The Urban Gaia

| By Sarah Graves |

As the Founding Director, Janell heads up the Ashevillage Institute located in Asheville, North Carolina. It is a hands-on institute that provides the skills and education needed for students to gain an understanding of how to live a resilient life. Since its founding in 2007, Janell and the Ashevillage team have brought together networks of teachers, healers, botanists, gardeners, fermenters, and other community educators to share their wisdom and teach students the fundamentals of creating and forging regenerative ways of living. The beauty of this incredible initiative is that it offers an array of options for anyone who is interested in resilient living: “… humanity living by the wisdom of nature in a way that honors and supports life in peaceful and thriving cohabitation.”

Whether you’re a health professional, a naturalist, a budding homesteader, or just passionate about learning more, Ashevillage Institute provides classes for everyone. Based on our visit with Janell, we can see that it is possible for all of us to integrate these ecologically necessary life skills into our everyday lives.

I walk through the old wooden French doors and kick off my shoes. I’m immediately flooded with a sense of peace. The sun is shining through the windows and it kisses the leaves on each cluster of plant vegetation. Janell invites us to sit at her dining room table. She brews us a cup of Tulsi tea and serves us homemade Cacao treats. She pulls two different quart sized Mason jars from her rolling drawer where her homegrown herbs are stored in her kitchen. I look around and admire the interior design of her renovated adobe style home. I find myself completely at ease and eager to hear all about her life journey. She tells us of her childhood and the blossoming of her ideas. This intimate experience proves within minutes that I am in the presence of someone truly inspiring who is changing the world.

Janell knew early on what worked for her peers wasn’t going to cut it for her. She carried this awareness through her teens and early 20s. She spent time learning about herbs, medicinal foods, and visiting communities, but wanted to hone a more focused mastery. She was determined to improve the existing process of stripping land for development growth. During a backpacking trip through India and Europe she heard about natural building. Then during an internship at age 22 she was introduced to mud building by a group from Oregon. She knew it was one way to change the world. It was this propelling experience that would eventually guide her path. She had a real world concept of what many only thought possible between the pages of a magazine. Her vision was to create a resilient existence, a living-in-action effort to better connect with the world around her. She began incorporating permaculture principles and ecological landscape design into everything she touched. Her goal was to create reality based on intentional living. She crafted a plan, a gift to be shared, of transforming her vision into a work of action.

In her 20s she was invited to teach and share her knowledge and experiences all over the world. Janell worked with people from over 50 countries, training them in mud building and living a self-sufficient lifestyle. Examples of her projects include the construction of a kindergarten in Argentina and a community hall in Thailand. She shared with locals how they too could build with natural materials. She didn’t just oversee the construction model, Janell worked alongside the people in each location. She quickly found that they were passionate about learning mud building and intentional living techniques and the movement took off. Educational and community centers were sprouting up and it was time to see if this could be achieved among urban dwellings, as well.

Janell settled back into Asheville, with all its buildings, traffic, and industrialization. Inspired by what was happening in the communities she had just worked with, along with the recognition that we are intrinsically connected with the greater web of life, she engaged a conversation around this question: “Where do you go when you’re happy?” Generally, most people would respond that they were by a stream trickling through a meadow or a field of wildflowers as opposed to a hot asphalt parking lot packed with cars. Janell saw how important it was to create a living model that could inspire those stuck in the rut of city life. It was time for reconnecting ourselves with our surroundings. In an age when technology is said to simplify our lives Janell wanted to show that it instead created more problems like stress, depression, and a disconnection from the rest of the intelligent universe, the greater divine. She saw a need for cultivation, for creating a lifestyle that would encourage us to re-root and build a stronger inner fortitude. With the help of her family, friends, community members, and others who share such passions, Janell can now provide a source for those interested in improving their own lives as well.

Ashevillage Institute offers three main educational branches, including Permaculture, Resilient Living, and Foods As Medicine. Students can grow their skills singularly or study more comprehensively. The Permaculture branch includes a 12-month Permaculture School with classes specializing in Design Ecology & Living Skills, a two-week course for obtaining a Design Certification, as well as three-and-a-half-day workshops varying in topic. The Resilient Living branch includes an eight-month course that kicks off with an eight-week residency. This branch also offers various three-and-a-half-day resilient living workshops. The final branch, Food as Medicine, offers a five-day Wild Food and Fermentation Workshop with the world-renowned fermentation specialist, Sandor Katz. This year, there is also a three-and-a-half-day option in Traditional Food Preparation & Preservation.

If this piques your interest, I highly encourage you to take a look at Janell’s site (www.ashevillage.org) to learn more, as the programs offer locals special discounts and they are filling up. She truly has provided those near and far an incredible opportunity for growth, empowerment, and ultimately, an improved life!

---

Sarah Graves, though new to the Asheville area, is firmly planting roots as she pursues her love of writing while also starting her own Virtual Assistant business.