About
Who we are...
We are a growing collective of nearly forty adults and eight children spanning three generations who live, learn, work, and celebrate life together on hundreds of acres of farm and wilderness in West Sonoma County, sharing five residences among us which are part of the historic ranch compound.
We are ecologists, farmers, educators, child-rearers, artists, and re-thinkers.
We are part of the larger movement of “Cultural Creatives” that value peace, personal and ecological well-being, justice, and the expansion of consciousness.
Who we’re looking for to join us...
(Both as residential members and non-residential members)
We appreciate that every prospective member has a distinctive range of talents and personality traits that can benefit the wider community in unique ways. Generally, we look for flexible team-players, good communicators, and people committed to honest transparency. More particularly we’re interested in financial partners and people with time, energy, and skills to offer the endeavor. We hope to attract eco-conscious entrepreneurs so that we can host more on-site businesses. We also value those who can help in the building /carpentry trades. We can always use more permaculture & farmer folk, those with knowledge of forestry and tree care,those with knowledge of herbal medicine , people practiced in animal husbandry and the business of edible mushroom cultivation. We also are interested in green technology engineers and need help from people with web design experience and legal expertise.
Where we’re located...
13024 Green Valley Road is in the rural, unincorporated part of Sebastopol, California, closest to the small town of Graton and situated between the towns of Sebastopol, Forestville, Guerneville, and Occidental in West Sonoma County, not far from the Northern California coastal area of Bodega Bay. We are four miles from the intersection with state Highway 116. Santa Rosa, the largest city in Sonoma County, is less than a thirty minutes’ drive away.
We inhabit an edge-ecosystem where a mixed forest of Redwood, Fir, Oak, Bay and Madrone meets acres of open valley bottomland. The 158-acre forested parcel we call WildNest is the top edge of the watershed for Green Valley Creek, a year-round flowing stream (and important salmon habitat) that travels through our property en route to the Russian River.
Based on archeological evidence, we’re situated where Pomo people once lived. At the turn of the last century, the Giovannini family procured the property and prospered in the businesses of cattle grazing, dairy ranching, and lumbering wood.
Good times to Visit…
On the Second Sundays of each month, we have an "open-ranch." Starting in July we will be having summer second SATURDAYS, an all day open house where potential members can experience a whole day of life at Green Valley Village. This is when we're most prepared to orient newcomers and is the best introduction to the land. You will be guided on a walking tour to see our Farm and Pond, goats, chickens, lamas, etc. The tour starts to gather at 3PM at the Main Barn (visible from main entrance @ 13024 Green Valley Road.) Please bring good walking shoes, a sun hat, water bottle, and dress in layers. A Potluck Dinner starts at 5 PM. Often we have live music starting at 6 or so. An RSVP is appreciated (esp. for the tour so we know to wait a bit if you're running late), but not necessary.
On Saturdays we generally have a work party starting at 10 AM - 1:30 PM. At noon a resident will show any interested guests the available living spaces. Meet at Main Barn (visible from main entrance @ 13024 Green Valley Road.) Please bring work gloves and sturdy shoes, a sun hat, water bottle, and dress in layers. Lunch is at 1:30. People who participate in our work party are welcome to be our guests for lunch. Otherwise, we ask you to bring a potluck contribution so there's sure to be plenty of food. Please RSVP to Elise, info@greenvalleyvillage.com or 707-569-6512.
On Mondays we have a dinner at 6:45 PM in summer, 6 PM in winter, usually at the Main Barn lounge but sometimes in a residential house. Contact info@greenvalleyvillage.com to RSVP and confirm dinner location. We ask guests to bring a potluck contribution, although if that's inconvenient, helping clean up can be a great contribution, too.
Every Monday we follow the meal with our weekly member meeting.
Guests interested in Exploratory Residency are welcome to stay for the first half, from 7:45 until the break around 8:30ish, so that they can introduce themselves to the community and witness some of our group decision making process.
On Thurdays we have a dinner at 6 PM, usually at the old Mill Site / CRIC house (Cultural Rehabilitation Internship Center.) Pass the main entrance @ 13024 Green Valley Road and take the third right turn to the main entrance of this northern part of the property. After Thursday meals we have a heart circle forum for residents. In order to create a safe container for residents to share deeply, this forum is typically not open to guests.
When we have vacancies, there can be a tour of the available spaces at 5 PM if arranged ahead of time; on Mondays or Thursdays. Contact info@greenvalleyvillage.com to RSVP and confirm location of tour meet-up space (usually at main barn).
When we formed...
