DreamScheming Level Green

April 8 - Plankton Meeting,Sage College (April 15: annotated)

2010-04-08T11:52:00.000-07:00

*** Community Impact Program ends April 26

PFH Assignments [annotated 4.15.10]

* commercial kitchen set-up cost
$ Estimate based on web research for USED commercial kitchen equipment: $17,000
Recommendation: work with Finger Lakes ReUse Center, Triphammer Mall

* get fr Kalay Mordock (who previously ran individualized family meal preparation business) estimate re green cuisine budget
Dinners for family weekdays varied with ingredients, average $5-10/person, based on preparation for single family
Recommendation: three selections MWF @ $5-12/person, Two for weekend specials @ $7-15/person
Process: menus online, order by 10 am for 5-6 pm pick-up; delivery for additional charge

* set up budget sheet as per Foundation application
Personnel (Center Mngr/Hostel Mngr, Chef, facilities mgr)
Indirect Costs (FICA, Unemployment insurance, medical) - est $40% wages/salaries
Staff Travel
Equipment - purchase, rental
Communications - phone, internet, FAX
Duplication - printing
Supplies - office, kitchen, printer cartridges, meetings/hospitality
Consultants
Other

* Barn renovation: can't have actual start-up $ estimate by 4/26
Team will leave that part of the 5-year business model empty

* Broader community arts context
Ithaca/Tompkins County:
- galleries are concentrated downtown; very few informal, flexible exhibition spaces (PFH can fill in details)
- facilities:
+ Community School of Music & Arts, downtown Ithaca, offers lessons, workshops, programs for dance, music, painting, writing; cost a barrier for moderate-low income families
+ new visual arts facility being developed in Fall Creek neighborhood
+ Greater Ithaca Activity Center (GIAC), Southside Community Center and County Youth Bureau have arts programs that serve downtown neighborhood moderate-low income children and youth
+ Brooktondale Community Center has occasional arts activities but no on-going programs; Brooktondale Mkt hosts informal exhibittions

* sketch of floor map for each floor of Barn

* Hostel Demand numbers from Tompkins County Visitor and Convention Center & Hostelling International: NEEDS MORE RESEARCH - visit Upstate hostels in summer '10
Consideration: membership in Hostelling International, Backpackers International or Independent?
October-May: estimate 25% occupancy
June-September: estimate $75-100 occupancy
Upstate New York State Hostelling context
- rates vary $22-35 depending on # beds in a room; age-related special rates
- h-speed internet, bike storge, TV lounge, occasional special events/theme weekends, family rates, washing machines on premises, cook-your-own kitchens with refrigerator space, provide linens (or not)
SOURCE: Hosteling International
- Buffalo: downtown location, on bus line, 48 beds (2 4-bed rms, 5 6-bed rms)
- Cape Vincent: Tibbetts Point Lighthouse Hostel, 26 beds (Lake Ontario/ St. lawrence River)
- Niagara Falls: downtown Niagara Falls, 38 beds
- Syracuse: Downing International Hostel (downtown), 35 beds
SOURCE: http://www.iloveny.com/Where-To-Stay/
- Lake Placid: JackRabbit Hostel (not HI)
- New Paltz Hostel, 4 rooms with 4 bunkbeds ( independent for over 30 years)

* prospective funding sources
Tompkins County Strategic Tourism Board: Capital Grants program - Hostel component
New York State Research and Development (NYSERDA) - 'green' renovation
Private Investor/s (Hostel)
USDA - Green Cuisine rural small business development (loan, grant)
John Ben Snow Foundation, Emerson Foundation - community arts center component
NYS Department of Agriculture - rural community facilities: library component
NYS Department of Economic Development - Hostel: job creation

