Cobb Hill
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cobb Hill is an intentional community in Hartland, VT in the United States. Its design borrows from other community, agricultural, and environmental action models: cohousing, ecovillages, sustainable communities, agricultural collectives, sustainability research and action organizations.
Contents |
[edit] Green Construction
23 households live in tightly clustered houses on 270 acres that include a working organic, partly horse-powered farm and forest. Another member lives in an 1800s farmhouse on the property. The new homes and common house were built using green building principles - buildings oriented to maximize solar hot water and passive solar heating, very good insulation and windows, composting toilets, a single Garn brand wood gasifying furnace to heat all units, certified and local building materials, and energy star appliances.
[edit] Agriculture at Cobb Hill
Agricultural enterprises include a CSA called Cedar Mountain, a dairy, Cobb Hill Cheese, Cobb Hill Maple Syrup, Cobb Hill Icelandic Sheep, beekeeping/honey, poultry, egg production, hay, and forestry. Each enterprise is structured as a partnership of an interested and invested subset of community members. While the enterprises all use organic methods they have chosen not to seek organic certification. Sustainable agriculture and production for local and regional markets are emphasized. Some of the residents bring in a significant part of their household income from the agricultural enterprises.
[edit] Community
Cobb Hill members seek a sustainable lifestyle. Beyond green houses and producing food locally there is shared intention to explore other forms of local and global education and action. This plays out in many ways and at varied levels of commitment and time for different members. Members participate in the many activities that keep the community functioning socially and physically - shared meals twice a week, monthly work days and community meetings, standing and ad hoc committees, social events. Over time deep friendships have developed. Conflicts also happen. The community has shown resilience and tenacity in exploring in regular meetings and facilitated retreats how to move collectively from wide-ranging personal interest to common ground.
[edit] Sustainability Institute
Some Cobb Hill members work at the Sustainability Institute, adjacent to the cohousing village and farm. Dana Meadows, a founding member of Cobb Hill also founded the Institute before her death in 2001. Work at Sustainability Institute is devoted to furthering the transition to sustainability, at levels from the local to the global and the personal to the collective. Through publications, workshops, leadership development, and consulting, the Institute develops and provides tools of systems thinking and organizational learning, and personal development to clients and partners working on issues of sustainability, helping them to be more strategic, engage multiple stakeholders, and learn continuously. Three Institute projects convene diverse stakeholders and support them in understanding and restructuring the system(s) they live and work within in order to make those systems function for the benefit of all involved for the long-term.
