Homesteading Types: Social Groupings

[InvalidID]

Yeah, that's a really vague title I know. But it's something I was discussing this weekend during a BBQ a friend was holding. Where I live we're surrounded by other homesteading types, who live the lifestyle to various degrees. One of the most noticeable things about this group of people is how extremely 'eccentric' and varied we all are.

Of the local homesteaders (who I count as friends) we have a Mormon family. They've recently separated but I believe are working it out as they both attended the BBQ. (I don't pry so...) Good folks, don't drink or smoke (never trust a man without a vice right?) but are the first people to lend a hand if you're in trouble. They grow almost everything you can imagine and in serious quantities. When I need vegetables I tend to look to them before a store.

There is an eccentric hermit type. He lives alone in a park model RV on family land. While he and his family are VERY well off he doesn't really show it. A man of means he lives a simple life by choice. He and I get along very well as we share a great deal of our world views. He has pretty much every piece of heavy machinery one could ask for and I often lean on him for help when I need something dozed or dug up. He's alone and often leans on me when he needs extra hands.

We have a (reverse) polygamist family that lives on a smaller plot nearby. They raise bee's mostly, and also some fiber animals. We're discussing renting them some land so they can expand soon. One of the husbands is a big beast of a man. An ex-Marine; he helped me set up my security system when we had poachers and such up here. The other husband is very lightly built, tends the bees and is amazing with bush craft. If you got lost in the woods naked with this guy, he'd get you home 10 lbs fatter and dressed in fine fur. The wife milks goats, and does lots of fiber work. (she's pretty good to, she made me a cashmere sweater for Christmas that makes me wish it was cold again)

We also have an older black Christian couple. They are very devote and very nice people. 9 kids and working on the 15th grand-kid they celebrate life daily. I really enjoy visiting with them. If you're trying to make something work the ol' man is the one to talk to. I'm telling you, he'll look at your project for a few minutes and make it work with what's on hand in less time than I can look it up online. The wife is pretty darned good with animals. If I've got a sick critter I call her before the vet now as I think she's got some kinda physic thing going on.

Then there is me and mine. I'm a savage, if at least an intelligent savage. We raise cattle here and sell or trade it. I'm also good at spotting value and forecasting trends. If anyone is going to an auction they tend to ask me along, and if they're planning future investments they tend to ask what I think. None of them seem to judge me on the fact that I'm a cursing, smoking, drinking, Harley riding savage.

As a group we all maintain separate lives of course and we all have other social circles. But we get together (like the BBQ) and we all work together and trade together pretty consistently. Such a diverse group we have only one thing in common really, that's our distaste for the way the world works. We're all misfits and like to be self sufficient. It makes me wonder, what's wrong with the rest of the world that groups of folks that are very much alike can't get along, but our band of merry misfits can be friends without trouble?

I know it's not really a homesteading question, but it's been on my mind and I'd like to hear other folks thoughts on the subject.

[CGL2011]

Originally Posted by InvalidID

Yeah, that's a really vague title I know. But it's something I was discussing this weekend during a BBQ a friend was holding. Where I live we're surrounded by other homesteading types, who live the lifestyle to various degrees. One of the most noticeable things about this group of people is how extremely 'eccentric' and varied we all are.

Of the local homesteaders (who I count as friends) we have a Mormon family. They've recently separated but I believe are working it out as they both attended the BBQ. (I don't pry so...) Good folks, don't drink or smoke (never trust a man without a vice right?) but are the first people to lend a hand if you're in trouble. They grow almost everything you can imagine and in serious quantities. When I need vegetables I tend to look to them before a store.

There is an eccentric hermit type. He lives alone in a park model RV on family land. While he and his family are VERY well off he doesn't really show it. A man of means he lives a simple life by choice. He and I get along very well as we share a great deal of our world views. He has pretty much every piece of heavy machinery one could ask for and I often lean on him for help when I need something dozed or dug up. He's alone and often leans on me when he needs extra hands.