PLANKTON IDEAS FOR MARK MILSTEIN/TOM WARD
* developing business plans for specific eco-tourism-related enterprise initiatives
* market research: viability of ithaca as tourist destination - focus on eco-tourism
* Case Statement: how an ecologically-oriented project can benefit the whole community, understand the local community, their needs
* Level Green or other catering: green cuisine
* sustainbility angles: economic,social, environmental triangle - ex: cost/benefit differential between green construction and regular construction
* send bob rossi intro informationhs - re SEEN (Sustainable Enterprise & Entrepreneurship Network)
* ask Gary Ferguson re downtown projects
* Case Statements: marketing ithaca as arts destination, eco-destination
[triple bottom line: econoommic, social, environmenbt busfit: entrepreneurship and SG students can work together
SEND THEM DRAFT - THEY'LL CRITIQUE]

NEXT MTNG: thursday april 15th 2:25 pm

March 29 - Conversations with Jon Kanter & Jim Webber, Town of Ithaca

2010-04-08T10:47:00.000-07:00

I met with Jon (Director, Planning Dept) and Jim (Director, Public Works) at the Tow of ithaca offices to present an overview of the Level Green Farm long-term vision, and gather information about specific steps for moving forward. Specifically:

* Re-zoning: 1519 currently zoned low-density residential, with portion of land designated as Conversation District; in order to provide a long-term home for Level Green as a nonprofit, and secure tax-free status for the land, zoning must be changed - but no current zoning designation readily fits envisioned future use.
RECOMMENDATION: present a polished proposal (powerpoint, drawings of projected land us, steps in the process, possible resources, partnerships) to the Town Board, who can then perhaps create an appropriate zoning category

* Sewer Issue: When I bought the land in 2000, all real estate paperwork indicated that 1519 was on City Sewer; it isn't. The closest City linkage on our side of the highway is three houses down. A Dept of Health representative came to the land in 2008, when raw sewage appeared in the back yard, and couldn't fine evidence of a conventional septic system. This winter drainage from an upstairs shower and toilet came up in the basement sink and toilet, and outside the back of the house - suggesting a very serious blockage or breakage in whatever system exists.
According to Karel Westerling, Ithaca-area sewer specialist, options now include 1) linking with the City sewer system by tunneling under Rt 79, which would involve pump problems from the positioning of the house on the hillside downslope, a very costly option; and 2) creating an entirely new septic system, less costly in the short run but would need to be augmented as Hostel and Lodge appear on the scene in future years.
In order to pursue option #2, Karel needs documentation from the Town that #1 is unfeasible, either because of installation complications or because of dramatically higher cost. The person he should talk with about this is WAYNE SINCERBAUGH, Dept of Health.

* Trailhead and parking project: Jon pointed out that with the recent decision to keep the Upper Reservoir for drinking water, the City may be less enthusiastic about encouraging the public to discover the south-end trails that the Gully Bridge would create easy access to. Before pursuing this further, contact the City's Planning Department Director, to pick up where conversations with former Director Thys Van Court and former City Forester Andy Hillman left off.

Six Mile Creek in Springtime

2010-04-08T10:22:00.001-07:00

Spring has come early this year. The forsythia is bursting, tender green covers the hillsides, the Creek is running joyous and free. Took the circle walk - through Level Green's woods onto the City paths, down to Potter's Falls, up the ragged, broken steps left over from the 1930s CCC pathway-building project, then back through the woods and over the Gully Bridge to Level Green Farm.

Photos can't capture but above are a few to at least hint at what can be found so easily out our back door.

March 11: Conversations with Tom Ward, Hospitality Entrepreneurship Center, and Mark Milstein, JGSM Global Sustainable Enterprise Program

2010-04-08T09:58:00.000-07:00

Kalay Mordok, LGI co-founder and Board chair, and I met for over an hour with Tom and Mark in the HEC Statler suite.

Purpose of meeting:
1) to introduce LG's vision for creating an upscale Eco-Lodge that would provide lodgings, impetus for eco-tourism planning, and on-going internships for Cornell students;
2) to explore possibilities for students from these two programs joining the program in connection with their studies

Tom and Mark have been working together for several years to develop and try out Hotel/JGSM project-oriented, consultative courses. For around $10K, a company could work with 4-6 students, supervised by two faculty members, on specific projects serving the host company.

