Epworth is a 167-acre Methodist camp on the Roundout Creek in High Falls NY . The camp consists of about 100 acres of pastureland planted as lawn and 67 acres of woodlands. The Epworth facility includes dining, meeting, and administrative buildings and rustic living facilities for campers and faculty.

The purpose of the collaboration between Green Phoenix and Epworth is to create a place to nurture an empathic connection between people and the earth. Empathy is a connected, caring way to listen to and observe other people and the earth and to act accordingly. We will accomplish this empathic connection through the shared process of building a permacul ture center.

Green Phoenix 's Goals for Epworth

In the process of building the permaculture center at Epworth, we will strive for the following goals:

•  To support the growth of the permaculture movement by building a permaculture center in the New York area

•  To build a nurturing place for learning

•  To educate and enable permaculture teachers and technicians to facilitate local projects and projects in the developing world

•  To collaborate with the Permaculture Research Institute in Australia to develop an educational curriculum to bring into rural and urban schools

•  To work with, and contribute to, other permaculture organizations

•  To bring permaculture to poor and minority people, locally and worldwide

•  To bridge the gap between the environmental movement and the social justice movement

•  To raise money in the wealthiest part of the world, the United States , to provide the necessary funding for permaculture projects in the poorest parts of the world

•  To promote the growth of strong, sustainable local economies domestically and worldwide

•  To teach “Nonviolent Communications” skills

•  To establish student work and demonstration fields

•  To establish gardens, orchards, etc. to raise produce; and to establish pasture/range land to raise animals; both, to meet the food needs of Epworth and Green Phoenix people in residence

The learning at Epworth will come from the shared endeavors of all involved to accomplish the goals above. The tremendous effort, time, challenges, design, and hard work will be the armature on which we build our permaculture center.

“The problem is the solution.” –Bill Mollison