Community in the time of coronavirus

A shelter-in-place order was announced today in my area. Even though I have done a fair amount of prepping and I have a garden that gives me food,  and I am  a pretty calm and practical person, it really shook me.  I'm an introverted home- body, so it's not the staying at home  that bothers me. I had to cancel my garden co-op this weekend, and I had to cancel having people come and help me with some things I really need help on. That was hard, but I think the hardest part is knowing that if I did want to connect with someone in person, that's not available.  I have a spouse and cats,  and I connect with friends and family by phone and video chat,  so I'm not really lonely.  Part of it is that the shelter-in-place makes it real. It's not just someplace  far away that we've been hearing about in the news, it's here and now.

My local community is not connecting so much. I think everyone is of course shook up, and kind of hunkering in. It's just a weird feeling.  And I miss working in the garden with my community.

I think we will develop more virtual community, and I may have to make overtures.  And maybe it's OK to have somebody hang out in the garden, staying more than 6 feet away from each other, using our own tools. I don't know if that's a good idea or a really bad one.  And it doesn't really count as an essential errand.

However I can create community, I think it's going to be important for me.

And even though I haven't logged in for about nine years, permies has been a really important part of my community all of this time.  I logged in today to take care of an account issue, and it occurred to me I could post about this.  Thank you for being part of my community all of these years.

I would love to hear your thoughts.

Hi Janice, i am in Europe, France, we're a few weeks ahead of USA. All country in lock down. Most people here don't see there even is a crisis, they don't see stockmarket cratering, don't see the wave of unemployment coming, don't see the danger we're in. And if i tell them they don't like me for telling them, it ruined their day. I tried since the beginning of the crisis in China, it's exhausting. And now it's here and i was right all along, it hardly made them take notice of my warnings.

People will try to get the fruit of your labor for free. Most people are useless helpers anyway, a waste of your time.
You'll be lucky to find one good hearted person like you in your community to help who has not have a lot of contacts with the outside world.

My major helper is a cattle farmer and he's got a lot of contacts,working people here have started to dump grandkids at their parents because schools are closed. I am in danger of attracting it through him.

I hope i am wrong, i still hope people are going to form this dream community and everybody is going to help everybody and see the common goal and the possibities. It might still turn around. I hope somebody has something more constructive to say then me.

Good luck

We're on a lockdown too. It's really interesting as a social phenomenon, basically everyone everywhere in the world has to stay home!
Except for healthcare workers and people who work in transport, and several others of course. But still, so many people sharing this unusual experience. To me, the scary part is hearing the growing numbers of people infected, dead, or recovered. The recovered are a good thing of course, but it's still scary. I try to only be up to date with the most important info, and skip the rest. In fact I'd love to spend the next month even more isolated from all the news, but I also try to stay in touch with others, friends and family.

Also: I don't know if it's helpful for anyone, but for me, it works to make really long term plans now. Some of them really sagacious. First, apparently I do need to buy a car. Maybe public transport is more eco-friendly, but it's also disease friendly. And I hate it anyway. I'm without a car for years now, but it's apparently necessary so I'll be thinking which one - perhaps a small hybrid or electric car. Next, I'm going to buy land. It was my plan for this year anyway, to travel around nearby area and look what's there. That's not going to happen anytime soon, but I'll be making more detailed plans about what to create on the land (permaculture, tiny house, residency for artists). A more profound plan: start the procedure to become a candidate to adopt a child as a single parent. A friend did that just last month and she's sharing her experience now. It's nearly impossible for a person like me in my country, but I'm not really longing for a child so I decided to start the procedure and share my experience with others, to make them more aware of this possibility and maybe make it more accessible.

My wife nd i are going on vountary lockdown today ,We are in the high risk age groupp. However there are no close cases to us, wife told employer she will work from home/we are preppers as well as ermies so have no problem with food [we grow lots too]...got a temp thingy  like on the news and when part time help comes we check them and maintain the 6 ft seperation..
do what you have to do to stay healthy, exercise comon sense and be good to self and others.. IF IT TRULY TURNS INTO A SHTF situation do your best...
It will be as mother earth decides/maybe she is tired of the abuse but if you treat her with respect she will protect you. WE HOPE.

Be safe and happy
Lou

I appreciate each of your responses.  Sometimes it helps to just acknowledge the hard stuff even if there isn't an immediate solution.

