by Hope Horton
Hart’s mill family home prototype
The purpose at the heart of Hart’s Mill is to help heal the brokenness in our social, economic, ecological, and cultural systems. We are doing this at a time when the need is great but the pathways are not clear or easy. Money and ownership matters are among the most complex and convoluted for members to face. Yet we persist and remain determined to realize our regenerative vision and guiding principles.
In this spirit, 18 members gathered for the February Last Saturday event, hosted by the Financial & Legal Circle. Together, we absorbed and confronted the realities, myths, and opportunities surrounding home ownership in today’s out-of-whack economy. We also came to some clarity about how to move forward on some key issues.
Paul began the session with a review of the limited equity housing cooperative (LEHC) 
model, which was consented to by the General Circle on January 28, 2016. (Click here to view Paul’s complete presentation.) In brief:
- A cooperative is an enterprise formed by a group of people to meet their own self-defined goals. It is owned and run by members to serve its members (not its remote stockholders).
- Members buy a share in the cooperative at a price set by the members. Members also pay a portion of the monthly carrying costs to cover the blanket mortgage, insurance, maintenance fund, etc.
- An LEHC owns and operates housing exclusively for the benefit of its members, who voluntarily—and with a sense of purpose—agree to limit the resale value of their equity holdings (e.g. share value) to promote long-term affordability (rather than short-term, market-driven gain).
Next on the docket, Katy set about busting the myth of traditional home ownership as a great financial investment. This model is a deeply embedded in our culture; it’s an essential promise of the American Dream. But does it really pan out when you look more closely? Consider the financial meltdown of 2008 when millions of people lost their homes as a result of unscrupulous lending practices. Even setting tumultuous economic downturns aside, a good financial investment is usually defined as one that provides stable and consistent growth that exceeds the rate of inflation where assets retain value, have low maintenance costs, and are easy to buy and sell.
While this can be the case in hot housing markets such as San Francisco (and Durham, at the moment), the data tell a different story overall. You may be surprised that the personal finance blog, Observations, reports that the average annual home appreciation adjusted for inflation from 1900-2012 in the U.S. is only 0.1% Moreover, treating housing as an investment has led to a widespread and unsustainable shortage of affordable housing, and ensuring long-term affordability is one of Hart’s Mill’s core values.
So how much is a share in Hart’s Mill going to cost? (Remember, we’re talking about a 
share in EVERYTHING—112 acres of land, a farm, outbuildings, low energy costs, shared resources, community support, etc.) Paul looked at this from a lot of different angles and results have been strikingly similar: we need something like 60 shares of $40,000 each to raise enough of a down payment to secure financing to build the village. While this is as yet preliminary and uncertain, it’s a place to start.
Here’s where we asked for help from the group. Remember, a share is an equity investment in the entire community. And the larger the share payments are, the lower the monthly carrying costs will be per member. Even so, the share price will be a chunk of change. Can we live with this? And if so, how should we set the basis of a share? Per adult? Per square footage? Per living unit? Something else?
We broke into small groups to wrap our heads around these questions. People understood how this preliminary, per-share cost was calculated and generally considered it to be fair and reasonable—even a “bargain” in one member’s words. But is this going to be affordable, particularly considering the diverse spectrum of members that we want to attract?
As for how to set the basis for a coop share, Making it “per adult” seemed as if it had the most support overall. Several ideas for promoting affordability were put forth, such as adding a surcharge for those who can afford it, offering a share discount or giving partners a break. How about assessing a lower basic share cost for everyone and working out how to raise the rest in some other way? Or, could people buy more than one share to lower carrying costs? Can we set up an internal, low-interest fund to help members purchase a share? As you can see, it was a lively and creative discussion.
The next question concerned the “limited equity” part of the equation. Are members 
willing to put a cap on the amount of return on their investment rather than allowing the housing market to dictate price? It was Hope’s turn to speak about why she supports a LEHC. First of all, she stated that how we structure ourselves matters because this will dictate how our community behaves over time. Our current economic systems are set up to maximize profit, benefit individual interests, and avoid responsibility if others are harmed. Hart’s Mill, on the other hand, seeks to be financially self-sustaining over the long term by genuinely serving our relationships with each other and the land.
