Just off College Avenue, there is a white house which sits on a quarter-acre lawn surrounded by trees. It was originally an energy systems experiment conducted by two UMaine professors, a contractor and several graduate students and used for interdisciplinary research.
For the majority of the past 10 years it was vacant, until three inspired graduate students coveted the house with one major goal: sustainability.
Since April 2012, three resident members have been living in the Terrell House Permaculture Living and Learning Center and organizing potlucks, along with gardening and educational classes.
On April 27, they will be installing a community garden at a public volunteer-based event. All are welcome to participate. The garden will feature a 32-foot mandala with eight keyhole garden beds, which will be managed by different groups.
The free public event will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 491A College Ave. in Orono. The community garden will provide a space for permaculture demonstrations and community engagement. Breakfast will be served at the event from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. and lunch will be potluck.
The event aims to teach students and community members low-maintenance, sustainable cultivation techniques that will be used in the community garden.
“This is a significant milestone for permaculture education at UMaine and an opportunity to celebrate as well as work together to build the community garden. It’s also a much more visible aspect of all the work that we have been doing,” said Dee Clark, an intermedia M.F.A. student and Terrell House resident who drafted the house proposal.
Permaculture, a derivative of the words permanent and culture, matches the word’s implications. The intentional living approach takes a holistic approach to landscape design and human culture while integrating a whole-systems approach of biology, ecology, geography, agriculture, architecture, appropriate technology, gardening and community building.
Eileen Hagerman, Terrell House Resident Steward and Grounds and Research Coordinator, describes permaculture as a holistic and ethical — but also common sense approach to design.
“Permaculture designers often see problems as design challenges,” Hagerman said. “An overabundance of something, like water, for example, means that you’re not fully utilizing it as a resource. Instead of trying to get rid of the excess, why not find a better way to make use of it?”
Emily Markides, a peace and reconciliation professor who teaches courses about intentional communities at UMaine, had the three to-be residents in her class where they originally connected. Their class project became a reality after Markides, who has been working for 10 years to introduce UMaine to permaculture, had a conversation with Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration Janet Waldron. She told Markides, “that the university might be ready for its first on-campus permaculture site.”
When a proposal was approved, Clark, Hagerman and Mike Emery began living at the Terrell house and starting its transformation to a permaculture learning center.
The community garden started in 2013 as a 15-by-25-foot fenced garden used by the residents of the Terrell House and some neighbors. Residents also planted a pollinator garden to attract bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.
The plots to be planted at the event are held by different organizations such as the student groups The Environmental Studies Coalition; Green Team; Sustainable Agriculture Enthusiasts; and Sustainable Education & Ecological Design. Community plot-holders are Friends of Edith Patch; University of Maine alumni; and the Terrell House residents.
As a testament to the Terrell House’s core tenet of community, the garden was made possible by Graduate Student Government who donated the funds along with the Intermedia MFA Program and Environmental Studies Coalition. UMaine Facilities Management and Argyle Acres Farm donated manure, Wells Dining Commons has donated buckets and the Bangor Daily News contributed cardboard and newspaper.
Besides the garden, the Terrell House provides a location for interdisciplinary learning and research, events, workshops, and a resident community, which was made possible through collaboration between UMaine Office of Sustainability, and the nonprofit Stillwater SHIFT Inc.
The Terrell House was first built in the 1980s by engineering professor Richard C. Hill, poetry professor Carroll F. Terrell and builder R.W. Estela. The energy systems experiment includes a passive solar heating system, wood stove, solar water collector and radiant floors.
Terrell occupied the house until he died in 2003. Hill continued to use the house for educational purposes but it was largely unused until 2012 when Terrell House PLLC began.
Each resident has different reasons for joining the Terrell House PLLC; Dee Clark sees the opportunity as an alternative.
“Rather than complaining or protesting about what is wrong, unhealthy or unsustainable about our society, I feel that it is important and ultimately more effective to create viable alternatives and models to show what else is possible,” she said.
For more information about volunteering contact Mike Emery, Terrell House volunteer and outreach coordinator, at 207-215-7441.