Orcas Island is a popular travel destination brimming with local knowledge and community spirit. What we cultivate here has the power to ripple onward, inspiring shifts throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Every place is an ecosystem, and we are very much a part of it. For much of our existence as a species, survival meant maintaining bonds with a community and increasing the food biodiversity around us. This interdependence with the land shaped not only our physical well-being but also our cultural and social structures.

Our environmental crisis is not only about what we are doing to our planet but also what we aren’t doing. The loss of communal stewardship, regenerative practices, and localized knowledge has left gaps that we must actively work to repair.

From our excess, new life should spring forth. By reimagining our systems and working in harmony with natural cycles, we can foster regenerative abundance rather than depletion.

Small, self-sustaining communities that rely on local skills and resources foster unique opportunities and high-quality, personalized services—things that have become rare in larger, outsourced economies on the mainland. These communities offer resilience, adaptability, and a deeper sense of belonging, proving that sustainable, cooperative models can thrive in a world dominated by mass production and detachment.

Housing development should bring health to the surrounding landscape, balancing the needs of people and nature, and providing benefits for them both!