Piñon Ecovillage - Full Membership

Piñon Ecovillage
Full Membership
(a.k.a. Aspenwood)

Aspenwood is a small, family-style, egalitarian community where we share labor, resources and income, working together on community projects and businesses, sharing the fruits of our labors, and supporting each other emotionally and financially. Our population has varied from 4 to 10 since our founding in May, 2001, and is around 5-6 most of the time. We plan to have a total population of around 10 people once renovations are complete.

Aspenwood members, prospective members, interns and visitors live together in Aspenwood House, a large old adobe house which we are in the process of renovating. Our planned renovations include installing new roofs, plumbing, wiring, plaster, and more. We expect our planned renovations to take several years, and in the meantime, our accomodations are fairly "rustic".

Each Aspenwood (Full) member has their own private bedroom in Aspenwood House. Common areas (kitchen, dining room, living room, etc.) are shared by Full and Associate members of Piñon Ecovillage.

Aspenwood is a sub-community of Piñon Ecovillage, a community dedicated to environmental and social sustainability. Piñon Ecovillage's property (land and buildings) is collectively owned by its Full (Aspenwood) members, with no buy-in fee or joining fee of any kind. We make major decisions by consensus.

Income-Sharing

Aspenwood is an egalitarian, income-sharing community where each member is valued equally and has equal access to resources. Because of our system of sharing, our members enjoy a high quality of life and work fewer hours per week total than most people spend just on income-generating work and commuting.

Each Full member works a certain number of hours per week - this is called working "quota". Work that counts towards quota is called "quotable", and includes any activity that the members decide is valuable to the community, such as:

income-generating work in or outside the community
cooking
cleaning
renovations/repairs
gardening/yard work
community meetings
outreach, and
certain volunteer work outside the community

Members are not required to turn over any "outside assets" (real estate, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, savings accounts, etc.), but must keep their outside assets separate and not use them while they are member. In this way, our egalitarian system, where every member is valued equally and has equal access to resources, is preserved. Members may, if they wish, donate any or all of their outside assets and income to the community, or loan them at a negotiated interest rate. Personal belongings (clothing, etc.) remain the member's individual property.

Piñon Ecovillage
Full Membership Process

If you are considering Full membership at Piñon Ecovillage, please follow these steps:

1. Read Piñon Ecovillage's web site thoroughly.

2. Send/email us a Letter of Introduction, telling us about yourself. For couples, groups and families, please send a separate letter from each person. Please include ALL of the following information:

how you heard about Piñon Ecovillage
your mailing address, phone number, email address, and any other contact info
values and interests
current work and living situations
what interests you about community living in general
what drew you to Aspenwood in particular
any previous experience with living in community (not required), including what you liked about it and what didn't work for you
any questions you have about the Ecological Covenants, Full Membership Agreement, and/or Piñon Ecovillage in general
which 1-week visitor period you would like to come for

3. Once we have received and reviewed your letter(s) of introduction, we will contact you to confirm that you are scheduled for the 1-week visitor period of your choice.

4. After your 1-week visit, if things are going well, the next step toward Full membership is a 1-2 month Community Living internship, which can follow directly after your 1-week visit, or can be done at a later date. After your Community Living internship, you will be considered for trial Full membership if you wish. The trial period lasts up to 6 months. Trial members, like Full members, work 15-25 hours per week on income-generating work (in or outside the community). Trial members' opinions and ideas are welcome and respected, but they may not block consensus.

What We Are Looking for in Prospective Members

We are looking for people who have a pioneering spirit (we are a newly formed community with lots of work ahead of us), don't mind fairly rough accomodations (the place needs a lot of repairs and renovations), are hard-working self-starters, and are committed to working towards social and environmental sustainability.