“Land Scout” Chris Paine had already been looking for land suitable for intentional community for years by the time he met his future wife Kai Harris in 2002. Together they searched from a home-base in Sebastopol for nearly two more years with their housemate Raphael Wolf before they discovered Green Valley Ranch in spring of 2004. Chris and Kai rented an available cottage on the property and encouraged Raphael to find others to share the rental of the large Victorian house that was unoccupied at the time. Sojourning member Lindsay Hassett (aka Betty Biodiesel) responded to this initial call to create land-based community.
In the winter of 2004, Chris joined with his father Michael Paine to purchase outright “WildNest” -- the 158-acres of undeveloped forested land adjacent to the compound ranch.
As additional houses became vacant on the property over the year 2005, more members currently part of the village joined our Land-family. The community helped to host the marriage ceremony of Chris and Kai who adopted the new surname Panym , held on the Wildnest Forest in August of 2005.
In the final days of the year 2005, after arduous negotiations, Michael Paine became the new owner of the 170-acre compound ranch with multiple dwelling units and old mill site, as well as an additional adjacent 23-acre parcel.
Feeling more securely anchored, the years 2006-10 brought tremendous growth to the fledgling community. Rhythms became established for meetings, celebrations, cooking rotations, and work parties.
At the start of the new decade, we are currently working on forming an LLC that will hold a long-term lease from the M.R.P. Trust that holds title to the property.
What we are creating...
Our Bigger-Picture Vision
We envision a world in which every being’s unique contribution weaves together a vibrant web of harmonious inter-relationship. We bring this larger vision home by walking the path of an embodied spirituality that is rooted deeply in loving relations, life-affirming economics, music & dance, on-going learning, and connection with nature. We join others regionally and globally in sending out ripples of positive influence, encouraging the evolution of joyful and sustainable communities that promote prosperity and justice for the next seven generations and beyond.
Mission
We are dedicated to modeling an intentional, integrated culture that fulfills the broad spectrum of our human needs in harmony with all Life. To insure balanced development of ourselves and future generations, we pay attention to the following spheres: personal & ecological health, honest & loving kinship, life-long learning & holistic education, resourceful ingenuity & creative expression, and peace within and without, honoring our interconnection with all that is. We aim to help revolutionize how humans meet their needs on a national and global scale as well so as to usher in a new era of conscious and compassionate humanity.
Specific Projects Include:
~ We have 7 milking goats and two yearlings, laying chickens, and a large vegetable garden.
~ We're entering our fourth year of the Green Valley C.S.A, which prepares dozens of boxes of produce to CSA members every week
~ We host regular sweat lodges, full moon fires, heart circles, and yoga classes
~ The CRIC House (Cultural Rehabilitation and Internship Center) is part of the WWOOF network (Willing Workers on Organic Farms), offering people from all over the world a lively and engaging place to sojourn, abundant food, and diverse opportunities to develop skills in sustainable living… all in exchange for Willing Work. CRIChouse.BlogSpot.com
~ We are researching cottage industry potentials, including aquaponics, mushroom cultivation, hybrid adobe, greenhouse design, and alternative fuel creation (ethanol, methane, solar, etc.) and have a licensed oak tree nursery onsite.
How we are guided...
Our (Abridged) List of Values and Principles
Earth to the North: Realm of the Material World
* We treat the environment with respect, acknowledging and celebrating our kinship will all life.
* We treat ourselves with respect, noting the need to balance individual care with that of the wider community.
* We aim to safeguard and nurture the diversity of life with special attention towards native species.
* We seek to create & support our local economy by using & producing resources as close to home as possible
* We seek prosperity through working in harmony with nature to create products which truly serve human need.
Air to the East: Realm of the Mind & Intellect
* Through clear, honest communication, we seek mutual understanding.
* We value understanding the Laws of Nature through scientific inquiry.
* We are a community where everyone is a teacher and everyone is a student.
* We each seek to “Know Thyself,” and see living in intentional community as supportive of this evolving process of inquiry and reflection.
* We encourage the full expression of the potential of genius and wisdom in each and every one of us.
Spirit at the Center: Realm of Connection to the Divine
* We practice presence.
* We practice seeing and honoring the divinity in everything and everyone around us.
* We care about our interconnection with all of life and thus act consciously, aware of the bigger picture.
* We maintain an attitude of gratitude and a perspective of abundance.
* We cherish and cultivate the impulse to serve the common good.
Fire to the South: Realm of Power to Transform & Create
* We honor the creative process in its many forms: music, dance, arts & crafts, poetics, architecture, invention...
* We respect peoples’ unique contributions.
* We value “solutions – oriented” thought, discussion, and actions.
* Our intention is that life in our community maximizes the creative potential of every resident.
* We endeavor to harness the creative energies of community members to create a diverse array of prosperous cottage industries.
Water to the West: Realm of Conscious Kinship
* We perceive, love, and accept ourselves and others exactly as we are.
