Country Gardens

Mission: ““We are a rural eco-village community, cultivating supportive relationships with each other, the larger community, and the Earth.”

From www.ic.org/directory/country-gardens/:

We are at the early stages of forming. We are seeking like-minded, respectful, community-oriented, organically oriented gardening, permaculture, self-sufficiency, peace-loving co-founders to join with us in designing and establishing the village.

We envision creating a rural eco-village community, cultivating supportive relationships with each other, the larger surrounding community, and the Earth.

We have strong Environmentalist Values—potential new members must be comfortable with the expectation that this is an environmentalist community. Prefer members to be of a permaculture and organic mindset; for both gardening and farming animals.

Location
Our 95-acres of land are located in north central Oklahoma, which is in the center of the U.S. and part of the “Great Plains.” Our 95 acres is heavily forested in places and has some open pasture and farmland as well. We are 3 miles from a small town population 1,100, and about 50 miles west of Tulsa, OK.

We already have a great deal that we do on our land, practices we have followed, and projects completed and in the works. We are open to the community validating or changing these as the group determines:
1. Permaculture principles such as Hugelkultur, deep mulching, terracing with swales and berms; and rainwater capture
2. Energy independence using solar, wind, water capture, and earthship greenhouse
3. Peace-loving, open-minded lifestyle
4. Organically certified gardening
5. Ranching, dairy goats for milk, cheese, yogurt and Kefir production
6. Poultry for eggs and meat production, as well as for pest reduction;
7. Wildcrafting/Foraging for greens, mushrooms, fruit, herbs, soapberries, etc.
8. Agricultural land use for potential produce sales income through the Oklahoma Food Cooperative (www.oklahomafood.coop) and/or a nearby Farmer’s Market.
9. Hunting in an excellent white-tailed deer habitat with limited bow-hunting for shared meat acquisition
10. Cob-Straw-bale building (in process) for multi-purpose community use, such as for meetings, a loft for WWOOFers, group music making and drumming, and health food store inventory and retail sales.
11. Cob-Rocket Oven and Shelter (in process) for outdoor community cooking use
12. Greenhouse (Earthship design, under construction) for seed-starting and winter greens production.

Some of our core values, principles we would like to ascribe to, are listed below.

1. A Multi-generational approach to living and sharing labor and knowledge
2. Peace-loving attitudes with open-mindedness as a fundamental value
3. Tool and equipment sharing, for community projects
4. Egalitarian, Income-Sharing optional on communal farm enterprises (such as health food business, farm store, or organic produce sales)
5. Energy and self-sufficient lifestyle, (within reason--not from a paranoid viewpoint)
6. Communally engaged (while still respecting everyone's right to privacy)
7. Environmentally focused (respect and care for surrounding environment and the Earth as a whole)

What we prefer to avoid:
•Gun use other than for food acquisition
•Extremist viewpoints
•Using large farm equipment

When contacting us please include:
•What about Country Gardens interests you and what are your intentions for being here?
•What does living in an eco-community mean to you?
•What assets will you bring to the community?
•What is your background so far?
•What is your full legal name, address, birthday, and government form of identification?
•If anything stated above concerns you, but you are still interested in being a part of our community, please let us know what your concern is and we can speak further with you in that regard.
-----------------
Summary:
Our 95 acres is in a rural setting, but only a little more than 1 mile off of state highways. Our property is forested with some open areas for gardening or pasture.

Eco-Village /Co-housing Startup is located 50 miles west of Tulsa
• 95 Acres owned – Beginning Eco-Village Design and Startup
• Looking for like-minded souls to meet and design eco-village/co-housing in north central Oklahoma
• Permaculture principles – Hugelkultur, deep mulching, terracing, rainwater capture
• Land: Dense Forested Land + Ag Land + Native Prairie + Intermittent Spring + Pond
• Energy independence: Solar; water capture; earthship greenhouse;
• Peace-loving lifestyles
• Multi-generational
• Tool-Sharing; Equipment-Sharing
• Gardening – Organically Certified Garden; sharing
• Ranching: Milk Goats for Milk, Cheese, Yogurt, and Kefir production
• Poultry: Chicken Egg Production, Guineas, Heritage Turkeys
• Wildcrafting /Foraging: Greens, mushrooms, fruit, herbs, soapberries, etc.
• Single-housing + Co-Housing; build your own eco-friendly home or join with others to create a co-housing;
• On-site Health Food Store Business for personal ordering and potentially for income sharing
• Agricultural Land – potential produce sales income with Oklahoma Food Cooperative + nearby Farmers’ Market.
• Hunting – excellent white-tailed deer habitat; limited bow-hunting for shared meat acquisition
• Cob-Straw-bale building—for multi-purpose community use (in process);
• Cob-Rocket Oven + Shelter—for outdoor community cooking use (in process) ;
• Greenhouse (Earthship design)—for seed-starting and winter greens production;
• Egalitarian, Income-Sharing optional on communal farm enterprises
• Spirituality—Freedom of religion… no extremist viewpoints welcome.

Below are the list of values we found on another eco-village site and we believe this would be a good list to start with for us as well:
1. We find beauty and wisdom in nature’s design and seek to emulate it in our village.
2. We value caring and respectful interactions with members of our village, guests, the surrounding neighborhood, society, all living things, and the Earth.
3. We approach change and challenges with open-minded—rather than dogmatic—attitudes.
4. We have an egalitarian power and decision-making structure.
5. We make and honor agreements with great care and sincerity.
6. We balance participation in the village with individual needs, and welcome the opportunities for engagement, fun, and enjoyment the community life brings.
7. We steward and nurture the land on which we live, its natural and human communities, its productive farm, and its role in the ecosystem around it.
8. We balance the stewardship of our land with areas for food production, human habitation and recreation, and restoration of the native ecosystem.
9. We steward personal and community energy and resources responsibly with moderation, innovation, and sharing.
10. We engage in ecologically and socially sustainable practices to meet our needs.
11. We actively engage and participate with the surrounding neighborhood, city, and region, in education and work that nurtures and sustains our common society and environment.
12. We value diversity and invite all who share our vision to explore participation and/or membership in our village.
13. We strive to continually learn and grow in ways that support our vision and values.

A service of the Data Commons Co-op. The project has been supported by Equal Exchange, the Cooperative Charitable Trust, the USDA, and many others - thank you! Tech volunteers over the years include: Benjamin Bradley with support from GAIA Host. Ben Mauer with support from Quilted. Paul Fitzpatrick. Ronin Tech Collective, Brattleboro Tech Collective, Sligo Computer Services. Jason Lemieux. Default map tiles courtesy of MapQuest. Default map data (c) OpenStreetMap contributors, CC-BY-SA.