is it just a dream?

is a commune really still possible? is it just a dream i have,have always had, is it a real possibility? Man, I hope so. I hope that chance and choice and chronological cock-up have not left me in a place where dreams all end up a youth indescretion, cast aside like some memento in a cigar box. Here, for your consideration, is my dream. agree or disagree at will, but please be nice, cause i love you and would do you the same consideration.
it has to be woods, cause trees are beautiful and woods even more so and in their embrace is where i feel most at home. acreage depending, heavily wooded, possibly mountainous, with a long lazy S access road to a timber gate bearing our chosen name, where can be heard the sounds of work and play, music and laughter. A common house made of rough cut timber and cedar shakes, with a living roof of moss and wildflowers. A smokestack where fragrant smoke lisps languidly skyward. inside, a long low table with handcarved wooden bowls brimming with apples and other goodies, and a wood cookstove with bread filling the air with the smell of homecoming and pots simmering and stewing of fare. drying herbs tied about the kitchen for cooking and tea. outside, an herb garden overflows, and the fields are alive and well fed, ready to return the bounty to us in the form of shelves filled with colorful jars and crocks, bins full of potatoes and root veggies, barrels of apples, and on and on.
tucked between trees around the common house are tipis, where our family lay their heads. they glow orange on cool season nights, as we live, laugh and love within their womblike embrace.
we all work hard, but when among those with a common goal work is more like play. we live the true meaning of the word family. we hug freely, talk openly, and respect eachothers feelings and faults. we love the land, we love eachother, and we love what we've come to be, a family.....so...is that possible?
druid

 

oh and hey, i do of course realize that there are still communes around, I posted this in a moment of frustration..or whatever, do with it what ya will. thanks
druid, again

 

If you build it, we will come...

 

We share a common dream. I'm moving to montana in May, and I'm interested in co-housing or a commune like setting there.

 

I have been living communally since 1975, when I moved from Detroit, Michigan to Portland Oregon. First, with several others in assorted apartments in Portland, and then a rural Washington mountain community (10-15 people), and then lived with 1000 or more at "The Farm" in Tennessee. After that was a community called "The Love Family" in Washington State. My family and I lived in an agricultural intentional community where we lived with others and produced vegetables to be sold at Farmers Market. We lived with others at a ranch, where we helped raise cows and horses. We now live at an intenional community where there are plans for co-housing, and simple living. It is small, and suits my needs. There are so many different reasons to get together with others and help support each other. I really enjoyed your dream-like scenario, so well thought out, and utopian. Sounds like "the good life" to me.

 

thanks to all who have responded so far, and im glad ya liked the post. actually, i cut out quite a bit cause i lost it the first time i wrote it.

A.B.E- i hear there are a few in oregon,sounds like a beautiful place, and i have heard of the farm before too. i penpal with an ecovillage in missouri, they're real cool too. for some reason though, i've always had this calling to help start one, and it aint no power trip cause i am sure not the "big chief" type, much happier as a lil' indian. i don't know, maybe i'll settle in an established place, we'll see. In the short term, personal stuff has me planted, but i never seem to remain so for long.

currently, i guess ya could say i am honing my skills, I live on a few acres where i organically grow my own food and live primarily in a 16' tipi. anything i think would be of use,i try to teach myself...the "myself"part being the only problem.

normizach-i wish you luck with your plans, i thought bout' montana too, i hear the winters are pretty long, sharpen up that axe brother.

solareyna- i'll keep you posted, thanks for the support!

you're all beautiful and i thank you for your fine, fine words. Please feel free to PM me.

druid

 

Druid, I hear your song brother and I have to say that it's one I've been singing for several years. My vision is more of a tribe or extended family that work together to build something beautiful. It's sad that most people seeking a dream like this don't realize the amount of work and commitment needed to make it succeed. We've brought a few people together in our efforts and have planned for every aspect of a community such as this, but finding people willing to commit to it seems impossible. Finding people willing to commit to it that share the same vision is well... like finding a needle in a haystack.

We have room here if your interested in finding out more, let me know

Peace

 

Same thoughts here as well. If you find or build let me know and I'll be there as well.
newwoodswoman

 

cryptoman,
cool,look for PM

 

Its a lot easier if you've got a pile of money.

 

It is a lot easier if you have a pile of money, but unfortunately most people interested in natural, self sustained communal living don't have enough to pay their bills, let alone enough to establish something as involved as this. I've heard a lot of people say that they would be interested in coming to join an existing community, but people are reluctant to come together and learn and plan and establish one together. The real work is in the foundation. I haven't seen anything on the ic website that resembles what I hope to accomplish, and I haven't had much luck finding people that want to go through the struggle of building it either. I'm not interested in yuppie eco-cohousing, or "Buying in" to an existing community, that may, or may not fit my dream. I'm going to find like minded people to build it with regardless of the time or money, and every time we get knocked down, we'll get right back up again and try again. Yeah, money is great, and I'm sure that enough of it will provide all of the land, structures and equipment that you may want, but determination to succeed, dedication to the project and the group, and cohesion are the keys to a successful foundation, not cement.

If there's anyone out there that sees sense in this, let me know. We don't have a lot of money right now, but we do have a plan.

