Communes still goin?

Anyone around know any friends still living in a commune? I've lost touch with everyone I knew from my old commune days, and I sometimes wonder how many are still around. I'm sure still quite a few.

 

i dont know anyone who lives on a commune, but man would i like to start one! I want to raise my children on a commune, and i would love that sense of community and helping one another. Do you know of any??

 

I have often thought about starting one, after having lived on one for a short period of time, but as to the how and where, Ive' not a clue.

 

I think they call communes 'multiple occupancy' now. bloody political correctednessness

 

check out intentional communities....www.ic.org.....there's ALOT to check out there!

 

I suppose there are still some folks tryin' to live like that. But unless you have a VERY COMMON GOAL like the Amish or Stephen Gaskins Farm or something it is destined to failure. Do you realize how hard it is to live with other people?! Your generic hippys are all pretty self absorbed really. Some folks tend to be extremely "assertive" and persnickity about their living arangements, or else they are just bliss ninnies, gettin' high on their mind altering substance of choice and letting their crap pile up around themselves for someone else to clean up. It takes some really special folks connected by their common goals to make a "commune" work. It's an awful lot like being married, really.

 

I would love to live on a commune ... it would be an amazing exsperince!!!

 

There are a lot of people living in northern cali on the river. they have little communes all along the river banks. they got hit pretty hard when the river flooded and tons of people lost their homes and belongings. They seem to snap back quickly tho. Hippies are resilant and cope fairly well.

Most 'Modern Day Communes ask for a fee before they let you in. I suppose for the same reason EM stated in her post. Some just don't help and are energy rip offs, just there to suck up the air. But we all have our lessons to learn.

I lived in a commune for yrs. It had it's good points and it's bad points. I think in the end though they mostly fail bc of lack of' workers' and to many bosses. There has to be organization and structure for it to work. Everybody has to put in their fair share of time and energy, pulling together for the same goal.

Everyone is pretty much lazy these days and doesn't want to put out an effort to make any changes in their lives. A lot of people think that when they are in a commune they can kick back and stay high all the time. But it takes hard work and dedication to have a sucessful commune. So if your willing to work hard and do what is needed to benefit the success of the commune you may be just the type to excel in a communal enviroment.

I prefere the more intimate enviroment of my family, there are so many of us it's like a commune, and everyone does work together to bring harmony and spread love around. We all take our turns at working the land and keeping the place clean and we all love the animals so they get a lot of attention too.

I think it is most difficult to live off the land intirely without investing a ton of money. Mostly bc you have to pay taxes. In Texas you don't have to pay taxes after your 72?, except sales tax of course. That will probably change before I get there

At my age I think about what I will leave my children and it eases me to know they will have something that is meaningful, a place to call home and a place to leave to their children.

I think that in a commune you only hold a share of it while you reside in the commune itself. Unless you own the land your subject to evicition or lease renewal which the owner has option to end.

Which every way the wind does blow you I hope you have a delightful journey
sh

 

i live on a huge commune called earth

 

I can truthfully say I have never had a good commune experience. Oh, I won't say it wasn't fun for a while, but in the end it was far more of a pain than it was fun. Most of the communal arrangements I have been involved in were on land that my family owned. I suppose that makes it even harder, because when it's your land you have greater expectations. What years of trying this over and over again has brought me is a great need for my own space and my privacy. I think the BEST communal type environment I have ever been in was when I lived in an area which had been pretty much abandoned by the original owners and hippys ended up living on all the farms that were left to grow up to weeds and fall down. But, the thing that made it work was that everyone had their own place. Their own garden, their own transportation. We were pretty much all on equal footing, aside from those of us who had telephones as opposed to those who didn't. The telephone thing ended up being a great thorn in some folks sides, because as soon as you have something that someone else doesn't, you become "it".

I am sure that is why the Amish communities work so well. Everyone has what they need, and no one has that much more than anyone else. No one is being a drain on the group. In that way it is much easier to be supportive of the community as a whole.

 

Theres still plenty of communes around
The Farm is one of the oldest in Tenn still going strong.
Ithica ecovillage is one
there are many but they have changed their names from communes to eco villages or sustainable living or eco friendly etcetc you get the idea.
Ive lived in my fair share all over so I know

 

This is true EM. I have found in my experience with commune living that you really have to sacrafice everything for the good of the ALL. But I found that having your own is much better. Somethings you just don't want to share. Sometimes you just want to eat a whole apple without some one wanting a bite, or two.

