Actauly starting construction on desert homestead and like to share the experience.

desertdave

love the energy

May your land flourish and blossom
may it bless you
and all those who partake
in the Dreaming and the Doing

Wishing you well

 

Yeah man. For real, keep us posted with successes and challenges. I can't be there but i'll be support for you.

I'm just trying to stimulate some critical thinking. I mean, what if someone becomes violent, what if someone is jealous, how far does the love go? Love has a different meaning to us all, and that can be where some huge communication breakdowns happen. I just want to know what social challenges you see possibly arising, and how your going to deal with them. obviously getting there is the first step, and I respect and applaud your efforts.

Holding you in the highest regard,
- Yogi -

 

I thank you for all your support It means so much to me . How ever my first hurtle has hit me close to home . My father has suffered a heart attack and the trip of Oct 25 has been canceled. How ever I'm determend to move pass this hurtle as quickly as possible . Oh and yes my father is fine now I have spent some time with him the week before last. And his spirits are high and he has incurraged me to move forford with the project.

I do have a question to ask of you hippies out there. In reguards to financing this project. At first it was my intent to finance it my self, but this has prooven very difficult. It would seem that if I go that route that it will take many years to get a working community up and running. Have any of you out there faced this problem? And how would you suggest that I solve this and over come this hurtle? So far there is only one other person who is devoted to the project besides myself. And I have never heard of a rich hippie, or at least none who remained hippies. So I'm looking foreward to hearing your take on this dilemain reguards to finacing the project. I will move forewards reguardless of how long it will take, alone or with others.

The other devoted member has offered moneys to move the project forewards. But I have been hestitant to take him up on the offer. As I feel no one should put anymore money in than I do myself. How do you all feel about this type of situation?

I wanted to thank you on your input on the governing issue of the community. Please continue to give me all your thoughts and feeling on he subject, as it may proove most useful in the formation of this community.

Looking forward to hearing from my brothers and sisters out there. and please feel free to chat with us on-line.

Peace to All

 

Dave,

We're going Co-Op with our attempt giving each member 1 vote but the shares being = to1k ea. (can make it whatever amount you desire). as people put in $ (or assetts -the value of which are agreed upon by member and Co-Op before any assetts are accepted) they get shares - for every year every member gets another share. There is a necessity to make the assetts of the Co-Op more than the outstanding # of shares or = to the # of shares. If a member is to go their own way the Co-Op reimburses them for their shares. If it falls apart the Co-Op must liquidate all assetts and disperse according to shares. Sounds pretty hard but that's the bare bones. So far it seems to be working well.
Good luck brother - keep moving however slow and it will come into being.

 

This will help us get a working model to get us started on our community. Did you have to get a lawyer to make these shares official? And were the shares transferable to new incoming member if some one was leaving? And does each share own allow an addition vote for its owner?

Sorry but the more people tell me the more questions I have. Thank again oldwolf for your insite.

peace brother.

 

desert dave.....

how many people are you looking for?

 

Heya Dave,

To disperse shares you do not need a lawyer, to set up your Co-Op you will need some legal expertise. You can get some help from fellow Co-Opers -an easy search will bring you to it.

Shares work according to your assetts - lets say you start out with 100K that the land and the equipment and improvements are worth (need to have objective valuation such as bank assesment - proof of value has to be available) so you start out with 100 shares each share valued at 1K (you could have 1000 shares ea, valued at $100 - or wharever). Lets say you value you initial turnover to the Co-Op at 50K and the Co-Op agrees - you get 50 shares - still leaves 50 shares held by the Co-Op. Someone comes in with equipment and the co-Op and incoming member agree that the value of the equipment is 10K so you give them 10 shares and the Co-Op also increases its shares to 110 (again to increase the number of shares you must have proof of increased value). The member decides to leave and want to leave the equipment and prefers to get cash to start over somewhere else - they trade in their 10 shares for $10K - obviously the Co-Op just depleted its value by 10K and so must decrease the amount of shares because it no longer has assetts equal to the number of shares - down to 100 shares again. The Co-Op puts up more buildings and the improvement are assessed @ $75K - therefore the shares are increased 75 shares etc etc.

Usually Co-Ops are set up ea. member having 1 vote regardless of shares - does not weight the vote to the rich (people with more shares as opposed to people with less) - however should the Co-Op decide to close and liquidate the liquidation assetts must be dispersed pro-rated by the number of shares held.

Profits made by the Co-Op (right - LOL) are dispersed yearly, pro-rated according to the number of shares held - though you could change your bylaws to read that profits are shared equally between all members regardless of number of shares held by individuals.

