Looking to form an intentional community in Southern California

Discussion
, , , , , ,
1

i’m looking to form an intentional community in Southern California or another region close by; in a desertlike region with noticeable natural landmarks, rock formations, hardy plant life, etc., but surrounding or next to a non-stagnant body of water. (the water is very important for me.) i like the thought of a anticapitalist, abolitionist farming community that relies on permaculture that has different maker-spaces surrounding that main point of production/growth.

i want to introduce a naming/charting system based around four pillars, SUN, HOME, FORM, and FLOW, that represent community roles and are themselves based in the elements (SUN is Air & Fire, and is associated with all that implies, i.e. creativity and limitlessness, it’s more literally associated with mechanics & other machinists, scientists as well as artists, HOME and FORM are both Earth, but HOME is about hearth, warmth, and, well, a sense of home, it’s literally associated with those that provide shelter, connection, water, food, and medicine, whereas FORM is about willful, purposeful labor; farming, construction, infrastructure maintenance, but also architecture and design, basically anything that brings a physical form to an idea for the good of the community. FLOW is Water, and is associated with all that implies, i.e. flowing energy and motion, it’s basically something that allows you to try everything life has to offer instead of binding yourself to one life path, but is mostly literally associated with travel, trade, as well as studying & maintaining the health of nature, gardening. etc.) i made a document about the system, and it’s not all articulated out the way it appears in my mind, but i want to be clear that this naming/charting system is completely optional, and it’s a lot more casual than you think, i just like the thought of having a sort of title that lets others know what you’re about: click here to read the document. i do take critique openly, gladly, i encourage it; and i want to build the system from the ground up according to what everyone else wants it to be. i want to build everything that way. i’m so hyped for replies to this post. the style of design & architecture is something we decided together, the culture is something we decide together, the way we raise our children is something we decide together. i just happen to be the first guy to share his first draft of one document.

as i state in my bio, i am “hoping to one day found a place - somewhere Black & Indigenous folk actually feel safe, and only with the enthusiastic consent of the surrounding Indigenous population(s) - that’s somewhere between a rejection of capitalism and a collaboration with nature. and when i say i want to found it, i mean i want to be of the founding collective; i don’t want to be the ‘(white) founder of a commune (on stolen land) with a perfect vision for utopia,’ because that crap is ignorant & unrealistic.” i don’t want to be that guy, i don’t want to be the guy, the point isn’t to be the the utopian society, the only stronghold of progress in a world you deem backwards, but rather to be a small part of the larger, greater society you want to see. one of many. the point is to be a stop for travelers, a dot on a map, a thread in a quilt of global community.

1 Like
2

If U got land to camp on im all in for the gardens and scavenger/scrap building.

3

i do not. that is the one (big) issue.

5

to clarify, i don’t only want to live in a space like this; i need to. i’m physically disabled, i don’t earn money on the regular, it is necessary that i live somewhere money isn’t a priority. the paradox, or tragedy, of that, is that i have no money to start out with.

1 Like
6

it is necessary that i live somewhere money isn’t a priority. the paradox, or tragedy, of that, is that i have no money to start out with

oof! I heard that brother!

best luck.

2 Likes
7

What your’e both talking about rather sounds like what KyraLavenderDove is hoping to cocreate, though Kyra is up in western WA, not the SW, but maybe you both can follow each other’s progress in your similar goals.

8

I’ve been seeing more posts about people wanting to start community in Arizona lately, might be something to keep a lookout on as its also desert.

9

I have land in the high desert, Kern county, California. We’re trying to create a land trust so that those who connect with us on our journey to start an animal sanctuary will be protected for as long as they live there. It is just over 2 acres and animals are allowed - up to 8 horses, more than a dozen chickens, etc. The only issue is it is raw, off-grid land right now so we’d have to use solar panels, batteries, generators, and have water brought in.

1 Like
10

I’m still considering Central or Southern California with the village’s design and construction language inspired by Baldassare Forestiere of Fresno, CA.
The Forestiere Underground Village & Orchard Documentary | Kirsten Dirkse

11

I tried to join or build community in Arizona for ten years. I finally left because my race and gender made it impossible for anyone to take me seriously. California has that problem too, but at the state level, isn’t as violently anti-Black, anti-Trans, and anti-LGBTQ as Arizona.

12

The bigotry in AZ is why I decided not to buy land there. I have family in CA and their only complaints are the high taxes and high COL. Plus I got a good deal on the land, though it’s in a fairly conservative county. We will see how things go. I wish you the best!

1 Like
13

California may have cities that appear socially progressive in certain ways, but the typical working class Californian isn’t that that open-minded nor socially progressive outside their one or two hot button issues like environment, housing, education, labor, police violence.

It is common for white LGBTQ+ to publicly speak and even act for diversity and inclusion, while their true religion is the conviction that whites on average are intrinsically superior, and other than a smattering of token Black and Brown folk they cultivate, they lead a lives entirely immersed in, and affirming of, the generations old racialized class system promoted by law and custom.

14

Sadly, I have noticed this on social media and in the news. I have family who live in Altadena, and they have also told me about how life really is out there. Still, I’m going to try to make it work in Cantil.

15

I’m still working to build community here in NorCal.

The key problem is that even within the Foundation for Intentional Community, my being a Black Trans Lesbian comes with a lot of negative baggage. It is apparently normal to also presume all Black Trans Women are uneducated, unskilled, drug addicts, people of low moral character with a criminal history.

There is a BIPOC support group within the FIC primarily composed of Cis women, who’ve made it clear they will not assist or work with me.

They have been claiming to be too busy to even speak to me for a couple of years now, and when I previously mentioned this within the FIC forum, my posts were deleted by admins or moderators.

16

I really hope you can find, or create, a safe situation for yourself and others.