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I have been looking into getting off the grid for some time now, and am down to the last 6 months before my "time runs out" (job situation hurries up the process... haha)
and I found a whole list of intentional communities around the U.S.
Fellowship for Intentional Community
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Posted by xbusymom
Cool..this sounds like what I would like to see and wrote about in the ideal world thread.
Good luck, sounds ace.
Love,
Kriya
already emailed 2 or 3 in KS, bookmard several in MO and will check them out in more detail this weekend...
this is what I have been looking for in the Groups section of the board, glad I found this... (synchronistic)
some of them look really good
G'day All,
Just a few groups that might not be mentioned elsewhere:
http://www.createcommunities.org/
http://www.villageforum.com/
I have not had direct contact with these groups but have had dealings with people who have.
Might also suggest the 'Transition Towns Movement' that has a more advanced philosophy (partly based on Permaculture):
http://transitionnetwork.org/
There's always 'Permaculture: A Designers Manual' by Bill Mollison (co-founder of Permaculture) which has hundreds of pages on varied topics such as crop management, solar housing design, village development and alternative economies.
Permaculture is non-religious and taught from primary school to university level in Australia.
It was a huge surprise when I found out that Permaculture was not well known outside Oz so always mention it in case there are those who think of it as "only a form of organic agriculture'.
Bill Mollison recons that the name came from a combination of "permanent agriculture" and "permanence in culture".
Regards,
Panopticon
http://www.workaway.info/
http://www.helpx.net/
2 huge databases of intentional communities etc.
Though both are not for free, they are quite valuable (as a helper I'm only registered on the first, there are a lot of same entries on both platforms simultaneously), I found lots of nice projects there and have been helping at the first I went to since almost half a year now. Now I'm about to start a vagabund life and made some marks on my maps to find places I got in contact with through that, so I can maybe join there for a while if I get by.
What I always find discouraging about all these communities etc. is that none of them actually go far enough back to basic for me. And there are no serious "movements" in my part of the world. I have trouble with the communities which cost money to enter - some of us don't have money! and live like this because we don't have anything – we definitely don’t have the money for a piece of land to live off of.
What I mean by back to basic is "no plastic" and “no trying to manipulate nature by farming land” etc. The farming of land issue is that every time one does so one destroys an ecosystem. One should forage and gather, not stay put and force chosen plants and thereby destroying ecosystems. By just reusing plastic etc. one just recycles the poisons. Building a house out of used car tires isn’t eco friendly, it’s letting waste and oil products continue to soil nature. Cutting down trees to make a house isn’t eco friendly – it’s destroying ecosystems for every tree one cuts down.
I'd like to just take my simple bug out bag and go off into the woods with one thing in memory: The more I carry in my head the less I need to carry in my bag.
I'd like to meet up with a few families of similar attitude towards nature and go into the woods of Sweden and Norway (Allemansretten) and wander. Not settle down any place because that's when we become a problem for nature, we're like locus; we eat and destroy everything and won't move on until there are no more resources to plunder. That's not balance. The nomadic life style is as every ecosystem is given peace to stay alive even when animals (and us) pick from it.
Nature could take care of us. Right now we can’t boil an egg so luckily it can be bought precooked (and someone makes money). Good way to keep the population hooked on/a slave of society and money, isn’t it? That and the excessive use of everything! Food! We eat and buy and ultimately kill more than needed. So much meat ends up getting burned with garbage etc. because it’s all about money, not balance of need. And no one remembers that nature provides everything we need (if we don’t just plunder it) – food, medicine, shelter etc. but we have to rediscover all this, rediscover how to live in balance with the ecosystems and think outside the box. We have to broaden our minds and vision as the opportunities in nature aren’t just presented to us as we are used to everything being in our day society through commercials etc. I believe it is possible but far from as easy as life in a city where one can just buy a cup of coffee without having to pick and roast the beans first.
Luxury! It’s the pacifier for adults to keep us submissive – which steals our freedom.
Sorry if I seem aggressive, that’s not the point. I’m passionate about it … and locked away I the shackles also known as “civilized” society.
If I got you right, you don't want to be attached to a certain piece of land and don't want to farm, so you are looking for a nomad community? Interesting project, really, I would love to see nomads really living off the grid roaming through Europe.
