I'm new to farming n got started now. It comes really natural to me. Anyone have a dream of living in your own world close to nature?
Hi, Purple44. Yes, I had that dream for many years. The closest I got to living it was 8 years my wife and I spent living on an island off the west coast of Canada. It was a natural hippie community - not an "intentional community", but lots of genuine hippies living there. We grew a lot of our own vegetables, and what we didn't grow ourselves, we bought from local organic farmers. We watered the garden with harvested rainwater - we had 4500 gallons of water storage, enough to see the garden through a long summer drought. Our house was in deep forest, with just an acre or two cleared for the house and garden. Being an island, there were beaches in every direction, mostly within walking distance.
It was Denman Island. Unfortunately, it is getting a bit gentrified these days. When we moved there, we bought literally the last house we could afford. A month later, real estate prices shot up and have stayed there ever since. It makes it hard for young couples with kids to move there, and low-income people, who are the backbone of the economy, working as cooks, cleaners, care-givers and gardeners, can't find rental accommodation. The ferry makes the cost of living high, and many residents can't afford to commute into town, where there are more, better jobs. You have to be self-employed, because there are no job opportunities. Still, it was a unique mix of old and new hippies. There were still quite a few expat American draft-dodgers from the Vietnam era. Everything on the island was run by volunteer committees. There are many artists and artisans, and the annual studio tour was a big attraction, pre-covid. Queer people are not the majority, but they are considered normal there. We had friends there who bought 160-acre parcel of logged-over land and build their own house by hand. The zoning laws required a permit for anything over 140 square feet, so they built it 10x14 feet, a "tiny house" before such things became popular. It was off-grid. They had a solar panel to keep their cell phone charged, but otherwise no electricity. "Running water" meant they ran down to the creek with a bucket. Where we live now is a good place to be, but I miss Denman Island and the people there.
Yes, I heard of a lesbian community in alabama that is also away from jobs etc n it's hard for younger lesbians to move in there. But since they're all aging they want younger women to stay but It's too off grid for younger people needing access to jobs. The older couples all have their own businesses or income own houses etc.
