Occupy Someplace

I'd like to see an occupy a  permie place where everyone woud go and  create that permie farm/lot for someone likeminded that has limited time and labor.
Having organized several work groups to attack local parks and make them better it is amazing what 20-30 people can accomplish in just one day let alone a weekend or what could be accomplished in a week.

I would like that too.  Folks are welcome to come occupy my place!   

Come on down! 

Really if you think about it and you had a list of things you wanted to accomplish.
x number volunteers and their circle of contacts it could create a tremendous change on your property.
I initially paid to go help and build a straw house.  The homeowner got a structure built and the builder got free help that paid. I like the experience part but the money part would be left out in my scenario.I enjoyed it but I'd rather have done it without paying for it. I have since worked on two straw houses built by other participants as a volunteer.
A bunch of permie folks with the owners map/design of their desires could probably have a lot of fun learning and teaching each other.

That would be great but my circle of contacts are older mostly sedentary people. 

Like an Amish barn-raising.  Less than a day to finish a barn...with no nail guns, skill saws, etc.

Yes something like that. could also be considered a sharing of the excess, third ethic, profit of labor and knowledge.

Hi Robert, what you want is called a permablitz. Works best if people live in reasonable proximity to each other, for reciprocation purposes. When my sister in Seattle still owned her house, and I owned mine in Salem, we would do this twice a year - she would come down and spend a weekend helping me clean up, and vice versa. Lots of fun, and really helpful for people like me who are tempted to hide underneath the covers in the face of a *big* job.

I would travel a couple hours to help someone out on a project where I would learn something. Wouldn't travel nearly so far just to clean up a mess - unless it was my sister!

Sounds like a version of 'crop mobbing' -

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/magazine/28food-t-000.html

I find it interesting how much we enjoy cooperating and freely sharing, when our culture so often promotes competition and a 'dog-eat-dog' view of human society. 

Maybe the 'third ethic', 'share surplus', etc. is a form of biomimicry.....observing nature is basic permie

Also interesting, how we really enjoy working together, but it's so hard to keep an IC going... hmmm...  A midway model might be more successful .... Amish, perhaps, minus the religion...but that is the glue ... hmmmm.

As far as I can tell, most Intentional Communities don't include mutual support - that is, the individuals have their individual jobs, often not even at the IC. They don't depend on each other for their living. I think what Daniel Quinn calls a "tribal business," in which people share the risks and rewards of mutually supporting each other, might be a way to provide a deeper sense of working together in an intentional community.  See "Beyond Civilization" by Daniel Quinn.

Obviously it would be wise for the IC to have multiple businesses, so all eggs are not in one basket. 

Actually, I believe there are still some which do share everything. Many people who have tried this have found it unworkable.

Here's a directory - http://www.ic.org/

And there's a directory just for the PNW - http://nica.ic.org/

Just to clarify, I'm not talking about "sharing everything," I'm talking about operating a business together.    I don't know why running a business would be "unworkable."  People do it all the time.

I was thinking more along the lines of crop mobbing or permablitzing.
The property owner having some idea of what their final design would be.
The volunteers helping complete the design.

A co-op of tools/equipmwent might  make sense, access requiring volunteering at times.

I imagine it would be next to impossible to find people interested in volunteering to help at a place.

Keeping volunteers energized is a problem, but doable. I've worked with the same group since 2004 usualy 3 to 4 projects a year.

Well, Ludi, best I can offer is to try and expect the best (not always easy) and we'll see what happens   And, while your 'expecting', you might watch 'The Money Fix' on YouTube and give a review... it has a heavy permaculture reference

You're right, Nancy, I should be more positive.    I was just feeling a bit gloomy and overwhelmed yesterday.

I agree with D Quinn re: working together - there seems to be something ...... very good .....about the 'we're all in this together' situation, with a common goal where everyone's effort is needed for everyone to succeed.  See Mondragon in Spain; Lincoln Electric re: 'share economy'; Jack Stack re:  open book management; worker-owned businesses, co-ops, etc. etc.  It's happening, but not much highlighted.  Seems like biomimicry and permie, to me

I've seen egos split altruistic groups, confirming the 'it's amazing what you can accomplish when you don't care who gets the credit' axiom.  So I think working for a $$ goal is probably more effective in forming ..... 'group', community, tribe, etc.

Plus, it feels good!  The beat-the-opponent competitive win is a thrill, but ..... how permie is it ?  (OK - now Paul can delete this

I notice that after a demonstration I feel very good. It is not about doing a "noble cause", but there is something about--
being in a crowd of people in a public space (The Commons)
some people I know and people that I never met
working toward a goal that is transcendent.

It is a high!

Most Americans I believe do not know this feeling, whether it comes from a demo or from the work that has been described on this thread. They sit in their individual homes, typically a nuclear family, and they feel safe behind their locked doors and shaded windows.

And they do not know what they are missing. Because most people don't get to experience the "working together" and the joy that it brings.

Biologically, historically, we are tribal beings. We are not made to rely only on family members, but on the wider community.

I beleive that as more people are able to exerience the tribal feeling, they will come to crave it, as I do. Right now, many are fearful of community. Thye think it means they will lose something.
Actually people gain everything by being in community. It is how humans are meant to be.

nancy sutton wrote:I agree with D Quinn re: working together - there seems to be something ...... very good .....about the 'we're all in this together' situation, with a common goal where everyone's effort is needed for everyone to succeed.  See Mondragon in Spain; Lincoln Electric re: 'share economy'; Jack Stack re:  open book management; worker-owned businesses, co-ops, etc. etc.  It's happening, but not much highlighted.  Seems like biomimicry and permie, to me

I've seen egos split altruistic groups, confirming the 'it's amazing what you can accomplish when you don't care who gets the credit' axiom.  So I think working for a $$ goal is probably more effective in forming ..... 'group', community, tribe, etc.

Plus, it feels good!  The beat-the-opponent competitive win is a thrill, but ..... how permie is it ?  (OK - now Paul can delete this