Stelle is an unincorporated community located in Rogers Township in northern Ford County, Illinois, United States. Its estimated population as of 2013 is 100. Although Stelle started as an intentional community in the early 1970s, it became a simple homeowner's association in 1982 when the community opened up and continues on to this day. What is unique about Stelle is that many residents are interested in community living, sustainability, gardening, solar energy, wind power, permaculture and right livelihood. Contemporary Stelle The Stelle Community Association is a living example of how residents can directly affect the management of their community. Many volunteers along with a few part-time paid staff give of their time and skill to deliver community services and create community events open to everyone. Stelle residents manage their own telephone mutual and internet service (mostly from PV solar), fresh water treatment, waste water treatment, community center, and other common services. The local non-profit, Center for Sustainable Community (CSC), hosts a handful of cooperatives for interested residents including a tool co-op, garden co-op and chicken co-op. In 2012 they launched an inspiring permaculture design for their 8.7 acres of land situated immediately next to the community. CSC continues to offer occasional open houses and educational events about sustainable living often in conjunction with Midwest Permaculture. Midwest Permaculture, an educational business offering permaculture training in Stelle and around the U.S., was started and developed by two Stelle residents and contributes to the national conversation about why and how the human family should learn to live in harmony with each other and the natural world. Midwest Permaculture's training sessions have been strongly influenced by the founders' three decades of living in Stelle; participants learn the skills necessary to create long-term, productive, and healthy landscapes/dwellings as well as skills important for building authentic community. Historical overview Stelle is a small village in N.E. Illinois that began as an intentional community during the early 1970s. The founding residents belonged to a recently formed group from Chicago, whose vision was to create a more sustainable and compassionate way of living. The group purchased a farm in the northern tip of Ford County and built a traditional-looking suburban community. Stelle maintained itself as a private community for about ten years, at which point a majority of the residents decided to govern themselves through a conventional homeowner's association and become an open village with no formal residency