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Whole
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Introduction The Whole Village newsletter is published on line to keep our friends, near and far, informed on how our project is progressing. For background information and previous issues, please visit our website at: http://www.wholevillage.org . Click here to view our Membership Policy. Click here to read our Farm Plan. Site Site
Work
In spite of the extremely dry weather this summer, the Whole Village garden has produced an abundance of herbs, salad greens and peas. The garlic harvest is complete and bundles of fragrant bulbs are hanging in the woodshed to dry. Tomatoes, tomatillos and corn are ripening and the squash plants have completely taken over the north edge, where mulch has been laid down in preparation for expanding the garden next year. Soon it will be time to turn our attention to gathering firewood for this winter and winters to come. Outreach
WV members, associates and friends have staffed
information tables at the Oakville Environmental Fair, the Natural Life
Festival at the Kortright Centre in Woodbridge and at the Taoist Tai Chi
Centre open house in Mono Mills. At the Natural
Life Festival, Jeff Gold joined Adriana Stagni of CoHousing Ontario for a
cooperative presentation on ecovillages and CoHousing. Mike McKelvey and Natasha Bye
distributed WV brochures at the Hillside Festival in Guelph and the OM
Festival in Bancroft. There have been 60
people in attendance at our last 7 Orientation meetings for prospective
members. Currently there are 217
people on our email Updates list. Networking
Representing the Whole Village, Jeff Gold assisted
a crew from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources who are conducting a
survey of fish population in the upper Credit River. They use a technique called
electrofishing, which temporarily stuns fish. As the operators pass their devices through the stream,
fish float to the surface where assistants scoop them up with nets to be
weighed, measured and then released.
After the crew completed their morning assignment, they drove up to
Karalane farm and conducted more electrofishing in the pond and in the
section of Shaws Creek that flows near the property. Not surprisingly, there were no fish
in the pond, as it has never been stocked. Stephen Wilson attended the Sierra Club’s Green
Energy Campaign meeting June 14 in Toronto, on behalf of the WV. On July 4, WV members toured the Toronto Waldorf
School in Richmond Hill. Our
architect, Denis Bowman, designed the school and was a key member of the
group that built this very interesting and beautiful building. Of particular interest was the Living Machine, a waste disposal
system built in a greenhouse attached to the school. When the aging septic system at the
school proved inadequate, the decision was made to create an environmentally
and ecologically sound waste treatment system rather than hook up to the
municipal sewers. The Living
Machine is able to purify wastewater to a level where the effluent can be
sterilized with ultraviolet light and then recycled back to the toilets for
reuse. When the Town of Caledon held a public meeting to
discuss the Town’s response to the Provinces’ Smart Growth initiative, we
made sure that the ecovillage concept was included as a model of
sustainability. A few Whole Villagers attended a gathering hosted
by the Caledon
Countryside Alliance. The CCA
is soliciting input on how best to promote the concept of Ecological Footprinting in
Caledon. It seems living in an
ecovillage is one of the best ways to reduce your Ecological Footprint!! Alan and Trish Carpenter, residents of Windsong
CoHousing in Vancouver, stopped at Karalane farm as part of their
cross-country tour of ecovillages, cohousing communities and similar
projects. Alan is managing the
Canadian Cohousing Network and encouraged the Whole Village to maintain our
membership. Dr. Maglana, a physician from the Philippines,
stopped by the farm to learn more about the Whole Village. He lives and works part of the year
in New York State, then spends the rest of the year in his homeland. Keenly interested in ecology,
sustainability, community and environmental issues, the doctor is planning a
large project to restore a degraded national park in the Philippines. This would include relocating a village,
creating ecotourism and ameliorating the damage caused by mining and logging
within the park. MANDATE GROUPS Much of the organizing and development work of the Whole Village resides with our mandate groups. Some recent progress: Membership We welcomed our newest member, Laszlo Kramar, to the WV. Laszlo is originally from Hungary, has
several degrees and is very interested in sustainable agriculture. Membership now stands at eight
families, one Subscriber (member-in-waiting) and nine Associate members. Orientation meetings for potential
new members and other interested friends are held at the WV site at regular
intervals. If you are
interested in attending an Orientation Meeting, the next ones are scheduled
for September 16, September 30, October 12, October 26, November 11, November
25 and December 8, 2001. Contact
Jeff Gold at 519-941-1099 or email jgold@netrover.com
to RSVP and for directions.
Personal Orientations can be arranged, and current WV members can also
conduct their own orientation sessions for potential participants. Click here for more information on our Membership
Policy. Members of
this group are conducting a telephone follow-up survey of people who have
attended an Orientation meeting but have not pursued any further interaction
with the WV. From the results of
this survey we will attempt to determine what people perceive as the
obstacles to their joining the WV. We will also analyze the responses to see if
our Orientation format and content are effectively promoting the WV
initiative. Planning
August 1 we met on the farm with our two local Councillors for this ward, Ian Sinclair and Richard Paterak, to bring them up to date on the latest site designs and discuss our plans. On August 13 we met the councillors again, this time at Town of Caledon offices. Joining them was Mayor Carol Seglins, Councillor Richard Whitehead and planners Dan Kennaley and Kathy Kurtz. After going over the site plan and residential component, we had a frank and open discussion about the challenges and opportunities ahead for the WV. The Town offered to host a public meeting in the fall, where we could present our plans and respond to questions and concerns. Design
Group
Chris Caners is a student in mechanical engineering at the University of Toronto going into his final year. His thesis project for his final year is going to be on the design of alternative power generation. Chris will work with us and with Greg Allen, our materials, energy and sustainable design consultant, on the design of the Whole Village power and energy systems. Chris is also very interested in intentional community living and interacting with WV members. Financial/Legal
Communications
Farm/Land
Stewardship The Farm Plan and Farm Site Plan have both been
revised after input from our Biodynamic farming consultants Michael Schmidt
and Corey and Holly of the Saugeen Valley CSA. Brad Peterson, our Landscape Architect, has worked closely
with Denis Bowman and his colleagues to integrate the Farm Site Plan and the
residential plan into one comprehensive document. The FL/S group met with Montana Jones’ at the farm
where she is living near Cannington.
Montana has acquired a small flock of rare Shropshire Sheep and some
New Jersey Giant chickens. She
is looking forward to moving onto Karalane Farm early in the New Year. We discussed various possibilities
for raising Rare Breeds, or even becoming a Demonstration Farm for Rare
Breeds Canada, as well as raising Boer goats as a WV farm enterprise. The Conservation Plan for Karalane Farm being
prepared by Credit Valley Conservation is now in draft form and should be
completed by September. Wellness, Arts
and Culture The members of this
group are looking at home-based businesses in the WV, the possibilities of
creating a wellness or therapeutic centre as part of the village, facilities
and amenities to be included in the community building and what similar
resources exist in nearby communities.
They
have revised the standard WV questionnaire to gather more detailed information
about home based business, consulting and other uses from members, associates
and friends. Celebrations Friday June 29 many of us joined Denis Bowman and
his folk dancing friends for a rooftop dance party at King Summit.
For more information, please contact us at: Whole Village Ltd. Phone: (519) 941-1099 Fax: (905) 833-2813 E-mail: jgold@netrover.com |