Ecological living at Rustling Roots: hippie commune excursion!

OVERVIEW

Feeling bogged down by modern capitalist society? Is the pressure to conform, get a job, compete with others, emit CO2, etc. making you feel oh so very sad? Do you wonder if there’s a better way of living for both you AND the planet?? Come join Elli and Cam as we leave Charlottesville and travel 37 miles east to the mystical Louisa County– which holds several “hippie communes” aka intentional communities. We will visit Cambia, a small income sharing community that hosts an ecological living and learning center known as Rustling Roots. Here we will learn how members of the Cambia community nurture themselves and the earth!

Highlights & Important Trip Details:

This is an OVERNIGHT trip, which means we’ll be leaving Cville at 5pm on Saturday, spending the night at Rustling Roots’ campground, and getting back ~1:30-2pm on Sunday! Cam & Elli have some hippy games to play around the fire Saturday night, and the folks from Cambia will be teaching us how to do a HeartCircle! We anticipate spiraling into music & song afterwards.

In addition to a general tour of the funky fun sustainable creations (see list below or website for more details!), we’ll get to take part in the building of a Cob Oven / Rocket Stove! This would include learning to mix cob, learning stove design, and possibly working on a timber framed roof structure for the stoves. If time allows…we may even be able to cook with it…

For meals, we’ll cook dinner together, BYOBreakfast, and we’ll get the chance to cook with the good folks of Cambia for lunch on Sunday (get hype for this amazing mostly-homegrown vegan food!)

ITINERARY

Saturday
5pm: we skedaddle out of Charlottesville
7pm: set up camp, make a fire, club makes our own dinner together
9pm: games, heart circle, music & fire time, sleep

Sunday
7am: Breakfast – you bring your own!
7:45ish: tour of Rustling Roots !
8:30ish: work on Cob Oven / Rocket Stove (taking staggered breaks to check out Sustainability Museum)
We cook lunch together!
11:30 lunch commences
1:30-2:30pm we eventually arrive back in Cville so that Cam can study for her Orgo Exam

Bring:
Breakfast & any personal snacks you may desire
a vegetable for the communal lunch (?)
Sleeping bag & pad
Warm layers for nighttime
Toiletries
Waterbottle
Optional:
tent if you want to bring your own
Musical instrument

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More info about Rustling Roots:
“An education center for ecological living, complete with outdoor classrooms, fossil-fuel free technological experimentation, curious living spaces and campsites, a whimsical forest playground, unique museum models, and a group of people living on-site and demonstrating the possibility of ecological, communal living.”

*** Things to get excited about ***
Electric antique car conversion
Solar cooking & hot water
A self cleaning pond
Geothermal AC
Composting toilet
Developing food forests & gardens
Food dehydration and canning
Suspended Yurt
Shipwrecked Boat House
BioSand Filter
Wigwam
Natural Building Projects
Rocket Mass Heater
Temple/Meditation Space
And much more!

Want more info about the community? Check out https://rustlingroots.org/ or https://cambiacommunity.weebly.com/ !