 

Ho crypto

And Blessings

been floating in the same pond, different boat.
people who will join in the start up are hard to find - so many want to see it together already or figure there needas to be lots of money.....
And without the right people - it does not happen.
the core group is so important - ....more than family - they must be truly of like mind - yet full of the flexability that respect and differences bring to the table,... For each person changes the whole. And Must. for each has their own bent and dreams and to be truly present and committed one must feel their vision being fulfilled.
Hah - not that it happens mind you - visions morf as we Grow. But without feeling that wholesome respect and mutual support without any of the trappings of that culture wide insidious co-dependency.... we just cannot put whole hearted effort into it and .... And ... And IT TAKES SUPERHUMAN EFFORT....every start up does - or should - because that effort Changes everything - those people who are the start up become different - they learn how to make a dream a reality. They become a people apart.
The community almost always grows beyond them and usually they move on - - some like myself plan to from the beginning, knowing that what comes after that close knit core group needs to come and we must move on and get out of the way for it to Grow too.
Long as the air flows through my lungs and the blood through the heart, I shall be doing the Work... helping people regain their power and come unto their own back home in Spirit - Growing in Awareness and Becoming more Whole. It's a process and we cannot do it for another - but we can provide fertile ground and a culture that makes it easier for it to grow.
Should our attempt here succeed and grow or not, I shall move on to another start up and another and hopefully those that come when it is more complete will have a place where they can let drop their excuses and find within the Will to Do.
And the core group will go on Working in a wholeness of purpose , striving to prepare the Way for Change to come - for it must.

O shit you know you often get me a goin...good to hear from you brother - and to know that another is still beating their drum .....someday soon the dance will begin and those that have the rhythm will be there to help move the feet in the Way through the underworld to the new world abirthin right here in front of us - for those that can see, the signs are obvious and the contractions about to start....hehheh

Love you bro
Keep on keepin on - and hey you get up this way - fires burnin and the gate unlocked and friendship extended, and a place to sit round the fire of comraderie.

Namaste (my spirit bows to your spirit)

 

Hey old wolf, when I come back to these forums, I know that there are constants, yourself and your vision being one of them. It gives heart to those that are struggeling with this dream. I have to admit, when I'm feeling a little discouraged, I come back to see what's going on. To see some of the same old crew that's been here doing this since before the crash of 04' arouses a little more spirit in me, and keeps me going for another year.

We've struggled with the poor soil here, the rock and the hills, the overgrown woods and so much more, but all of these things seem trivial to the struggle of finding people to share our vision. Julie and I have decided that if it isn't going to happen here by this spring, it isn't going to happen here. We're still not going to give up though...just re-evaluate where it is we're heading. It's beginning to feel like beating our heads against a brick wall, like the inspiration that we've been following took a turn and we kept going straight.

If we do decide to pack it up here, we might just stop by and take you up on your hospitality. There's a lot to see and a lot of people to meet out there, maybe that is the road we'll travel next.

Peace, Love, and much respect to you,
Crypto

 

myself, i'd RATHER be involved in the startup than join an established community. i like working to build something.

 

same here me and my friends have all being singing that tune

 

the man is so crooked

 

Okay well I will go work for "the man" for a few years, then I'll buy a big chunk of land and we can build our own community. No public nudity though, I just can't handle that. Call me a prude, sexually repressed or what have you but I don't like to see dongs flapping in the breeze. Or boobs. But that's just me

 

If you guys really want to be involved in the start up of a community check out www.echowood.org

We started out by having conversations just like this one several years ago and now we are on the land and are looking for other people to join us.

Over they years I have had a ton of people tell me "build it and they will come". Well we have finally built it ...

 

Right on Druid and others of like mind...

These words brought a tear to my eye... count me in. I feel the same way and have many idea's of my own to add, but need guidence and other perspective's to make them fruitful. And yes, we do need money to keep things going and need to find ways to make it. I have resorces and a folderful of ideas to possibly make some but need help with it. I've never really liked money and the corruption that goes with it, so I'm not the greedy type.
I also like to create from scratch, I guess my many forts I built as a kid would agree, and some of them, come to think of it, I actually created a small living area and thus a community in the woods. Many friends went there to party, or be alone, or have a place to stay when they needed one. There was always canned goods, clothes, a fireplace, bed, chairs, creek nearby, rope swing, fire area for gatherings, and lots more... never though all that was preparing me for something better on a larger scale.
But I've always known I wasn't meant to fit in with "normal" society, and I never really have. I feel isolated and alone, even when around most people, and though I've tried, I can't make them understand me, so I gave up trying and accepted them as they are.
I found Hip Forums last year, but was in the process of moving, so I forgot about it... then recently was web surfing and came across it again. And again, I found the one post I found before... one by Druid the tree hugger on a farm, so here I am again. So in a sense, the Spirit winds guided me here, to find many like minded people, where I have been unsuccessful in my search thus far.
I may sound like I'm rambling, but I feel like I've been on a long journey leading me to a place unknown, and only known when I find it.

Let's make it happen people... life is getting shorter everyday, lets find a way to make it happen and live they way we were meant to live(or close), and live out our days with peace and love in a place of happiness for all who dwell there...

Peace and bright blessings to all

 

Hey Druid
your message was just beautiful - a dream so long forgotten..but all of us have to keep the belief and the Will to make these ecovillages happen all over the world. I am also looking to be there from the start and it has to be in a place free of 3G Masts and Mobiles (Haarp, WIFI too) and for fellow electrosensitives. So if you have plans for Europe - I'm thinking France, Spain let me know. It's such a blessing to find this site. Travel with Love
The Slug