Permaculture Eco-Village in NE Washington has Openings - Potential Permanent Residency
We have openings for people to come plug into our Eco-Village project. Could be a couple or not, families or singles. We seek people for whom this opportunity resonates with their own vision forward in permaculture. The land here is calling out for Earth Stewards to come and be part of its ecosystem.
The Eco-Village is a 20-acre sanctuary seeking devotees, not in any religious sense, although it is often a spiritual quest that drives someone to embrace permaculture. We are looking for people who are devoted to creating rural self-sufficiency for themselves, through permaculture, in community. We offer an environment free of economic rent and ask only for active, mindful, creative participation.
We seek farmers and builders who can commit to contributing an average of 20 hours a week, or more if it moves you, with reasonable time off.
Please note: This is not an employment opportunity. It is a lifestyle choice. This is joining a joint project.
Builders
One priority for 2026 is having builders join who are into permaculture and whose primary role would be contributing to building and maintaining the eco-village and farm infrastructure including structures, machinery, equipment, irrigation and energy production facilities. You would work closely with Bezaleel Israel who terraformed this land over a thirty five-year period and built the existing infrastructure largely by himself. BZ has over 60 years experience being a Jack-of-all-trades. Mechanical work on almost everything (except modern computer cars). Converting Diesel engines to run on recycled vegetable oil, maintaining a fishing boat, tractors, logging equipment, aircraft, commercial refrigeration, metal fabrication, acetylene and arc welding, rural construction, concrete, using heavy equipment for land development, alternative energy, farming, gardening, seed saving and teaching permaculture. There's no compensation for the builder/infrastructure apprenticeship beyond a share of the food the farm produces, shop space, access to tools and equipment and no economic rent to pay (common expenses are shared), so it makes most sense for someone who seeks permanent residency to apply to join the Village Collective with the mindset that the fruits of the work put in become collectively owned by you and the Eco-Village. Personal improvements can be individually-owned. Anyone with the kinds of skills listed here would be able to easily find part-time paid work locally or find other means for income on or off the eco-village grounds. Work contributed to the farming operation also has the potential to generate some income.
Farmers
For the three years ('22, '23, '24) we demonstrated that we can generate significant cash flow and many satisfied customers operating a microfarm here (the BZ Permaculture Farm Collective), selling to friends and neighbors, weekly at the local farmers' market, at seed swaps, plant sales and the Barter Faire as well as online, but we haven't had enough committed farmers join the project to maintian the pace of production required to operate a market garden and still have time for building the Eco-Village. So we're not going to be travelling to market weekly and cranking out succession plantings in 2026 unless the situation changes. So, we're going to continue to be home more, working on the place. Unless something fundamentally changes, we are reducing our cropping plans for 2026. We will grow some potatoes, squash, onions and garlic and sell some now and then, and we'll grow our own food. We also have varieties that we grow out for seed that we will be maintaining, so there will be lots of quality time spent in the garden, but we will also need to tear ourselves away from those pleasures on a regular basis to work on the Eco-Village infrastructure.
Because we see a robust market garden and agrarian-based micro-enterprises as essential components of a resilient and regenerative permaculture eco-village, we are still seeking folks who love experiencing soil, plants and sharing the surplus and who can commit to put in the time and intention required. If we had a great farming team together, we could all be self-employed farmers who collectively tend the gardens, pastures, food forest, livestock and seed bank and share equitably in the fruits of that labor in the form of delicious food, money and the incalculable value that comes from living the life. Until there is a sufficient number of folks involved, we won't be farming the place as intensively as in 2022-2024. The potential is still here for this land to perpetually provide food and sustenance for a small group living here as well as being a trusted food producer for our local community, In the mean time, we who are here now will preserve and enhance that potential with our stewardship. It is the mission, the whole idea.
Anyone can apply as a volunteer and come to work and share as your schedule allows, providing your own shelter if you plan on staying overnight unless we have a guest bed available.
The Process: Applying for Membership in the Eco-Village
We hope you would be interested in trying out a long-term committment to the project. You can introduce youself to us by filling out a two-question pre-application online (or in an email or by snail mail). From those applications we will choose folks to answer a few more questions, get references, do a phone interview and have a site visit, if feasible.
The two questions are:
1) Please describe in 300 to 1000 words your experience with regenerative agriculture, permaculture principles and practices and your love of voluntary simplicity, Earth Care, People Care and Fair Share (or your level of enthusiasm about learning such things)
2) Please describe in 300 to 1000 words your experience with simple, rural, outdoor-oriented living, physical labor, any previous collaborative group living and any special skills you have such as farming, forestry, construction, fire safety, food forestry, cooking for groups, mechanics, etc. (or your level of enthusiasm about learning such things)
If we accept your application, we will welcome you to join us on the farm for one or two 60-day trial periods after which, if all goes well, you would become a full-on Village Collective Member. Upon becoming a Village Collective Member you will sign the Eco-Village Mutual Contract which defines how the Village is managed. Upon signature, you will have a voice in how the Mutual Contract is worded and interpreted as well as in all the affairs in the life of the Village; all of which are serious commitments and important responsibilities.
Participation
Village Collective Members are expected to contribute labor to benefit the Eco-Village Collective and/or the Farm Collective amounting to an annual average of at least 20 hours of labor per week, as seasonal needs require, with at least some of that labor being contributed to the farming operation.
Village Collective members should understand that there will be occasions when more hours will be required and that 10- to 12-hour days will sometimes be required based on the seasonal needs that must be collectively met at any given time. We're in this together, after all.
Village Collective Members may take reasonable time off.
Village Collective Members are encouraged to spend at least two hours studying permaculture each week following a self-determined course of study, the fruits of which are regularly shared with the Eco-Village Collective.
All Village Collective Members are expected to independently provide for their personal household's monetary needs, sleeping quarters (if none are available), domestic needs such as food (beyond what the Collective Farm can provide), warmth, electricity, waste handling and commit to share in paying common expenses.
Exit Procedure
The Eco-Village Collective and the Farming Collective reserve the ability to respectfully expel any member for cause, with the exception of Bezaleel Israel, utilizing an exit procedure that operates on a "Consensus Minus One" basis. The member whose membership is in question is not afforded the authority to block the decision on their membership status for the duration of the exit procedure. Everyone else would have to agree to end the membership. In the event that agreement is not reached, an alternative outcome of an exit procedure may consist of a set of conditions intended to address the issues and concerns that initiated the exit procedure. Disputes are settled by community mediation or settled by a third party ally of the Eco-Village.