Crystal Waters Permaculture Village Explained

The Crystal Waters Permaculture Village was started in southeast Queensland, Australia in 1988 by a group of people who wanted to live in an intentional village, one that followed environmentally sound practices, was socially responsible, and economically viable. The village sits on 640 acres and has approximately 250 residents. In many respects it seems to be the opposite of a typical American subdivision. In America, homeowner’s occupy the bulk of the land in a subdivision and maybe a small plot is left for community ownership, like as a children’s play area, basketball court, or an open area with benches or picnic facilities. At Crystal Waters, the 83 privately owned one-acre plots occupy only 14% of the property. Another 6% of the property is zoned for commercial use and this is where the village centre, Crystal Waters Bakery, a second-hand shop, and visitor accommodations are located. The rest of the acreage, 80% of the total, is owned by the community and used for orchards, gardens, forestry, grazing cattle, recreation, dams for water reserves, and wildlife habitat and corridors.
A lot of planning went into the design of the village. The sale of the 83 private lots paid for the costs of developing the property, including building roads, catchment dams, a bridge over Mary River, and planting trees. Before the 83 plots were positioned on the property, the best agriculture land was reserved for that purpose, the most environmentally significant property was held in common ownership, and the effects of potential flooding was taken into consideration. Of the remaining land, the pieces with good northern exposure, not too steep of an incline, and that could absorb human waste safely were divided into the one acre plots.
Max Lindegger, one of the chief designers, didn’t want a community where residents just come home at the end of the day to sleep. He wanted an economically viable community where residents invest their time and energy, support each other and the community could be self-sustaining. It was determined that a population of about 300 would be ideal for the self-sustaining economy of Crystal Waters. To this end, special zoning was negotiated which allows the residents to run home businesses. Max Lindegger and his wife, Trudy, own Ecological Solutions, a consulting and educational business. The community also has residents that specialize in natural cosmetics, yoga, hair cutting, natural cleaning products, eyesight/vision, permaculture and natural gardening products. Over the years several businesses, such as Rammed Earth Constructions Pty Ltd, became so successful that they moved to nearby cities as their business grew.
In America, we lead very linear lives without really thinking about it or maybe even being aware of it. An example would be going to the grocery store and buying a dozen eggs. You eat the eggs, then the egg shells, carton, and plastic bag it came in go into the garbage and are sent away to a landfill or garbage dump where all previous owners of the plastic bag and the eggs, forget about them... a straight line from purchase to disposal... linear. In a more circular lifestyle, the egg shells would be composted, adding calcium to the soil, the egg carton could be returned to the chicken owner to be used again or being made of paper products, it could be composted at the end of its useful life and if you brought your own reusable grocery bag, there would be no garbage produced. This circular, re-use of resources is a self-sustaining way of life which is incorporated into just about every aspect of life at Crystal Waters.
Permaculture is a self-sustaining, consciously designed system of agriculture that goes beyond organic farming to include production and management inputs derived from biological resources such as insects, nutrient recycling, and energy conservation. The residents of Crystal Waters grow a lot of their own food using the principles of permaculture.
A very important aspect of the community, is its role as a teaching facility to demonstrate their successes and not so successful endeavors. To accommodate this role, a visitor’s camping area was established in part of the commercially zoned property with a bunkhouse, cabin, tent areas, and a building containing laundry, shower, and toilet facilities. There is also a commercial kitchen/cafe and the EcoCentre, which is an ecological conference center, education facility and library. Crystal Waters offers classes on sustainable living and natural systems and students from all over the world come to learn from the permaculture village. Janet Hunter