Citing the book, Owning Our Future, by Marjorie Kelly, Hope summarized two conflicting architectures of ownership:
- Extractive Ownership has a financial purpose: Maximize profit and minimize risk for short-term gain to benefit individual interests. Owners are absentee, disconnected from the life of the enterprise, and trading focuses solely on price and profits controlled by capital markets on autopilot.
- Generative Ownership has a living purpose: Create the conditions for life over the long term with ownership rooted in human hands and controlled by those who are dedicated to a social/ecological mission. Profits are permitted but not maximized, thus balancing fairness and responsibility.
Hart’s Mill’s values place us securely in the Generative Ownership category, and the LEHC is a generative financial model. Hope concluded by expressing the vision that Hart’s Mill could break this ground in North Carolina and inspire other communities near and far to do the same.
We again broke into small groups to consider two more questions:
- How committed are you to the limited-equity approach?
- How do you feel about rentals?
Limited equity received unanimous acclamation in the group. As one person put it, “we’re 
not in this for the money.” As for rentals, people felt that this should be an option, especially for visitors checking us out, for new members who wish to get to know the community before making a commitment (and vice versa) and for others who want more mobility and flexibility. We could generate income as a guest house. Might it even be possible to set up a rent-to-own arrangement?
How to structure rentals was a more complex question. Would we allow absentee ownership? What if the co-op managed all the rentals (no landlords)? We’d need a cap on percentage of rentals vs. owner-occupied units for financing purposes. And what voice would tenants have in governance and decision making?
Bob the builder
This 3-hour gathering was anything but dry! Everyone was engaged in the topics and time flew by. As usual, some felt that there wasn’t enough time to fully absorb the complex issues and offer useful feedback. But overall, members reported being grateful for all the great information, the clarity of presentations, and the creativity of participants.
The Financial & Legal Circle greatly appreciated the attention, input, and ideas received on these crucial questions. Much acclaim was given to Paul for organizing this session, to the presenters, and to other Circle members for their support. Want more? The Financial & Legal Circle wants YOU! Please contact Paul at Voss[at]hawkweed.net if you’d like to get involved.
Jeffry and Margret of Seeing Stars Farm (SSF), with support and assistance from the rest of the Land Stewardship Circle, held a Last Saturday event on January 26 at Hart’s Nest. Sixteen people gathered to launch what we are calling the Community Farming Initiative (a.k.a. “Farm-Aid”, minus the famous musicians, sadly). 
brief history of the milestones in HM’s farm development. Jeffry then showed us Bobby Tucker’s Master Farm Plan, indicating the area currently under development for vegetable farming. He explained that Seeing Stars Farm’s existing arrangement with HM is to farm for ourselves for now with the understanding that this will transition to community farming as soon as appropriate.
especially P&I #3. This will require education, practice, trial-and-error, and so on. Though doing this is challenging without a physical community in place, it seems like a good idea to make a small start on this now. SSF has been farming on our land for two years. We’ve learned a lot and can assist with this new project almost immediately. 
Goals:
the project this year. Jeffry laid out what SSF would and would not do to support the members, the idea being to help and advise but not actually grow the crops(!). Sales will be through The Chapel Hill Farmers Market, and possibly also internally to HM folks.
Our last activity involved using “commitment cards” to get specific information about members’ interest in participating. We were so gratified and excited to find that every single attendee signed on for either a growing team or as backup support! We now have in place two teams, interested in such crops as specialty potatoes, Asian greens, cut flowers, beets, and herbs.
he New Year’s Planning Party on January 13th lived up to its name, with music, dancing, food, fascinating conversation — and a solid path for getting to groundbreaking! 2019 is THE YEAR for Hart’s Mill to pull all the pieces together towards building the integrated Ecovillage of our dreams. Plans for the community farm are well underway, forest stewardship (the Wood Wide Web) has begun, and now we’re blazing to build the village in 2020. 
