The Lifeboat Academy at Spalding Valley Farm 
Village Agreement

Purpose

The overall goal of The Lifeboat Academy is to be a model of resilience and regeneration at the personal, place, and community level by pursuing the highest quality of life possible within a Fair Share Footprint. One aspect of this is creating a welcoming space where people can develop the kind of culture that comes after the one that is dying away. Sometimes we talk about this as “recreating the village” where people with diverse skills and backgrounds work together to provide for the majority of their needs in ways that are healthy, healing, and regenerative to both the farmers and the farm. So, the question is what helps everyone show up, be present, and contribute their best work towards our common cause? 

This document attempts to lay out as well as possible the mutual agreements that we enter into when working or staying at Spalding Valley Farm. These agreements are reviewed and refined each season at our Seasonal Retrospective. 

The current agreements are valid until Sep 21, 2023.

Villager Agreement Short List 

• Timeline of the day - 730AM morning chores; 900AM circle/huddle; 1230PM lunch; 1900PM dinner.

• Quiet hours - 9pm to 7am.

• Rainy season tends to be October - April, with the rest of the year being quite dry. Please be conscious of water use accordingly.

• No smoking on the property for human health, plant health, and combustion concerns. (see more below) 

• Bathrooms available for visitor use include the half-bathroom at the top of the stairs inside the Common House; the bathroom with shower in the bunkroom in the Common House; and the half-bath inside the Studio. There is also an outdoor shower outside the Studio.

• Please do not enter an area or use equipment that you have not been oriented to. 

• Ask for what you need. You will have a “go-to person” during your stay, if you have any questions, ask them.

• Please be respectful of all beings on the property. 

• You always have the power of choice. 

Grounding Agreements

We attempt to apply our grounding agreements to all our interactions together and expect everyone to abide by them at least while they are on the farm:

We revisit these agreements every day at the farm circle using the new oral tradition - that is, we answer the question “what do we need to show up and be present” freshly every day to allow our understanding and agreements to grow over time. 

The following “specific” agreements are more concrete ways of operationalizing these fundamental agreements about how we want to be with each other. 

For day visitors, and short-term farm stays, the first two pages of the agreements are most relevant. People with deeper involvement need to be aware of all the agreements that follow. 

The Shape of our Days and Weeks

Over time, the day and week on the farm have taken on a routine that we find helps us all stay grounded and present and working together well. Our goal is to spend as much time in individual and collective flow as possible and we have found these patterns support that goal. The current weekly schedule of events is available on our Google Calendar and we co-create the schedule for each specific week at weekly Sprint planning sessions.

Everyone is invited to all of these activities at any time. We always go over the purpose and process for each activity quickly at the beginning, so you can join in without any preparation. 

• Daily Circle / Huddle - a time to get your head on straight and set your intentions for the day, plus a quick check-in to coordinate work on the farm, held upstairs at 9:00am (after morning chores).

• Daily Reflection Reminder - an invitation to reflect on the day’s accomplishments and look ahead.

• Weekly Hive Mind / Groundwork Meeting - a chance to think through new ideas, challenges or projects collectively (usually Tuesday evening). 

• Weekly Sprint Plan- looking ahead at the week and thinking through the shape of the week - usually Sunday afternoon at 1:00pm.

• Weekly Open Farm Day - a time for informal community gathering with a farm walk, a regular potluck, and other optional/occasional events (such as a campfire if allowed). 4pm - 7pm on Saturdays.

• Groundwork Meeting - a chance to work through the “how to” part of big projects (done as needed). 

Everyone is invited and if you are on the farm, we especially encourage you to join our daily circle. (Greyed out meetings are seasonal, paused or currently in development.)

Specific Agreements

We try to put our grounding agreements into practice by being as explicit as possible about how we share the spaces at the farm with each other to increase transparency and aligned expectations. At the same time, we want to avoid creating an impossibly complicated “rule book.” The agreements should be seen as guidelines in development that can be applied flexibly. If there is no specific agreement in place, then the grounding agreements are the guide - especially the “we’re all in this together” part.  

We allow the agreements to evolve if and when we find tensions, which we process using the Sociocracy 3.0 Navigating Tensions models described here. Suggestions for new agreements or changes to existing agreements are always welcome and can be posted on the reflection section of the Ops Wall or directly to the Hopper in Asana to be addressed by the relevant area caretaker(s) or discussed at the Hive Mind meeting as appropriate. 

