It’s been quite some time since we sent out a newsletter; we’ve been busy! Rather than wait still longer, we wanted to give you an update on what’s happening in our little ecovillage.

We’re excited that two new homes are scheduled to break ground this fall, which will bring the total number of homes to 11, and make us officially more than 1/3 full! But don’t worry, there’s still plenty of room for you to join us, if you could stand living in a central New York paradise. 🙂

There’s been a combination of things that have been occupying our attention here.

The first is that it’s summer! Unlike last year, we’ve had quite a bit of rain, and the land is amazing! Our apple trees are full, and wild blackberries and chanterelle mushrooms have been spotted (and eaten.)

We’ve been spending a lot of time swimming in our pond, which warmed up nicely. Back in June only the top six inches were warm, and it was CHILLY below, but now the whole thing has warmed up beautifully, and it’s a rare day that you don’t see some of us–children and adults–swimming and playing down there.

The second is that we’ve been deep in infrastructure projects that will allow homes to be built on the northern half of the circle. With the third well house nearly complete, and plans submitted to the health department for our water system, there’s a lot going on. There’s still plenty more to do, of course–for instance, there’s the septic expansion that will be needed after the water system is complete, but we’re saving details for another time.

Finally, we’ve had a lot of visitors recently. The interest in living at White Hawk has never been higher, and we have a list of folks who’ve started the membership process and are just waiting for us to get that water system completed so they can start building.

We’re not in danger of filling up in the next year or two, but from where we were a few years ago, it’s becoming easier and easier to envision our circle of 30 homes as full!

Some things to watch for, coming in the fall:

Equinox! September 23 is our annual Equinox Celebration. It’s always fun, with local community and friends joining us for live music, lawn games, kid’s activities, potluck dinner, a friction fire demo and a cider press. Come on out and enjoy our 120 acres with us! It’s totally free, and just a fun gathering. 5-9pm. Rain date September 30. More details at the Facebook event (we’d appreciate RSVPs, but they’re not necessary).

Hazelnut planting! (And fencing.) One of our projects is an acre we’re going to be planting with hazelnuts! The hard work of putting in the black locust fence posts has been done. What remains is to put up the fencing itself. We’ll be organizing a work party (or two) to get the 1000 feet of fencing up. We don’t have a date scheduled yet, but if you’re interested in helping put up the fencing and then, later in the fall, helping to plant the first 100 trees, just let us know–we’d love the support!

With summer slowing down, we’re hoping to communicate a little more frequently.

With huge appreciation,

Mark, Kartik, Serena and Susan
(the White Hawk Ecovillage outreach team)

Interested in visiting or having a tour? We love to meet people! Start with our website. When you’re ready, contact us to start the conversation!