With grant support ending, they now are exploring ways to integrate such a course with on-going teaching loads. Student interest in sustainability is growing rapidly, as is industry interest, but there is no faculty line to meet the need. Looking ahead, they would like a fundamentals course followed by a practicum integrated with student degree programs.

With respect to Level Green, Tom and Mark saw the potential for students to make a significant contribution - and for Level Green's vision to success. An analogous example is the Farm Institute on Martha's Vineyard, which combines a working, income-generating farm with lodging and program facilities.

The Dean of the Hotel School is increasingly interested in projects that benefit nonprofits. To this end, Tom and Mark invited us to come up with 5-10 concrete project ideas that students could work on. These ideas should be bundled under themes such as strategic vision, feasibility analysis, partnership/alliances, marketing/communications, management, financing. The goal would be to begin compiling a reservoir of on-going opportunities for students that would expose them to something new, and enable them to see what it takes to get from vision to actual operations.

No timeline set.

FOLLOW-UP THOUGHTS:
* query County Strategic Tourism Board re eco-tourism plan, other salient project ideas
* ask Planktons for suggestions
* develop Level Green vision statement with priority projects that students could address

March 10: Herb Engman, Town of Ithaca Supervisor

2010-04-08T09:50:00.000-07:00

Purpose: fill Herb in on current status of thinking; get information about who to contact with questions

Rezoning: Talk with Codes & Planning (Jon Kanter)
Trailhead: Jim Webber, new Directer of Pubic Works Dept; Joanne Cornish, Director of City of Ithaca Planning Dept, City Forester (call to get Andy Hillman replacement)
Driveway/land access: NYS Dept of Transportation, Syracuse Regional office
Town/LGI relationship: best in this preliminary stage to keep things distanced; come to Town for information re codes, resource people; rezoning guidance; since the Town has a regulatory function, in LGI's start-up stage collaboration could be considered a conflict of interest

Catching up: The Planktons (MBS student team meeting March 5)

2010-04-08T03:42:00.000-07:00

[see below for Team Coordinator hannah Choi's minutes from this meeting]

MARCH 5: meeting with the Planktons:
MBA Team from Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of business has been hard at work on our behalf. They've named themselves the Planktons, after a micro-organism that thrives on solar energy and is essential for life in the sea. Given the enormity of the overall vision, we've agreed that they will focus in on the Barn component - a create a business plan, in powerpoint presentation format.

The basic goal for renovating the Barn is to create a sustainable environment for artists, students and youth, with built-in revenue streams. The business plan will include
* vision statement: components [suggestion: find Engineering or Landscape Architecture volunteer who can render 3-D
drawings - PFH]
* research base: model hostels, legalities, operations; community arts centers; non-profit income generators; commercial kitchen regulations [PFH]
* rationale/need:
- Youth Hostel as 'cost-sensitive' visitor lodging option, why LGF attractive
- Community Arts Center, why will be unique in region
- Commercial Kitchen, why good base for on-going revenue streams
* marketing approach :
- website, rack cards, memberships (area arts groups) ...
- physical setting: Level Green Farm, Six Mile Creek Nature Preserve, nearby bus stop
- Eco-Tourism overview for region
- program facilities
* Financial Model
- start-up costs (renovation, equipment): funding sources, other resources
- operating costs: funding sources, projected revenue streams
- funding sources for start-up and operations

Start-up costs will include
* 'green' renovation of the structure itself [PFH: ASI Renovations; Rick Lazarus; Victoria Romanoff: feasibility, projected ballpark cost]
- keep 1930s appearance in front, open up back for passive solar
- strengthen foundations
- basement flooring
- back deck (size: footprint of original structure)
- interior walls
- windows
- insulation
- raise roof in back
- circular stairs from basement to 3rd floor
- exterior stairs to 3rd floor
- new roof with solar paneling
- wind turbine on roof
- lighting
- water
- sewer [HUGE - need new system]
- heating
- electricity
- TV, telephone, internet connections
- smoke alarm system

