Earthaven’s School of Integrated Living

Inspiring and empowering people to live responsible and creative lives through experiential education in integrated living and regenerative systems.

Looking for inspiration, training, connection and community?

We offer online programs, and in-person classes and customized education at Earthaven Ecovillage.

NEW! Check out our six-week Earthaven Internship Program. Starts September 21. Enrollment open now.

Tour group at Earthaven Ecovillage

Earthaven Ecovillage Tours

[In-person or Online]

Experience the magic of ecovillage living with a tour. Zoom in for a virtual tour or come out to Earthaven and take a stroll through Earthaven with an Earthaven member. Learn about living in community and strategies for living life another way.

Next virtual tour: March 23, 2-4 pm, Recording available now!

In-person tours: Most Saturdays, Customized tours on your schedule

Bird soaring over Gateway field

Extraordinary Realities

[In-Person Workshop]
April 6-7, 2024

An experiential introduction to the essentials of compassionate spirit relationship, communication, healing, and divination. The workshop is based on the practice of shamanic journeying, which can lead to a more integrated, empowered, and sustainable life with direct access to divine healing and wisdom.

Green-built house with gardens and solar hot water

Working Effectively with Community Conflict — Interpersonal Conflict, “Structural” Conflict, and Especially Challenging Behaviors

[Live Online Workshop]

Learn practical, workable solutions to resolve or contain three types of group conflict.

Join communities expert Diana Leafe Christian in this lively workshop for people in communities of all kinds who may have felt confused, baffled, or even hopeless about ongoing conflict in their group and seek grounded, field-tested solutions. There are things you can do!

SOIL is the place for planting the seeds of change.

About SOIL

The School of Integrated Living (SOIL) is the educational branch of Earthaven Ecovillage and is a 501(c)3 educational organization that teaches whole-life skills for a radically different and sustainable future.

SOIL’s mission is to populate the world with empowered, skilled, and conscious leaders dedicated to creating regenerative change and healthy relationships.

We offer online and in-person education with a broad curriculum ranging from Deep Ecology to Non Violent Communication, from Nature Connection to Grief Tending, from Ancient Wisdom to Renewable Energy.

Compassion Camp

SOIL is located at Earthaven Ecovillage.

Our unique setting will inform your learning on multiple levels.

Earthaven is an ongoing experiment where – for over 29 years – the skills we teach have been developed, refined and lived.

Connect with nature, meet the village, and exhale deeply in the Blue Ridge mountains outside of Asheville, NC.

Earthaven gathering to celebrate 25th anniversary

Customized Programs 

We also offer customized, nature-based, team-building and educational programs that inspire creativity and empower authentic leadership with connection to place, others, and self.

Come learn with SOIL, where village life and the natural world come together for a group experience like no other.

Educational Programs

Our style of experiential learning perfectly complements traditional academic programs. Get off campus for some place-specific, hands-on experiential learning.

Our connection specialists will have students connecting with themselves, within the group, with nature and the world around them. We teach critical thinking, intrapersonal skills, embodied knowledge, and getting more fully engaged. We’ll work with you on the specific curriculum that fits your group.

Student group at Gateway Permaculture Farm at Earthaven Ecovillage

Ritual is a tribute to the human capacity to create, remember, and imagine, and to apply that imagination for the benefit of the community.

Malidoma Patrice Somé

Class gathering under a lovely shade structure at School of Integrated Living

How is SOIL Unique?

Life changing experiences. Amazing community. Dedicated instructors.
Hands-on experiential learning. An inspiring living laboratory. Immersed in nature.

Listen to past participants to get a feeling for the unique experience that awaits you at SOIL.

We hope to work with you soon!

“Spending a week at Earthaven was a profound intellectual experience that I will carry with me throughout the rest of my life. I met, learned from, and interacted with some of the most revolutionary and intelligent people in the field of sustainability.”

– Lizzy B.

“Compassion Camp was a place to build community with a concentration of folks who care deeply about showing up as lovingly as possible. I perceived extremely skillful folks offering wisdom for healing, growth, and meaning. A place to be playful, authentic, and vulnerable. I left with an abundance of interior clarity that lingered and feeling so nourished in my soul.”

– Brian S.

“Every instructor/member showed a great deal of intense passion in their work, inspiring me to know what their life entailed as well as find my own passion.  These people are absolute geniuses who have changed my worldview with their dense lectures and mind altering realities. I really hope to ‘work study’ participate with one of these incredible souls.”

-Jule L.

“Reaching Nature Connection was a profound experience for me in more ways than I can list. The women of the Academy of Forest Kindergarten Teachers have a message that they simply can’t contain. I felt like I absorbed a week’s worth of material within the span of two days. There was a graceful flow between discussions and activities sending me off energized and inspired to take these skills and share them to my colleagues and children. Earthaven was a lovely site to host such an epic weekend.”

– Georgia C.

“Hands on experiences, working and learning from the farmers, becoming integrated and participating in community rituals and celebrations, and just genuinely being able to express myself and form genuine connections with community members and other SOIL participants.”

– Jessica M.

“The Farm and Ecovillage Experience offers some insight into how others can make a positive impact on the Earth, and in community, with small changes. It offers hope for a brighter, healthier future for human beings and the planet. The program is informative and sparks a desire to further one’s own research into the topics that are presented. The program is well rounded including personal growth and risk-taking opportunities, living in community, and Earth-friendly farming and homesteading practices.”

-Kim B.

The road to SOIL...

Travel the Blue Ridge Parkway on your trip to SOIL,
and enjoy the most spectacular scenery in the Eastern US.

Your Time at SOIL

You’ll find certain things true at all SOIL programs. Whether you pop in for a quick weekend class or immerse yourself in a longer hands-on service learning project. You might camp out, cozy up in a private cabin, or share space in our residences.

You’ll have the opportunity to explore Earthaven Ecovillage while meeting and interacting with our visionary residents. We’ll share group meals prepared from nutrient-dense foods often grown on the land.

There’ll be time for you to recharge and refresh however suits you… walks in the forest or impromptu group movement. Our passionate instructors will lead you through sessions in the classroom and out on the land.

And you’ll have the opportunity to meet, celebrate, explore, relate and grow together with an amazing group of fellow adventurers. Go home excited, recharged, and empowered to help lead the way to a radically different and more sustainable future.

Photo collage of scenes on the farm and in the classroom