Yah da yah on it goes - a bunch of legalese - but any formal entity whether it be a proprietary (individually owned), a corp (several kinds available), a Co-Op, or a NP Org. (not for profit - and watch out many more regulations) ... all have specific legal descriptions and rules - you must find what catageory best suits your needs - and that is where the legal expertise comes in.

Regarding the legal end - you should be able to get 1 hrs consultation free to decide what kind of legal entity you want to set up - if a lawyer cannot answer your questions and has to research - make sure that you do not get charged for their learning experience. I like to get second opinions because with lawyers unless they are very good and out for your best interests (yeah I know they are Supposed to be when you retain them - but...) - they are trained to talk a good trip whether it's real or not.

This is a learning experience - we are not through with our own legal situation and will update you on onfo pertinent as we go along - would appreciate you keeping us updated regarding your experiences there too.

I know the above sounds somewhat like I have some legal training - I do Not - but I have had to do some reading to have an idea of what I'm talking about - Sorry but I just don't trust lawyers, having been burned in the past - so some knowledge so that you can recognise a snow job is a good idea - second opinions are supposed to help that - but I've seen lawyers in collusion (meaning they are lying to look good - and make their fellow professional liar - oops - er ... look good as well)

Sorry for the length

Good luck

Blessings on your Way

 

I am really interested in hearing more in terms of what you are building, what materials you are using, how you are dealing with codes, etc. I would love to build a little cob house someday, http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Canopy/7148/cobpics.html

sigh.

 

The raw materials for cob are hard to find in the desert - even adobe usually come from a more moist area - the desert sears and sand and brush.
Cob is wonderful - playing in the mud ,working slowly because it does not allow for this overnight type of construction. I hope you get you wish and make it happen for yourself
Blessings on your Way

 

I not sure how many people the land can support at this time. However I would like to have at least ten people in on this project.


peace

 

Yes , you have a piont there miscommunication are bound to happen. I believe that a group of like minded people would have to make up the whole of the community for this to work. The only way to find them is to talk and interact with those who wish to become members and find out more about them and what makes them tick, and if they share my vision. At some point I guess I will have to put out a mission statement so that people will know what I'm about and what my goals are for the future of this community. But for the time being I'll just be sharing what I'm doing out there with you all, and getting all the info I need to make this work before I bring in alot of people. It will take time , buut I'm in no rush.


Peace brother

 

Thanks for the in depth anwsers to my questions. I'm sure I'll come up with more question for you later. But till then I'll just keep plucking away at it, one step at a time.

 

Well It's my intention to use earthbag contruntion for the house which is almost as inexpensive as cob. The house I plan to biuld well use soil at the property. But as old wolf pointed out desert soil for the most part is unsuitable for cob, as there is to much silt in the soil. And the removal of it would be far too time consuming to even try it. The sand bags however will acted as semi-permanent forms to great a type of rammed earthen wall or doom. Of course I will be biulding smaller experimental strutures to perfect the technique for my soil type. The earthbag walls will by couted with a cob stuco and plaster, inside and out. And it will be reinforced with steel cables and wire sinse this is an earthquake zone. I do not plan to involve the local goverment or to get a permit for this project as no one will ever go out there any way to inspect the work. Hope this answers your question. this webb site goes into more dealtail on the subject of eathbgas construction http://www.calearth.org/
may we all reach our goals and dreams

 

Yeah I think a mission statement is important for a community. When in doubt in a situation, you refer to the widom of the mission statement. I think it should be defined, yet open ended to allow for flexibility and change.

As far as a rich hippy, I don't consider myself a hippy, although I have many of the qualities and some might label me that ( I try to stay away from the labels ). I am also not rich yet. My intentions and focus though are to basically become rich (financially free -- when work is optional and leisure activities affordable) and then give it all away. I may not just 'give it' but I will use the power of money for the good of all humanity rather than for my own self serving purposes.

I believe that as I stay true to this path, my wealth will come because of my heart's desire for evolutionary progression of the soul of all beings.

You must stay in your center and ask for EXACTLY what it is you want, and it will come. Meditate daily, then when in your higher mental state, visualize your needs coming to you, effortlessly. I believe the universe will provide as long as it is beneficial to the systems of the universe.

If someone were to invest in the community, what would be their incentive?? Someone could invest and participate, would non participate investors have an incentive to invest? Such as using your community as an example that it can be done (i dont know, thats a show in the dark hehe).

Lets play a game.

I have some cash in the bank (which is true).

All you have to do is truly convince me its worthwhile investing in your project.

Sell me on it.

Others can try to sell me on their idea's too -- lets do this as a brain exercise.