And may I add. I did not like the role women are stuck into as a commune member. The rearing of the children, the cooking, cleaning, washing, teaching day school, plus the outside chores.

That was one of the things that did not resonate well with me. It was the women folk that carried the load. It was the WELFARE CHECKS and food stamps that floated the communes.

Some of the men did work. But it was not steady income that could be counted on. It was small jobs here and there. A lot of the men did not work at all and basically would hook up with a chick on welfare for support.

And the women thinking themselves cool in their ultra-hippie fashion while all along being used, used up and then tossed away when the demands are too high. Leaving them with fatherless children to raise alone. In some cases never to be heard from again.

This has happen to me, I had a bad case of the dumb ass. I'm not unnique in this perception it has happen to many uneducated females of the times. We grew and we learned and most of us went our own ways and raised our babies as best we could, without the support of their fathers.

Now I must give credit where credit is due, there were some that stayed together and raised their own kids, but I have to say in all honesty that I have only know maybe two or three out of hundreds. Even fewer men that raised their kids without the mother.

I can't say that things are still that way. I haven't lived in a commune in 30 odd yrs, I do live in a large group of people but most of them live in seprate households here on our land and have their own cars and jobs and pay their own bills. I prefer this way to the other way. Less conflicts and more harmony. There are fourteen of us here, including the kids. We all get along pretty well. We comunicate our feelings and we love and respect each other.

I believe that love and respect is the most necessary of all the essentials to have a disirable atmosphier. It sets a good example for the kids as they face worldly conflicts within the masses.

Have a Blessed Day
sh

 

Good stuff-Shameless-You nailed it-I lived on Wheelers Ranch in Sonoma Co. for all of 71-No electricity or much running water and no flush toilets-You would really be surpeised how much you miss that stuff-I had alot of fun there but was happy to leave when it was time-The cops closed it-Yes-It does take lots of working Indians and less chiefs to run a good one-To be self sufficient is not easy-To live in a modern type commune would be alright if there was a close bonding and understanding on the money and work everone contributes-The idea of donations don't work in my opinion-always someone comin up short-It takes definate dedication and plenty of resourses to pull it off-

 

rob, you must know alicia bay laurel if you were at the wheeler ranch... i have her book, living on the earth as well as couple of her music cd's

 

I met her but did not really know her-She was not living there full time like I was-She was there doing "research" for the book-It came out after we were all kicked out by the county-If you want to see a journal on the ranch and see some real dirty looking hippys go to Ahimsa Ranch-that was the tax name for Wheelers-That place was fun-

 

:jester: Love one another
arty:
Peace

 

I'd like to live in a commual environmet, with sustainable living, orgaic garden.. the dream!

I'm from aotearoa(nz) ad dont kow anyone with the sam dream that isn't tied with commitments of somesort. But I'm not tied to anything, just earth ad music ad wherever the wid blows me

 

Lorien Family Commune , Oregon . 200 acres near Eagle Point between Round Top and Green Top . 1972-84 . i was there at its rest , perhaps its end - i don't know . there was a minimum of good water , tho this wasn't the impossible hardship to overcome . perhaps its still open to settlement .

 

I copied and pasted this from my post in the past experience with communes thread.

If I have a highlight of my life it is living in a commune in the Santa Cruz hills around 1979 or 80. We were about 12 folks living in the country on a large piece of land with a house and a few out buildings. We really cared for each other and we all got along. We resolved differences in a loving way. We also had lots of fun laughing and singing together. Hoping in the van and going over to a neighbour's place to watch Mork and Mindy. If someone was ill or down we would gather to help heal them. Alas the property was sold and we scattered far and wide. I would not want to live in shared accommodations again, but a community would be ideal. Unfortunately I have created a life that is not the one I really want. I lack the courage to create the one I do want.

 

it wouldnt be too difficult to start up a good one. a couple of people with equity, a couple of people with social security checks, a couple of people with knowledge, a couple of people with food stamps, a couple fo buisness ideas, might be able to get together a couple hunderd acres in arkansas or appalachia and make it through te tough years.