Port Townsend EcoVillage: A Brief History

A Brief History of PTEV

Driven by a vision of living more lightly on the Earth, Kees and Helen Kolff met casually with a few friends over Christmas dinner at RoseWind cohousing in 2003 when the idea of an ecovillage emerged. They already owned the 7 acres that is now the Port Townsend EcoVillage (PTEV) and had some experience as members of RoseWind. They had no idea of what it would take, however, to build from scratch an intentional community that tried to minimize its ecological footprint, provide for economic diversity, adhere to compassionate communication, stick with consensus, use permaculture principles, and grow much of its own food.

The first PTEV Advisory Group was formed in February of 2004 with over a dozen members, and a Vision Statement was created that has served us well ever since.

From the Vision we developed a Mandala, which is a model of clarifying how our core values guide our principles and attitudes, from which flow our actions and structures on the land. This method has kept us on track as we explore options for realizing our vision. Realizing that Utopia really means "no place," we continue to struggle between what is ideal and what is practical as we evolve to become more sustainable.

After considering various legal structures over the years, in 2010 we finally settled on organizing ourselves as a Homeowners' Association, primarily to make mortgages and other financial benefits available to our members. We sold 7 of the 12 lots and continued to seek new members.

Our commitment to the 3 main Permaculture principles of caring for the earth, caring for each other, and sharing the surplus was launched by our first 10-day Permaculture certification course with Doug Bullock and Toby Hemenway in 2004. A natural building workshop in 2005 and another Permaculture course in 2006 resulted in several useful and creative structures: a cob bench and oven, a light straw wall play structure for kids, a pump house with natural foundation and living roof, water catchment systems on the shop, and a passive solar food dryer from a roadside refrigerator. Our first annual family camp occurred in the summer of 2006, with over 100 people participating in activities like extracting honey, face painting, pony rides, music, talent shows and campfires.

In 2006 we also had our first Community Supported Agriculture program with about 20 participants planting, weeding and eating from the garden. The experience has been continued each year since then, as we expand our agricultural beds towards our goal of 3 acres. In 2011 our food-growing efforts are scaled back to allow members to build houses.

In 2007 our first model small ecological home was built, using SIPS panels for walls and roof, and sporting Port Townsend's first permitted earthen floor. Many reclaimed and locally-source materials were used. We bought a ZAP (Zero Air Pollution), our first shared electric car that produces 10% of the greenhouse gases per mile compared to our gas cars.

In 2008 we built the shell of a 3600 square foot shop/arts center that we are completing over time and will include a large shop on the first floor and combination of arts and craft space, personal storage and kids' play space on the upper floor. We had a blast at our first zany Zucchini Festival (see Photos).

In 2009 we added an attached greenhouse to the shop/art center, and for several months hosted in it a group of homeschool students who made great use of the land and a warm place to gather.

The year 2010 saw huge advances at the Port Townsend EcoVillage, as summarized in "Highlights of 2010".

The continuing global ecological, economic and social crises make more urgent than ever the need for people to live together more peacefully, justly and gently on the Earth. That is the vision we wish to realize for ourselves and for future generations.