Crystal Waters Permaculture Village is a community working toward balanced natural ecology
Welcome to Crystal Waters Permaculture Village. Located an hour and a half north of Brisbane, Australia, Crystal Waters is a fun place to live where everyone, from kids to grannies and grandpas, pitch in and get their hands dirty. A diverse community, their common goal is to achieve a balanced, natural ecology. Join me in following their journey from dream to reality.
Image: Muddy Hands
Living in harmony with the land and each other
Crystal Waters villagers are keenly committed to social and environmental responsibility. While individuals own their homes and property, which account for approximately twenty percent of the 640-acre village, they hold the remaining eighty percent, considered "the best land," in common. This land is used for joint agricultural and forestry projects. Sustainability, preservation, and reclamation are the bywords. Crystal Waters is all about living in harmony with the land--and with each other. Read on ...Image: Crystal Waters Map
Images used with permission and gratitude
Images, unless otherwise identified, courtesy of Crystal Waters Permaculture Village and used with permission. Each module will have a link to the Crystal Waters web page on which the image resides. Thank you, Crystal Waters villagers, for making it possible to dress this lens with your images.Village commerce
Unlike cohousing projects, an ecovillage such as Crystal Waters may be partially zoned for commerce. Approximately two hundred people live in the village today, some of whom earn their livelihood there. The population is expected to top out at about three hundred.Image: Club Tuckerimba,
formerly Crafty Bites Shop
Home grown livelihood
Some residents earn their living entirely within the village. Crystal Waters sports a realty, cafe, artisan bakery, resort, cottage industries, international educational facilities, and light industry.Locally, villagers market wholesome breads, organically grown food from their gardens and fields, products made sustainably from their forests, designer jewelry and other handcrafted products. Music lovers and the curious, for example, can learn to play the Slide Didge--the world's first variable-pitch didgeridoo--during their visit to the village, and they can take home beautifully handcrafted models.
Image: Tribal Edge workshop
A smattering of Crystal Waters businesses
Just a few ...
- Natural Attitudes Health Retreat
- Provides educational, inspirational residential private one-on-one retreat programs for detox, rejuvenation and life transformation. Your wholistic stay includes the benefits of the natural, peaceful environment for healing and sampling fresh-from-the-garden, organic produce for your cleansing living foods cuisine.
- SEED International
- Sustainability Education and Ecological Design (SEED) Provides consultation and training in ecological design.
- Green Harvest Organic Gardening Supplies
- Purveyor of organic gardening books and supplies, including pest and weed solutions
Sharing the beauty of Crystal Waters Village
Tourism supports village life as well. Visitors from around the globe enjoy wildlife, wooded hillsides and natural streams while relaxing in the spa, taking massages, and soaking up as much information as they care to about permaculture, sustainable building, and ecovillage life. Campers can get even more up close and personal with the wildlife and beauty of the area.Image: Furry visitor
Sharing the vision
People come from all over the world to attend workshops and learn about permaculture, organic gardening, forest reclamation, and ecovillage structure. University students majoring in environmental studies and ecology enjoy tremendous opportunities through internships.Image: A group breakout area
Want to know more about permaculture?
BILL MOLLISON WROTE THE BOOK
Mollison's Introduction to Permaculture is one of the best places to start. Permaculture is more than land husbandry. Permaculture is about personal responsibility and personal ethics. It's feel good all over, warm fuzzy stuff--and it really can change the world. Some say it's the only thing that can change the world.
Introduction to Permaculture
This man wrote the book--that is, he is counted among the inventors of the concept of permaculture. Reviews on this books are hot! So go get it!
Avg. Customer Rating: 
Amazon Price: (as of 12/06/2009) 
List Price: $16.95
The land
From the beginning, the founders and designers planned for sustainability through permaculture. Before they built a single road or structure, they analyzed the land and the wildlife and plants it supported. Each planning decision was based on how humans could live in comfort and harmony with the land and its creatures--giving back more than they took.Here's how it breaks down:
- --Total land area = 640 acres (259 hectares)
- --Number of lots designated for human habitat: 83 = 14 percent
- --Vistor area and village = 6 percent
- --Land owned in common = 80 percent
Get more of the story here.
