CINCINNATI — Celeste Shumrick moved to the Enright Ridge Ecovillage in East Price Hill 10 years ago. Most of her days are spent in the garden.
“A day in the life is getting up, feeding chickens, feeding sheep, tending to the flowers, and you know, greeting our community members,” Shumrick said.
Shumrick's garden is a lifesource for her family. Not only because of the fresh fruit, vegetables and eggs they get, but also because she runs a flower farm — with every flower coming from her backyard.
The garden began in 2004, years before Shumrick moved in, when Jim Schenck invited around 20 neighbors to start an urban ecovillage.
“Eco is environmental, ecology, and village is community. So it’s the combination of a community of people who support each other to live sustainably,” Schenck said.
WATCH: What is an ecovillage, and how does it work?
Since its inception, it has grown from just Enright Avenue to four streets in the East Price Hill neighborhood.
Schenck said that while not every resident participates, he says many have moved there because of the lifestyle.
“People really do love living in the ecovillage,” Schenck said. “Very few people move out of the ecovillage cause it’s really just a wonderful place to live.”
I asked Shumrick why she moved to the ecovillage and why it was important for communities like hers to exist.
“Our small actions can add up ... and yeah, unless people start caring, we won’t have a beautiful earth to take care of, and walk in, and celebrate,” said Shumrick.
