HANOVER ECO-VILLAGE

In the Hanover Eco-village, as in many other communities, there is someone who knows how to fix cars; a computer wizard or two; many musicians, artists, and poets; a worm-composting deva; an astrologer, a Tarot reader, several Gangaji devotees, a Rumi scholar, some political activists, many creative cooks, a carpenter, teachers of many subjects and many age groups, and some enthusiastic young and old men constructing a house of clay, sand and straw under the apple and loquat trees in our back yard. And twelve cats, at least. A community takes care of one another. My first experience of that was having a complete stranger help me move in, just because I clearly needed a hand!

A community can create a fantastic mural, even when only a few of the painters are actually "artists." The local pizzeria, where many a discussion or celebration has been held, now boasts a full-wall mural depicting Lake Merritt and many Eco-villagers engaged in typical activities: Becky plays the piano, Marshall and Joanne are dancing, as are Cathy and Paul; Dave engages in discussion with Tony, Dawn, and Lauren, while sharing a pizza; Stephen plays his flute, Arias sculpts a cob elephant, Laurie plays with worms, Kent sings into the mike, Raven holds forth to an audience of geese, and Peter, puffing on a cigarette, paints the leaning tower of Pisa...

Here are some impressions of life in the Ecovillage:

the smell and taste of freshly baked pies from the back yard apple tree
a bag of day-old bread from the local bakery on our front porch
trying to talk subletter Jihad out of waging an unholy war against the ants with his can of Raid
30 people in the kitchen serving up potluck dinner; then sprawled on cushions in the living room planning the calendar for the next month
the astonishing cob (clay-sand-straw) sea-turtle house in the back yard, with human and elephant faces emerging in odd places, and colorful glass bottles here and there adding to the windows
Bernard gamely cobbing with one arm in a sling, while Arias did a handstand for the camera
burned pots soaking in the sink (electric stoves are an abomination!)
the sound of Arias playing the violin
straw everywhere--in the laundry room, the porch, the rug
hunting for my pots and pans
swapping a book for an astrology reading
a giant tarp on the living room floor while 15 people create art from all sorts of scrap materials
harvesting the last tomatoes in November and eating them even now
never quite enough space to keep all my stuff
hanging out in the kitchen joking with Laurie and Anna
the front porch full of flyers for candidates, a free box of clothes, Permaculture brochures, mail to be forwarded to previous housemates
Saturday morning: four people work on their cars while Walter assists
cat shit under the bike rack again: !*&@*%?!
sidewalk chalk art