I'll do that, but not completly off the grid, I guess maybe I can learn it though.
chiquetet, yeah, a nomad community. Living it without having tried it is probably a no go unless it's "doom and gloom kinda that last way out" where it is just about surviving and that's it! One has to learn it - mostly because it is an ... attitude ajustment and because a suburbian survivalist don't really know that uch when push comes to shove. A rearanging of focus on life itself is a must to do it for ever. My husband, son, neighbor and I are thinking about trying it for a week or two. Still having something "known" to return to while polishing off the skills would be prudent. We thought about the alps ... so we'll be comming through Germany. Should we pick you up on the way? LOL
You wanna go the the alps and back in 2 weeks? If you can do that, please pick me up, I wanna see you move :)
Seriously, I start a nomad walkabout in a week, heading to Switzerland first and then further southwest probably. But I don't travel without plastic and I will shop some food in shops till I learned it better. I don't want to end up like the guy in the movie "Into the Wild" - my intention of what lifestyle I want to live eventually is more than that as well but I have to get there through a reasonable process.
Good point, we obtain our goals one step at the time and learn as we go. I didn't mean I would walk from here to the alps and back in two weeks LOL that would be straight for Guinness Book of World Records! No, more in the line of setting time off for travel and then the two weeks. I haven't seen Into the Wild, so sorry, don't know what that is all about.
I left the mainstream world almost 15 years ago to join an intentional community. It was the best decision I ever made. I've been living off the grid, helping to build the community, my homestead and the homes of friends and neighbors ever since. Practicing Permaculture, living more simply, governing by consensus ... I can now hardly imagine living any other way. It hasn't been easy and we've only really just begun. I would strongly encourage anyone living in the industrialized world to pool their resources, form or find communities, grow food and heal themselves.
I disagree with this statement. In most cases, small scale subsistence farmers are actually the ones that are the most in tune with the ecosystem. These farmers are the ones interacting with the land day after day. They have the most to loose if the ecosystem is destroyed. IMHO it's been large scale industrial farming that has pushed the small farmer off the land and into the cities. Thus leaving the land open for exploitation.Quote:
The farming of land issue is that every time one does so one destroys an ecosystem.
I firmly believe a well managed farm can produce an abundant yield while increasing the health, biodiversity and beauty of the ecosystem.
I started as a rugged man in my mid twenties. I lived in primitive shelters for years, hauled water, pushed wheelbarrows up hill and processed all my own firewood. At times all I had was an outdoor kitchen. Cooking outside all winter long is no picnic. I can appreciate the romantic idea of 'back to basics' but until you really get to it you have no idea how difficult it actually is to do. But well worth the effort.Quote:
What I always find discouraging about all these communities etc. is that none of them actually go far enough back to basic for me.
I do agree with this statement provided that we give some in return. Or else she will kick our asses.Quote:
Nature could take care of us.
If all of us gave back to nature by composting, building soils, preventing erosion, planting trees, managing invasive plants etc it would go a long way towards building a brighter more sustainable future.
After years of doing my best to walk my talk and live as simply as I can I have no desire to live a nomadic lifestyle. Rather, I plan to continue interacting, managing, loving and appreciating the little slice of Mother Earth that I call Home.
Blessings
G'day Kudzy,
You speak from experience.
I respect that. :yo:
I have often mentioned to people: "living the dream is different from dreaming the life".
I admire those who choose a nomadic existence.
The risks are too great for me. :fear:
I prefer to be self reliant. :hippie:
Kind Regards,
Panopticon
kudzy I agree with you a long way ... and I have an outdoor kitchen as electricity is expensive ... for our income level. We haul water, chop wood, collect food in the forest (can't always afford the veggies in the supermarket) etc. And we live in a small town and feel kinda free. I can appreciate having a bit of land, room for chickens, sheep, rabbits etc. but I still think that it is too easy to make everything about the money. In my country, anyway. Let me explain as we probably view this “problem” from two different stands and this may be the reason my opinion is so difficult to grasp:
The Danish government gives the word greedy a whole new meaning! Having a sheep to keep the grass down, to eat and get some wool for clothes ends up being a paper trail from here to Rome and then one is forced to pump the animal full of drugs (who wants to eat that?!?) and then there are inspections which makes you think you may just live in a police state! They want money for everything so being self sustaining here is impossible. Ex.: If one uses rain water in the toilet they want a special tax for that because then they don't get the taxes from ground water: 6 kr. pr. 1 cubic meter water ... 40 kr. in taxes! That's 46 kr. in the end I have to find. They don't get the 40 kr. if a person uses rainwater so they put a different tax on it by taxing installations – same goes for solar panels etc.
