Hartwood in association with Lammas Ecovillage

are proud to present

Plan B – the No Planning approach to affordable Ecovillage Creation

An August Full Moon Gathering held at Britain’s first low-impact Ecovillage in Wales – 13 & 14 August 2011

Why ? What ? When ? Where ? Who

Who is this event for?

When your dream is to transform society out of all recognition, even one minute portion of it, you not only have an immensely long way to go, you have to start with your feet mired in the cesspit of destruction and denial that engulfs us all. With everything ranged against you, culture, power, wealth, technology and law, it is no mean task in itself to even understand where you are, let alone how to move on.

It is doubtful we will ever be allowed to live truly sustainably, since it is anathema to a growth economy to have its citizens independent of that economy. It is a parasite that cannot thrive on our independence, and knows it. But again, to gather the courage to do what is necessary, it is first essential to believe it is possible. So long as the extravagant waste of resources fills our dustbins, and the welfare cushion offers sufficient leeway to compromise, the choice between self-reliance and slipping between the cracks is an easy one. Dreams born of desperation are a rarity in our part of the world. A cool idea only inspires so much commitment. It is a big gulf to bridge.

This event is for those who: 

  • are poor in money, but rich in time, skills, willingness to learn and co-operate.
  • are struggling to escape the urban reservations, the dead-end jobs, the alienation and anxiety of UKplc.
  • have escaped but still fear their homes will be discovered and destroyed.
  • feel alone or overwhelmed by the work involved in living sustainably.
  • know a real community is the only true lifelong security.
  • know the time has come to stand in their truth and say ‘Enough – this work is desperately needed and long overdue’.
  • want to build in beauty and presence for the generations to come.
  • seek to heal – themselves, each other, all creation.
  • seek to move beyond home-building to create the larger low-impact infrastructures: schools, forests, hospices, market gardens, inns, sanctuaries etc.
  • hear Gaia calling us home before night falls.

We are aiming to leave this gathering with actual seed groups forming, networking with each other, with the concrete aim of getting on the land within a definite timespan, more or less simultaneously, across the UK. Form the necessary support structures: communications, skillshares, legal advice, media handling, whatever is deemed necessary to enable the actual getting on with the job.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. Margaret Mead

There is much to be done, and many roads to the future. This event offers only a few of them, ones that will require time, courage and determination to carry out. Follow your heart. This gathering is NOT aimed at using the One Planet Development/TAN6 model, which requires compliance with a bureaucracy that has no sympathy or understanding of it’s own stated goals, let alone the larger agenda, enforces impractical deadlines and remains unaffordable, even unethical for many. If that authorised version is your preferred path (be honest!), you will be better served by attending the other Lammas Ecovillage Conference in September (details here) which focuses on the OPD/TAN6 approach.

Why ? What ? When ? Where ? Who

Program for the Gathering

  • Short (1 or 2 hour), concise Introductory Workshops covering a wide range of Vital Necessities & Techniques
  • Three simultaneous venues with workshops repeated so you can plan your own program within the event
  • Information displays and literature to browse at your leisure
  • Opening (Sat) & Closing (Sun) sessions to focus the gathering
  • Saturday evening Ceilidh with band(s) and rafflebar
  • Price includes lunch & evening meal (vegan/veggie) both days plus all camping

Proposed Workshops (to be confirmed) include:

  • Choosing & Evaluating a Landscape - what to look out for and avoid
  • Compost Toilet Construction - running over the weekend, come & try your hand at a simple but essential building
  • Food Foraging - learn to recognise uncultivated wild food resources
  • Green Woodworking - for all ages – come and try your hand at making a spoon, a bowl or a xylophone!
  • Hobbit Housing - beautiful & affordable structures from a few hundred pounds and up
  • Lammas Lowdown - the strains and pitfalls of trying to do it by the book
  • LandBank - Sympathetic landowners who are willing to consider suitable, well organised projects
  • Livestock Management - basic intro to animal care & requirements
  • Networking Techniques - Setup & maintenance for Rapid Response units & other communications
  • Offbeat Fund Raising- Unusual ways of raising debt-free finance
  • Off-grid power- Comprehensive intro to Basics & scope for DIY power generation
  • Permaculture Crash course- lightning introduction to this essential design tool
  • Permacwltwr Cymru- Welsh Social and cultural traditions of value to permaculture designers
  • Revitalising the Blandscape- Soil Regeneration techniques for marginal & over-exploited land
  • Risks & Consequences - likely worst case scenarios for the No Planning approach
  • Self-Governance - how do we organise & police our own communities?
  • Solas Project - Experiences of developing a low-cost Ecovillage project from scratch in Scotland
  • Trusts & Denizenship – Legal alternatives to corporate landholding and trading structures
  • Unplanned Precedents - residents from Tipi Valley & Tyr Ysbrydol (Brithdir) describe their experiences with planners
  • Visioning - How to get from Dream to Reality- finding the thread through the labyrinth

Why ? What ? When ? Where ? Who

Event Booking

Book Places for:
No of children under 12 (free)
Info about volunteering
Any Special Diets:
Anything else?
Late Cancellations

There has been a huge response to the Plan B event, and we are sorry but it is now fully booked.

