The Embercombe Experience

Yesterday, we went to Embercombe, a charity and social enterprise whose mission is "to touch hearts, stimulate minds, and inspire committed action for a truly sustainable world." Embercombe is located only seven miles from the city of Exeter, yet it feels a world away. I've never been anywhere quite like it. If this post seems a little all over the place, it is because Embercombe is a large, multi-faceted organization that is hard to explain - and I mean that in the best way possible. If you ever get a chance to book a visit to this amazing place - do it. You won't regret it.

Embercombe was founded by Tim 'Mac' Macartney who formerly worked for a company which specialized in leadership training. He still trains business leaders today, but in a much different manner than he had previously. His vision of Embercombe is largely shaped by Native American and First Nation teachers he met in North America. A core component of the leadership and sustainability model he promotes to business leaders who visit Embercombe is based on the 'Children's Fire,' an informed decision-making process that was used by certain Native American groups in the past and which some still use today. The principle of the 'Children's Fire' is that no decision must be made that would negatively affect the children born seven generations in the future, both human and animal. When you think of your decisions in those terms, it radically redefines your obligations in a way that is far-reaching, both spatially and temporally. I don't know if I've ever come across a better philosophy to live by.

Mac took us on a tour of the fifty acre property, once the home of an eccentric WWII pilot, complete with landing strip and aircraft hangers, which has been utterly transformed into an ongoing project towards truly sustainable living.

The stone circle with the symbolic "Children's Fire" in center

We found throughout our tour that Embercombe runs a number of different programs - not just leadership and sustainability workshops. All of these serve to promote a better, more sustainable world. The organization is simultaneously a charity, a construction site and business, a carpentry shop, a working farm, and a path towards spiritual enlightenment. A fire pit surrounded by a circle of rocks, pictured left, forms one of the sacred spaces of Embercombe, a combination of traditional Native American teachings and Great Britain's own tribal traditions. It welcomes people of all faiths and non-faiths to think about the magic of the world, both spiritual and scientific. It is Mac's philosophy that the two need not be mutually exclusive.

Three families, including Mac's, live at Embercombe full-time and an apprenticeship program hosts participants for a year. People can also apply to be volunteers for one to three months and other various programs host businessmen, school children, and people from other social backgrounds from anywhere from a day to several weeks. As you can imagine, these creates an environment where people are constantly coming and going - and bringing new ideas with them.

The focus of all the different programs Embercombe promotes, is the real world application of sustainable practices, either at Embercombe itself, in larger businesses, or in participants' homes. Embercombe has acres devoted to beautiful gardens that produce food for all who live or visit there at any given time. Everyone who lives there, whether it be a week, a month, or a year helps the community in some capacity. Embercombe produces its own food, wool, timber, furniture, and construction. Excess food is placed into designated compost buckets and a compost toilet turns both forms of human waste into fertilizer for the organization's orchards (I helped contribute to some of that during my stay).

Rescued Dartmoor ponies do some light labor around Embercombe. They are trained to carry baskets on their backs through a very unique form of natural horsemanship that puts the pony's needs, natural instincts, and desires at the forefront of the process. As a lifelong horse-lover, I was impressed and delighted to see the natural horsemanship method put into practice in such a intuitive and compassionate way.

Gardening at Embercombe

People are extremely cognizant of where their food comes from here. Many who visit or live here are vegans and vegetarians. Those who do eat meat generally eat wild caught meat or fish and if one of the rams is killed for mutton from Embercombe's sheep flock, all those who plan to eat it must watch the process. This fosters an appreciation for the food that is consumed. Too often we don't think about where our food comes from - what has been injected into it or sprayed onto it. Often we forget that animals have to die for us to eat them, that they are killed before they would die naturally, and that they too often live in factory farms where they never even see the sun. At Embercombe, you know where the great majority of your food comes from and what process it went through to end up on your plate.

Another important element of Embercombe is the Embercombe Building Company, which employs men who would probably not have access to employment otherwise due to their criminal records. The company gives these men urgently-needed second - and even third and fourth chances to rediscover themselves and rebuild their lives both physically and metaphorically. The company does a lot of demolition work and reuses bricks and other materials that would otherwise be thrown in landfills in building projects at Embercombe. Some materials are sold to contractors in London for a profit, before being mostly reinvested into Embercombe afterwards. The buildings being constructed in Embercombe are about 50% built from sustainable resources. Both the company and the overall social enterprise are not 100% sustainable, but they are quite happy to be transparent about which processes are sustainable and which are not and they are always striving for improvement.

One of the yurts at Embercombe

We had a lovely dinner at Embercombe and had the opportunity to meet people from all walks of life - students from Spain and America, middle-aged men and women from northern England, a carpenter from Germany - the list goes on. It was truly an amazing experience that I will never forget. We stayed overnight in cosy (British spelling) yurts with their own wood burning stoves (it was a bit too hot for the stoves, though), the main accomodations for those who live, work, and volunteer at Embercombe. We all slept quite comfortably and soundly.

Embercombe is all about finding your own path and following your dreams, and doing those things in a sustainable manner with the resources you have available. Everyone at Embercombe is aware that most people don't have access to the sort of resources available there, so the main message is simply: Follow your heart and do the best with the time you have and the gifts you have to make the world a better place.

Please check out Embercombe's website, listed here and see how you can get involved in more sustainable living: http://www.embercombe.co.uk/

You can also 'like' them on Facebook.

More information about the building company can be found here: http://embercombe.co.uk/blog/?tag=embercombe-building-company

Stay tuned for next time!