Ozark Permaculture Guild is launching an urban demonstration project in Fayetteville—a hip university town in northwest Arkansas (climate zone 7, 40" of rain per year, latitude 36 N). We have a cooperative structure and are guided by the principles of Earth Care, People Care, Fair Share. Our vision is to create something similar to the Integral Urban House in Berkeley in the 1970s (part of the Farallones Institute) but with a focus on permaculture. We seek additional members who have the passion and skills to help make this happen.

The Fayetteville property has a farmhouse, small cottage, and shed on about one acre with the possibility of purchasing or renting an adjacent two acres to the west and a house to the east. The property also has a swimming pool and two wells. The cottage is home to one member. The three-bedroom farmhouse will house three or four people; one member is currently residing there. We do not have a final design and invite experienced people with a PDC to join us in the design process. One of the major elements is likely to be the conversion of the pool into an aquaculture system/natural pond; we imagine filling it with rainwater harvested from a roof and using nutrient-rich effluent to enrich nearby garden beds. We also imagine edible forests, gardens, bees, humanure, solar power, a greenhouse, poultry, etc.