We live in a challenging time. Crisis according to the Chinese is a time of danger but also opportunity. The recent election can be seen the same way. Does it motivate us to make the changes we want? Are we waiting for the government to do something? Many changes are underway, even by the forces (corporations) that we often despise. Often, it just has to do with risk management. Corporations (and the military) are looking at the downside of climate change and how they can reduce their risk for the future.
Personally, we also have to ask ourselves what we can do and how we want to live our lives. Intentional community can give us an opportunity to downsize, live more sustainably, work cooperatively with others, use available natural resources and our creative ability to meet our basic needs and the needs of others.
I have been trying to do this for many years and find it frustrating (challenging) to find others with similar interests. I have been a lifelong teacher, sharing what little perhaps I know and learning as I go as well from others. Furthermore, I’ve hosted many dozens of folks on our property, taught them some basic skills that can help them take care of themselves and survive: building skills, agriculture, aquaculture, wild crafting, craft making, sustainable design, planning, organizing, and journaling. Sometimes I felt I was successful and other times not so. It seemed that folks either dug what they were doing or left unhappy (with me or whatever). I’m not perfect. When someone is interested and shows a willingness to work and learn, I’m all in. I’ve had folks from around the world and have returned to visit. This way of life is not for everyone, and many young people just don’t know what they want and keep moving on. Very often, they are looking for a place to lay their heads, eat and be merry (drugs, alcohol, tobacco). But then, we have all been there, most likely.
Intentional community provides an opportunity to be of service. We can be of service to each other and to the world that provides our sustenance. Reciprocity is about giving back. So, every year, I get out my leaf blower (battery, solar charged) and blow the leaves along the mile or more of roads leading into the farm. I make a neat windrow along the edge of the road and hope people won’t drive over them. I also blow off the banks and along the road, so folks can get over to pass. Keeping the banks clean grows moss and plants that hold the soil and look pretty! I clean out culverts and drains so the water (up to 100 inches a year) won’t wash out the road. Then I let them sit and begin the process of breaking down by bacteria and fungi. When needed for mulch for the garden, I come with a 4 x 4 electric side by side (golf cart, solar and hydropowered) and load the leaves into a trailer (a 1,000 pounds a shot). They go to the garden and are run through a shredder powered by the tractor PTO. Then they are loaded into 5 gallon buckets, wheelbarrowed into the garden and used around plants.
All in all, it takes 20 tons of leaves to mulch a 1/4 acre garden of raised beds. Mulch keeps you from weeding so much, preserves water, insulates, fertilizes, and more. Now, I don’t have to dig my garden anymore. I just mulch, plant and harvest. These are all very simple things, but they take time, effort and determination. And I enjoy doing this every year, as long as I can, as I am getting older (by the day).
A good book to read about reciprocity is Braiding Sweet Grass, if you haven’t already read it. Also, Ismael (two books). Are we takers or leavers? Another good book is Back from the Farm about folks in the 70’s or so who gave up the"Good Life" for security and jobs and money in the real world, and a less demanding life perhaps). Then there is Living the good life by the Nearings.
I think today, we have more technology that can make the work easier, but it is still work, and we have to have the desire to do things ourselves. I’m not big on being self-sufficient. I lean more to self-reliance: what can I do for myself that will make the most difference (growing food, building my own house, etc., etc.).
I think a community needs to start with a Vision and Mission, however, this shouldn’t be a sticking point and I think will evolve over time depending on what is going on in the world. The important thing is having a vision and mission, or many visions and missions within a community. I believe a community should be flexible to meet the needs of folks. People can decide how they want to make their contribution to the community (work, financial or a combination of the two).
I think there are many pitfalls for folks joining a community (things that keep folks from making that leap of faith to a different way of life). These include personal debt, newness, physical or mental limitations, finances, etc. I also think that is the USA, we are very individualistic: we want our own piece of cake (our own land, and how we want to use it). Joining a community means giving up some of your own ??? what is the word?, to meet the needs of the community. It is a give and take. But then there are folks to help you when you need it and your help for them. Another issue is that when relationships fail, what happens? Is the property sold, and both people go their own way? I have seen that happen: dreams crash. In a community, this could be very different. Relationships could change, but people stay.
I also believe a community needs to own the infrastructure (houses, buildings, land, equipment, etc.). We can’t take it with us, so what is the point? We can have personal assets that belong to us (valuation) but the community may actually own them (I’ll lend the community this property, but I own the value and can ask the community to pay me for that at some date. Personal property is deeded to the community, but the financial value stays with the individual. Sharing is a big part of community. When a community leases or sells land for folks to build their own house, what happens when they leave and sell it to someone else. Then the community loses control of who comes into the community, and it becomes another subdivision.
Needless to say, I am looking for founders who share at least some of this vision, and have the determinatiion to make a diffence for themselves and the world around them.
I have land which has some established infrastructure, the means to build housing (with very lax building requirements, local materials (trees, rocks, sand, gravel), a sawmill, hydro and solar power (no grid power), nature in abundance, all close to other cities and opportunities.
Please let me know if you are interested.
Best regards,
Paul Chew (Coweeta Heritage Center/Talking Rock Farm) Please see my site on IC.org; www.coweetaheritagecenter.com, Redirecting..., www.icmatch.org, permies.com
Thanks for reading!