The Zodiac Garden

The zodiac herb garden in the community garden has gotten a bit beyond us this summer. Jeremy Scheme, the visionary who helped us plan and plant the garden last year, was kind and came out to help us identify what is still in there amidst the HUGE weeds that had almost overtaken circle. We discovered spearmint, yarrow, boneset, valerian, wormwood, echinacea,
fennel, and more after clearing out the much too large area that lamb’s quarters had
claimed. The nettles, a planned member of the garden, also replicated itself way beyond
what is needed or desired. John is still picking out the barbs today.

Luckily for us, nettles has some great uses. According to herbal sources, nettles is known for providing increased energy and stamina when it is consumed daily over a period of time.   It is also purported to have affects on thickening hair and smoothing skin. Looks like we're going to be in good shape here at Laughing Waters and Hickory Nut Forest!  We may need to do an herbal tea class or some such thing with all this excess.

Herbalists also say that nettles has also attributed to aiding in the following conditions:

• Arthritis
• Diarrhea
• Heavy Menstrual Bleeding
• Shrinking Enlarged Prostates
• Exzema
• Detoxification

So if you want to Detox or have arthritis, give us a call.  Tomorrow I'll send on information about some of the other helpful "extras".

To see what is happening at Hickory Nut Eco-Community visit us at www.HickoryNutForest.com
To see our calendar of upcoming events at Laughing Waters go to www.LaughingWatersNC.com

Micro-Hydro: Energy Conscious Retreat Center near Asheville

We are moving ever closer to finalizing our plans for a micro-hydro system that will power our new Laughing Waters Community Center and Retreat Site. Since we are fortunate to have year round stream running through the property, we are able to take a portion of this water to run a micro hydro turbine. (The remaining water is need in the stream to keep the trout happy!)

We have been studying and learning for the past two years and hope to be able to start construction next month. In future blogs i can explain all the components that go into a system like this including calculating the water flow, pressure, size of pipes, type of turbine, type of inverter, batteries, and grid tie. Since we plan to both sell power to the grid and draw on the grid and be able to run the building off-grid, all that adds more complexity to the design. There is lots of expertise available on solar systems, but much harder to find for micro-hydro. But we are determined and slowly it is all coming together. More later.

Finding and Sustainaing One's Gifts

In conjunction with MAHEC, Sobonfu Some will be coming to Laughing Waters at Hickory Nut Forest EcoCommunity on Friday evening, November 12 followed by a weekend program.

There is a deep longing among people in the West to connect with something bigger -- with community and spirit. People know there is something missing in their lives, and believe that the rituals and ancient ways of the village offer some answers." These are the simple yet deeply poignant words of author and teacher Sobonfu Somé, one of the foremost voices in African spirituality to come to west. Destined from birth to teach the ancient wisdom, ritual and practices of her ancestors to those in the West, Sobonfu, whose name means "keeper of the rituals" travels the world on a healing mission sharing the rich spiritual life and culture of her native land Burkina Faso, which ranks as one of the world's poorest countries yet one of the richest in spiritual life and custom.

Recognized by the village elders as possessing special gifts from birth, Sobonfu's destiny was foretold before her birth, as is the custom of the Dagara Tribe of Burkina Faso and was fostered by early education in ritual and initiation in preparation for her life's work. "My work is really a journey in self discovery and in building community through rituals," says Sobonfu. Dagara rituals involve healing and preparing the mind, body, spirit and soul to receive the spirituality that is all around us. "It is always challenging to bring the spiritual into the material world, but it is one of the only ways we can put people back in touch with the earth and their inner values."

For more information go to www.LaughingWatersNC.com or visit http://www.sobonfu.com/pages/index.shtml

What's happening in the garden.

Asian Pears are now ripe at in the nearby orchard of Hickory Nut Forest Eco-Community. If you've ever bitten into one of these crisp, sweet treats you can understand our excitement.

Pear is the common name for about 20 species of trees and their fruit in the rose family, and the Asian pear is decidedly different than our varieties due to their storage abilities.  When mature, the fruit are can be remain unchanged for several months after picking if held in cold storage.

Hickory Nut Forest planted 5 trees to help diversify our orchard.  Those at Laughing Waters Retreat Center get to indulge in these wonderful treats when they come to visit.