Image: Crystal Waters view
Designed by Max Lindegger, Robert Tap, Barry Goodman and Geoff Young.
Crystal Waters EcoVillage was designed by Max Lindegger, Robert Tap, Barry Goodman and Geoff Young in 1985, and is considered a model ecovillage today.
Image: Lot layout
Design criteria
For years, people living on the land had a dream of building a model village that would integrate quality of life, social needs, and wildlife and nature preservation. In 1985, they hired Permaculture Services Pty Ltd, to design their village, literally from the ground up. Here, in their own words, is their intent:The design was to be an example of sustainable development in a rural environment, providing:
- --clean water, air and food
- --work and recreation possibilities
- --an infrastructure which allowed for free spiritual expression and social interaction
- --an environment where people could live harmoniously with nature, caring for the native flora and fauna
Image: House with red flowers
How many people? How many residential lots? How are they sited?
EVERY ENVIRONMENTAL AND HUMAN ASPECT WAS TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT
Among key criteria for citing home lots were maximum exposure to winter sunlight, access to the greater village, and privacy. Lots needed to be on sufficient slope to take advantage of gravity in supplying water, but not on a slope so steep that building costs might rise. Learn more about lot criteria.Image: Landscape
How do you design a sustainable village to meet human needs?
Crystal Waters followed the advice of Christopher Alexander
Christopher Alexander's books, A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction and The Timeless Way of Building guided the Crystal Waters design team in planning and building the village. Alexander's research informed their decision to cluster no more than 12 home lots, as well as their decision to plan for a total population of around 300 villagers.
Alexander has a fabulous web site with practical how-to's from start to finish at Building Living Neighborhoods.
Alexander has a fabulous web site with practical how-to's from start to finish at Building Living Neighborhoods.
A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction (Center for Environmental Structure Series)
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Amazon Price: $40.95 (as of 12/06/2009)
List Price: $65.00
The Timeless Way of Building
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Amazon Price: $40.95 (as of 12/06/2009)
List Price: $65.00
Who lives in Crystal Waters?
DEMOGRAPHICS
Approximately 250 people live in the village today. Their demographic web page, last updated in 2002, boasts 132 adults. Age range for the entire population in 2002 was two months to eighty-nine years, and villagers hailed from sixteen countries.Some families and individuals have resided in the village from the beginning. Others came for a two-week workshop and never left. Some, who love the village but cannot afford to buy, rent or share space with owners.
Image: Crystal Waters Village thirteenth birthday celebration
Villagers work together on common projects
Crystal Waters Permaculture Village builds a new deck
Working and building together, Crystal Waters villagers grow their community and develop and revitalize their land sustainably. One of their projects was constructing a gorgeous deck outside their kitchen area.
Image: Building the new deck
Fifteen years in - lessons learned, accomplishments
Depending on the web page and source, the village was founded somewhere around 1985-1987. That's twenty years or more now, and you can get a real good view of the project from beginning to approximately 2002 here. Scroll down the page to the section titled "Lessons Learned." You'll know you're there when you see the image of the geese you see here.Image: Family of geese
Reclaiming overused land
Bob Sample, a horse rancher who owned the 640 acres that is now Crystal Waters, dreamed of building a village that would provide community, quality of life and a living to its inhabitants while rebuilding the over-forested, over-grazed land. The villagers are succeeding beyond his, and their, wildest dreams. Just one example is this image of the returning forest.
Ecovillage Living: Restoring the Earth and Her People
THE BEST OVERVIEW - LOADED WITH FIRST-PERSON ACCOUNTS
Want more about EcoVillage life? Read this book and visit editor Hildur Jackson's Gaia Trust web site. Here's what Amazon reviewer Russ Purvis has to say about the book.
"As former President of Silicon Valley Habitat for Humanity,Inc., a 'Green' builder and developer, and an aspiring Ecovillage occupant, it's a pleasure to give Ecovillage Living' my highest recommendation."
"As former President of Silicon Valley Habitat for Humanity,Inc., a 'Green' builder and developer, and an aspiring Ecovillage occupant, it's a pleasure to give Ecovillage Living' my highest recommendation."
