Contribute and Thrive, Talking Trees hold open house in Plevna

Jeff Green | Apr 18, 2018

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 threads of what is becoming a wide-ranging set of initiatives, are being pulled together.

Higgins, has no connection to Contribute and Thrive, which is now an incorporated not-for profit enterprise, or Talking Trees, a private initiative. He is, however, involved in what is now called “One Small Township”, which he hopes to see incorporated within the next couple of months.

“One Small Township will manage the pool of funds for investors into the related enterprises,” Higgins said in a phone interview on Tuesday (April 17).

Higgins added that there are investors from around the world who are interested in the projects.

“I am working through all the regulations to set up the legal framework for One Small Township, and I hope to have that in place by the end of June,” he said.

At that point, Higgins said there is $20 million in investment slated to flow into One Small Township, which will need to be handled by professional management. The investments will flow into various ventures, all based on the contributionism model, where people who work on the enterprises will receive payment in two ways; through services offered by other enterprises within the co-op structure, as well as wages. Investors will receive a profit of 33% of the money they invest, although as Higgins pointed out in his report, the timing associated with that return will vary for the various from venture to venture.

“To be very clear,” Higgins wrote in his report, “the anticipated 33% return to the investor may take several years to be completely paid.”

In his report, Higgins included a graphic to illustrate how the entire structure is designed to work.

Contribute and Thrive, as the first initiative out of the gate, is beginning work on building a commercial scale apiary in the vicinity of Plevna.

“Contribute & Thrive (C&T) North Frontenac, published their first project investor package for their Apiary project and had their required $25K in funding in less than one day. The materials are ordered, the hives are ready to be built and the bees are ordered for a spring start,” said Higgins’ report.

Contribute and Thrive is teaming up with Talking Trees to hold an open house on Sunday April 22 at the Clar-Mill Hall from 2-4pm, followed by a reception at the house in Plevna, that is being used as their headquarters.

The apiary will generate revenue through the sale of honey, wax, queen bees and starter hives, and Contribute and Thrive is also planning to develop an eco-tourism business, a plastic recycling business called Precious Plastics, and to open a Health and Wellness Centre which will include doctors, nurses and dentistry.

Talking Trees has a two staged plan at this point. They intend to start by constructing an Earthship Inn. The Inn will include housing for those who visit to contribute and/or to build their own homes. It will include activities such as horseback riding, hiking and food. The second project is the Talking Trees community, which will be something like a subdivision development, but all of the houses will be built using Earthship rather than traditional construction.

New to the One Small Township family, at least since the fall, is Frontenac Shores. The time share resort on Mississagagon Lake is included in Higgins’ report as being the potential site of an aquaponics/hydroponics project, additional lodgings, seniors’ housing, and a craft brewery.

One Small Township is also open to participation from new or existing businesses within the township.

According to Higgins, in line with his estimation of a $20 million pool of funds sitting in waiting for the One Small Township to be set up as an investment destination, “there is a listing of interested investors and the list continues to grow. Some are eager to invest and are patiently awaiting the investor packages.”

For his part, Higgins, who is currently serving as Warden of Frontenac County in addition to his role as Mayor of North Frontenac, is being careful not to swat into a conflict of interest position. He said he has no money invested in One Small Township or any of the projects and is not being compensated for his time working on the initiative.

“What I am doing is trying to drum up investment and economic development in North Frontenac, and that is what a Mayor’s role is,” he said.

He also said he has consulted with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing on numerous occasions over the last year, as he has worked on One Small Township, to make sure he has not over-stepped the legislated role of township Mayor, and each time they have given him the go-ahead to continue.