Following is an account by the originating author of their efforts starting the first Integration Center project.

In 2023, inspired by what my partner had been teaching me about permaculture, and the permaculture design course we had taken together in 2022, I started formulating the Integration Center business plan. By March, I was starting to research parcels of land in the Catskills, outside of New York City where I was living.

I spent months learning how to evaluate parcels. I started noticing that large, relatively-inexpensive parcels around the New York City area were inexpensive because they were considered junk real estate… most commonly they were the un-developable swamplands in the lowlands between more desirable parcels.

Theoretically a great permaculturist can work with any piece of land, but the challenges would be enormous in trying to do something quickly with land that has very little elevation difference and is all at the level of the water table.

I started expanding my concept of what I would need to spend on land. I still did not and do not know precisely how much land would be needed for the plans to work. It was evident that the topography and ecology of the land would have a huge influence on that number; so parcels had to be evaluated very closely. I write more about parcel evaluation on the main site.

First Parcel. I landed on a parcel outside the Catskills but still in a somewhat mountainous region. We had an experienced permaculturist give it a strong vote of approval, and I made an offer on it. 110 acres that’s less than two hours from New York City for $450,000? It sounded too good to be true.

And indeed it was. In the due diligence process, the title attorney discovered that the land had a very strong conservation easement on it, and not a single structure could ever be built on it. It’s nice that an earlier owner decided to preserve the land; but the business plan was worthless without being able to build even temporary cabins.

Second Parcel. By August we were seriously evaluating a 140 acre parcel near the previous one, listed for $800,000. I was skeptical of the zoning, and I was leery of the upper-middle class “McMansions” surrounding the parcel on every side… several of them had been illegally taking over corners of the parcel for their own use; which gave me an idea of the paradigm of those neighbors. But my partner was very positive on the land, so I went ahead with making an offer.

Community Dissolution. In November, the day I was supposed to sign a contract on that parcel, my partner and I broke up. I was certain that that person was my ever-loving life-partner, and I had been deeply wrong in that belief. They left on very bad terms. At the same time, two other members of my very inmost circle of friends also abruptly left that circle.

I was left trying to build a community-centric project with a now-shattered community. And I had to look at what was going on in myself that I ended up in this situation.

There is a very important lesson here for anyone trying to enact a version of this project… one has to be healed within themselves before they can attempt to build a healing community. I will have to write more on what that looks like, because at that time, I was under the impression that I was in a good place, even though now it is obvious to me that I was not.

My bond with that partner was one based on both my childhood traumas and theirs: we each provided solace to the other’s old wounds. But not a solution. We had been seeking healing in a relationship with someone else instead of seeking healing within ourselves.

I had already worked with three cognitive therapists over the course of the previous decade, as well as explored numerous modalities of healing ceremonies… some quite extensively. The last therapist tuned me in to my childhood attachment trauma, but to really deal with that trauma I felt I had to find a somatic therapist.

I discovered a therapist who combined the relatively new somatic practice of Brainspotting with the practice of Internal Family Systems. Childhood traumas started coming up and resolving at an almost disorienting pace. I began connecting to me authentic, un-traumatized self.

Third Parcel. Even though the heart of my community was gone, around July of 2024 I decided to go back to buying a parcel of land, because I knew the plan needed to be done. I found another 80-acre parcel in the same area for $600,000 and did a lot of due diligence on it.

I hired real estate attorneys to set up a pre-inquiry meeting with the town planning board to see how much I could do on that land without getting a zoning variance. I learned more about zoning in that process.

I evaluated that parcel further and decided it was just too unworkable. Even though it was huge, most of the acreage was steep mountain-side, and realistically only about 4 acres would be able to hold the village and its gardens. This may be doable, but seemed quite problematic. Additionally, those acres were set far back from the road, and a very long driveway would need to be built — through a wetlands area — and this seemed very impactful and expensive to me. 

More importantly, something about the parcel just didn’t feel right; and — despite all the money and effort I had put into the diligence process — in October I decided to back away from pursuing it further.

Open Business Plan. I wanted to find yet another parcel to focus on, but by this point I was wondering why I was even looking in New York City. There was only one member of my inner circle living in the city anymore, and they had just moved away. Should I stay in this over-populated, highly-expensive area, or look elsewhere? And if so, where? I asked for guidance from my higher self and from the spirit of Mapacho.

That’s when it hit me. I had been trying to do this project with my (not particularly healthy) community. Then I had been trying to do it alone. What if I just gave it away to the world and let anyone do it with their own community in their part of the world? This project isn’t about me, so why should I be the only one trying to do it? Besides, I figured if I published it, I would be able to find the people to do my instance of the plan with me, and also where to do it.

So I started re-writing the plan in a more generic format, and realizing that I had left a lot of things un-explained. So I have been writing since then, trying to explain all the details that had so far been in my head.

That’s where I am now. Still in Phase 0, and back at the beginning of it. Once I have this site up and running smoothly, I will return to evaluating another parcel of land; either in the New York area or… somewhere else. I remain committed to the mission of this project, and plan to have an Integration Center opening by the end of 2026. Behind schedule, but much stronger than the original vision.

I am still reconsidering my locality. There is a lot I like about New York and the people here, but also the culture within the city is extremely disconnected and often very entitled. That makes it harder for me to connect with people here about the ideas I am working toward, but also this is a culture that desperately needs healing. Right now, in addition to New York, I am considering other places I may want to set up my project and build community, including Arizona, Massachusetts, North Carolina, as well as a few places in Central and South America.

Join Project 1. If you would like to communicate about working on building this particular Integration Center with me, I can be reached at the contact address for this site: core@(this domain). I will be likely to share my identity with you then; I am keeping it off of this site simply to make this be all about the project, and not about personalities.

Return to: Implementation Projects