Hugo,  I can relate to your community experience. The farming community where I grew up has gotten more politically extreme since I  lived there, and not in a way that seems good to me. And yet most people are really good people in other ways. Very kind and caring. So when I'm visiting there, I  listen and look for things I can agree with,  try not to overreact to mean statements  and plant conversational seeds without expecting much result..  People there are often skeptical towards me but I just try to be cheerful towards everyone  and try to be a balanced example,  and appreciate them for their good qualities.   It seems to calm the hostility, and certainly makes me happier with myself.  But it is stressful to constantly not feel socially safe.

Flora,   Your reminder to not constantly focus on the crisis is so important. I really like your idea to focus on long-term plans. That would help us keep our minds in the bigger picture, the larger sense of ourselves and our general community.  I'm going to do that.

Lou,  I appreciate your good dose of common sense. That temp thingy is a good idea too. I hadn't heard of that. Thanks for mentioning it.

My family in the Bay Area is on lock down. We, in southern Oregon, are not but most social events have been cancelled. I'm quite involved with the local extension office, and everything is closed until further notice. I'm really struggling. I'm not generally a people person, but since the loss of my grandson I find it difficult to cope for myself. The excuse of not crying in public and keeping it together for others is gone. We, my daughter and I, are very isolated. It is proving difficult to understand the point of it all. I hope that others are doing better.

My boss is at risk so I am working from home. School is cancelled so I'm home with all that I love.  I am doing work but I'm also doing a fair amount of "home stuffs" that I haven't had the opportunity to do before. I am worried if this doesn't stop and my bosses decide that they're done, just going to retire. I'm not quite ready to leave them.

As far as community, tons of community support in our area. Love it here!

As far as I’m concerned ‘community’ at this time only means contact via electronic media, and there are MANY options available in that space.

It flabbergasts me that work colleagues are STILL travelling on crowded public transport to a crowded office and carrying on as if it won’t affect them. A few of us have chosen responsibly to work from home and isolate in varying degrees – almost the entire office could work from home via VPN (if the VPN doesn’t shit itself due to overburden).

Personally, being community minded means not mixing with anyone – it’s like playing Russian Roulette, plus it is totally irresponsible. Why? Because, besides spreading the disease, people put significant stress on their health systems to function, so people die e.g. Italy and Spain (God bless them) is the end result of having personal warm and fuzzy moments (gratification) with people during a pandemic situation.

Dealing with the good side of TEMPORARY isolation: I can still go for a drive (hey, petrol is now cheaper), go bushwalking, go fishing on a deserted beach or river (more food), get out into the garden in the cool of Autumn and prepare Winter beds, read those 20 or so books that are collecting dust, cook and freeze food to avoid cooking everyday, get back to designing the Permaculture dream garden, and basically do all the stuff that’s been put off for a ‘rainy day’ – turn those compost bins or cleaning out the chicken shed … urgh!

I'm in one of the 8 states in the nation that has done nothing to even try and contain the virus. went to town yesterday now I guess I will wait a week and find out if I'll get sick. and was very careful not to get too close to anyone and was careful not to touch my face
washed well when I got home and changed into clean cloths. I have no plans to leave the farm for as long as it takes to be sure if I do go out I'll be safe and this virus is contained or controlled.
watching the numbers of infected and dead in Italy sure is a sobering reality. I hope all satay safe and keep healthy

This morning I had "shift" to control the amphibe barriers alongside a nearby road (to collect all amphibes into buckets and carry them safely to a little pond on the other side).

So I got up early and went shopping after that.

I was feeling a bit uneasy. We have the first confirmed cases in the county, as of yet all in neighbouring little towns but they are only a few kms off and many come shopping to our stores.

I had a bad cold a week ago and am only recovering in the last days. So I took disposable gloves and an old mask I had in my medicine board.
Some people looked a bit strangely, at least one other person also used gloves. One friend said: Hey, you are all dressed up in masquerade!

The cashier was working without protection although I have seen in the news that some supermarkets are putting up plastic screens, are only allowing card payment and have sanitizers available. Nothing here. (At least I got one package of TP, but no flour or yeast).
My parents live in Spain and supermarkets set up controls roughly two weeks ago - you may only enter in intervals, have to use gloves and mask. (Now they are in quarantine as they are over 70)

In my street, we have a nice community. We have always been helpful, like getting something from the supermarket or pharmacy, and that is the same now. My elderly neighbours know I will get them groceries if they need something.

With regards to gardening: I have been trying for years now to "infect" others with the gardening bug but not to much avail. Some are gardening and have done so for years, others see it as a hassle. I would be willing to share my experience, seeds and little plants, but as others have written there would be no real appreciation. So I will only share with those who might appreciate it or sell little plants for money (which is not short here where I live).