by Hope Horton
It’s been a wet, chilly spring but there’s plenty happening on the land. Hart’s Mill has ten ecosystems across its 112 acres and each one has its own character and species mix.* When Margret Mueller and I got together to plan this nature walk, we decided to head towards the 13-acre splay of streams, trees, and wetlands along our eastern border. Bloodroot and Spring Beauty have been gracing the brown ground with bright white blossoms since late February. Flowering Red Maple trees dot the canopy with sprays of magenta. And with all the rain we’ve been having, the beaver dam displays are numerous and impressive.
March 16th was a great day to take a nature walk. The day dawned clear and breezy and 
seven members met up at the pump house to start heading over to McGowan Creek. We took a detour to Hart’s Ease, where a Honey Locust festoons itself with fearsome thorns along its trunk and branches, with remnants of foot-long seed pods scattered at its feet. From there, we headed north towards Cob Haven, pointing out 3 species of conifers nearby: Loblolly Pine, Virginia Pine, and Red Cedar. At the top of the Far Field, we stopped for a visit with a lone Willow Oak, marveling at its tiny acorn caps and copious branches. Then we headed into the woods.
There are 22 species of deciduous trees that I’ve seen on the land so far, but many are immature, unsuccessfully competing with the Loblolly pines planted in the late 1990’s after a clear cut of several large stands. Not so along McGowan Creek. Due to the steep slopes and regulations protecting wetlands, this rich strip has gorgeous mixed hardwood trees around 80-100 years old, including magnificent American Beech, Tulip Tree, Red Maple, Oak, and Hickory, while Ironwood and Black Willow proliferate nearer the creek.
I took this picture a few days later, after a a heavy rain. The dam has been breached. I wonder what it will look like in a few days after the beavers take stock?
Since trees are just starting to bud, the winding wetland expanse is still visible. McGowan creek, thickly braided with canals and swollen with beaver ponds, is a rich refuge for birds and animals alike. We walked up to the edge of an impressive beaver dam, the first of many dotting the stream like beads on a string. Beavers are nocturnal, but the effects of their tireless labors are visible by day in the way that their dams gracefully sculpt the wetland and by the many pointed tree stumps their extraordinary teeth leave behind.
As for birds, I’ve spied wood ducks, geese, herons (blue and green), and egrets in this area, but they are very skittish and easily spooked. They steered clear of our group, but I know they’re out there for the quiet seeker.
And speaking of quiet, the wetland is anything but this time of year. Gazillions of frogs 
and toads sing their hearts out in a concert that can verge on deafening. Though they were a bit shy with an audience, we heard spring peepers, bullfrogs, tree frogs and many other amphibious utterances as we strolled down the path.
Margret, our fungi forager, pointed out Hexagonal Polypore (Neofavolus alveolaris) clustered along a few beech tree branches. The six-sided pores and golden color evokes a honeycomb. Some sources say it may be edible but its taste and texture leave a lot to be desired. Best to consume it in with your eyes only.
Our group was full of questions, comments, and exclamations of wonder as we wrapped up our walk. We all felt energized and curiously connected after sharing this attentive conversation with the natural world, together.
Redbud blossoms
As the Spring unfolds, every precious part of our land will unwrap many flora-and-fauna gifts and surprises. Each tree, animal, bird, flower, rock, fungus, and soil type has its story, gifts, lore, and singular beauty, and we’ll be exploring many more as our nature walks continue through the spring and summer.
Keep an eye out for the next offering in April. If you have particular knowledge you’d like to share, or something you’d especially like to experience, please be in touch. We’d love to have you join us!
*For descriptions, see the excellent Forest Stewardship Plan prepared by the Eno River Association in 2014.
Thanks to an intrepid band of Hartsmilers working through a cold misty afternoon, the Far Loop Trail in the big southeast leg of our land is now passable all the way around. Margret M and Margaret A, Jeffry, George, Paul, Hope, Nell, and Anthony all helped to clear the last segment on the farthest southeast corner of the land — in what we used to call the Forbidden Territory because it is so far out and for so long seemed so impenetrable. There is more work to be done to make the pathway more commodious and level, but is still fully walkable now. I have yet to measure the length exactly, but my guess is about 2/3 mile. — that’s after about the 1/3+ mile hike from the village area to the trailhead.
Our crew celebrated this “Golden Spike” moment when we joined both sides of the loop trail. Lots of other people worked on this trail too at earlier workdays: I am sure I won’t remember everyone, but those I do remember include Vanessa and Lizel, Tara and Rick with their son John Michael, Virginia, John, Amy, Lisa, and Tami and Whit from Earth’s Turn. I’ll give myself credit for routing and blazing the trail and plugging away at clearing sometimes alone or with a few others, but it’s been the workday energy of crews like today’s that really made it happen. The hot chocolate at Hart’s Nest at the close of the day was a great treat too. Many thanks to you all! 
model, which was consented to by the General Circle on January 28, 2016. (
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. 
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.
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. 
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. 
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.
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?
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!
