MAY/JUNE 2026

Building Momentum at CPI’s New Properties

It’s now been a few months since CPI announced the big news about our acquisition of the three properties along Enright Ave. that are home to the greenhouse and nursery, the Icehouse forage/demo gardens, and the former pub + apartment. In the interim, we’ve been holding meetings and potluck and putting some initial elbow grease into cleaning the place up and preparing it for use. The big highlights to know about as we cruise into June:

• We’re offering a new Residential version of our Permaculture Design Course - now accepting applications!

• We’re having a naming collaboration to give the corner building a fresh new identity for this new chapter!

• Weekly volunteer hours have been added for all three spaces. Plant sales continue at the nursery through June.

• We’ve updated the wishlist of items, services, and other kinds of help we need to make this sustainable. The most urgent are gutters and water damage repair, and a new A/C unit or at minimum, some fans.

Follow the links above or keep reading below to find out more about each of these developments and how you can get involved and support us! Every little bit matters, whether it’s a donation of time, labor, funds, or materials. We want this to be up and running full-steam within a year and you can make that happen!

So we’ve got the Greenhouse. The (former) Eishaus/Icehouse. And … another house. Question is, what do we call it? While we are and will remain CPI, we feel that each of the three spaces deserves its own moniker and sense of place, and none moreso than the corner building.

Nuestra casa es su casa. Our home is your home. That’s why we want you to have a say in naming it, and have created a way for our community at large — not just the board — to brainstorm and give it a new identity. Per the Permaculture Principle of Cooperation, it’s not a contest, but a collaboration: Submissions and early votes will be collected through June 30, and eligible names will be pooled into a vote for the finalist. We’ve started the process with some seed ideas that have emerged organically along the way, and welcome you to add yours to the collection!

Volunteering Opportunities

Help Howie tend to plants over the summer at the Greenhouse/Nursery and the Icehouse Forage Garden. Tasks could include watering, weeding and mulching, labeling or organizing plants for sale, helping customers with plant purchases. Icehouse volunteer hours are scheduled for Wednesdays and Fridays, and Nursery/Greenhouse on Thursdays.

Or! Help out at the corner lot with “refresh” tasks like cleaning, clearing out junk and debris, putting some landscaping in around the curb, and reclaiming the bar space into something new. We’ll have the building and backyard open on Saturday mornings for the next month.

>>SEE SCHEDULE AND SIGN UP

In a broader sense, we also would love help connecting with the local community beyond the relationships we’ve already forged with neighbors and friends like Enright Ridge EcoVillage, Imago, Price Hill Community Garden and Our Harvest. Do you have roots or connections in the East Price Hill neighborhood? If so, volunteering could look like helping us make introductions and inroads and build awareness! Use the form at the bottom of the Wishlist page to contact us about this.

On Our Wishlist

URGENT ITEMS FOR SUMMER 2026: Gutter & roof repair (obtaining bids); oscillating or box fans; replacement of air conditioning unit. We gladly accept donations of materials, funds, or labor. Also accepting recommendations/referrals for reputable local services, techs & handypeople.

• SIGNAGE: New roadside signage for each lot (a chance to build something natural/handmade?)

• SECURITY: Locks, cameras, motion sensor lights

• REPAIRS: Water damage (inside and out); new drop ceiling tiles; exterior siding and/or paint

• PAINT AND FURNISHINGS: We’re nearing the stage of making some interior design decisions downstairs.

• SHADE COVERAGE for the pavement pad in front of the nursery (such as a sun sail or awning)

• ASSISTANCE APPLYING FOR GRANTS from people experienced with the process

• RECRUITING FOOD TRUCKS: Help us reach out to local vendors who might want to collaborate on summer events

• PERMACULTURE ELEMENTS: rain catchment, solar energy, composting center, raised beds, trellises… this might be in the “eventually” pile but we welcome anyone who can make these things happen!

Along the way, our intention is to align our efforts with the ethics and practices of permaculture as much as possible. The ultimate vision for these sites is not only to serve our organizational needs but to be a living example of how permaculture can be done, particularly in the city. So we are looking for local, sustainable solutions and materials, and ideas for getting things done in a mindful, resourceful, “scrappy” way, making use of existing available resources — including those present in our community. We appreciate anything you can bring to the table!

If you’d like to be part of the leadership & decision-making body for these properties, considering joining the CPI Board.

Psst..Don’t Forget About These Events!

Restoring our Place in Nature: A New Story from Old Wisdom

June 19-20, 2026 at Xavier University

Join this conversation to protect the legal Rights of Nature through artistic expression, faith initiatives, ancient wisdom, health and community action to restore the Commons. We convene to build our Social Prosperity and Abundance; to share, learn, and advance this transformation.

The convergence features Peter Block with the Common Good Collective, Tish O’Dell with the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, and Nancy Stranahan with Arc of Appalachia. Breakout workshop discussions include the Ohio Community Rights/Rights of Nature network, Faith Communities Go Green, Co-op Cincy, Weston A. Price Foundation, Sustainability Central, Community Gardeners, Holistic Health practitioners, and Community Organizers. 

Midwest Permaculture Convergence

June 26th - 28th at Heart Valley Springs
Bloomingdale, Michigan

Set at the serene and magical Heart Valley Springs (with on-site camping available), this gathering will feature workshops, talks, skillshares, and open space sessions focused on permaculture, food sovereignty, community resilience, regenerative living, and more. Some speakers and topics include:

• Mike Haasl — Homesteading Merit Badges

• Beth Robeson — Falling in Love with Weeds!

• Barbara Starflower — Sacred Nourishment and Intentional Enrichment

• Bill Wilson — The Quiet Revolution: Rebuilding Resilience Through Relationships

• C. Milton Dixon — Building Community From the Ground Up

• Bryce Ruddock — Personal Strategies for Dealing With Systemic Collapse

• Sabina Kneisly — Community Health Strategies for the Polycrisis

• Mark Cohen — Living Systems: Off-Grid & Backup Systems
  Neurobiological Foundations: Mitochondrial Health
  Community Land Trust & Land Tenure

• Julia Forrest — Alternatives to Polluting Water & Safe Drinking Water Methods

• Kelly Clark — Permaculture for Social Change
  Metachrysalis: The Social Change Role Play Game

• Dale Hendricks — The Rest of the Story: Soil, Carbon, Water & Climate Building Resilience, Diversity & Opportunity

• Mike Doughney — Making the Leap to Driving an Electric Vehicle

• Peter Bane — Pattern in Design