Hello! I'm newish to permies.com but I decided to finally write that post about community.
I own a homestead on many mostly wooded, remote acres of land in northern Michigan. I’ve been incrementally converting this land into a permaculture system, but the going is slow by myself. While I’ve had success in planting gardens, hugelkultur, and off-grid living,
I’d like to dramatically increase the rate of progress toward a community-centric, permaculture, and off-grid lifestyle.
In particular, I have the following goals:
1. Cultivate food forests, gardens, and livestock to be at least 50% food self-sufficient with the other half coming from local permaculture/gardening communities.
2. Have a multi-generational intentional community on/around my land supporting a few to several families.
3. Engage a community in the skilled arts and sciences, forming a notable component of a parallel economy, to contribute goods and services to the broader community.
4. Build a community that enlightens, edifies, and reforms the broader cultures and socio-economic structures in which it exists.
To begin to accomplish these goals, I can see the following scenarios:
1. I collaborate with nearby people/communities to share labor, resources, and skills, though, in this case only, no one else would actually live on my land.
2. People move to my homestead and we collaborate together to share labor, resources, and skills.
3. I sell my homestead and move somewhere else where a group of people already has land and homesteads and shares labor, resources, and skills.
I would consider any of these possibilities or a different possibility if in the same spirit as those above.
What I’m looking for:
--Other northern Michigan individuals/homesteads/communities that are willing to trade labor, resources, and skills with me;
OR,
--Individuals (one or at most two to start; more later) who want to move to my homestead (either use a spare room or bring a tent, yurt, or camper trailer) for a little while or longer term and collaborate with me to accomplish the goals listed above;
OR,
--Other conscious communities/homesteads anywhere in the US that are aligned with those goals and are seeking other members;
OR,
--Ambassadors for a shared vision of community, who are willing to connect me with other like-minded individuals and/or promote the vision to others to bring them aboard.
Information about me to help you determine if you’d like to contact me:
--I’m a single 34-year-old man.
--I have full-time, remote work and am financially independent.
--I live off grid and am working to improve my methods every day.
--I’m a follower of Jesus. Some would label me as “spiritual” while others would use the label “religious.” Whatever I’m labeled, my faith is important to me.
--I have a variety of skills including gardening, engineering, carpentry, plumbing, electrical, and software development. I’d be happy to discuss my accomplishments and skill sets further for those interested in them.
--I’d love to learn more about sustainable micro-manufacturing with metals, semiconductors, and plastics. I’d also love to learn more about homeopathy and medicine.
--I love to read most genres of books and have an extensive library.
--I love to have deep conversations.
--I drink a ton of tea or coffee!
--While I certainly have had my failures, I work to create a wholesome environment for myself and friends.
--I’ve tended to be a loner but I’ve realized that I’d really love to have a tight-knit community. It’s been a journey in which I’ve had to re-evaluate my expectations, identify my own fears, and learn how to change. It’s not been an easy road but I’m glad that I’m on it.
--It’s so easy to react from fear or anger. I’ve certainly done this. Intentionally acting from love and a balanced mind is my highest priority, not reacting from fear or anger.
--I have many years of education and work in science and engineering fields, though I tend to be skeptical of the pronouncements of experts. I’ve learned to carefully review expert advice before following it.
--Someday (hopefully somewhat sooner rather than later), I hope to find a wife and have children, but I realize that building strong community is an important component of any relationship but especially romantic ones. So building community is my primary goal and, as a secondary goal, I’d like for a romantic relationship to develop organically from community, if possible.
--I’m deeply concerned about the holistic state of our world. I believe that a better world must be built one community at a time, starting in one backyard at a time, where our communities model what we want to see in the world around us. I believe that communities should be reflections of ourselves, celebrating where we are victorious and challenging us to improve where we are weak and to change where we are wrong. We must take responsibility ourselves and not outsource it; set positive examples of abundance, self-ownership, peace, respect, and enlightenment; and be the light on the hill in a dark, desperate, and weary land.
--I’m a proponent of holistic education for all ages, recognizing that person’s unique strengths and weaknesses and edifying through classical and hands-on curricula and activities.
--I’m an advocate for the responsible usage of technology—especially digital technology—to promote freedom and enhance sustainability. I search for ways that technology may be used as a tool to promote privacy, freedom, health, cognitive abilities, and sustainable lifestyles and attempt to structure my life toward those ends.
--I’m a proponent of decentralization as a means of anti-fragility and of spontaneous order formed from voluntary interactions in communities of all scales. Community interactions at heterogeneous scales tend to form strong communities, in my opinion.
Do any of my goals, characteristics, philosophies, or scenarios resonate with you? Do I seem like someone who possibly could add value to your life journey? If so, then great! Please send me a purple moosage or respond to this post. I’d love to get to know you!
Thanks for reading,
AG
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