The first house is under construction at our Belize Eco Village project. May 17th, 2018 was a day to celebrate when the construction crew showed up to begin planning and staking the first home site to begin working on the foundation.
Photo by Michael Morningstar.
For people who are curious about our Belize Eco Village (BEV) community based on permaculture, regenerative, renewable and sustainable principles, welcome to our third BEV Bulletin update. We are very happy for the people asking questions about our planning, planting and progress reports for our Belize Eco Village project so it became easier and faster to post a monthly BEV Bulletin progress report. The first Thursday of each month we will post our BEV Bulletin dedicated to sharing insights, pictures and stories about our planning and progress for the project. Earlier Morningstar NEWS blog posts have shared the values, vision and vocation we hold for our Belize Eco Village healthy habitat. We are finding many people eager to design, build and live a healthy lifestyle in a tropical paradise ideal to invest, live, visit and work. While searching for information and insights for living in Belize many people are also seeking new openings, opportunities and outcomes there.
There are many reasons to take a closer look at Belize for a tropical paradise reboot, retreat and retirement haven. With some basic education and information you will be able to make better choices and decisions regarding whether Belize might be a great investment and lifestyle opportunity for you. If long term happiness, health and well being are high priorities than our Belize Eco Village may very well be a great choice for you. The goal of these BEV Bulletin posts is to educate and inform readers about the benefits of Belize and our project.
Begin Belize Eco Village Building
Photo by Michael Morningstar.
With the long rainy season over and dry season under way it is time for planting and progress with our project. The May 2018 trip was primarily focused on meetings with the contractor to finalize details for our first Stabilized Compressed Earth Block (SCEB) homes. Now that some drainage, excavation and road repair work is mostly complete we are ready to begin construction. We are still working on the final design and plans for a caretaker house and compost toilet to provide a base of operations for the construction team. Forty foot high cube containers are hard to come by right now.
In March the drainage trenches were properly reopened and retrenched and the dirt berms rebuilt to help keep excess rain runoff from washing out our roads during the rainy season. This is the third time a bulldozer contoured areas of the land and along Cabbage Hall Lookout road to return them to their previous engineered state and the first time for an excavator. Now berms, drainage and fire lanes are in place to help protect the land from the excessive rains during rainy season and grass fires during the dry season. The berms will also provide ideal areas for planting coconuts, lime trees and pineapples. The dozer also widened the food forest and community garden area along the electric lines. We are currently looking into building retaining ponds for holding surplus water on the land longer. We are also designing our permaculture plan to create contour swales that also help maintain more water at higher elevations during the rainy season to be available later during the dry season.
Better Blocks for Better Buildings
Photo by Michael Morningstar.
The April 2018 trip resluted in the electric box, meter and wires connected. I met with the contractor to discuss design changes for the concrete foundations. Based on many factors we decided to build the caretaker house on top of a sea container useful for secure storage, once we find one. You can search for the numerous previous posts that outline the many benefits of using Stabilized Compressed Earth Block (SCEB) for home construction. SCEB supplied by Royale International Ltd will provide material for a cool and cost efficient eco friendly home that is fire proof, mold proof, storm proof and termite proof. Each house will have rain gutters and cisterns to catch and store rain water. We are still waiting for the drilling contractor to drill a well as an additional source of water. Belize Electricity Limited installed poles and power to the property in 2017 and during the April trip completed the meter installation and activated our power.
CSEB homes will have a low carbon and low water footprint. They will be easy to maintain and extremely energy efficient. With a lot and SCEB home we feel people will be able to live in our Belize Eco Village very comfortably on a small retirement or Social Security benefit of less than $1000 per month for two people. With our current planning and projections we are confident our packages for Pioneers will provide a lot and small SCEB house (excluding Stamp and General Sales Tax -GST) for under $99 K. Our community is at 16.6 Mile Southern Highway, a well maintained main paved road which offers regular bus services throughout Belize. Many residents and owners may not even need a vehicle for transportation.
Remember…typing Belize Eco Village into our blog search box will locate numerous posts outling the values, vision and visualization for our happy and healthy lifestyle community.
Healthy Habits & Habitats
In 2018 Morningstar NEWS will focus 50% on Healthy Habits and 50% on Healthy Habitats. Researching and role modeling proven principles for a transition town drives us to share words with wisdom. Our vision is attracting a wide variety of eco friendly people to help design, build and live in a more healthy and sustainable way. We invite ideas, insights and inspiration to help us focus our planning and progress. Sharing solutions, strategies, suggestions and systems will help us all design and develop better eco communities.
Where is Your Gap?
What actions, behaviors, beliefs and decisions regarding your habits and habitats are impacting your happiness and health? What is your motivation for making better choices to avoid health hazards and adopt healthy habits? Investing in our long term health helps protect our long term wealth. When we are happy, healthy and holistic we naturally shift to a more sustainable ecological, economical and environmental friendly lifestyle.
Mastery Action Plan (MAP)
Our daily habits and habitats directly impact our happiness and health. There are many reasons to consider our Belize Eco Village for a healthy future. What are you willing to do differently starting today to embrace better permaculture and sustainable choices in 2018? Creating a healthy habits code of conduct and mastery action plan will enhance our quality of life. Our happiness and health benefit from healthy challenges, changes and choices.
Call to Action
What comments, commitments or concerns come to mind regarding healthy habits and habitats?
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