A whole town made a commitment to be more environmental in their everyday life so they all saved electricity (made from coal and stuff). At the end of the year they had saved a lot! So much that the prices were just raised enough to cover the electricity company’s losses. That’s fair … or NOT. No matter what is done to save the prices just go up on something so the government gets what they need. Or they invent a new tax. This is the reason why I don’t see the idea of owning land as it is taxed ridiculously compared to other countries. No point of being a part of that and the only way one can get out of that here in Denmark is by going nomad. If they made a plan to get more environment friendly ways of living, hey, I’ll have a little farm! But until it isn’t about their own ridiculous pensions, big houses on my bill etc. then no, I will rater go nomad than support a system so greedy that they refuse to make an official policy on poverty because as long as they don’t have an official stand on the subject they can deny the existence of poverty in a country known for “the world’s greatest welfare system”. (Ad all the cuss words you can think of and you get the idea of my frustrations haha) Even now after the crises where family after family is evicted, poverty is still none existing if you ask the government – and they ran out of housing opportunities even though the law says that it is the governments duty to house a homeless – especially children. These families can’t afford the rent on the housings the government can give them. So I’m bitter and stubborn and have no intensions of cooperating because then I’d help the ones who don’t know how to live without running water etc. stay in poverty.
Maybe we don’t define eco system the same way. A tree is an entire eco system in itself with worms, insects, fungus, little plants who lives near this kind of tree etc. By killing a tree to make a house kills or takes away the "house" for all which are relying on this tree to stand there. Same when one plows a field or get rid of weeds. Like killing a shark: All the little fishes that live of the leftovers in their teeth (the shark’s toothbrushes) will starve as they are a part of the same eco system.
If this post can be read and understood as an attack please note that it is not my intension!
Thanks Autumn, I appreciate your response.
No attack whatsoever, just agreeing to disagree, I hope. I just don't see a nomadic lifestyle as a viable option for most of humanity, unless of course we're forced to go nomadic.Quote:
If this post can be read and understood as an attack please note that it is not my intension!
I'm not familiar with the laws in Denmark. Unfortunately they sound rather Draconian.
Regarding your tree example; There are very few virgin stands of forest left in the world. Most forests have been logged several times over and soils depleted. Cutting down certain trees, here and there, (not clear cutting) can have beneficial affects on the overall forest. It may remove competition, allow more light to the forest floor so other successional species can move in, if done in the correct moon phase it will coppice, etc.
My point is; If we're conscious and caring ecosystems can be managed, sustained and improved.
My sense is you ARE conscious and caring.
Best wishes
G'day Autumn,
Excellent point and post. It seems from your post that you are not living a nomadic lifestyle is that correct?Quote:
Posted by Autumn
From what you have said I would have to agree with you.Quote:
Posted by Autumn
A direct tax on rainwater was talked about in Western Australia in the 80's.
That was until they worked out there'd be a lot of unemployed politicians if they did!
I think you are pointing out that at least part of the taxation on rain water is derived from system installation, inspection and authorisation. Is that correct?
Is there a form of metering system for water tanks or a single charge?
This is a valuable observation that could be missed by many.Quote:
Posted by Autumn
Might I suggest that in an instance like this the town could create its own LLC power co-operative. That way Government benefits can go into the towns power supply and not the national. Also the town may wish to change to a combination of renewable resources, suited to their environment, instead of fossil fuel. Seems like a large step but with a bit of investigation it may be possible if appropriate to the country, municipality and conditions. There are all sorts of difficulties involved and I only suggest it as a possible alternative to a centralised profit based resource allocator.
I might also point out that the town still used less fossil fuel. That was their aim. Not to decrease their expenses but to have a positive effect on their perceived impact on the environment.
Going and living a nomadic lifestyle is great for you but it doesn't help thousands who are in similar circumstances.Quote:
Posted by Autumn
Maybe a change of view and look at the problem differently might help.
As Permaculturists say: "Turn the problem into the solution."
Interesting point!Quote:
Posted by Autumn
Maybe it's the position of "human as an animal" in the environment and interactions based on that which is the difference and not the view of eco-system?
At this moment I am debating whether to dredge our lake or allow for the silt to continue to build up. The state forest behind was logged five years ago (as part of a sustainable timber management program in combination with fire management) and the top soil from there has almost filled the lake. In this instance do I destroy the swamp environment (by dredging) that was created by human interaction up hill or continue to allow it to evolve and lose a large source of water while gaining a viable fertile deep soil area?
Maybe a combination would increase edging and allow for increased plant diversity?
In all instances it is due to human interaction.
What to do, what to do... :doh:
Kind Regards, :yo:
Panopticon
Hello autumn and co
I very much agree on the second part of your first post. It is a shame to see the food people throw away-in western society 35% of good food lands in the trashcan. In cities more than on the countryside.