The timeline lays out an ambitious and optimistic (but not delusional) path focused on getting to groundbreaking. Katy Ansardi and others worked tirelessly with Allie to identify key benchmarks aligned across several project elements that will guide us through the year. It’s a great education in Ecovillage development to see all that must be accomplished compressed on a single page! 
will Hart’s Mill look like/feel like in 5 years? What will we be doing? How will we be living when we are on the land, together? It was a rich experience to go inside and visualize what Hart’s Mill has meant to us, explore the joys and challenges, and envision our lives based on the many Principles and Intentions that have moved us thus far.
And now….let’s celebrate! Turn up the music, clear the dance floor, enjoy the food and libations, and mostly–have fun with each other! It was a great way to energize all that we have become, all that we are, and all that we will create to make this corner of the world more beautiful, more loving, more sustainable and regenerative. And a lot less crazy.
That’s what happened Saturday, December 8, when a few hardy souls met at Hart’s Mill (in 40-degree weather) to get started with our 
on Stand 6, respectfully removing some pines from crowded areas and less respectfully whacking every invasive privet and ailanthus sapling we could find. For now, the logs and trimmings are in segregated piles lining the driveway, the former to be chipped for mulch, and the latter to provide habitat and weed suppression while it degrades into useful nutrients for the land.
Much gratitude to Randy, Jeffry, Hope, Nell, Virginia, and Margret for this rewarding workday.
at Hart’s Nest on November 17-18 exploring and applying a development and design process called regenerative development. The aim was to discover how regenerative development might add to and enhance the work of Hart’s Mill. Many thanks to Hope, Joe, Katy, Maria, Marilyn, Paul, and Randy for participating. 
regenerative development is a system of methodologies that develops capacities in living systems to continually evolve to higher levels of health and well-being, from the scale of individuals to sites, neighborhoods, cities, and beyond. Regenerative development is different from other approaches in several ways. It shifts us from:
Regenerative development charts a path for thrivability within which more specific regenerative and ecological design technologies and strategies may be used. These include biophilia, biomimicry, bioclimatic design, Permaculture, regenerative agriculture, and Living Building and Community Challenges.
We also found thinking about Hart’s Mill as part of the Upper Neuse River Basin helpful. Looking at how all of these scales relate to one another, we explored ecological and social flows, patterns, and relationships that have given, currently give, and could give your community and its surrounding landscape vitality. We looked at elements for life including water, organisms (including people), nutrients, soil, infrastructure, and information, among others. We discovered that west-east flows of humans, commerce, water, and creatures (beavers, coyotes, foxes, turtles, birds) have been and continue to be important. We found that connections, exchanges, and mutually-beneficial relationships amongst these elements are important for vitality.
We began exploring potential collaborations and guild relationships. These are relationships within the larger community that would result in mutual benefits for all. Potential members include neighbors, other local communities, Minka Farms, Triangle Land Conservancy, Eno River Association, Orange County Planning Department, City of Mebane, Commission for the Environment, local universities and schools, green developers, Sally Greene (Orange County Commissioner). Participants noted some actions that can be taken right now to generate income and move towards Hart’s Mill’s vision, including on-line teaching and beginning an educational center at Hart’s Nest.
For our next weekend workshop, we intend to evaluate Hart’s Mill’s current principles, vision, and mission using its regenerative development concept and the regenerative community development evaluation tool. We will then use the tool to co-create regenerative development goals and strategies specific to Hart’s Mill. We will then use the tool to discuss how specific design technologies and strategies can help implement regenerative development. We will discuss potential regenerative development indicators for your community. We will also explore your role as regenerative individuals in enabling vitality in Hart’s Mill and beyond.
