Gallery | Piedmont Ecovillage

January 2018

We had many interested people come to the Meet Piedmont Ecovillage meeting at Tuckahoe Library.

Another large group of people came to the tour of Living Energy Farm in Louisa County.

February 2017

The ecovillage orchard has begun! On February 25 we started some root stock from our members’ Asian Pear and peach trees. We then retired for a potluck and a screening of “The Permaculture Orchard.” A great start!

Trimming one-year growth from a member’s Asian Pear tree

Trimming off extra growth from the cutting

Planting a baby tree in the soil! These trees will be used as root stock for our ecovillage orchard.

December 2016

Our annual Festivus celebration was a rousing success! Fourteen neighbors enjoyed a hearty potluck of mostly vegan (and mostly healthy!) fare, an engaging discussion on ecovillage living, some ridiculous music, and even a game or two. Thanks to everyone for contributing to the fun — this is what community looks like!

Healthy (and…shh…some not-so-healthy) holiday fare

A game of Ecovillage Cards, from the Global Ecovillage Network

November 2016

Over 30 people attended our first annual Celebration of Tiny Houses, where we gave tours of three tiny homes on a local friend’s property, enjoyed a potluck together, and had a screening of a tiny house documentary. It’s not hard to imagine having events like this on Piedmont Ecovillage property someday!

July 2016

Piedmont Ecovillage hosted a talk by filmmaker and sociocracy evangelist Ted Millich (third from left) at Virginia Commonwealth University.

April 2016

Members of the community visited the Brock Environmental Center in Virginia Beach to learn how the Chesapeake Bay Foundation conceived and constructed one of the greenest buildings in the world.

Chris Gorri (left), manager of the Brock Center, led us on our tour.

Most of the property has been placed in a conservation easement so it will never be developed. This property was initially intended to be used for condominiums.

The views from the Brock Center provide a good reminder of what the Chesapeake Bay Foundation has preserved here.

The office areas in the center are bright and comfortable, even when the lights are turned off.

Color palettes throughout the center reflect the colors of the seasons outside the building.

Visitors to the center walk on a path through the woods before they reach their destination. No unsightly and carbon-intensive parking lot was created for visitors.

The Brock Center’s walkways and access paths are all permeable surfaces — no high-carbon tar is used here — so water can seep naturally into the soil.

The multipurpose room at the Brock Center allows for events of all sorts to occur there. Piedmont Ecovillage is interested in building a common house with this type of feature.

Employees at the center have access to a variety of recreational facilities, including walking paths and boating. Educational activities for local schools are held on the boat moored in the nearby river.

The building is curved to take advantage of sunlight and breezes.

The center is powered entirely by two wind turbines and dozens of solar panels. Excess energy produced by the center is fed back to the municipal power grid.

April 2016

We had a fun and busy Earth Day week meeting potential new neighbors at festivals in Powhatan and Richmond.

January 2016

We’re in the hunt for suitable property to establish our ecovillage. Here are some of our members checking out a nice property in Powhatan.

December 2015

We celebrated our first annual group holiday (“Festivus”!) with a potluck, games, and some tootling flutes.

October 2015

Piedmont Ecovillage presented our vision at Richmond’s “Discover Cohousing” event.

September 2015

A Piedmont Ecovillager and his tiny house were featured in the Style Weekly newspaper.

August 2015

A few of our members made the journey to Maryland to learn how Heathcote Community works.

May 2015

Once in awhile, you need to leave the business meetings behind and have some fun as a community. Here we are enjoying a day of party barges at Swift Creek Reservoir!

April 2015

We shared a booth with our friends at Richmond Cohousing and met loads of great people at Richmond’s Earth Day event.

March 2015

Our monthly meetings begin with a short introduction for new members and follow up with the business of setting up the community. Here are a couple photos from the March 2015 meeting held at Urban Farmhouse in Church Hill.

October 2014

We made a community research trip up to EcoVillage of Loudon County.

May 2014

A beautiful day set the stage for an enjoyable community picnic at Maymont Park in Richmond.