* ground floor: commercial kitchen, meeting space, library with computer work stations (under deck), laundry, storage
- handicapped access entrance from garden
- kitchen equipment (cooler, stove, 3-bay sink, counter/work stations, freezer, refrigerator)
- work table
- serving counter, long eating tables
- corner for internet cafe
- storage cupboards (plates etc)
- library: study tables, lamps, work stations, bookshelves, rugs, easy chairs/sofas, windows looking out over garden
- handicapped access bathroom

* main floor: community arts space
- wheelchair-accessible entrance from driveway/brick patio in front with landscaping
- white walls, moldings for gallery exhibitions
- back (garden side) wall: wide glass french doors to deck
- interior wall with mirror and dance handrail
- behind interior wall: small kitchen (microwave, coffee, water); bathroom (handicapped accessible), storage space

* top floor: Youth Hostel dorms with space for 8-10 guests
- passive solar flooring
- wide windows overlooking garden
- bathroom with 2 shower, 2 toilet stalls, 2 sinks, towel hooks on walls
- five bunk beds
- moveable interior partial walls
- storage lockers
- hooks on wall/coat racks for clothing
- rugs, easy chairs, sofa, TV

Operating Costs most likely will include
* staff: part-time (varying %) - Level Green director; Hostel Manager; facilities manager, program coordinator
* utilities: water, sewer, gas/electric [est 300/mo]
* phone, internet access, TV [120/mo]
* insurance (facilities, public access) [200/mo]
* maintenance/repairs: building, garden, equipment [est 1500/yr]

Potential Revenue Streams
* Center membership, linked with usage
* Program fees/donations
* Green Cuisine business
* Cafe
* Hostel

HANNAH CHOI'S MINUTES FROM THIS MEETING:

Level Green Institute + Planktons, Inc.

Meeting Minutes – Friday, 5 March 2010

- Patricia provided updates on upcoming meetings.
o Town supervisor (3/10). She will push to get a timeline and perhaps town engineers to get involved with the driveway and parking lot.
o Tourism board (3/11)
o Architect meeting (week of 3/15) – specialist in old barns to advise on stabilization, insulation, electricity, water, concrete floor in basement, etc.
- Agreed upon the following objectives to frame our work:
o Sustainable atmosphere for artists, students, arts groups, etc.
o Revenue-generating
- Discussed revenue streams:
o Hostelling.
o Green cuisine/café for organic and locally grown foods.
o Commercial kitchen – canning
- Agreed to focus Planktons’ work on JUST the barn.
o Need to map out the barn by floor and the areas of focus on each
o Focus on costs for just the barn
- Agreed to include the following in the final powerpoint deliverable:
o Multi-use space description – not projected to charge (barter system) so no revenue streams
o Commercial kitchen description – possible revenue streams – demand forecast
o Hostel description – possible revenue streams – demand forecast
o Financial Model
o Marketing
o Prospective funding
- Outlined fixed and operating costs:
o See attached doc

Action items:
- Sketch of the map (Patricia)
- Estimation of fixed costs (Patricia)
- Hostel demand numbers from tourism board (Patricia)
- Prospective funding (Patricia)

Next meeting:
- Thursday, April 1 at 1:00pm in Sage Hall.

Hannah Choi
MBA Class of 2011
The Johnson School at Cornell University
Mobile: +1 607 339 7930

Working steps to consider for MBA Project

2010-02-16T12:33:00.000-08:00

I write this mainly for Team members:

REFLECTIONS ON STEPS IN OUR WORKING AGREEMENT
1) Executive Summary: will be good for you to extrapolate from what I've outlined above and provide what YOU see, at least as a starting point. DRAFT: projected date, so we'll have time to work on it together?