Ecovillage Living: Restoring the Earth and Her People
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Amazon Price: $18.21 (as of 12/06/2009)
List Price: $24.95
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Building sustainably
Residents have built homes on about 75 of the 83 lots designated for human habitat. They are encouraged to use energy-saving and water-saving technologies. As a result, the village has helped grow businesses that provide rammed earth services, solar power energy sources, and composting toilets. Civic buildings, such as the Crystal Waters Info Center, which was built with rammed earth, are models of sustainable building. The Rammed Earth House
ECONOMICAL, ECOLOGICALLY SOUND, BUILT TO LAST
Rammed earth is one of the building construction materials used in Crystal Waters. Rammed earth buildings harmonize with the landscape, last hundreds of years, are safe, and can be exquistely beautiful. Author David Easton founded Rammed Earth Works in 1978 and has been working with architects, builders and contractors ever since. Take a look at his book.
The Rammed Earth House: Revised Edition
Amazon.com review: The beauty and grace of rammed earth construction is described in fascinating detail by David Easton. The photographs ... create a breathtaking glimpse into a building technique that is as old as human history, but exactly suitable for today's resource-conscious and environmentally friendly building needs.
Avg. Customer Rating:
Amazon Price: $29.20 (as of 12/06/2009)
List Price: $40.00
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Picturesque dams support the village multiple ways
Fifteen small, multiple-use dams on the two streams that feed the village water lines provide recreation and a backup in the event of a drought. Interestingly enough, they were not needed in the state's longest recorded drought. Climate control is another benefit of the dams, though this is not discussed in detail. It would be interesting to learn how evaporation figures as a factor in water loss from the dams. Image: Big dam
Wildlife at Crystal Waters
One of the key factors in choosing to live in a rural ecovillage is the awe and wonder of seeing wildlife close to hand. Part of the Crystal Waters charter is to preserve wildlife habitat and live harmoniously with Nature. Residents have spotted more than 239 species.Image: Deer
Advance, retreat, relax and grow at Crystal Waters
Educational and recreational opportunities abound
Because of their extensive experience in rebuilding soil, organic gardening, and permaculture, Crystal Waters has become a magnet for others seeking to learn from their experience. Villagers offer worldclass workshops, ecovillage design courses and internships, and permaculture and environmental studies courses.Independent groups can schedule retreats and workshops of their own in the village training facility, which is the original farmhouse on the land.
Image: In the garden
See more, Do more, Visit!
View more images of the community at work and play. Take a mini-tour of their training facility.Plan a stay at the Waterbreath Guesthouse where you can be pampered with massage, learn to play Slide Didge, the worlds first variable pitch didgeridoo, and enjoy the wonders and beauty of this incredible land and its wildlife.
Image: Handcrafted didgeridoos
Start planning your trip now
Brisbane, the closest large city, is about one and a half hours south of Crystal Waters. Be prepared to see some extraordinarily beautiful country while you're there.
A smattering of Crystal Waters enterprises and eco-solutions
There's more, so much more, but these should whet your appetite.
- Ecological Solutions Consultancy and Education
- Ecological Solutions Consultancy and Education was founded in 1991 by Max and Trudy Lindegger. Max, one of the designers of Crystal Waters Village, and Trudy continue their lifelong work of modeling environmental and social solutions.
- Identifying and eradicating noxious weeds
- Villagers work together to eradicate noxious weeds such as fireweed without pesticides. Yes, it is labor-intensive. See how they do it.
- Waterbreath
- Waterbreath Retreat is a mini resort located in Crystal Waters. One of the local sights is the breathtaking and legendary Glasshouse Mountain. To learn more, follow this link and scroll down the page to the section on the mountain.
- The Tribal Edge
- Among Crystal Waters businesses is the mother-daughter jewelry-making team at Tribal Edge. Their one-of-a-kind creations are a "mix of tribal and contemporary inspirations."
- The Village Organic Farm
- The Village Organic Farm has been operating since 1999. Read their story here.
The New Farm Magazine features Crystal Waters Village
For a good read on the Crystal Farm story, enjoy this lively, informative, comprehensive and beautifully illustrated article about Crystal Waters in The New Farm.Learn about silvopasture--pasturing livestock in cells of fruit and nut trees--and how this symbiotic relationship cuts down on ticks and other livestock-related pests, builds humusy soil, and helps both trees and animals survive a drought.
