Katie Surgent

Hello!

I am looking for a temporary rental or work trade position with housing for my family of five (going to be six in February, when I am due) for this Winter and early Spring. We are currently living in a very rustic, off-grid cabin in southwestern Virginia. I am hoping that we can find a situation for winter that is more comfortable and with the potential for other homeschooling children for my children to play with.

My husband is an accomplished wood worker/builder/cabinet maker. I can imagine renting, especially if there is work for him on the property, or a full or partial work trade, depending on the extent of the work needed. I am hoping that this could be on the property of a family or families with homeschooled children, as the part of birthing our fourth child that is the most intimidating to me right now is keeping the older children busy and happy while I am recovering. We have a 10 year old girl, 5 year old boy, and 2 year old girl currently, and we homeschool in a self-directed style, although I am open to homeschooling families of different philosophies. I would also be happy to help with cooking, etc.

Please be in touch if you feel as though our families could help support one another this winter.

Best,
Katie

Hello Luke.

My name is Katie Surgent and I am mama of a family of 5 in Southwestern VA. My littles are 9, 5 and 2. My husband and I bought land about a year ago and have been working on making a small, off-grid homestead since. I am looking for a way to do this with another family (or families) because I feel there could be so much synergy and joy in working side-by-side with others on so much of our day-to-day work.

If you are still looking for potential folks, my email is ksurgent@protonmaildotcom.

Katie

Hello Eve.

I'd love to talk more with you about your vision for your property. I am mama of a family of five, seeking community with other families who want to raise children guided by ancestral knowledge and permaculture principles. My husband is a finish carpenter and I am jack of many food trades (butchery, baking, etc.) , certified health coach and am currently at home with our children. I am curious about practical spirituality, I like the way that sounds.

My email is ksurgent@protonmail.com or feel free to call 410 474 9891.

Katie

Sarah lynn Merrill wrote:Where? Where are your places? We are a family of three with a three year old and a camper. We are determined to sell our land in the mountains and move further south. My husband is a blacksmith artist. Im a permie and we just need some land with utilities and a workshop, and ideally a community

Hi Sarah Lynn.

We bought six acres in Floyd county, Virginia. It is a beautiful place but we don't have any friendly neighbors at this point and I now wish I had found the people first rather than the land first. My husband is a woodworker but doesn't have a shop or anything here yet.

Do you know how far south you are looking to go?

Katie

Hello Ned.

It does seem you are fixated on the dark side of the tribe (the “othering” of everyone else). There is truth to this.

There is also something to be said for all of the benefits of being part of a tribe.

I’ll give you an anecdote from the perspective of being a new mother. In a tribe, a new mother is understood to be in a very physically and emotionally fragile moment of her life. She has just pushed herself to the physical limit and her life is spiritually changed forever. In all traditional cultures, her tribe takes on all of her responsibilities and feeds and cares for her through this transition into motherhood, typically for at least 40 days. This still happens in Amish communities. In our modern culture, in our march toward individuality and siloing of our family existence into the “nuclear family”, we have lost this sense of gathering around a new mama as a cultural norm. I’m not saying there are not instances of families or friends helping in the postpartum period, but it is not a cultural norm and many new mothers struggle.

I think those of us looking for a “tribe” or a group of like-minded people to gather around want to step away from the modern way of every family working as an autonomous unit and instead want to find folks with synergistic skills who want to build resiliency through interdependence. I don’t think that many of us looking for a tribe is looking to join a monolith to be a part of in which all of our individuality is lost. I believe there is something to be said for those of us who don’t want to march along wherever mainstream culture is headed to build something different together.

Mica Williams wrote:Hi there I know this post is a few years old but I'm the mother and husband of a family of 4 and desperate to live a life off the grid, we're hard working  and smart capable people doing research to find a simpler whole sustainable life been doing the daily grind but need something more! Don't want to raise our kids in this modern way! We're absolutely disgusted by the modern way of living that society is offering I truly appreciate what y'all are doing!

Hi Mica. Where is your family located? I am trying to figure this conundrum out for our family. We bought raw land last year and have been developing it for a homestead, but I am so wishing that we had gone in on this project with other families who wanted to be supportive of one another. I know there are complications when doing this sort of thing with multiple families, but it seems worth it to figure it out.

James Gallagher wrote:I cannot find the forum topic for 'matchmaking.'
I am a family of four- seeking 1, 2 or 3 other families for offgrid community on my 9 acres.  
I have the land and need the brawn and conscientious community.
Where can we post for matchmaking?  

Hi James! Your idea is very similar to what my husband and I are looking for for our family. I'm wondering if this vision has come together for you? Do you have any suggestions for other families hoping to cluster together in off grid communities?

Hi Ally and Mike.

I love your vision. I am seeking a place like the one you are creating for my family.

Where would I send back a copy of the initialed Guidelines?

Katie

Hello! I so appreciated reading your post about unschooling, it articulates so much I know to be true from my own experience and research.

Did you ever find a community with like-minded families?

Katie