2) Background: what more do you need from me? perhaps a more in-depth interview than we've done so far, with you all asking specific questions?

3) Financial Projections: this is what will take research; I'll lay out below what information I think we need, you can tell me what I'm leaving out, and we can divide the work. I will do as much of this as you advise; I probably have more time than you do!

4) Recommendations (financial projections, marketing ideas) - in your good hands! I look forward to what further work and learning you see needed and/or desirable

5) FINAL PRESENTATION: Level Green has few Board members in Ithaca so, with your permission, I would like to invite LG friends to this as well. Particularly folks who will be participating in the May-September series of charettes (barn) and Town and City of Ithaca representatives (driveway, trailhead, parking)

THOUGHTS ON WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE TO MOVE EACH FACET FORWARD

1) DRIVEWAY
* needs to be regraded and reconfigured to include an exit (from current hard-to-access slope in front of the barn into semi-circle that's easy to enter and exit from)
* must meet Department of Transportation (Rt 79) and Town of Ithaca regulations (pfh)
* environmentally-responsible materials (research:pfh and Civil/Environmental Engineering students - Engineers for a Sustainable World? grad/undergrad organization? course-related? faculty to approach?) - see eco-grid below for one possibility
* check out possibilities for Town of Ithaca engineering design and construction assistance (pfh)

2) PARKING
* location: left side of south meadow, from meadow entrance to just before Gully Bridge
* issue: proximity to run-off stream
* will require clearing bushes and small trees between meadow and stream
* eco-responsible materials (need to research options- but I'm drawn to "eco-grid" - from :

Permeable paving (also known as pervious or porous pavement) defines the method of paving a surface so that it allows the flow of water through it. This allows stormwater to filter through the soil below the paved surface, preventing the numerous environmental issues associated with water runoff. EcoGrid provides a "green" asphalt alternative and an effective method of erosion control.

EcoGrid can be used as either a permeable paving surface for pedestrian / vehicular traffic or as a soil stabilization / mud abatement grid in the prevention of erosion. EcoGrid is virtually maintenance free. This unique gravel or grass paver provides a cost effective and perfect solution for constructing ideal surfaces for various applications. EcoGrid is water permeable and quickly becomes concealed after being covered by grass or can be filled with gravel.

The unique patented fastening system makes it extremely efficient and easy to use, with the added advantage of being constructed from 100% recycled high density polyethylene. The product has been used extensively across Europe for many years and is now becoming a brand leader in North America. EcoGrid is the industry leader in environmentally sustainable geogrid and offers numerous maintenance and cost benefits over other porous pavement solutions

3) GULLY BRIDGE TRAILHEAD
* signage
* welcome box with folder with intro to Six Mile Creek nature preserve and walking trail maps (work with Friends of Six Mile Creek and City of Ithaca Forester's Office) - also post on City website and Level Green website
* create clear pathways from Bridge to intersection with City pathway system, through spruce forest (Eagle Scout Project? create plan with City Forester's Office)

4) BARN RENOVATION
* goal: keep exterior appearance of 1930s barn while repurposing as community arts center, integrated wellness clinic, and Hostel dorms and meeting space - as much as possible energy self-sufficient (solar, wind?), recycled materials; demonstration/teaching site for eco-renovation
* check out structural stability (Rick Lazarus, Victoria Romanoff)
* SPECIFIC usage and design will grow out of campus/community charettes May-September
* obvious renovations costs regardless of planned usage and/or renovation design: electricity, water, insulation (walls, basement and first floor ceilings), exterior and interior paint, basement floor, insulated windows, solar panels, flooring for 1st and 2nd floors, telephone access, internet access - CONNECTION WITH CITY SEWER (pfh will check out cost and process)
* preliminary usage visionn guiding renovation cost projections:
a] basement: commercial kitchen with eating space, handicapped-accessible bathroom, storage space, welcome and examination spaces for integrated wellness clinic [under deck] - entrance from parking area
b] interior circular stair or lift connecting all three floors; exterior stairs connecting all three floors
c] 1st floor (current entry from driveway): half-bath, mini-kitchen (microwave, coffee, water), open space large enough for meetings, yoga classes, small group dancing, white walls for art, southern wall of glass doors opening to large back deck overlooking gardens
d] 2nd floor (top floor): raise back roof, windows along southern side, passive solar energy flooring, flexible (moveable) panels that can refigure the space to serve as Hostel dormitories, library/computer workstations, intimate meeting space

