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  • From: Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Homestead] Community, the importance of
  • Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2008 06:05:40 -0500


On Sep 25, 2008, at 2:15 AM, Susan Trickett wrote:

I wonder if most of you do have a close community or are you islands unto yourselves?

Most serious homesteader types are very self reliant. In most cases they can get along quite well on their own. In many rural areas neighbors wave but don't stop. In some they stop and talk, two pickups facing different directions. I see less of that as people have become more in a hurry.

That's a shame and it is foolish to be in such a hurry all the time that one is too busy to talk to one's neighbors.

I wrote an article about country neighbors being more important than city neighbors. It might be on my existing web site. I recently sent it to Don, who is constructing the new web site.

I have four neighbors who are also good friends plus a large number of more casual friends and acquaintances in the surrounding area. We do meals together with two of them. One has a yearly get-together at their place. Another one comes down to visit on a pretty regular basis. We help each other as requested or as we notice help would be useful. My nearest neighbor is physically challenged. Don helped him and his wife make firewood a couple days ago. Don and I will be attending a community presentation tomorrow titled Seed Saving 101, by a lady author. Before that presentation we will join a tour of a local friend's medicinal herb gardens and business.

It's not that country people need much help. But they know they can rely on getting help during special times. And the social aspect of community cannot be overestimated. I don't need much but I feel good knowing it exists and that I am part of it.

No, Heartwood is a wonderful, nurturing place to live, but neither it nor I are islands.

All is connected.




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