New to hip forums. Living at Echowood

Hi everyone,
My name is Lance and I am originally from New Hampshire but just recently packed up all my stuff quit my job and moved to Echowood Farm in Central, TX. It has been the best decision that I've ever made. I got in on the ground floor of building a communtity. We are currently 7 people (6 males, 1 female) and are looking for new members to come and help us make this dream a reality, unfortunently we are kind of male heavy at the moment and would like to balance out the gender ratio. We are open to all ages and walks of life. Two weeks ago I was a city boy with big dreams that I thought were unattainable now I am living my dream and shaping my own world. It has been a life changing experience and the piece that has always been missing in my life. If anyone is interested you can check out echowood.org (which I will be updating in the near future with new pics and video) or e-mail us at echowoodfarm@gmail.com. Thank you all for you time and I hope to hear from you or see some of you soon.

LP

 

I took a look at your community's entry at the IC directory, and at your website. It seems similar in aspiration to many of the communities currently within the FEC (Federation of Egalitarian Communities), such as Twin Oaks or East Wind. My question to you is what prompted your group to build a whole new community from the ground up rather than join one of the existing communities already in existence?

 

The FEC is talking with Echowood about Joining the FEC.

I would like to see more Egalitarian Communities, not less.

I think that each community has it's own unique culture. Diversity is strength.

Twin Oaks, Acorn and East Wind are almost Always looking for new members. I still would like to see more communities form and stick around.

Gender Balance is somthing that each of our FEC communities faces at some point. Some more than others. Twin Oaks has had more women than men for quite some time, but still goes to great lengths to keep the genders balanced.

I would like to hear more about how Echowood deals with membership gender issues in the future.

Take Care
-bucket

 

I agree with you in that I would like to see more egalitarian communities as well, and to have them prosper and grow. But if you had to choose between the two, which would you rather see - many small communities, or fewer larger ones?

One of the strengths of the community movement (especially the egalitarian communities) is the pooling of resources for greater collective gain. It seems to me that the best strategy to follow in this regard would be to have fewer and larger communities. By having more, smaller communities, it seems as though you'd be dissipating this potential advantage. And the smaller you get, the more you move away from being a "community" to being just a few individuals. Plus each new community that starts is essentially re-inventing the wheel over and over as they try to build a viable economic base.

If you look at the IC directory, you'll see dozens and dozens of communities that are in the process of forming. Many of these communities will not be successful and will eventually fold. I wonder what would happen if all that time and effort that was spent in trying to build a new community was put into contributing to already existing ones?

I've only partaken in this particular forum for a short while now, but I get the impression that many people here don't realize that there are dozens of communities already in existence, and that they don't have to go to the trouble of starting from scratch all the time.

So I'd just like to emphasize that my initial post here is not meant to be a critique of Echowood in particular, but is meant to address the best approach toward community building in general.

 

I do understand what you are saying but my reasoning is that we what this to be as big a movement as we can so why not let the communities that are already established go on and hopefully we will be able to rise to the height of those communities and create another place where people can go if the other communities don't suit them.

 

How did you get involved with Echowood? What was it that attracted you to it? Did you research any other communities before you made your choice?

I've looked at Echowood's website and found it to be very attractive. It seems as though the community is off to a good start. But being the ever practical sort, I was wondering what Echowood does to pay the bills. Do they have any industries that bring in any income?

 

Yes i did research many other communities but talking to the people here and the fact that it was something that I could help develop from the early stages.
The income thing has been the most heralding challenge and that is where we have been trying to get that in order, we do have some time to figure some of that out though. If anyone has any suggestions we would be more then happy to listen to anything.

LP

 

LP,

How much acreage of Echowood is suitable for farming ?

One big concern for lots of folks in the states is surviving wars (Iran),
disease (birdflu), economy crashes, etc. Things look pretty shaky
right now. Perhaps you might consider canning foods that are produced
on your farm and selling via the internet like some other communities.

Do you have enough room for a couple of head of beef, do you consume
your chickens, do you grow a variety of veggies ? Are your goats and lamb
just pets or are they producing anything ? If I had 23 acres I would make it as
productive as possible.

 

I've recently learned of this type of alternative approach to life that is really appealing to anyone who just wants a little simplicity and peace out of life.

I checked out your site as well and it seems interesting enough to me that perhaps in 3-6 years I may make contact with you if I ever feel I have anything to offer to your community in the way of usefull skills/ideas.