The trees are  disease resistant and low maintenance, available at many nurseries including Chuck Marsh's Useful Plant Nursery.  For more info on Asian Pears and the Useful Plant Nursery check out:  http://www.usefulplants.org/trees/asianpear.php

To see more about what is happening at Laughing Waters go to www.LaughingWatersNC.com

From Mary & Keith's Excellent Adventure

Hickory Nut Forest Eco-Village

 Today, after a brief visit to downtown Asheville for a delicious vegetarian Reuben and pumpkin spice decaf lattes (we eat out at restaurants or cafes only about once a week on average), we drove up winding mountain roads to the town of Gerton, North Carolina in order to visit the Hickory Nut Forest Eco-Village. We even crossed the Continental Divide on the way up the mountain!

From it's website, Hickory Nut Forest is a project described as "a unique eco-friendly community close to Asheville with plans to combine land conservation, green-built homes, organic gardening and renewable energy from wind, water, sun, and geothermal sources. Here, you can be part of designing a 'net zero energy homes community' that creates more renewable energy than it uses."

Another exciting aspect of Hickory Nut is the creation of a retreat/conference center which sits along a rushing mountain stream on the site of an old grist mill, with a basement yoga room located just alongside the stream. While we were visiting, we were also able to witness how the team is beginning the process of reconstructing several centuries-old log cabins on the site. It is obviously a labor of love, and the timber recovered from the ancient cabins is beautiful and enormous.

 As far as the sites for the homes is concerned, they are magnificent sites along a ridge overlooking the valley below, and the homes themselves will be certified green, using the best low-impact and healthy materials which will be conscientiously sourced. Water conservation, super-insulation, passive and active solar, geothermal and other technologies will also be employed in the building process, and waste water will be recycled using various cutting edge permaculture methods.

 The land surrounding the conference center is lush with tall trees, rhododendron and mountain laurel---a varied forested landscape. Adjacent to the conference center site is an organic orchard and garden which uses permaculture principles and may evolve into a form of community supported agriculture or similar project.

The Hickory Nut model is very captivating because part of our life's vision is to live close to the land in community, and potentially being part of a retreat center is very attractive to us based on a life-long dream of working and living in a retreat atmosphere.

While we are not currently in a position to buy a plot of land and begin the process of building a home in an emerging eco-village, we can see that the community that will emerge at Hickory Nut is one we will be sure to watch as it finds its feet and comes to certain fruition. We wish everyone at Hickory Nut the very best, and we hope to visit again to witness what will certainly be a transformative ripening of the vision behind this community.

Synchronicity?

It is fascinating to me how people find their way to Hickory Nut Forest. My husband
John and I have created this eco-community with the intention of drawing like-minded
souls with a passion for protecting the land and living sustainably. Yet we have done
very little (until recently) to “market” the place.

Last weekend John and I were relaxing the eco-community's retreat center, Laughing Waters, doing some laundry and finishing up business from the weekend, when a knock came at our door. We opened it and met Kathy and Jean Pierre, who were visiting the area from Reno. They had been looking for an eco-community within a 30 minute drive from Asheville and had already checked out a couple of other places.

On their last morning in the area, JP wanted to continue to go about their quest systematically. That morning though, Kathy wanted to do things differently. She wanted to get in their car and meander, allowing their intuition to be their guide.

As it turned out, their GPS was not working when they got into the car, and so they did things Kathy’s way and decided to follow exit 53 B off I-40 that said “Blue Ridge Parkway/Bat Cave.”

Cruising along for 15 minutes or so after leaving the interstate, things began to open up. They loved the looming mountains and charming pastures and barns they were passing. They commented on the sign that informed them they were crossing the Continental Divide. Shortly afterwards, they saw the entrance to Hickory Nut Forest Eco-Community and pulled in.

They drove all the way up to Marcia’s lot at the top of the development and spoke to her about Hickory Nut Forest. She directed them to Laughing Waters retreat site and community center where she
thought we might still be. Even though the gate was locked, they parked their car at the
top of the drive and walked down to the community center. We were amazed to learn
from each other that we all had the same vision for how we intend to live, and that in
our different ways we were calling on the universe for guidance.

John and I have been asking for the right people to show up to add their energies to this growing community. Kathy and JP have been asking to find the community of their dreams. Whether or not
they end up living in Hickory Nut Forest, we all feel that our paths will continue to cross.
And it affirmed our belief that if you put out a clear and strong intention, it will come to
pass.


To see more of Hickory Nut Forest visit www.HickoryNutForest.ecofriendlycommunities.com/

To see the retreat center visit
www.LaughingWatersNC.com