JUST A START - YOUR THOUGHTS?

Getting back to business: exploring Cornell collaborators

2010-02-16T12:07:00.000-08:00

[Hiatus in writing because of my family's call for assistance - good to know this Dream is here to come back to]

PROGRESS REPORT:
1) ECO-LODGE:
Kalay Mordock and I have an appointment March 11th with Tom Ward, Director of Cornell's Hospitality Entrepreneurship Center, and Mark Milstein, Director of the Johnson School's Global Forum on Sustainable Enterprise. The purpose is to begin exploring possibilities for students with entrepreneurial and/or eco-hospitality interests to work with Level Green to create ground-level plans for a upscale Eco-Lodge of the quality that these two programs represent. Will report following meeting.

2) MBA TEAM, volunteering as part of Community Impact, a student run organization operating out of the Johnson School at Cornell University.

A] Team members include
* Hannah Choi: University of Virginia (Chemical Engineering) 2001; professional experience in Bonn, Brussels, Kigali, Rwanda, and the US (MBA 2011)
* Surjeet Patnaik: National Institute of Technology, Jaipur, India (Chemical Engineering) 2004; Stanford University (MS Environmental Eingineering) 2005; professional experience in Qatar, Singapore, Meelbourne, and Antwerp (MBA May 2011)
* Samuel Sun-Yiu Lee: Simon Fraser University (Business Administration, Finance) 2006; progressional experience in Honog Kong and London (MBA May 2011)
* Rahul Gupta: Universityof Michigan (Actuarial Mathematics, Accounting, Finance) 2003; professional experience New York and Detroit (MBA May 2011)

B] 1st meeting mid-November; visited the Farm early December; agreed to focus in on most readily-accessible components of the Project as per the following Agreement: SERVICES DEFINED:
• Submission of Project Report for the planned portion of the eco-lodging campus. Report to include the following components:
a) Executive summary (page and half inquiry letter)
b) Background (to get readers interested)
c) Financial Projections
d) Recommendations
• Financial projections
• Marketing Ideas (how to get people)
• Powerpoint Presentation to Level Green Board

The report and financial projections will focus on the 1) barn, 2) driveway, 3) parking lot, and 4) trailhead.

SERVICES PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:
- Mid-term review on March 14th
- Final proposal and presentation to be submitted on April 21st
- Bi-weekly meetings starting on Jan 26th, 2010 until the final proposal and presentation submission

A year in the life of Level Green: from vision to action plan

2009-11-05T12:06:00.000-08:00

November 6, 2009

The purpose of this blog is to document a turning point in the life of one social change-oriented nonprofit organization - the Level Green Institute - in Ithaca, New York.

We are embarking on a year of strategic planning. Our goal is to create a comprehensive, detailed long-term plan for developing and managing our land at 1519 Slaterville Road in the Town of Ithaca as an eco-retreat and community learning center.

This was our vision back in 1996 when it all began. It's now time to make it happen.

A number of us will be keeping this record as the months go by. For now, the opening voice is mine: Patricia Haines, age 64, grandmother, on leave from the dissertation stage of a PhD from Cornell University's Adult & Extension Education Program, living the life I've always dreamed of - as pro bono director of Level Green.

A bit of history ...