* We are courageously honest and transparent with ourselves and others who may have differing views.
* We are nonviolent in our words and actions, acknowledging our own and other’s short-falls with compassion.
* We take our place responsibly, recognizing the impact we have and our contribution.
* We come from a place of fun, humor, joy, and good-nature as often as we can!
Why land-based community...
We recognize the critical times on our home-planet earth. Mass extinction, habitat degradation, global warming, political unrest, and economic injustice are outgrowths of unconscious and unwise human activities compounded by our exponentially growing population. These complex challenges are, thankfully, coupled with unparalleled opportunities. The Chinese pictograph for the word crisis highlights this duality by containing the images for both danger and opportunity within it. To name but a few opportunities of our era: women in many parts of the world are enjoying more equality and freedom than they have in the last few thousands of years; the Internet allows for nearly instantaneous global communication and exchange of ideas; spiritual seekers may learn from ancient wisdom traditions previously available only to a select few. The question of our times is whether we will capitalize on our innumerable opportunities to meet the myriad challenges with love instead of fear, generosity instead of greed, wisdom instead of ignorance. Buckminster Fuller summed up our era as “humanity’s final exam.”
How does a conscious human being respond to the challenges of our times? We come together in community to live the answer to this most compelling question. We recognize that we as humans all have needs that can be categorized as physical, emotional, intellectual, creative, and spiritual. We endeavor to create a cultural context that allows for us to meet these needs in ways that regenerate and give back to the web of life rather than depleting the ability of future generations (of human and non-human species) to meet their needs.
We come together to support one another in becoming our fullest expressions of who we are so that we can each facilitate this “Great Turning” of human collective consciousness, moving away from a sense of isolation and toward integration. We hope that our community can serve as a model and inspiration for others to likewise “bloom where you’re planted.”
Our elder beneficiary Michael Paine has been pondering issues relating to cultural evolution for decades, and has distinct ideas about how a shift in the understanding of “value” could radically alter our economic system for the better. Why should unemployment be a given? Is it wise to be a “post-Industrial” nation that ceases to produce the things it needs? Green Valley Village aims to work out of a new paradigm that calls these questions to the fore by successfully demonstrating another way that benefits all life. Of this, we are certain: economic principles must work in harmony with basic laws of nature for our home-planet and those who inhabit it to survive and thrive. One key aspect to why we are forming, then, is to explore and model how humans can more intentionally integrate economics and ecology.
The evolving ownership structure...
Philosophically, most of us like to think of "honor-ship" of land rather than ownership. We intend to work within the current legal system, however, to create a more communal situation that shares ownership responsibilities and decision-making power amongst committed, long-term members.
The 170-acre historic ranch with many acres of growing land, a large pond, year-round creek, forest wilderness, and the retired mill site which brings with it limited commercial zoning was purchased in 2006. The land is currently held by the Michael Ralph Paine Trust, and there is still a $700,000 mortgage at a 3.75+ % floating interest rate on the main compound parcel. We are open to individuals privately loaning money to the project to replace the bank loan. We prefer potential financial partners to begin their participation in this way for the first year while getting acquainted with the project and community members.
Since the compound parcel is held in Trust, there is no “co-ownership” opportunity for this parcel. There is a committee working to form an LLC which would broker a long-term lease from the Trust. The LLC will manage shares that can be earned either through capital investment or sweat equity. We are still in the development stages of our ownership structure and are looking for future land partners who are willing to work with us to create the necessary legal entities, which will likely contain a Non-Profit component as well.
The additional adjacent 158 and 23-acre parcels of woodland were purchased in 2005 and 2006, respectively, and are zoned for potential building sites. The 23-acre piece may have a market value of around $400,000. Prospective GVV members wanting to build their own homes should obviously factor in the costs of development as well; water wells need to be dug, logging roads improved, and septic plans established before construction can begin. We are considering splitting the 158 acres we call "WildNest Forest" into three 40 + acre parcels, though this is a complex process. We imagine having more traditional ownership structures for these parcels.
Anyone interested in building a private home should be prepared to invest considerable time in getting to know the community. Ideally, these prospective members would live in one of the six rental units initially and/or while their home is being built. Current residents are on a month-to-month rental arrangement; we will balance their needs for housing with the openness to create vacancies for a family that is a potential financial land partner and has specific vision and skills to offer the endeavor.
There are obviously more details to share; please don’t hesitate to ask a member in person or call Elise at 707-569-6512 or email info at greenvallyvillage dot com with any questions you may have.
Please come visit and get to know us
~ explore becoming part of our family!
If you have interest or questions, please write to Info at GreenValleyVillage . com
If that is not an option you may call Elise 707-569-6512 for dialogue or directions.