We have a (reverse) polygamist family that lives on a smaller plot nearby. They raise bee's mostly, and also some fiber animals. We're discussing renting them some land so they can expand soon. One of the husbands is a big beast of a man. An ex-Marine; he helped me set up my security system when we had poachers and such up here. The other husband is very lightly built, tends the bees and is amazing with bush craft. If you got lost in the woods naked with this guy, he'd get you home 10 lbs fatter and dressed in fine fur. The wife milks goats, and does lots of fiber work. (she's pretty good to, she made me a cashmere sweater for Christmas that makes me wish it was cold again)

We also have an older black Christian couple. They are very devote and very nice people. 9 kids and working on the 15th grand-kid they celebrate life daily. I really enjoy visiting with them. If you're trying to make something work the ol' man is the one to talk to. I'm telling you, he'll look at your project for a few minutes and make it work with what's on hand in less time than I can look it up online. The wife is pretty darned good with animals. If I've got a sick critter I call her before the vet now as I think she's got some kinda physic thing going on.

Then there is me and mine. I'm a savage, if at least an intelligent savage. We raise cattle here and sell or trade it. I'm also good at spotting value and forecasting trends. If anyone is going to an auction they tend to ask me along, and if they're planning future investments they tend to ask what I think. None of them seem to judge me on the fact that I'm a cursing, smoking, drinking, Harley riding savage.

As a group we all maintain separate lives of course and we all have other social circles. But we get together (like the BBQ) and we all work together and trade together pretty consistently. Such a diverse group we have only one thing in common really, that's our distaste for the way the world works. We're all misfits and like to be self sufficient. It makes me wonder, what's wrong with the rest of the world that groups of folks that are very much alike can't get along, but our band of merry misfits can be friends without trouble?

I know it's not really a homesteading question, but it's been on my mind and I'd like to hear other folks thoughts on the subject.

Forgive the oversimplified answer.
Acceptance.
They accept you, your lifestyle, habits, etc. You accept theirs.
No keeping up with "The Joneses", no competition, no wishing to change others. Respect for each other and your own indivudual differences.
Too easy, I know.

[Wanderer0101]

Makes sense, mono-cultures are not very healthy.

[InvalidID]

Originally Posted by CGL2011

Forgive the oversimplified answer.
Acceptance.
They accept you, your lifestyle, habits, etc. You accept theirs.
No keeping up with "The Joneses", no competition, no wishing to change others. Respect for each other and your own indivudual differences.
Too easy, I know.

I guess I should have asked why do most people feel the need to homogenize the world around them and force everyone into a single little box....

[emdeengee]

Our homesteading social group is quite varied but the most common thing amongst all of them is the search for self sufficiency and independence and a love of nature.

We have professional agronomists, veterinarians, conservation officers, biologists, forestry workers, bush pilots and miners who have all chosen to have their professional lives in the north while homesteading.

We have carpenters skilled in permafrost construction and log home building. A geologist who is on his own in the wilderness from April to September, gold miners raising their families on isolated claims, a water tech studying permaculture in order to help develop northern agriculture and a nuclear physicist who now raises bison.

We also have a retired French submarine officer who has built his own log house in the forest and opened an all natural foods restaurant and a German teacher and his family who lives miles off the highway. He runs back country ski tours. We also learned a lot from his neighbour - a professional dog musher. In the town closest to where they live the street signs still give right of way to dog teams.

Our mentor is the ultimate survivalist who has lived the true wilderness life for 40 years and my favourite nurse at the hospital is married to an outfitter who guides hunting parties on horseback. They raise their own horses and every other year they participate in a wild horse round up down south to replenish their stock. She sold her dairy farm to marry him then went back to school to be a nurse just because she always wanted to be one.

And quite a few other interesting characters. We didn't see as much of these people as we would have liked because we are all independent, remote and busy but since we moved closer to the main city we see more of them as everyone has to come here for something at sometime. We talk about everything but we are all interested in farming and the environment.

[Maura]

You are all more alike than you know. Alike at the core.

[InvalidID]

An interesting group of replies, though less in quantity than I'd expected.

[ET1 SS]

Have you considered the Grange?

A group of our neighbors were talking about the Grange, so I went to our closest hall and joined last winter. So at least one of us would know what they were about.

If our group of neighbors were each willing to join the Grange, we could re-open a hall that had been in our township a century ago.

The organization is focused mostly on homesteading.

[julieq]

I LOVE this thread because it's been on my mind in the last 48 hours! Our neighbors to the west are Mormons, so we know they're into self sufficiency, but they've made it very clear that they want to keep to themselves.

Our neighbors across the road just recently showed up out of the blue (after we've lived here nine months) and have started getting acquainted and from what we understand, they too are into self sufficiency and preparedness. But they are also into some 'spiritual and supernatural' stuff that is WAY over our heads as simple Christians.