In March, 1996 twelve of us - students in Cornell's Adult Education PhD program, and staff members from the downtown Learning Web and Greater Ithaca Activity Center - caravanned to Tennessee to visit the Highlander Education and Research Center (aka Highlander Folk School), since the 1930s a mecca for grassroots participatory leadership training for social change. This is where the Civil Rights movement had been strategized. This is where, we hoped, we could learn how all the things we were studying with Cornell scholar/activist Professor David Deshler looked like in practice.

The week at Highlander was magical. Working sheep farm in the mountains north of Nashville; research library drawing folks from all over the world sharing our craving to learn how to make our dreams work; rocking chairs in a circle looking out over the Tennessee hills. Guy and Candy Carawan, steeped in mountain music; Helen Lewis, grassroots community organizer; other program staff coming and going, telling their stories. And singing their songs.

We'd been introduced to Highlander by Dorothy Cotton, former director of the Southern Christian Leadership Center's Citizenship Education Program and Highlander Board member. "We are the ones we are waiting for", she had us sing in the Cornell classroom. "Never doubt", she quoted Margaret Mead, "that a group of committed citizens can change the world - indeed, they are the only thing that ever does". "Folks who sing together", she added, reflecting on her experience during the Civil Rights movement years, "won't fight".

During the long drive back to Ithaca we discovered that most of us were returning with the same dream: to create a "Highlander-north", which - in the Folk School tradition - would be indigenous to Ithaca, not a copy from the mountains of Tennessee.

A place of beauty, serenity, fiscally self-sufficient, for residential programs focusing on participatory empowerment for social change. A place - and programs - for recharging creativity, bringing campus and community together to share wisdom and skill-building both ways, developing tactics and action plans addressing specific objectives. A nonprofit organization that would embody the best of Adult Education social change traditions, and serve both local and global needs.

Over the next few years we met once a month or more; used our course work to explore what an egalitarian non-profit organization could look like; researched Ithaca's nonprofit-rich community in search of a need that wasn't already being met; got discouraged; called Dorothy and got re-encouraged. In the Fall of 1999 we drew up by-laws for "the Level Green Institute", whose mission would be to "foster social, economic and environmental justice through education and the arts", in the spirit of the 150 year-old Danish Folk School.

Our name came from Level Green Road in the town of Caroline, around 10 miles southeast of Ithaca. Before starting graduate school at Cornell, I had tried to buy an old community church there, with some vague thought of turning it into a community center. Luckily, as things turned out, that didn't work.

In the Spring of 2000 we reached a critical threshold. As David Deshler pointed out, there is a huge leap from theoretical explorations, which are fun and exciting and creative, to "institution-building": 'growing' from vision to systematic organizational action and identity.

By March there were only three of us left. But, with David for courage - just a week after the Landmark Forum opened a crack in my personal resistance to being real rather than theoretical - we found ourselves in a lawyer's office. And by December that year Level Green was a legal reality: a non-profit educational organization, approved by the State Department of Education, and incorporated under the laws of the State of New York.

At Highlander we'd been counseled to focus on program and organizational ethos, not get bogged in land and capital developments. But that Fall some land found us that was too good to pass up.

I, we, had no money, no job, no steady income. The only fungible assets were my Cornell retirement account and the house where I'd raised my children and lived for thirty years - just a mile from 1519 Slaterville Road, for 55 years home to the Lowe family. Mrs. Cleo Lowe, widow of Professor Carl Lowe of Cornell's Agronomy Department, gave me a private mortgage because she liked the Level Green vision - and in mid-December these 8.5 acres with 1900s farmhouse and 1930s barn became mine.

Surrounded by the City of Ithaca's 800-acre Six Mile Creek nature reserve, with its reservoirs, cascading gorges, waterfalls and extensive pathway system, the Lowe farm had enormous potential to become the perfect home for our Level Green vision. Meadows, spruce forest, tangled vines 5 inches thick dancing along the pathways, two streams, three fallen-down stone walls. Beautiful. The intention from the start was to create a home for the organization, taking how many years it took. I would live there. We would generate income for Level Green through guest rooms.

