists in the bottom 3.5% of national zip codes.
The house at 717 Otisco St is a 100-year old renovated Victorian purchased in 2010 for $1 from Home Headquarters (HHQ), a local quasi-governmental/non-profit housing agency. The house had been vacant for 3-4 years at the time of purchase, and required new plumbing, electric, heating, hot water, structural repairs from water and animal damage, and major interior and exterior finish work. For instance, all window glass was broken and would be replaced while preserving the original wooden frames and sills.
Residents of the Homestead live and "act" together, a primary strategy for creating community. Desired shared chores include cooking, shopping, cleaning, trash/recycling, gardening, and other tasks including a spring and fall cleaning day, and a spring and fall gardening day. The grounds are landscaped according to Permaculture principles & design, the original owner Frank Cetera being a local Permaculture educator and designer. The Collective also houses the operations desk/office of The Alchemical Nursery, a non-profit organization working to create "Regenerative Landscapes and Lifestyles" utilizing strategies from the realms of Permaculture, mutual aid, eco-socialism, social justice, & ecovillage philosophies & methodologies; and this year hosted a campaign HQ office for a resident's Green Party run for city council.
Natural building & simple living are also strategies being utilized. Heating is currently through electric baseboard heating for instance. Although electric heating is initially more expensive from the supply side, it was chosen because it is less expensive to install, allows zoned control in each room, can be supplied by solar panels in the future, can be secondary/supplementary only when wood burning appliance is installed, and to keep natural gas out of this "Anti-Fracking House". Other techniques include interior natural clay plastering and homemade paints, hugelkultur garden beds made from downed woody debris, hand finished floors (scraping, sanding, treating with linseed oil), food fermentation and preservation.
- Address
- Physical Address
- 717 Otisco Street
- Syracuse, New York 13204
- United States
- Phone
- (315) 308-1372
Organization Type
Tags
Bitternut Homestead Urban Collective
- Fellowship for Intentional Community
Mission: Ecological Social Justice, Permaculture Kitchen Gardening, Community Development Projects, Progressive Political Organizing and Activism
From www.ic.org/directory/bitternut-collective-on-otisco-st/:
The Bitternut Homestead (named after the Native American Iroquois word Otisco, or Us-te-ke, meaning "bitter-nut-hickory") is a 4 bedroom home in Syracuse's Near West Side (NWS) just off of downtown. Syracuse is a city of 145,000 people, and the NWS is an urban community with high racial, but low economic, diversity - a median income of $25,653 exists in the bottom 3.5% of national zip codes.
The house at 717 Otisco St is a 100-year old renovated Victorian purchased in 2010 for $1 from Home Headquarters (HHQ), a local quasi-governmental/non-profit housing agency. The house had been vacant for 3-4 years at the time of purchase, and required new plumbing, electric, heating, hot water, structural repairs from water and animal damage, and major interior and exterior finish work. For instance, all window glass was broken and would be replaced while preserving the original wooden frames and sills.
Residents of the Homestead live and "act" together, a primary strategy for creating community. Desired shared chores include cooking, shopping, cleaning, trash/recycling, gardening, and other tasks including a spring and fall cleaning day, and a spring and fall gardening day. The grounds are landscaped according to Permaculture principles & design, the original owner Frank Cetera being a local Permaculture educator and designer. The Collective also houses the operations desk/office of The Alchemical Nursery, a non-profit organization working to create "Regenerative Landscapes and Lifestyles" utilizing strategies from the realms of Permaculture, mutual aid, eco-socialism, social justice, & ecovillage philosophies & methodologies; and this year hosted a campaign HQ office for a resident's Green Party run for city council.
Natural building & simple living are also strategies being utilized. Heating is currently through electric baseboard heating for instance. Although electric heating is initially more expensive from the supply side, it was chosen because it is less expensive to install, allows zoned control in each room, can be supplied by solar panels in the future, can be secondary/supplementary only when wood burning appliance is installed, and to keep natural gas out of this "Anti-Fracking House". Other techniques include interior natural clay plastering and homemade paints, hugelkultur garden beds made from downed woody debris, hand finished floors (scraping, sanding, treating with linseed oil), food fermentation and preservation.
- Address
- Physical Address
- 717 Otisco St
- Syracuse, New York 13204
- United States
Organization Type
Tags
Bitternut Homestead Collective
- Upstate NY Coop Census
- Address
- Physical Address
- 717 Otisco Street
- Syracuse, New York 13204
- United States
- Phone
- (315) 308-1372