For the time being I have a few family members I feel the need to stick around and help out as well as just building up some savings to visit a few communities.

Good luck and keep the ideas flowing as there should be some interesting technology that is eco-friendly and cost effective with the dawning of Nano-technology that could aid your endeavor.

http://www.smalltimes.com/

 

I'm a female. And I have some relatives in Texas. I would like to contact you guys at some point in the future.

 

About the herbal remedies, is pot frowned upon at echowood? recently became interestedin the communal living lifestyle and wondering where i can be welcomed along with my nugs of love

 

the real deal is that pot is illegal and property can be confiscated....so any who answer you yes put their head in the noose that our friendly gov.has hung out hoping we will do ourselves in.
so expect no answer ..esp not affirmative from any formed group
those who have not formed and have nothing to lose (like land) may say yes but they also are not yet community in fact ...just in wishes, as are you - No ?

come on people ...a little common sense....
no offense intended....you were but the excuse to say again what needs to be said about this subject.

Blessings all
Namaste

 

yah i wasnt really expecting too much of an answer, really just wondering who feels the same about pot as i do (which probably most of you do) but i guess the organization wouldnt be able to say they are thc friendly. thanks for waking me up hehehe....dontcha love how the gov controls us? lovely aint it.

 

Well if the government controls a substance that you allow yourself to be controlled by,
Arnt you really just allowing yourself to be controlled?

 

One can only give their own power away...for another to judge it so, is for them to show their own lack in the judging.
If someone warns you to not touch high voltage electric lines...do you give your power away to not touch them...do they control you ? While we have free will to choose...every choice has built in ramifications, which go with making that choice - for one to choose not to openly break the law means that in making that choice there will be those who will be so disposed will judge him as being weak.

To make the choice of judging another displays lack of Awareness and empathy....for we all draw to ourSelfs the lessons we need, and by so doing we All Grow in the garnering of the experiences inherent in each choice.

People (institutions) seeking to control can only take that power others willingly give it...while to publicly, willfully, show arrogance for the power others think or feel they have will invariably turn their attention on you so that they can indeed prove their power....one can be detained and not give up their power, one can be killed and not give up their power.....one may also not thumb their nose at those greedy for the vestiges of external power who have little or no real power....for True Power comes from within...

Is Truth - No ?

Blessings

Namaste

 

sure, in many ways your right but why is it that the gov. can control something that grows? the electrical fence comment made sense but this is something god gave us (or nature gave us) its something with life and i dont feel it should be under control of anyone (nor do i think the gov should be able to control the people of our countries) i also realize that if the government didn't control anyone there would be problems upon problems. But i almost feel as though it would be better(morally speaking) for people to live for themselves, be able to walk where they please use whatever herbs or plants for whatever reasons they should choose without argument for we are all equals and there shouldn't be people with any power over others.

I also realize that if our country was like this there would be people committing murder with no punishment(for lack of control by goverment) and many other problems that make my dreamland/paradise unrealistic. This subject is too complex for me to even fully comprehend let alone argue about. i'd better stop now before i get ahead of myself.

 

That is not true. They are currently unable to welcome children or families with children.


I'm not sure if Lance is still affiliated with Echowood either.

 

Lots of interesting things touched on in this thread. For me, I looked a long time at many of the communities that exist, but I found none that felt... open enough for me, like a Rainbow kitchen with a big sign that says "Kitchen Crew Only", like not encouraging or empowering people to plug in, but an attitude of us and them, of exclusivity.

I think this phenomenon is very common in most intentional communities, especially those that have been around a while. It's interesting for me to note that hardly any of them seem to be of any appreciable size. As was discussed in this thread, much efficiency is gained by larger communities that you don't get with a half dozen or a dozen or a few dozen people. I want to live in a community of hundreds.

So our community is forming too, and I would love some more arrivals. Of course, we're a little gender-unbalanced too, but I don't see much that can be done about that. And we also need arrivals that are personally empowered and motivated to WANT to do this kind of thing, which isn't easy, requiring much internal work and change that can be quite difficult and confusing. We already have a situation where we have quite a few hippies and not much is getting done, with some contributing dis-proportionately more than others, which is a problem most communities deal with, I guess it's just a question of how.

On the issue of control, we all have control, but there are two kinds of control: control over and control with. We choose the latter with our consensus council process and try to balance that with the freedom of action that we are all entitled to.