I guess we'll all be OK on this road if the SHTF, but we'll have to keep off of some subjects completely in order to 'keep the peace'.

[PNWKatie]

I think your very lucky! And I agree with another poster, acceptance for who you are not trying to fit someone into a little square box is key. My family seems to be the only "homesteading" type in our neighborhood. While we live in a small city (just over 30,000) situated pretty much in the middle of nowhere surrounded by farmland most of our neighbors all just do their own thing and aren't exactly "neighborly". We've met some who are nice, we smile and wave at others (and are often ignored, but keep doing it anyway...Kill them with kindness I always figure!) most just do their thing and have never introduced themselves. We'd love to eventually move somewhere out in the country and lead a more homesteading lifestyle than we can currently, but it's a good 5 to 10 years before we can truly think of doing it. I'm sure there's got to be more in the area, we've just never run into them (that we know of anyway).

[Miss Kay]

When I see the news over in the middle east, I always think the same thing. Here, if you want to buy a house or land you just do. There, you have to be of their race, religion, etc. or else they bomb you and take your house. We may not like everyone but seems here in the US, we get along for the most part even though we are a very diverse population. As for homesteaders, I want to join your group!

[Paumon]

Originally Posted by InvalidID

It makes me wonder, what's wrong with the rest of the world that groups of folks that are very much alike can't get along, but our band of merry misfits can be friends without trouble?

Originally Posted by InvalidID

I guess I should have asked why do most people feel the need to homogenize the world around them and force everyone into a single little box....

I'm sorry but I'm really not understanding your questions.

May I ask what it is that gives you these impressions about other people who you don't know?

If you don't intimately know other groups of people elsewhere apart from your own group of friends then why do you think that most people want to homogenize the world and force everyone into a single box? How can you know what strangers think and want from the rest of society?

Can you please explain how you have come to the conclusion that other people in the rest of the world are not as diverse as the people you personally know?

[geo in mi]

Well, I wouldn't exactly call them homesteaders, but around here there's one place, pretty close to a box, where all the guys go to socialize, called the Teapot Dome. Mostly retired farmers and such, with one dentist, a couple of rich landowners, and a couple of braggarts, and Paul..... none of them smoke, at least inside, since Michigan made the statewide law of no smoking in any public place--except in the casinoes...... So, not being able to smoke makes them all a little grouchy as the third cup of coffee is poured, so just about all of them do quite a bit of cussing......religion, I think maybe all of them are Christian, at least they usually mention Christ in the normal expletive version. One of them gets embarrassed because he has started bringing his oxygen tank..I think he's getting more religious every day......

Stocking up a food supply for the future? Oh yes, all of them do that...... Right there in the Teapot Dome, on double orders of bisquits and sausage gravy over scrambled eggs.....they all carry their stash right there with them wherever they go, just to have it handy in case of disaster, or a late lunch. (Except Paul, who's skinny as a rail from waving his hands all over while he talks. )

Prepped? Of course. There's nothing that a pickup and a chain can't handle. Or a cell phone call to the guy who now farms the place.....

Anything in common?.. Yes, even if they don't farm, they all wear John Deere caps.....



geo

[Forestdude]

I'm envious of y'all that have good neighbors and friends. I choose to live in the sticks because I don't like crowds and I enjoy the freedom of wild places. On the other hand, it isn't very conducive to meeting people. I choose to associate with people that are open-minded and as said above, people that accept you for who you are. Around here, there's really only a few large families that have been here since the beginning of time. Many folks are closed minded and if you don't believe in what they do, then you're just that strange guy. Luckily, I do have a few guys that I work with that I enjoy hanging out with and helping each other. I have travelled and lived all over the country, and I'll say that people in the rural deep south are less tolerent of differing views. Oh well, I love my job, I love my stead, and I love my life here (even if it is somewhat lacking in the social arena, haha). I could move anytime, but I'm happy here.

[Macybaby]

I bet the one thing you all have in common is you are all introverts. You don't feel the need to be over involved in other people's lives, or to have them overly involved in your own. Has nothing to do with being unfriendly types, simply people who don't feel the "need" for a lot of social contact.