Balanced Energy Flows and the Commons

• We are opposed to commodification and strive to live as much as possible through the gift economy. At the same time, we have to balance the material needs of the farm and our inhabitants so we need to ensure that there is a balanced flow of resources to match needs, including guaranteeing adequate income to keep the farm afloat. 

• We ask that everyone working or staying at Spalding Valley Farm consider how they can balance the energy flows to ensure they are contributing in a way that feels fair to everyone involved.

• This might involve a combination of effort (doing chores, helping with projects), cash, or other support (talking to your friends about us, for example) or anything else that contributes to a balanced flow. 

• For us, the farm is a full-time, full-immersion opportunity to develop your personal and practical resilience and regeneration skills. Our days and weeks are full, but also with ample time for self-care and socializing.  

Anywhere on the Farm

• No smoking is allowed anywhere on the farm due to the high risk of forest fires and health concerns to other living things. 

• We value the quiet here. We are mindful of our neighbours and the way sound carries in our valley and so we limit the noise that we make and officially observe quiet hours starting with golden hour (dusk).

• Obviously, no littering or activity that in any way has an adverse effect on the land. If you see litter, please pick it up and dispose of it properly. 

• No unauthorized vehicles are allowed anywhere other than the main lane to the barn.

• Dog walking and horseback riding are allowed with prior approval and must be under strict control at all times. There are often free-range farm animals on the property and their welfare comes first. 

• Hunting isn’t allowed during the 2021 season due to lack of farm capacity to make sure it’s done responsibly. We will revisit this agreement specifically in August 2022.  

• Farming is dangerous. You will get hurt. We do everything in our power to ensure safety, but you are responsible for yourself. Besides, we’re broke and uninsured, so if you hurt yourself, you can’t get blood from a stone. 

Covid Policy

• We encourage everyone on the property to be double vaxxed and boosted, if medically safe for you. Please let us know ahead of time if you are unvaccinated.

• We ask that all who visit the farm take extra precautions during the week before traveling here, including wearing masks in public and frequent hand washing. 

• Please DO NOT come to the farm if you are feeling sick. 

• Please wear a mask, social distance when possible, and wash your hands frequently while traveling.

• We ask everyone to take personal responsibility for managing the risk they pose to others on the farm and be considerate of other people’s safety and comfort. 

• We don’t require masks for low-intensity indoor events (less than 10 people rarely within 2m) unless you are unvaxxed, in which case we ask that you wear a mask at all times on the property. 

• We encourage masks for high-intensity indoor events (more than 10 people or people having to work in close quarters) and ask that you respect social distancing measures. We can open windows for ventilation. 

• We will revisit this policy as it seems appropriate.

Specific Area Agreements

Common House

• The Common House is open to villagers and guests of the Lifeboat Academy starting with morning chores (currently around 7:30 am) until 9:00 pm. This includes the kitchen, dining room, living room, and bunkroom.

Office / Wifi

• The office in the Studio is available to anyone staying on the farm. Including the farm computer, printers, and any of the office and facilitation supplies stored there. 

• If you are staying for a longer period of time, we can set up a separate account on the farm computer. Shorter-term use can be done using the “guest” account. 

• Feel free to use the printers and other resources, but remember your commitment to balanced energy flows and consider throwing in some money to help cover the farm’s costs in materials.  

• Wifi is available to everyone on the farm (if you are within our limited wifi range). Because we have limited bandwidth, we ask that people coordinate any high band-width activities (Zoom calls, streaming video, etc.) in the office calendar to avoid having dropped meetings, etc. Please ask a farmer-caretaker for Wifi passwords (house and studio).

Library

• Any Friend of the Lifeboat Academy can borrow books from our library - if fact, we encourage you to. That’s why it’s there! We focus our collection on sustainable living “how-to” books, and anything relevant to living a high quality of life within a sustainable footprint. 

• We have a sign-out list to make sure our books find their way home again. 

• To make sure books are available to others, don’t keep books for longer than 3 weeks (unless you’re really getting into it). 

• To balance the energy flow, think about writing a light synopsis of the book or a personal reflection on the information in the book and sharing it with Friends of the Lifeboat Academy for our mutual learning.

• We welcome donations of books to add to our shared library. 

Kitchen 

• The kitchen functional area has priority use of the kitchen, so any significant kitchen activity (cooking a meal, for example), needs to be cleared with the kitchen caretaker. Light activities (making a cup of tea, for example) are generally fine, but remember to share well.  

• There is a kitchen schedule where you can sign up to prepare a meal for the farm, and where you can also reserve time to use the kitchen for your own purposes. The schedule is arranged in slots of time, if cooking a meal or reserving time to use the kitchen for your own purposes, please make sure that your use of the kitchen falls within the allotted time. If more time is needed, make arrangements through the Kitchen Caretaker beforehand.

