Homestead mailing list

[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

> The lesson I've learned from observing the plans and attempts at  
> community
> over many years is that people think joining a community will make  
> up for their
> weaknesses and deficits.  The opposite is true, it will all such to  
> light and
> test them sorely.

Certainly such is often the case in what is called "intentional  
communities," of which there are hundreds in America, some tiny (city  
apartment buildings), some large (The Farm in Tennessee). Many start  
up each year and most fail or change substantially from their initial  
direction. Often they are simply a large landowner's way of marketing  
their land.

I wrote: Community does not come without direction or planning. It  
must be
created and nourished.

Sometimes trying to use fewest words backfires, although if it leads  
to meaningful discussion then I feel successful. In this case I was  
too terse. The direction and planning that I think of is less  
conscious organizing and agreement than individuals seeing that  
helping neighbors makes sense--if for no other reason than that in an  
emergency your nearest neighbors may well be your lifeline. Which  
brings to mind a specific example, the network of volunteer fire  
departments scattered throughout my Ozark County. I think of  
nourishing community as simply being good neighbors, sharing  
challenges and solutions. It must be a conscious condition, like any  
relationship, to last, it must be attended to. I grew up with that  
kind of community in an area of Wisconsin dairy farms. I am fortunate  
to have something similar in my part of the Missouri Ozarks, an area  
of small-to-large landholdings, of long-time farmers and urban refugees.

I have never desired to be part of an intentional community. I need  
full freedom in my daily activities and require rising or falling  
according to my personal choices and efforts. I do not even mesh well  
with homeowner's associations. For some people planned/intentional  
communities are excellent. In my Ozark County there is a successful  
intentional community called East Wind. Through smart planning and  
strong efforts of members some years ago they are now a very  
successful community. You may have eaten some of their nut butters.