[geo in mi]

I'm not an introvert. I would march to the beat of your drum, but I've been out working in the garden all day and my feet are sore. Maybe later....

geo

[InvalidID]

Originally Posted by Paumon

I'm sorry but I'm really not understanding your questions.

May I ask what it is that gives you these impressions about other people who you don't know?

If you don't intimately know other groups of people elsewhere apart from your own group of friends then why do you think that most people want to homogenize the world and force everyone into a single box? How can you know what strangers think and want from the rest of society?

Can you please explain how you have come to the conclusion that other people in the rest of the world are not as diverse as the people you personally know?

Having traveled around many parts of the world I've found it's very diverse of course. I've also found people are very much less tolerant of each other than you seem to give them credit for. Asia for example, is full of a very rich and diverse peoples. They are also some of the fiercest racist I've ever met. Not judging on skin color as much as village, tribe, or some other (what I consider) petty issue.

The ME is another good example. You can be a Muslim and still be blown up for not being the right kind of Muslim. Christian or Jew? Forget about it.

[Wayne02]

Originally Posted by InvalidID

None of them seem to judge me on the fact that I'm a cursing, smoking, drinking, Harley riding savage.

They do judge you of course, they just don't find those particular attributes important in their relationship with you. We all judge each other, though some will not admit it.

As a group we all maintain separate lives of course and we all have other social circles. But we get together (like the BBQ) and we all work together and trade together pretty consistently.

I believe this is key to your (and others) situation working as well as it does. There is some degree of separation in the situation, giving each other space if you will. Humans were not designed to live together in close contact 24/7, we just don't get along that well. Having an occasional BBQ and helping each other out at times is far different than being around each other for the majority of the time every day. Each family has the time and space to be individuals, and the group as a whole has just enough social contact with each other to experience some collectiveness without feeling constrained or controlled by the group.

I know this is the case in our situation with multiple families who lead individual lives but help each other out, share resources, socialize, etc as larger group. We get along with each other pretty well, and that is due in large part to having our own space, time, responsibilities, etc.

Such a diverse group we have only one thing in common really, that's our distaste for the way the world works. We're all misfits and like to be self sufficient. It makes me wonder, what's wrong with the rest of the world that groups of folks that are very much alike can't get along, but our band of merry misfits can be friends without trouble?

I think the tendency is to look at other groups like they are the one with a problem, not my group, my group is ok. I believe that we tend to allow the 24/7 media information overload to unduly influence how we think things are for others. If one were only to use the information fed to use by the media and other sources it's not surprising we think there are a majority of groups out there who don't get along. I believe there are many other groups and sub-groups of people who exist with the same relative functional cohesion that you have described, we just never hear about them.

[janetn]

I wish their was such a group in my area. Sadly their is none. I dont have the time to get one up and going either. Afraid that may be why thir are not more groups around. Us homestead types tend to have full plates

Now if I was independantly wealthy and didnt work

[InvalidID]

Originally Posted by Wayne02

They do judge you of course, they just don't find those particular attributes important in their relationship with you. We all judge each other, though some will not admit it.


I believe this is key to your (and others) situation working as well as it does. There is some degree of separation in the situation, giving each other space if you will. Humans were not designed to live together in close contact 24/7, we just don't get along that well. Having an occasional BBQ and helping each other out at times is far different than being around each other for the majority of the time every day. Each family has the time and space to be individuals, and the group as a whole has just enough social contact with each other to experience some collectiveness without feeling constrained or controlled by the group.

I know this is the case in our situation with multiple families who lead individual lives but help each other out, share resources, socialize, etc as larger group. We get along with each other pretty well, and that is due in large part to having our own space, time, responsibilities, etc.


I think the tendency is to look at other groups like they are the one with a problem, not my group, my group is ok. I believe that we tend to allow the 24/7 media information overload to unduly influence how we think things are for others. If one were only to use the information fed to use by the media and other sources it's not surprising we think there are a majority of groups out there who don't get along. I believe there are many other groups and sub-groups of people who exist with the same relative functional cohesion that you have described, we just never hear about them.

I do believe you've touched on something here. I think space is a key element in getting along of course, and you're right that we all judge each other to some degree.

It's also likely you're right about people getting along more often than not. If we hated each other that much there couldn't be 7 billion of us alive today. I think the problem is that those of us that can't get along REALLY make a mess of things. Even if not in a violent way I believe those that would try to force others into their own way of life really do ruin part of the flavor and reason for life.