Meet the village baker and discover why he started making bread, how the bakery brings people together, and why local, artisan breads are healthier for you than mass-produced bread. Hint: It's not just the flour.
Discover what happened when a couple built a small cheese factory, and consider the benefits and drawbacks of introducing exotic bamboo and grass species to the common agricultural land.
Lightwork Ecovillage Blog
Think you'd like to build your own ecovillage? Or become part of one closer to home? Get a feel for the ups and downs, ins and outs--follow this photoblog of a group of people building an ecovillage on Gambier Island forty minutes north of Vancouver, B.C.
If anyone out there knows of a Crystal Waters blog, please contact me! Exhaustive searches so far have turned up none.
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byThe waterless, composting toilet
GO GREEN IN ANY COLOR
The first installation at Lightwork Ecovillage was a composting toilet. Think composting toilets have to be big and ugly? Well, they do. But look! Buy a system that starts with the waterless, gravity toilet that is beautiful in any bathroom and comes with a remote composter. Green and gorgeous in any color! Curious how composting toilets work? Get the full, er, scoop!
Envirolet Waterless Remote Composting Toilet System (120v Electric)
Amazon Price: (as of 12/06/2009)
In gratitude
This lens is dedicated to the men and women whose vision, muscle, laughter, love, sweat and tears built Crystal Waters Permaculture Village and continue to grow it. May you be blessed a hundred fold.
Show your ecovillage and permaculture spirit!
Enjoy these fun items from CafePress users and support ecovillage and permaculture.
BUILDING ON A DREAM
THE VILLAGE OF ORDINARY
This lens is part of a series on intentional communities. Their purpose is to show that the fictional Village of Ordinary is possible today. In fact, something like it is happening all over the world. To learn more, start with these lenses.-
Village of Ordinary
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What if ... every child grew up feeling wanted, loved and completely supported by family and community? What if ... we could all do work that gave us joy? What if ... we were so full of love ourselves that we viewed all other beings with compass...
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Building Ordinary--Sustainable Community
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They're known as eco-villages, cohousing or intentional communities. This lens explores several of them and answers these questions: What is cohousing? What do we mean by sust...
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Got something to share with the world? Build your own lens! If you are building a lens about an ecovillage or other sustainable practices, upon publication, please consider joining the Building Ordinary group.Sign up now. You or your charity will earn $5 on your first lens payout if you sign up using this referral. So will I. It's one of the ways Squidoo rewards us all for helping each other find our way to the land of Squid.
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So what do you think?
Are you interested in living in an ecovillage? (Or do you already?) How would you like to incorporate the ecovillage lifestyle into your life? Please share your thoughts, and if you can spare another 5-10 seconds, I'd greatly appreciate your shooting to the top and giving me some stars.
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- Karen Abrahamson Karen Abrahamson Jun 16, 2009 @ 9:41 pm
- Lovely lense..thanks so much for sharing, I am looking for some land or an existing community for I believe it is the way of the future on Mother Earth...back to the tribe!
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- WritingforYourWealth WritingforYourWealth Mar 10, 2009 @ 1:58 am
- Sounds like a great place. I have been reading about permaculture and went to a class on it this weekend. Hoping to do the three week course on Orcas Island (in Washington State) this summer or the next. ;)
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- Graceonline Graceonline Jan 24, 2009 @ 12:42 am | in reply to RawBill
- Say Bill, did you ever get a chance to check out the village? What did you think?
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- EmmaCooper EmmaCooper Sep 14, 2008 @ 3:23 am
- Beautiful place, lovely lens! Thanks for sharing it with us.
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- RawBill RawBill Jul 14, 2008 @ 9:27 pm
- Wow! I am glad that I stumbled upon this lens, Thanks! I am only two hours south of there, I am going to check it out. I noticed that they have a camp ground, That's Me!!!!
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- RinchenChodron RinchenChodron Jul 5, 2008 @ 3:45 pm
- Wow, I'd like to live there!!! Great lens *****
I'm emailing it to a friend in Colorado who has relatives in Australia.
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- SemperFidelis SemperFidelis Oct 16, 2007 @ 10:19 pm
- I love your cause and a high 5 to you! We have a few lenses devoted to the environment as well. Keep up the good work. :o)
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