What freaked me out, was when I was working on an organic farm here in Austria, we had to to put sometimes a quarter of the tomato harvest on the compost, because they were to small.
And the supermarkets would not take the small ones and to preserve them would have been to much work. Or basil in small pots...they had to be at least 15 centimetres high-the rest goes on the compost, but its still good basil.
@ kudzy I know what you mean-lived 2 years in small communities and it was on of my best experiences and I learned a lot, not just farming wise. I stayed in an old mouldy stone house without electricity and in winter it is very hard to cook and quite difficult to get a good fire going.
You dont get distracted from TV or Internet. It brought me to the point were I realised, what I really need to live.
Like in Henry Thoureaus book Walden, which I recommend everybody to read ;-) You realise what is really necessary in life and I figured out that spending time on your own and to think about stuff and to discover who you really are is very important and doesnt cost anything.
A warm fire, good shoes or a hot soup - things have a much bigger value and you feel happier if you work hard for your food. Back in modern society I try to continue this lifestyle.
@ Autumn I disagree on the first part of your post. Well, I am against use of plastic and I would like to see a world without. But as we have it now, I see no problem to use an old tyre as flowerbed. I would not buy a new one to do that, but as I have an old tyre in my garage...whats better: To bring it to the timber yard and they burn it or to make something useful out of it? It will rot anyway.
Quote kudzy: I firmly believe a well managed farm can produce an abundant yield while increasing the health, biodiversity and beauty of the ecosystem.
Thank you kudzy for that-I think so as well.
When a beaver cuts a tree to create a shelter for him and his family its ok, but if a human does it, its not?
Everything has to be in balance, cut a tree, plant a new one.
If you just wander around in the woods and look for food, it takes you some hours, to collect enough food for a family. It is doable, people lived like this, but it simply takes to much time.
And it is nearly impossible to find food in the winter (Middle & Northern European winter)...there are nearly no wild greens, no crops you can grow (just cabbage), and if you wander arround, I think you will not carry preserves for 3 months.
And if you refuse to kill and eat animals, what do you wanna eat? I think today it is very hard to live a nomad life, also because our bodies are too mollycoddled (funny word, do I use it the right way?).
In my opinion everybody should have a small garden with veggies and herbs, not just to get food, also to understand how nature works. Permaculture is a good way to do that.
This is how I got in touch with organic farming and alternative lifestyle...it is called WWOOF. It means WorldWideOpportunitiesonOrganicFarms
It is pretty big in Northern & Southern America, Australia and Europe, but Asia and Africa are catching up. Depending on the season, you will be asked to help for 4-5 hours a day in
exchange for food and home.
G'day Zampano,Quote:
Posted by Zampano
Thanks for that!
I'd always known it as "Willing Workers On Organic Farms" and wasn't aware it went by different names in different countries.
Excellent opportunity for people who want a more nomadic lifestyle or to learn more about Permaculture etc!
Very good point!
Kind Regards, :yo:
Panopticon
Hey panopticon
When I started it was called "Willing Workers", but then it was decided to change the name, because it sounds too much like a working experience.
Even though you work on a farm, the more important thing is the exchange with the farming/community/volunteer people.
I remember long nights talking with this interesting people, everybody a unique character with good insights of life. The time was an eye opening experience for me.
I actually starting wwoofing in Queensland, 20 km from Noosa, close to Eumundi. There are lots of organic farms and hippies, big community of alternative people.
I really loved it there and wanted to stay there so much, but as Austrian I was no able to apply for a working visa...strange laws.
Thank you all for sharing websites and information.
You've been helpful to me to realize that human life goes on, and not only spirit. Although spirit will be very powerful in this transition.
Personally I think we have to move forward as a human being in community living but with new technologies and consciousness.
Another major part, which will be my next move, is to bring a high awareness in living. Does anyone have experience in communities who include this in their setup? Issues like no plastic, also no oil then is an difficult topic. We are plundering the earth but do we really have to step back in time and live like nomads?
I like the luxury but not if exploitation is involved.
I have been pondering this for many years. I'd like to throw some radical thinking into this post
1. We are actually PART of nature here on the planet. Religion, school, and modern life (we are now getting ready to let go of) all tell us this is not so. In fact, we are made to feel somehow ashamed of ourselves for being human. It isn't wrong to work with the earth to grow food we can eat. Being a nomad isn't wrong either, but very impractical for the current population size ... although easily possible in some parts of the world still.
UNLESS!!!!!
