The Biodome in Waynesville, North Carolina
Time Spent Farming at a Conscious Community
After a night at The Unmistakable’s home, the We Blew Inn in Franklin, NC we were off once again. This time we traveled to Waynesville, about 45-minutes northeast to The Windstar property, a conscious and (currently “semi”) sustainable community covering over 75-acres of mountainside with a 50-foot diameter Biodome as the focal point.
The Windstar Biodome Project began in the 1980’s by John Denver and was started as “a place up in the mountains where people would come to develop a critical consciousness in regard to the earth,” according to Denver in his autobiography, “Take Me Home.”
The Unmistakable Family and I had the pleasure of sharing the Biodome as a backdrop during our stay; The Unmistakable Family in their 15-ft pull along camper and me in a tent they were nice enough to let me borrow.
Our reason for visiting was to spend some time with a friend Joel had met a few weeks prior named Shane and his girlfriend Lisa. Their house sits directly across from the Biodome. Our plans were to spend the following day after we arrived to help them farm.
Shortly after we arrived, Shane came leisurely down the side of the hill from his house to greet us. As he welcomed us, he spoke with a gentle, welcoming and laid back tone which quickly made us feel at home before even setting foot into his house.
A quick greeting and he returned to his house. After The Unmistakable Family and I set up our homes for the night, we followed.
In we walked to a beautiful house. The walls and ceilings lined with rich, dark wood and the floor an equally as beautiful stone. The main room had very high ceilings with a loft used as Shane’s office and larger-than-life windows on each of the remaining walls with amazing views of the Biodome and surrounding mountains
Having not eaten dinner, our introductions were cut short before we returned to the camper. On the menu was seared tuna tacos, using tuna we picked up from Your Dekalb Farmers Market on the way out of Stone Mountain, Georgia.
We sat around the table in the camper, which converted into Joel and Nicole’s bed at night to enjoy our meal.
The next morning was an early one. Nina, Shane’s neighbor and an original member of the community, invited us all over for breakfast. She was preparing homemade french toast with farm fresh eggs and local fruits. The food was delicious and a great base. We would definitely needed it for the work we were about to do.
Shane, Lisa, The Unmistakable Family and I returned to Shane’s yard to begin our day. Shane had already tilled two plots of land in preparation for the day. One side would be for 50 strawberry bushels and the other for 50 asparagus bushels.
The only thing left was to dig troughs and begin planting. My job was to plant strawberries on one side and meet in the middle with Joel who started planting on the other side. With a quick tutorial on how to plant and section each bushel off from Shane, I was off. A few hours and about 30 bushels later, it was time to call it a day. The crops were set. The only thing left to do was water them and enjoy the rest of our day.
Now, I would like to tell you that our gardening skills were so tremendous that each bushel instantly started to bud and we yielded enough of each to make an awesome strawberry asparagus salad for dinner. One that we had a hand in harvesting and preparing. Then we sat around a large table and shared an evening of laughter and insightful conversations, but that wasn’t the case. Well, maybe the laughter and insightful conversations, but not so much on the miracle growth of our crops.
One of the topics covered throughout the day was the enormous mansion in-between Shane and Nina’s home. They called it “The Castle,” and for good reason. It was a three-story brick.. well.. castle. Originally designed to be where the community would meet to share meals, it contains a restaurant style kitchen and large communal areas. It’s currently occupied, but is soon to go on the market.
Shane envisions opening a farm-to-table style restaurant to attract locals, travelers and interested people to the community in order to raise awareness of their conscious cause.
Other ideas for the community is to convert the building on the opposite side of the Biodome from Shane’s house into a Youth Hostel. Nina is also in the middle of converting her front yard into a large walk through, edible garden with help from Shane and an architect out of San Francisco.
My stay at the Biodome and it’s surrounding community was definitely filled with reassurance. Reassurance that there ARE people living by example. Living a more conscious lifestyle; One that is more in-tune with the earth and the realization that what we do here does have an impact on it.
Thank you to Shane, Lisa, Nina and the community you live in for welcoming me into your home and sharing with us your style of living. You’re all an inspiration and example of a better way to live.