We are so far maintaining our Rainbow roots of Welcome Home and only beginning to talk about processes and systems and whatnot. And we're in California, so the pot issue is rather lessened, although the situation creates other issues that we have to deal with.

Love and Light,

Joshua
Reading Rainbow

 

Hello there Rainbowgeek,

I have respect for you in starting a commune where most only talk about it.
Anyhow, unfortunately, it is very hard to find like minded people or close, most just want a free ride and a place to party all day.
What I gather from your post, it sounds like you need to get organized. I have a few suggestion's of what I would do that may help...

Write a list of everyone's name, age, and possible skills they know.

Make a list of all projects that need immediate attention and long term ones.

Assign like skilled people to each project, unless muscle not skill is needed.

Make the most skilled of each group as a group leader for that project, but on a trial basis, if they can't cut it, then assign someone else.

Perhaps assign an overall foreman to supervise all projects to make sure people are working to make some progress. Ask nicely, but don't be forceful, just walk away and put him on the OUT list with one strike against him, in two weeks or 3 strikes of not helping, ask them to leave.

Give people about 2 weeks to prove if they want to make it or just hang out and party, ask the slackers politely to leave, with the option to return if they decide to pitch in, unless you got bad vibes from them.

Since you own the land and started the commune, you and maybe a trusted friend can go about and look for people who stand out as a leader, are a good worker, people who really want to make a difference, write their names and form a council for mature decision making. Mature meaning one can control their party habits and knows when to work and when to play, also one who is able to take responsibility for their own actions not look for others to blame. Also no power trippers who like controlling other people, not good on a council.

After a week or two working as a group, ask each group for ideas to make work more organized and to function more efficiently, how to make faster progress, and also fun.

Write down all answers and have a group discussion first at council, then discuss possibilities around the fire.

Some people may want different jobs during the day/week, see what you and they can do.

Keep track of projects and progress,make records of things, reflect on them and look for improvement.

That's about it for now, I hope this helps, maybe it'll spark some idea's for you to create. If I lived closer, I'd come help out.

Peace and luck to ya,
Spirit Wynd

 

Spirit Wynd,

I appreciate your words, and your suggestions. Alas, the implementation of most of them are rather beyond us at the moment. We simply operate in ways that don't allow for many of the concepts you suggest.

I agree whole-heartedly that we need to get more organized! This is the core of our problem, however, there are certain pre-requesets to organization that we have not met. For example:

We lack any kind of hierarchy, therefore the ability to "assign" anyone to anything. We are all volunteers, living in a gift economy, and therefore we have only the work and resources that we give to eachother.

We also have yet to ask anyone to leave, even the most intense of Drainbow's we've seen yet. I believe that we will eventually do so, but it is a big step for us, and frankly I'd rather avoid it. Instead helping people to grow and evolve with us.

I would not say that "I own the land". This land is owned communally, controlled by our consensus council. You might say that "I own the land" because my name is on the deed (along with one other Brother), however, I certainly do not agree. In my heart (and his), this land IS COMMUNALLY OWNED, and that is a MORE VALID TRUTH to us than what is written on the paper. This vision grew out of our desire not to live on "someone else's land" and so to have that for more than ourselves, it has to really be OURS, which INCLUDES "mine". This all being said, our intention is to create a legal entity which can "legally" own the land as soon as possible and everyone who wants to have their name on that, can do so. When we have the resources to do this, we will talk to a lawyer and make it happen the best way we can.


All that being said, we are certainly working towards greater organization. We have proposed a "guideline" of everyone contributing FOUR HOURS PER DAY. Every week after council we make a calendar/schedule affair which includes all the chores that need doing (kids, dinner, dishes, etc) as well as all the "work parties" that are going on. We are definitely developing a tradition of "focalization" where a group (ideally at least three) take the responsibility to see a project happen and plan it accordingly. What keeps this process open is that those focalizers have a council about the project which all are welcome to attend and participate in the planning of that project.

I believe a system like this could be quite effective if we have a higher proportion of individuals who are RESPONSIBLE enough to focalize things! So far, VERY FEW PEOPLE SIGN UP FOR ANYTHING ON THE BOARD, even those that are the more resposible, who are actually doing.

Whew, well, that's enough for now. I appreciate your input and your visions. I am thankful for the kind, mature, stable, motivated and personally empowered Family that is on their way home to us.

Love and Light,
Joshua