We begin to live on light, prana, and breath. Now, I know this sounds farfetched, and it does not sound like fun. There might be the idea that this would be difficult or feel like starvation. However, I had a samadii many years ago and one of the results was that I became a breatharian. Each and every breath felt like being filled from head to toe with thick and silky love, it was pleasurable beyond description. However, after a few months, I felt pretty lonely since others did most socializing around food, so I decided to force my body to eat again. I have regretted this decision for a long time and am currently working to reverse it.
It only takes 6 months of less than an hour daily to accomplish this switch, according to info on sun-gazing. I currently have a simple routine which involves doing this for 40 minutes daily (don't(!) try this without researching it first, because you need to begin with just 10 seconds and build up your time slowly). If what I have read and heard is correct then sometime before this upcoming March I should be completely off of food.
Just think of how amazing it would be not to need to feed your body food! You would not need to purchase or grow your groceries. You would not need to cook. Your home would not need a kitchen, and probably would not need a bathroom before long. Your footprint on the earth would be light. The cost (in time and/or money) to keep your body strong would be minimal. You would be pretty immune to climate changes, as long as you could stay warm with layered clothing or a shelter. And, you could still garden and give it all away to others who aren't there yet if you wished to.
Well, that's my thinking. Your thoughts about this.....?
Hmm, I do see this and have read that this will be part of our future, but right now?? As you say, so much of our social interaction revolves round food. A couple in our district went without food for 60 days. I think they drank water. They also mentioned the social interaction round food which they missed. The man thrived on the discipline, but Im afraid his wifes body seemed to eat itself and she aged terribly. Didn't endear anyone else to the practice. As you say, it would be handy though, and very freeing.
I forgot this thread existed. I was going to start one on Ecovillages but Intentional Communities are basically the same thing.
So here's a vid on an Ecovillage in Cloughjordan, Ireland:
And one on Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage: an introduction
Another one on Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage: Celebrating 10 Years
Twin Oaks:
Another vid on Twin Oaks:
Virginia Commune Still Draws Members After 40 Years
Los Angeles' Ecovillage
TAVIS SMILEY | Eco-Village | PBS
Sharing Lives- Intentional Permaculture Community
Teopantli Kalpulli
Wow, I would LOVE to become part of an Intentional Community. Living WITH nature and growing spiritually with like minded individuals. Resonates to the core!
Wow, I've only watched the Twin Oaks videos so far, but it looks just fabulous. This has really inspired me.
To find intentional communities
www.workaway.info
and
www.helpx.net
were very valuable to me.
GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR THE POOR OR PEOPLE WANTING TO START A COMMUNITY OR TOWN
Ghost towns are a great place of like minded people to take over to form their own communities. In the 1960's a town called NIMBIN NSW went bust due to government regulations in the dairy industry. Shops closed, houses sold for nothing, farms went bankrupted. The hippie children soon discovered it and took over. They opened the hamburger places and turned them into vegetarian cafes, shops turned into emporium's from India, the barkery was turned into homebaked wholemeal breads etc. People from all over went there to join in this alternative culture. Now it is a thriving town where people from all over the world come to visit.
Some of the towns in the following article lend themselves to this sort of takeover by alternative people who want to escape the cities and form communities. Welch, West Virginia is one of those towns. Absolutely beautiful. I have posted this article as to give inspiration to people who want to escape the city and venture into the country to form communities in the USA.
In 1910 72% of Americans lived in rural areas
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz1TTH9J4BA
Vast swathes of the U.S. countryside are emptying and communities becoming ghost towns as rural America now only accounts for just 16 per cent of the population.
The 2010 census results suggest that by 2050 many of these areas could shrink to virtually nothing as businesses collapse and schools close.
This dramatic population implosion is the culmination of a century of migration to cities, as in 1910 the share of rural America was at 72 per cent.
In 1950 the countryside remained home to a majority of Americans, amid post-World War II economic expansion and the baby boom.
However, once busy areas have been abandoned, in South Dakota for example, the town of Scenic is up for sale for $799,000 as today just eight people live there.
Among the struggling rural areas are vast stretches of West Virginia in Appalachia. Several of the state's counties over the past decade have lost large chunks of their population following the collapse of logging and coal-mining industries.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...opulation.html
Lammas eco-village UK, The big green gathering and a visit to SunSEED Spain.
A model ecological village in the progressive town of Ithaca in upstate New York. Currently developing its 3rd neighborhood called TREE.
I searched intentional community forum on Google, and then found this thread.
Though it was posted long time ago, I was interested in it.
So I post a new thread of our intentional community - New Oasis for Life, hope those people who are interested will contact me.