Terrell House Permaculture Living & Learning Center

The student residents tend the demonstration garden on site, and lead the Permaculture & Gardening Club at Umaine Terrell House, a university-owned property at 491A College Avenue, is an inspiring space for hands-on learning, collaboration, research, and cooperative living. Incorporating principles of sustainable design, local food, and intentional community, Terrell House provides a location for interdisciplinary learning and research, events and workshops, a resident community, and a community garden. Terrell House was built in the 1980s as an energy systems experiment by two UMaine professors, a contractor, and several graduate students. It has been a model for interdisciplinary experimentation and applied research from its very beginning. Graduate students participated from the early stages in research, planning, and construction. Current residents and volunteers have diverse interests and fields of study, but are drawn together by an overarching desire to participate in interdisciplinary work related to social, ecological, and economic justice. Terrell House Permaculture Living & Learning Center incorporates a small intentional community, educational events, and a community garden. Residents oversee all aspects of the project including programming and volunteer management. Our vision includes a supportive social environment, affordable housing, on-site food production and preservation, educational opportunities, and community building and outreach, all guided by permaculture ethics and design principles. Visitors and volunteers can participate at Terrell House through potlucks, skill shares, workshops, permablitzes, and community gardening. Residents at Terrell House share household and programming responsibilities through regular house meetings, planning sessions, design and garden work, and experimentation with a variety of systems and approaches to communication, education, and economics.