Ruth Baldwin
Here we are -- living in a tiny community in a small community tucked away on the tip of a peninsula that’s on the tip of another peninsula.  We’re out there – literally and figuratively.  What brought a city girl (okay, girl is a relative term) out here to the end of world?  Hmmm …. people, community, big trees, old brick buildings, electric cars, radical ideas, fresh veggies, sandy beaches, coyotes, great restaurants, old hippies, an indie movie theater, festivals and parades.  But mostly, it was an idea that a group of people could come together to build a community in love and trust.  We could love the earth and its creatures and do our best to take care of these gifts and we could trust each other enough to take a giant leap into the unknown.  How’s that working for us?  We learn and struggle, make mistakes, love and help each other and have faith.  I couldn’t ask for more. 

Before joining Port Townsend EcoVillage in mid-2005, I had been a member of Winslow Cohousing Group on Bainbridge Island for nearly 7 years.  I learned so much about working in community there, especially gaining skills in consensus.  The community and people at WCG are still near and dear to my heart. 

The move to Port Townsend was not away from WCG, but towards the more rural setting of Port Townsend and the opportunity to have a hand in shaping a way of life from the ground up.  Learning about permaculture, participating in natural building workshops, non-violent communication skill-building and diversity training are just a few of the opportunities I have experienced in the past couple of years.   Looking back on my start in a large family living in a one-mile square section of Boston, I don’t think there have been many times I have not lived in community.  And since my WCG experience, there’s no way I would ever consider anything but a community life. 

So to get back to that “city girl” comment.  It’s been a while since I could reasonably be called a girl.  I do remember seeing the Beatles live in Boston when I was 13 years old, but I’m young at heart and full of mischief.  I have two wonderful daughters in their late 20’s who are the pride and joy of my life.  I have fulfilling work in a great town full of interesting and lovely people.  I am in good health.  I have a community.  I am blessed beyond all reckoning.  I am full of gratitude. 

Bekka Bloom

Beaches, rainbows, cedars and madronas! Families of Deer crossing main street and a farmer on every corner!  What a wonderful place!

In July 2005, after living in Port Townsend for almost a year, I showed up for a tour of the PTEV, stayed for the meeting and dinner, and was drawn to the community’s welcoming friendliness.  Soon, it was clear how committed this group is to clear and inclusive decision making and honest and respectful communication.  6 years later I find myself building an EcoVillage with a bunch of fun, talented, kind and energized people.
 
Originally from the North Shore of Massachusetts Bay, I’ve been adventuring westward since 1996 when I began traveling to visit intentional communities.  I moved to Port Townsend from Sandhill Farm in northeast Missouri where I enjoyed rural life at an income-sharing community and acquired a passion for growing food.

I’m living across the road from the PTEV while my friends Jim, Terri and I build our earth-sheltered house with shared kitchen and bathroom.  I spend a lot of time on the land especially in the gardens.  I currently serve as the Secretary of the PTEV and have a strong commitment to keeping our documentation organized and complete.

I’m grateful for the simplicity of life in Port Townsend where my commute to work is only a few minutes and a walk on the beach is a short bike ride away.  After a very satisfying career in job training in Boston, I now work assisting adults who live with a disability to connect with vocational opportunities.

In Songlines Community Choir, directed by fellow PTEV’ers Gretchen and Laurence, I’ve discovered that I CAN sing and enjoy it.  When I’m not in the garden, sewing, braiding wool rugs, making collage, watching films, or reading science fiction, you’ll probably find me organizing something.

Maggie Clifford

Maggie was born in 1986 and raised among the maple trees and freshwater seas of Upstate New York. She was first drawn to the Pacific Northwest during the summer of 2006 when she worked as a YMCA summer camp councilor on Vancouver Island. After completing her university studies in 2008 at Virginia Tech, she traveled abroad as a professional musician in Western Europe and India. It wasn't until the fall of 2010 that she visited the Port Townsend EcoVillage and decided, along with her partner Marcelo, that this was the place to begin the joyous work of raising a family. Luken, their son, was born in a reclaimed birth room of the EcoVillage's common house on the fourth of July in 2011. Now that Luken is happy to spend some small blocks of time away from Maggie's arms, she can be found working for the Key City Public Theatre, editing various publications, completing odd jobs around the EcoVillage, and/or expressing herself through performance art - be it on a stage, in a coffee house, or around a campfire. Maggie continues to blossom here at the Port Townsend EcoVillage!

Laurence Cole
Laurence is a 67 year old Grandpa who for most of the last six years was living in the small cabin in the woods at the PTEV. For the last year he has been living in the home of his sweetheart, Deanna Pumplin, who has also become a member of the PTEV. Laurence and Deanna are excited about their plans to build a straw bale house at the EcoVillage sometime in the next year. A student of cultural anthropology and applied behavioral science, and having lived in various intentional communities over much of his life, he has extensive experience in the joys and pitfalls of community living, which has helped him form a deep respect for the uniquely creative and skillful bunch of folks who've been drawn to the PTEV. 

Laurence is a song writer and is the founding director of PT Songlines Community Choir here in Port Townsend, and has just begun co-directing the choir with another PTEV member, Gretchen Sleicher. This year he also just completed a CD and song book of 18 of his songs, entitled “This Fire, (Songs for Singing)” and enjoys travelling to various communities to lead groups in the joyous, community strengthening experience of spirited harmonic singing. Laurence's main focus at the EcoVillage over the years has been the attention he gives to the compost piles, taking great pride in the beautiful, dark and fertile addition to our garden soils every growing season.

