Central Arkansas: New Intentional Community/Permaculture Farm looking for start-up members

Hi everyone,

My name is Kirby Mason, and I'm looking for like-minded folks who are interested in forming a new intentional community/eco-village for permaculture and related community-based activities. We are in the very early stages of planning, and below you can find the basics of what we are looking to do though they most likely will evolve some as we go along.

Location: Central Arkansas - the area of the Arkansas river valley south from the Ozark National Forest to the north side of the Ouachita National Forest and between Ft. Smith in the west and Little Rock in the east. Ideally it will be somewhat near an urban center to take advantage of existing services such as internet, electricity and water. In the future though, we'd like to be able to produce our own electricity and water.

Size & Population: To start, we're thinking of 50-100 acres and maybe 10-20 people but this could vary up or down.

Goal: To form a community of people that can take care of most of the needs of its members in as sustainable, self-sufficient and natural a way as possible. We, as the community, will provide to members: acceptance, belonging, housing, food, opportunities to live, grow and develop in a healthy farming environment, education or help in accessing education, freedom of choice and lifestyle while still offering meaningful service to our community, and probably many more things that I'm not thinking of just this moment that modern society fails to provide or even consider as essential to healthy living.

Membership and organization: We want to keep things as simple as possible while still maintaining flexibility and order. At present we are looking into forming a 501(c)(5) non-profit or an LLC, but other options may turn out to be better. Our goal is that the community is truly that, a community of equals without hierarchical organization or bureaucracy or formalized power structures - more like a collection of families who together form an extended family of community. Therefore we are looking for people who can make an investment of approximately $10,000 towards the purchase of land and necessary equipment and materials to establish "the farm." Regardless of the form the group takes from a "legal standpoint," all adult members will share equal standing in decision making and ownership. We're thinking the total start-up cost might be $150,000-$200,000.

Mindset: All people from all walks of life are welcome without discrimination or judgment. However, we are NOT open to extreme views that throw life out of balance including the following: racism, gun culture, drug use, religious zealotry, exploitative or narcissistic beliefs and behavior and other stuff that makes people want to say, "Chill out." If you can simply live a reasonably healthy lifestyle, accept others for who they are and the choices they make for themselves and generally tolerate and get along with others while making a regular and positive contribution to the community and the necessary work on the farm, then you're in! One example might be that you are a Buddhist but while you certainly are free to talk openly about your faith, you do not try to impress it upon others who are not open to it, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, you do not hold others in contempt or deem them to be less valuable because their beliefs differ from yours. Another example might be that you come from a background as a systems analyst or some occupation where material efficiency is tantamount and while it may bother you that things on the farm are not done in the best possible and most efficient way, you put more value on humanity and community and social harmony than on achieving quantifiable results so that you temper your remarks and expectations and work with others as they are, realizing that sometimes the value of healthy living choices are not always in line with the value of ruthlessly pursued material efficiency.

To get more information or to get involved in the creative process, please contact Kirby at:

Kirby Mason
kirbymason@yahoo.com
1-310-902-0243

Kirby, I like the area you have chosen and maybe if enough people get on board with this endeavor we could outright purchase a house and land to do it. A house with 3 or 4 bedrooms and 20 acres would work very well. I'm sure some people would want to put up a tiny house and use the main house for the kitchen, bathroom and laundry. A big enough root cellar/storm shelter could be a good asset for storing things for the winter and help during weather. People could barter within the farm and help provide to each other reducing monies to be spent outside of the farm. Providing for the farm first could be the top priority and the extras could be stored for winter and even sold to the surrounding community at a farmers market to help pay bills. Trading help between people could save money also. Just my 2 cents. Gene

Benefits and features of our “Dream Community”

1. Community: Modern society has left so many people isolated from community, from a sense of shared belonging and identity, taking a heavy toll on the people physically, mentally and spiritually. We would like to reverse this process through establishing a community of people who, quite simply, see each other as a unified group composed of many parts instead of as random, separate and even disposable individuals. The goal of our community will always be to nurture each other, and never to dispose of any member. Tangible benefits of community include: shared meals, communal space to enjoy leisure activities (crafts, projects, movies, games, stories, art, music and all manner of experiences), shared responsibilities, shared expenses and the peace and confidence that comes from knowing you’re not alone.

2. Little or no housing costs: Ideally, we hope to have enough group founders to acquire a farm and sufficient housing without having to get a mortgage. If so, then the only on-going housing expense would be the property tax.

