ETC '08 - year in review 'optimistic nutshell'

In essence, the Ecovillage Training Center is little more than an educational homestead in an intentional community run as a non-profit business.  We are, at most, farm hands and teachers, helping to improve the homestead while providing ourselves and others like us with educating and edifying opportunities.  The 'ecovillage' itself is The Farm at large.  There exists a true village, and thus far, here at the ETC is enacted a training center entertaining transitory, spontaneous communities.  The true blessing of the entire place is its recognition as a place of benevolent outreach and perennial challenging of the dominant paradigm.  The Ecovillage Training Center is an integral player in The Farm's continued contributions to the creation of a culture of peace, self-reliance, and heartiness.  All the heart work that this year's crew has put in on the homestead has paid off mightily.  We scratched out a profit at times amidst economic turmoil, gave unparalleled courses, and greatly influenced the lives of many bright individuals.  The site has gained an incredible amount of embedded attentive energy, and yet still struggles to maintain itself in a state of negentropy.  We provided permaculture by merely entering our stalwart, idealist energies into a model provided to us by years of tweeking a mold carved out by countless instructors and ecovillagers from years prior.  The same model in previous years had produced some lack-luster results, yet still proved valuable enough to persist into the next season.  We now believe it is due time that some changes be made to the business model to both improve our efficacy in our mission and our business, and to improve the lives of those of us who have chosen to make our livelihoods maintaining and improving the Ecovillage Training Center.   More on that later... stay tuned.