Behind the scenes, an innovative, co-operative based economic development initiative in North Frontenac has been gathering momentum. The project, or what is really a set of projects, was made public over a year ago. It was originally known as the One Small Town initiative. It incorporated the efforts of the Talking Trees project which intends to build a community of Earthships (environmentally sustainable dwellings made of used tires, concrete and other materials), as well as Contribute and Thrive, a series of commercial enterprises to be run on a contribution model rather than traditional business owner/employee model. In an update about the projects that was released at the end of March, North Frontenac Mayor Ron Higgins, who is acting as a facilitator, described how the various…
