Homestead Communities?

[DisasterCupcake]

Hello everyone,

I am very new here, and aside from glancing at most of the topics and reading up on some very informative sheep threads, haven't gotten around much!

The basic gist is that I'm looking to find homesteading communities. Where are they, how they are set up, how they determine the number of people that they can support... etc. Now, I'm not talking about homesteaders that come together once a month and compare notes. I'm talking about a living-and-breathing community, tribal if you will, that lives together, supports each other and shares common principles of sustainability. Not unlike the Amish. So far I've found nothing like that

Personally, I want to homestead in the middle of nowhere. Rather, I want to live off the land similar to the way traditional tribal communities lived, but that is just not possible today. So I am settling with a permanent homestead type lifestyle. What's more, I'd like to not be alone, haha. For reference, I live in Michigan, and would like to stay here, although that is not really necessary. I just really like the climate and locale. I also feel that it is an ideal location for permanent homesteading, as water is easily obtainable, the soil is fertile, and there are still large spaces that aren't developed.

Thanks for the time to read and I hope I'm not being overly childish in hoping that something like this actually exists!

[Jennifer L.]

Someone comes up with the idea of starting a community like this every once in awhile. I'd say there's a thread once a year on that subject. You might do a search of this site and see if you can find those threads and see what comes up.

It's an interesting idea, but homesteaders are an independent type in general so I don't know how well this works out when you aren't just seeing it on paper. It's the personalities that will make something like this work or fail.

Good luck to you.

[billinwv]

There is a community like this west of Martinsburg, WV. They have 300 acres and are selling 1 acre home sites with the use of the acreage, a huge communal barn and a swimming pool. I think they are only selling 13 sites. They are trying to get a mixture of farm minded people, someone will raise crops, another beef animals, another dairy etc. On the surface it looks good. Always bickering though I would think. I would like to concentrate on my dairy animals and cheese making and barter for veggies and meat.

[geo in mi]

http://www.lakevillagehomestead.org/

http://www.fairfoodnetwork.org/list/...mmunity-garden

Here are a couple in the Kalamazoo area. Welxome to the forum.

geo

[DisasterCupcake]

Wow, never knew there was something like Lake Village Homestead so close! Thank you for the sources, very much appreciated! Can't wait to find out more about them

[FarmerRuss]

You also might want to look around ic.org

"Since 1972, Communities magazine has been the primary resource for information, stories, and ideas about intentional communities in North America—including urban co-ops, cohousing groups, ecovillages, and rural communes."

[Callieslamb]

Or here's a place to go to learn also near Kalamazoo. I don't know of any places to LIVE but there are plenty of places to go to learn. This past weekend was the shepard's Weekend through MSU. Lots of great classes there.

[karenp]

http://www.roundrivercommunity.org/

if you want the middle of nowhere, you have to go to nowhere and turn right turn to get to this place.

[DisasterCupcake]

Oh my goodness Karenp this place is EXACTLY what I was looking for! Thank you!

[Callieslamb]

My links didn't appear....google " tiller's international". They have internships.

[maddy]

"Governance is by consensus minus one household."

Trouble in paradise?