Commune living?

sisterpine · #21 12/02/12, 12:42 PM

Thanks for sharing. It is nice to know that some co-ops are still out there. In my area of the country we have started calling them MAGS mutual aid groups?

lexa · #22 12/02/12, 02:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by highlands

the reality is 80% of the people were lazy and did not pull their weight leaving the work to the 20% of us who make things happen.

That is exactly what our hosts at Lammas said about their cohousing commune experience. They were there for real and the rest of the people were just freeloading.

MMMIX · #23 12/04/12, 04:15 PM

Thank you for responding, everyone. It's a pretty heavy decision, but I feel like it deserves consideration. I think we'll visit other co-op communities to get a feel for it. I thank you all, again, for your input.

Hopefully I can come to the decision that I want, without feelings of uneasiness.

sandc · #24 12/06/12, 10:41 AM

Dancing Rabbit is almost always open to visitors, and they are also heavily involved with the intentional community movement and do consultations. There are also two other intentional communities in their area, Sandhill and one I can never remember. Sandhill was a little more our style when we were looking into visiting places like this in order to get ideas towards a more sustainable lifestyle. I think it might have been the vegan versus non-vegan thing as we are definitely meat eaters...

If you are serious about it, I would definitely contact dancing rabbit and the others in their area (linked on their webpage) and try to make a sweep visit of each one, trying to spend at least a couple of days at each place.

MMMIX · #25 12/10/12, 10:50 AM

I appreciate your input. Thank you! We will take a look a trip to get a good feel of it.

texican · #26 12/10/12, 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by highlands

I have. I researched intentional communities, communes, for years and have lived in several such situation. I found them severely disappointing. The ideals are great but the reality is 80% of the people were lazy and did not pull their weight leaving the work to the 20% of us who make things happen. After a decade of exploring them I concluded that communes are great in theory and work well in tight knit pack groups such as families but are not good in broader, larger groups. If you study the history of intentional communities you'll see that pattern.

My brother has started two intentional communities with his wife. Both also failed. More data.

It all sounds great! If your a freeloader, with nice soft hands... not so good if your independent, and have callouses to prove it.

OP... sure you could make a go of it, as long as you understood upfront, you'd be inviting a lot of freeloaders to squat on your place.

News on Friday where riot police had to be called out in some enlightened liberal metropolis, when it was announced subsidized (read: free) housing for 2000 slaves was being offered. Offer wannabes and dreamers a piece of land, and you should have plenty of takers. Pun intended. Hopefully you can get a few makers also.

RazorCityDen · #27 12/10/12, 12:09 PM

Be sure to check on State renter and lease provisions, if this thing doesn't pan out you may have trouble getting individuals off your land in a legal fashion.

Good Luck!