Helen Kolff
Helen is an educator and environmental activist.  She has taught high school Sociology, been a family planning educator with Planned Parenthood, helped organize the Beyond War peace movement in Seattle, volunteered as a mediator, planned conferences, written a book on wildflowers of the Peruvian Andes, and spent a lot of time with her husband, Kees, raising their two children.  Currently, she spends her time painting, biking, hiking, doing environmental education through the Northwest Earth Institute, serving on the board of her Unitarian Fellowship, teaching Nonviolent Communication, and working to make the Port Townsend EcoVillage a reality.   

Kees Kolff
Kees is a retired Pediatrician, with experience in public health.  After serving 17 years as Medical Director for an Hispanic Community Health Center (SeaMar) headquartered in Seattle, he and his wife Helen volunteered in the Peruvian Andes for over a year.  They returned determined to live more sustainably and bought the 7 acres that is now the Port Townsend EcoVillage.  Kees loves to sing, hike and backcountry ski.  His greatest passion now is exploring how we can reduce our ecological footprints, both individually and collectively, through intentional community development.  He has served as President of Jefferson Land Trust as well as Mayor of Port Townsend.  In 2000, Kees and Helen lost their son Adam, who built the first earth-bermed passive solar “bedroom” at the ecovillage. Their daughter Adri and her husband Randy live in Seattle, fortunately not too far away.  Kees was born in the Netherlands, and his first name (pronounced “Case”) is the official Dutch nickname for Cornelis.

Marcelo Loures

I was born and raised in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, where I made my living as a biological illustrator and cartoonist. In 2006 I left my dear homeland and moved to Lucca, a random town in the country of my ancestors, Italy, seeking for a new life.

After living ''la dolce vita'' in Tuscany, I embraced a more vagrant way of life and wandered the European continent, spending much of my time camping, mostly in Rainbow Gatherings, and serving in Theravada Buddhist monasteries. Back to urban life, I lived and worked in Stockholm as an illustrator of books for children and in Berlin as the manager of a thriving hostel.

I also made extended visits to India, where I was introduced to the teachings of Ramana Maharshi, which provide me spiritual guidance. During my last stay in that country, my beloved Maggie and I decided to get married and bring a baby to the world. In 2010 we came to Port Townsend looking for a nest and instantly fell in love with the wonderful region, the ecovillage and its amazing people, that is such a loving family. We settled down here in April 2011, in time for the arrival of our first son, Luken.

Deanna Pumplin
Deanna grew up on a small dairy farm in Michigan where neighbors helped each other harvest, and social events centered around Farm Bureau meetings, 4-H, ice cream socials, school and extended family gatherings.  After university music school, Deanna got involved in her son's alternative day care center and an alternative high school, helped start a hands-on children's museum, and began a career as a legal worker with law collectives in Michigan and Seattle.  She worked closely with the National Lawyer's Guild, a progressive organization that promotes the principle of human rights over property rights.  Over the past decade she focused primarily on making prints and books, playing music, and caring for beloved parents and relatives.   Deanna has a life long enjoyment of connection with the natural world through gardening, being around animals, playing in trees, hiking, backpacking, camping, canoeing.  Her connections with Port Townsend EcoVillage folks, especially with her partner Laurence, evolved into a decison to become part of the community.  She's part of the legal team and excited about building community in a variety of ways in this special place.

John Rush

I'm drawn to the ecovillage by my desire to live in community with others who also seek simpler more sustainable ways of living. I'm motivated by the thought of moving ever closer to a lifestyle that the Planet can actually support, and being surrounded by community in the process. 

I was born and raised in the beloved Mountains of Montana, but have lived in the this sweet community of Port Townsend for 25 years now. Though I don't live on site yet, I have been involved with the ecovillage since its conception. I value the mix of community within community.

I have always had a deep connection with nature. The natural world is the basis of my inspiration, spirituality, recreation, basic well-being, and in fact survival. I bring an array of practical skills to the ecovillage, and look forward to co-creating a home there over the next 2 years.

Gretchen Sleicher
Gretchen moved from Seattle to Port Townsend in 2006 to help create this quirky experiment we call the PT EcoVillage. She loves the way this enables her to integrate community, social life, working on a common project for the greater good, cultural shift and spiritual/personal growth and learning. A full and rewarding life here also includes co-directing the PT Songlines choir with fellow ecovillager Laurence Cole, songwriting, making music and conversation with friends, solitude, hiking, kayaking and exploring our beloved Cascadia home, and leading workshops that combine group singing and Joanna Macy's The Work That Reconnects . She's a freelance translator of Spanish and English, has lived and worked extensively in Latin America , is the mother of two wonderful grown children in Seattle, and a sucker for huckleberry pie. Ask her and she'll whip off her necklace and tell you the Story of the Universe in beads.

Marc Weinblatt
Marc is a dedicated father and part-time homeschooler of two beautiful boys – Shae, age 11 and Orion, age 9. Also a dedicated communitarian, he has been exploring, studying, and/or living in intentional community since he was 11 years old. In his work life, Marc has been a professional educator, theatre director, activist, and workshop facilitator since 1980 having extensive experience with both adults and youth. He is Founder and Director of the Mandala Center for Change (www.mandalaforchange.com) and an internationally recognized leader in the use of Augusto Boal's Theater of the Oppressed as well as diversity trainer. He has worked with wide variety of communities ranging from police to homeless youth, grassroots organizers and laborers to University deans. Internationally, Marc has worked with theatre activists in Canada , refugees in Azerbaijan , construction workers in South Africa , actors in the Republic of Congo , and victims of war, among others, in Afghanistan . Marc was recently named "Cultural Envoy" by the U.S. State Department for his work in the Congo in spring 2010. He is committed to bringing a deep sense of spirit and humanity into social justice work as well as to all aspects of his life. The flexibility of his work allows him to do crazy stuff like build an ecovillage and to actively raise his children. Most days, he can be found happily coaching soccer, making music, or reading Lord of the Rings with his family.