black bear commune

i saw a great doco on tv last night. it was about the setting up of Black bear commune. it started with the idea of free land for free people. it inteviewed people that started it. the show mentioned the pros and cons. The difficulties of people living toghether. it showed the problems of personalities clashing, the occasional cult group moving in, people imposing their values on others. it also showed the good times when people found their soulmates and children growing up with open ideals. it was great seeing the people 30 years on

i am curious to know if anyone was or is a member of Black Bear commune. The thought occured to me because this forum is so large

 

i know of a black bear commune.. but have never been there. where is the one you are talking about?

 

i think it was near Alaska, i am having a mental block i will find out. the first winter they were snowned in and the locals didn't think the hippies would survive. one of the members walked 10 miles to get kero and matches. At that time, one of the founders said there was no hippy crap, because if stuff didn't get done, nothing happened. i found it to be an eye opener

 

Black Bear is in far-northern California.

http://www.armory.com/~wavejump/Communities.html#BlackBear
Peace,
poor_old_dad

 

opps, sorry i looked it up and realised how wrong i was lol

the doco is called "Commune"

 

ooh okay.. yes yes.. i almost went there for a visit.. kinda kickin' myself now that i didn't go.

 

I have never been there myself. Here is the link to one of their websites.
http://www.blackbearranch.org/main_page.html

The documentary sounds cool.

 

a visit would have been cool,. i didn't know you could. i am such a dill because i had no idea it snowed in northern california. The doco could probably be found in a video store or on th internet. it is worth watching because the idea of free land for free people worked Another reason i liked it was to see people still using the ideals i know many a hippir who sold out in order to fit in

 

Just watched the documentary streaming on Netflix... def enjoyable!

 

I hope anyone who thinks about joining any commune or group effort seriously looks at their project page;

http://blackbearranch.org/projects/

and takes to heart what they say on their guidlines page about required workload;

http://blackbearranch.org/traditional-guidelines/

and money

This is decades after they started.

The rewards for living in the country, survivng by your own hand (and the hands of friends), are limitless and self-rewarding, but they are by no means free or easy.

Too many people will read through their site and see 'communal' and 'circle' and so forth and start foaming at the mouth and want to go running out to join in. Unfortunately, as soon as it clicks in that work and money are required, they suddenly realize that they aren't 'quite' ready to go.

and here's a link to the movie on imdb
Commune