If you would like to be notified of any late cancellations, or be informed of the outcomes of the Plan B gathering, or of future public meetings, practical courses and opportunities to join ongoing projects: please sign up to our mailing list here. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in every email.

The gathering itself takes place over the Lammas Full Moon Weekend of the 13th & 14th of August this year (2011). You can arrive on the Friday to set up camp, leaving Sunday/Monday morning. There is parking for a limited number of live-in vehicles. Places are limited and early booking for this event is strongly advised. The Pont y Gafel farmhouse B&B is also only 100 metres away from the venue, £25 per person per night (must be booked separately – website).

If you wish to make a fuller experience of your journey, there are also opportunities to volunteer on some of the Lammas plots, but this must be arranged with the plotholders beforehand. Please indicate on the booking form if you would like more information about this.

The price for the event is £18 per person, with children under 12 years coming free. This is an absolute minimum budget to cover costs whilst making this event as accessible as possible. It includes refreshments, lunch and evening meals on the Saturday & Sunday, entry to the ceilidh and parking/camping for two or three nights. It is only made possible by many committed people offering their services freely, and you will be expected to help with various tasks such as washing up, keeping the site tidy and basic food prep (under supervision). Please also bring your own cups, plates etc., breakfast and loo rolls!

Please note: This gathering is NOT aimed at using the One Planet Development/TAN6 model, which requires compliance with a bureaucracy that has no sympathy or understanding of it’s own stated goals, enforces impractical deadlines and remains unaffordable, even unethical for many. If that authorised version is your preferred path (be honest!), you will be wasting your time here and would be better served by attending the other Lammas Ecovillage Conference in September (details here) which focuses on the OPD/TAN6 approach.

If you wish to book places for more than three adults – please make a separate payment. Please let us know how many children under 12 you will bring to help us plan the catering.

Why ? What ? When ? Where ? Who

Location

Directions:

For SATNAV:  SA34 0YD

From South Pembrokeshire (A40). Take the A478 North from Narberth towards Cardigan. About 4 miles after Glandy-Cross turn right (signposted) to Glandwr. At the village crossroads turn left. Approximately 400 yards after the bridge, the Lammas entrance is on the left.

From North Pembrokeshire (Cardigan), take the A478 South towards Tenby. About 2 miles after Crymych, turn left (signposted) to Glandwr. At the village crossroads turn left. Approximately 400 yards after the bridge, the Lammas entrance is on the left.

The nearest train station is Clunderwen (11 miles), and the bus service (430 – timetable) runs only down the main road (Pentregalar then about a 1 mile walk to Lammas)

Lift shares can be organised on the Hartwood forum here. You will need to be registered and logged in to post.

Google Maps have yet to updated to show Lammas at all, but the event venue is by the pond visible in this map. The location of the entrance to Lammas is indicated by the green arrow on the map below.


View Larger Map

Why ? What ? When ? Where ? Who

We hold the following to be self-evident

  • Civilisation as we know it is a fool’s paradise
  • Promising freedom, ease and security, it mostly delivers control, alienation and global destruction
  • Environment, climate, community, honesty, trust and happiness all fall beneath the measured tread of ‘progress’ and eternal growth
  • When an whether collapse comes as financial, social or environmental is irrelevant – it is coming, and we are totally unprepared
  • It is unprofitable and therefore competitive suicide for a growth-based economy to provide real solutions to the problems it creates.
  • As well ask a tapeworm to eat itself
  • There is absolutely no political will or mechanism to change any of this
  • If we are to survive the coming events, we need to realise:
  1. We are on our own
  2. The solutions lie in our own hands
  3. We need each other to carry them out
  4. Gaia is calling all those who can hear to heal this disease
  5. Many hear, and are ready to begin the great healing
  6. Given half a chance, many, many more will join with us
  7. Time is pressing – it will take many years to accomplish what needs to be done
  • The most basic right is LAND to live on and live from
  • It is as essential to life as breathing, as impossible to do without
  • Without this sacred, unfettered right to exist – all else is sophisticated slavery

When you are enslaved, your life is lived for someone else’s benefit. That someone else has the power to make you work, to make you poor. You have lost the dignity and freedom of self-reliant livelihood, of life on your own terms… Yvonne Burgess – The Myth of Progress

We seek to make real the following:

  • Create true communities based on shared work and shared reliance, rooted in landscapes that nourish and protect them
  • Begin the great work of restoring the devastated landscapes we inhabit, and with them the devastated psyche’s that inhabit us
  • Self-built villages with associated low-impact infrastructure, food and energy resilient, affordable and self-governed
  • Do all this without waiting for ‘permission’ from our gatekeepers, or ‘authority’ from our public ‘servants’
  • How near to the iceberg does the Titanic have to get before you stop waiting for permission to launch the lifeboats?