3. Lower cost of living: In addition to using natural and environmentally sustainable farming practices, the group structure should also produce less waste and cost less for products we buy from outside the community. Utility costs should also be cheaper per capita with the eventual goal being to produce our own electricity and water

4. Community & Privacy balance: A possible housing arrangement would be a central community space with large and comfortable kitchen, living, dining and socializing areas (the lodge), and individual family dwellings (the cabins) around the center spaced enough to give privacy and a sense of individuality. The lodge would also have internet and a library and other amenities that the community wished to develop. Community meals would be prepared in the lodge, but individual meals could also be prepared in the cabins. Members would have the freedom to choose when and how they participated in the community. This sort of sounds like an ad for “the awesome community” at such-and-such corporate apartments, but the members here will actually be a small group who live and work together on the farm, not a collection of 200+ strangers who merely compete for parking spaces.

5. Better diet: of course the food grown on the farm will be organic, fresher and better quality than anything at the supermarket, but also, the larger group meals will be naturally more balanced and healthy. You won’t ever have to say, “screw it, I’m tired, I’ll just have a frozen pizza.”

Kirby,

I think you're on the right path with the latest addition to you post. Keeping it  FAMILY COMMUNITY is the key to it. I hope you get more responses about this endeavor. I'll keep looking at land and I am in.

Gene

Kirby,

I went on IC.org and see that you've named the community to be as "Independence Farm Arkansas". Sounds like a good name for it.

We've talked some about the group of people we're looking for and hopefully we can get a group of people with varied farming interests.

I'm wanting to do Beekeeping, growing potatoes and garlic are some of my interests. I have some tools and equipment to help with some of the costs at start up. I'm sure others joining the community will have some too. This will help with startup costs as well.

Hopefully we will have people who would raise chickens, pigs, goats, turkeys, etc. I'm sure with a varied group of people the skill sets will be varied too making it a big plus to the community.

We could have a community garden as well as smaller gardens around the tiny houses and a big root cellar.

If anyone on permies here knows people looking for this kind family style community please direct them to this thread thanks.

Gene

Kirby,

I read an interesting thread on this site - Best Skill/Professions to bring to an ecovillage/community. I thought I'd list some of the skills/professions that pertain to the people we are searching for.

Growers/Farmers/Gardeners/Foragers/Mushroom growers/Herbalists/Dyers/Thatcher/

Mechanics/Builders/Contractors/Coopers/Welders/Plumbers/Dentists/Soap Makers/

Butchers/Cooks/Bakers/Doctors/Nurses/Spinners/Weavers/Masons/Beekeepers/Toolmakers/

Electricians/Laborers/Students/Learners/Transporters/Metalworkers/Clothiers/Brewers/Woodworkers/Cobblers/

Cheesemakers/Potters/Millers/Fishers/Administrators/Secretaries/Veterinarians/Landscapers/Arborists/

I'm sure there are many I'm missing.

I also think the profession of Farmer entails a lot of the skills listed above.

I know we've talked about a 3rd person who is in this endeavor now and I look forward to meeting both of you.

Gene

Kirby and Gene, This sounds just like what I've been looking for! I have some money for a down payment on land but don't want to go into debt to a bank. I have a deep background in Intentional Communities, having lived in about 6. They ranged from over-restrictive to dysfunctional. That said, Community and stewardship of our Mother-Earth (Land) is always a worthy goal.

There is probably no better place than Arkansas for this "adventure". To quote great singer-songwriter Brian Martin, "I needed a place to break my fall. So I came on home to Arkansas."

Cheers, Justin

Justin,

I'm glad you decided to join in on the fun of setting this endeavor up. Hopefully we will get some people to take an interest and join in too. I know we're all currently looking at some land we found and hopefully it's what were looking for. This site has a lot of info and I really enjoy reading about peoples adventures and ideas.

Gene

This property looks good on google maps. Did you notice there is a big nursery just down the road? Also a large farmers'co-op. Certainly farming country.

Yep, the property near Branch looks very promising. Justin and I will have a look at it this Saturday. Also, I've been in touch with a couple of more people who may be interested in joining up with us, so we're picking up steam!!!

I read through the thread and it stopped when you were looking at property near Branch. That's my neck of the woods, so wondered if y'all had found what you're looking for there. If so, I'd love to come do a meet and greet. Maybe do a little trading and bartering... my wife says I ain't smart, but I can lift heavy stuff if you need something moved 😉

I would love to be a part of something like this  anything around the Little Rock area?

Please let us know how the plans have developed. Me and buddies are interested. We are at t.me/HEXfoodies

Hello Kirby,  how are things going for you these days? I just saw your post and I am interested in having a conversation with you. Please reach out to me when you have time.    Peace and blessings, Dave   handyman6721@yahoo.com