 

Also, regarding the legality aspects, yes your 'suppose' to have all the permits, but i agree with you, no one will ever go out there to give a shit probably -- BUT one thing to consider is that if they wanted to get you for ANY reason at all, that would be a weak point that could hurt everyone in the community later. Thats a trade off you have to look at.

As far as shares, oldwolf is speaking of a co-op. I dont know much about co-ops, but i have read up minimally on how to form corporations and LLC's etc. and one thing I do know that a signed contract is a signed contract.

Come up with a contract that defines what a share is, how it is obtained, how it is taken away, etc, every little detail you can think of -- then insert the personal paragraph for each individual that gets shares, outlining the conditions etc and as long as you both have signed it (you keep the original ink signed ones, they get copies, or sign two of the exact document so both have authentic copies) then it should be official.

Also I think if you get too mixed in legalities then it purports the whole point of a commune to focus on moving beyond the little detailed scrutiny crap of the 'conceptual maze' as i call it. I think it will be a fine balance between the two -- but don't let anything conceptual stop your action of moving forward to the creation.

Lets play the game. somebody tell me why i should invest in a community. I have 10 million dollars -- i can spare 100k easily, but the question is, why should I?

 

Now that's real easy
GO VISIT If the land, the people, the ideas presented speak to you;
then and only then do you invest of yourself in the attempt - yet you also got to hold up your own responsibility of no free lunch - i.e. help out where you can - If you feel that this is not something you wish to be connected with - well damn - move on.

But please recognize that to people Doing it ain't a game - maybe for someone who has not committed themselves to the Doing of it, it is - but not to those who have.

Most people involved in the Doing really don't want to continually defend or argue their positions - yet welcome open discussion of a friendly venue. You can disagree without attacking, you can ask questions without putting others on the defensive - - yup we Can all be nice - and any time we can help others - does it detract from us ?

When people gather to work together, things come up that help define where the group as a whole goes - Has to happen - cannot not happen. As you get together on the why's and define the grey areas and see how you as a group handle them, you start to see a purpose - intent takes shape - and that does need to be formalized with agreement by all the parties participating. It becomes a guide for every one to See what to move toward - what helps and what is distracting - unimportant or downright moves away from that intent.
And though the intent may be recognizable, with each incoming member as you morph the shape to include each members own dreams and visions - help each be all they can Be - .... Sometimes directions change - flexibility to adapt to change means survival; or you have members leave because it no longer serves their intent and vision of what they See they want to trade their life to make happen.

But above all you just gotta keep moving on it - making the world the place you want to Be and Being the Being you want to Be.

Blessing to all on their Way

 

Yogi ...I thought maybe you were already involved in all that ...

 

involved in what?

 

oldwolf,
I'm just trying to expand the possibilities for fund raising to beyond that of the people that want to participate, because as desertdave stated, he didnt know any rich hippies, or im assuming any hippies with 100k to spare.

The idea here is just to think outside the box for financing. I'm not saying his commune has to be one way or another and I certainly was not insuiating that his work is a game. Rather the game is to come up with imaginative possibilities of what could be that would attract cash to make it possible. does that make sense?

I feel you got a little defensive oldwolf, and I'm sorry if I didnt communicate clearly but I wasn't trying to offend anyone or downplay anybody's roles in the project.

 

After I posed the question on the forums, my own mind opened up and possibilities started pouring in.

This is not necessarily intended for Desertdaves commune, just ideas that flowed through me for attracting cash to get a commune started.

You could attract investors by doing some type of research. Certain people that started the BioDomes did it this way I think. . .

You could do any research you wanted to really. Some things I thought of were:

Innovative Greenhouse and Eco Waste removal systems research. You get a few ppl that know a bunch about it, tell them the plan. then get someone to go after investors and tell them what your doing. they pay you lots o cash to live on your own commune, you set the rules, only you just have to research how controlled ecological systems can work to reduce waste, or purify toxic substances.

Such as a natural way to filter water using plants.

Perhaps a more efficient way to organic garden on a large scale that stays friendly with the earth's cycle.

You could focus research around mind/body connections and set up a certain practice that could show scientific proof and differences in physiology by living a certain way. Like showing the difference of living naturally on the land compared to people living in the city or something, you could volunteer your body for testing on stress levels, hormone levels, MRI Scans of your brain, muscular and circulatory tests, etc that could weigh your over all health.

You could even focus it specifically on the brain scans and just have certain practices that everyone on your commune does, such as meditating daily and working with a garden daily.

You could take it any direction you want really, the point is finding value that others can use and benefit from. The possibilities are endless.

The idea of posing the question is that you will not receive the possibilities unless you ask for them. Anybody else have any ideas? Or am I just crazy and getting you all offtrack here? hehehehe