This is the time of year for general garden clean-up and preparation for the next wave of plantings. On October 28 we had a Fence-Raising on our land, a take-off on the concept of barn-raisings, which operate on the idea that “many hands make light work”. Jeffry plotted out a new, much larger area for the farming activities, which includes enough space to maneuver the tractor inside the fence. 60 ten-foot T-posts were pounded in to mark the perimeter, with help from Paul and Randy. Old deer fencing, chicken wire, and posts were wrestled out of the morning-glory-vine-covered borders by Margret and Nell, while Marsha, Paul and Jeffry started putting up the new 8-foot deer fencing. 
storage container and tractor shed. Three loads of trash and recycling were sorted and hauled off thanks to the efforts of Nell, Paul, Hope, Lisa, Margret, Randy, Jeffry, Tara, Rick, 4 1/2-year-old John-Michael, and two visitors, Terry O’Keefe and Mary Johnston. By 5 o’clock the temperature had dropped into the low 40’s and we were more than ready to gather around a fire and share some yummy food. A special treat was wild mushroom soup, made from maitake mushrooms previously gathered right from our land! 
Last month, Paul loaned me this book, which has provided the latest fodder for a many month long contemplation on how to best serve the Harts Mill forest (and people). It’s a great read and a helpful guide for me as I embark on a couple year effort that will mostly entail, in the forestry profession’s lingo, a “thinning” of parts of the forest. While it’s beyond the scope of this post to delve too deeply into either my own contemplation or the nitty gritty of what the Land Stewardship Circle has been chewing on, there is a 
To set the context, Hope led us in a review of the key values that are guiding the development of our architectural plans. It’s a wonder that there are more than 50 of them! Using a large Wheel of Sustainability taped to the wall, participants selected pre-marked post-its and placed each value in the most appropriate category. Here’s a sample: Social values in play include shared spaces and resources, shared dwellings, supporting diversity, a balance of public and private spaces, accessibility for all ages and abilities, and connected flow between homes. Ecological values include compact village layout, orientation to sun and wind, low 
energy demands, natural, local, and recycled/able materials, attractive outdoor spaces, kitchen gardens. Culture/Worldview values include intimacy with the natural world, a movement from “I” to “We”, inspiration, beauty and creativity. Economic values include economic viability, small homes, fewer possessions and more sharing, affordable housing and low building costs, self-build options, multi-use spaces, cooperative ownership model, flexible housing to meet different needs, and fairly comparable dwellings — no built-in inequality.
Next, I came forward (electronically, from Chile…) to briefly review the last six months of intensive planning work that have brought us to this point and that informs the plans we were about to unveil.
Katy then unveiled the floorplans and elevations for the two prototypes. She walked us through each of them in turn. You can find them 
repeatedly pointed to the thoughtfulness of the layouts, the flow of the spaces, the prospect of well-lit interiors, many outdoor spaces, and the earthiness of the colors and finishes as very attractive features. In fact the biggest complaint we got was a general dislike of the wet bar in the bedroom of the two-room suite, which is easily changeable with a few strokes at the architect´s keyboard. Those of us who have had our noses to this particular grindstone for months (OK, actually, it´s really fun sometimes too, but still a long haul) are gratified and grateful all around – to the community, to Jonathan Lucas, and to each other – for a job done well. And now, onward!
Hope and Paul walked the trails and did some minor clearing. They reported that a large dead pine came down between the tractor shed and the pump house, thankfully missing both structures as well as the trailer holding our two precious solar panels. I was also pleased to see that this was not the dead pine the Pileated woodpeckers had chosen for a home!
workday dawned clear, bright, and cool. The major workday plan was for trail maintenance. Hope and Maria tackled our newest wetland trail while Jeffry, Margret, Lisa, George, Vanessa and Lizel worked on the McGowan Creek trail. We met Paul and visitor Jamie coming from the opposite direction, and we all converged on the cob house to admire Joe and Randy lime-coating the nearly-completed structure. Randy was called upon to give an impromptu explanation of this project. 
It was not until Jeffry backed the tractor out of the shed so I could mow, that we noticed Michael’s more extensive effect. A large pine tree had fallen onto the roof of the tractor shed from behind, crushing a portion of the metal roof and cracking three rafters! With Vanessa’s “seize the moment” attitude, a team was assembled to tackle the repair on the spot. With George acting as foreman, he, Vanessa, Jeffry, Paul and Lizel utilized our hydraulic jack and existing scrap lumber and nails, and Voila! The shed was repaired. Spontaneous cooperation in action!