• Everyone is responsible for maintaining the cleanliness and working order of the kitchen. This includes clearing compostables, storing leftovers, loading dirty dishes into the dishwasher, hand-washing bigger items as appropriate, putting back any ingredients used, wiping down the counters and sweeping.

• All of the pots, pans, dishes and cooking tools that are on the open shelving are available for use provided you’ve earned your First Kitchen Badge. If you borrow any kitchen equipment to use elsewhere, make a note of it in the Slack kitchen channel. The kitchen is a working space like the workshop, and missing tools can impede the work that happens there.  

Shared Meals

• The Farm Kitchen prepares dinner for the residents of the farm. Please let the kitchen know 24 hours in advance if you won’t be attending dinner. 

  • Anyone who has prepared the meal is excused from doing the dishes, unless they wish to participate. 

  • You may be called upon by the cook to set the table and help with the service. 

  • Anyone can prepare a meal. Register for the meal and day you’d like to contribute on the schedule located on the refrigerator. See above for details.

  • In accordance with the gift economy, we expect everyone to consider giving what they feel is appropriate to balance the energy flow. We estimate the out-of-pocket cost to the farm to be about $15.00 per plate.  

• The Farm food stores are clearly marked and available to villagers and our monthly food costs are shared so that people can make informed decisions about how to balance the energy flow. We ask everyone to mark off the food store log when they take stuff.    

Washroom / Laundry

• All guests are welcome to use the washroom in the hallway on the second level of the house as well as the washroom in the bunkroom. These are shared bathrooms, so please leave the space in as good a condition as you find it. Bring your own toiletries and towel. There is no staff here to clean-up after you.

• The laundry is available to guests as long as water storage is adequate. Water is a very precious resource on the island, so please be mindful and use the laundry judiciously and efficiently. Only run full loads. We wear clothes until they are dirty rather than throwing them in the wash after a single use. We reserve the right to close or limit the use of the laundry if water conditions dictate.  

Storeroom / Farm Kitchen (set-up in progress)

Water Use

• Water is a precious resource on the farm, especially in the summer months. We expect everyone on the farm to be water-wise and use as little water as possible to get the job done.

• We expect villagers to change their habits as necessary to ensure we have the water we need when we need it.  

• If it’s yellow, let it mellow. 

• We provide foaming soap because it allows you to start washing your hands before you turn on the tap. Lather up first, then only use water to rinse your hands. 

• Re-wear clothes until they are dirty. Don’t assume you have to launder after every use. 

• Consider bird-baths and navy showers as ways to minimize your water use. 

• Save dishwater for watering trees and plants.  

Personal Space

• Personal visitors of villagers are welcome. As a villager, when you invite a visitor you also take on the role of chaperone or ambassador and are responsible for ensuring that they adhere to the agreements. 

• As a courtesy to other villagers, add potential visits to the farm calendar on the Ops Wall (soon to be set up). 

More on Smoking 

The Concerns 

Wildfire Risk - we live in a dry environment that is quite susceptible to wildfire hazard for a large part of the year

Human Health (more nicotine related) - we want to create a safe and healthy space for all creatures of the property

Crop Disease (tobacco) - the tobacco mosaic virus can be transferred through handling tobacco, and has the potential of infecting crops of the nightshade family. 

For Tobacco - no smoking on the property, if you smoke and are returning to Highgrove, please wash your hands as a protective measure against tobacco mosaic virus. 

For Vaping - you may vape on the property as there’s no wildfire risk, though be conscious of others and seek consent from those who are around.

For Marijuana - see below for creating a designated space on the property, we still need to be wary of wildfire risk and considerate of those around you.

We are considering designating a space within the fenceline for smoking, though we have not yet designated a space.

Change Log

Jul 19, 2022 Minor changes made to smoking policy, upstairs bathroom use, Main Hall hours and our regular meeting schedule. 

Jul 16, 2022    Spruced up the Kitchen and sections

Jul 11, 2022 Added more info on smoking & drafting the Villager Agreements Light (Baseline) 

Nov 11, 2021 Added Hunting Agreement. 

Nov 11, 2021 Added Covid Policy.

Dec 4, 2021 Updated Covid Policy.

Dec 9, 2021 Meeting to review / revise agreement. 

Apr 4, 2023 - Updated to reflect new “Lifeboat Academy” name and the changes in spaces on the new farm.