Nice in theory. But needing an enormous amount of work: nine fuse boxes in the farmhouse; no insulation; clay and rock soil; peeling paint; old furnace, pipes, electrical system. House and barn close to NYS Route 79 (Slaterville Road), with traffic and trucks 24/7. Three story barn, built into the hill, stubbornly stable but starting to lean. Contrary to paperwork at purchase, no connection with the City sewer; and no visible septic system. Zoned strictly residential. Very high property taxes.

This past July I woke up one morning feeling like it was all too much. It was my birthday; I would give myself the gift of a month without planning, organizing anything, focusing on garden, peace and health. At noon I went down to the Ithaca Commons for some music - and met someone who turned all this around. So often happens: when one lets go completely, miracles start showing up.

Marnie Kirschgessner, Youth Development director for the Town of Ithaca, sat down next to me, to share the music. She asked how Level Green was going. And whether she might bring some of the Town's young people to the land sometime. As I shared some of our projects, and some of the long-term vision, she got quiet. And then offered to introduce me to the Town Supervisor who, she felt, might be interested in Level Green and the land in relation to the Town's revision of its strategic development plan.

And by the time I got home an email from her was waiting, aimed at setting up a time to take this gentle conversation up with the Town Supervisor.

Status November 2009

Now - after nine years of trying out the program vision, intentionally developing relationships with resource people and organizations, and testing whether Level Green could indeed generate sufficient income from guest rooms rentals to meet bottom-line operating costs - it seems that the time is ripe to take on the challenges of the land. Systematically, thoroughly.

Conversations are beginning with the Town of Ithaca, exploring possibilities for working together. Kali Northrop, an ex-Peace Corps volunteer trained in Landscape Architecture at Syracuse University's School of Environmental Sciences, has moved here to be part of the planning process. Together we are compiling a roster of possible partners, funding sources, specific objectives and activities for the next twelve-plus months. Next week we begin working with four MBA students from Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management, who have volunteered to develop a long-term strategic business plan for Level Green. We are reorganizing our Board of Directors, and calling together ting an Advisory Circle that we wrote into the by-laws but never activated.

A new commitment. Focus. Intentionality. A vigorous joy -

Vision Outline

In order of feasibility for planning and funding:

1. Zoning change: rezoning 1519 from Residential to Recreational so that it can serve as official home for the nonprofit Level Green Institute (would entail turning ownership over to Level Green)

2. Six Mile Creek Trailhead: creating formal Trailhead across the Cornell student-designed Gully Bridge <news.cornell.edu/chronicle/03/6.5.03/bridge> into the Six Mile Creek reserve (would require regrading driveway, constructing an eco-appropriate parking area, creating linkage trails, and formalizing an easement with the Town)

3. Incremental Landscaping: working with the full acreage as a “natural design studio” to create native plant, produce , herb, children’s and other gardens, an outdoor performance space, small eco-structures illustrating various forms of ‘green’ building (see Pine Tree Pavilion <pinetreepavilion.bushtoolbox.net>) and other amenities as indicated of interest to Town residents and project partners.

4. Barn as Community Center: renovating 1930s barn to serve as community arts space and rural wellness center

5. Farmhouse Renovation: renovating 1900s farmhouse to serve as Level Green administrative center and staff lodgings

6. Eco-Retreat Lodge: constructing an energy self-sufficient, state-of-the-future-art Retreat Lodge (would be unique in the region as space for residential programming as well as off-site meetings; preliminary architectural plans may be seen at <ithacaecohostel.blogspot.com>)

We know that this is an expensive, ambitious and time-consuming vision; but we feel it feasible, in terms of our own commitment for the long haul, partner-resources and the fiscal climate for ‘green’ education, job creation and capital initiatives.

Time will tell.