A much overlooked example of (sort-of) intentional community, that worked.

Polyface farm. It's a family farm. Different complementary enterprises are run by different people, all according to the vision of the legal owner of the farm, the Salatin patriarch. Not long ago, the transition was made from Joel as leader to Daniel. It was a gradual process. When someone marries into, or is born into the family, they start up their own complementary enterprise.

I like this model, and I would like to propose a model for intentional community inspired by it. (From here on, I make many statements about "how it must be". This is not intended to mean that everyone has to do it that way, but that for the model I'm proposing, this is how I envision it.)

It must be clear who gets final say in the decision-making process, and it must be one person. This means all conflicts are ultimately resolvable.
People must be thoroughly vetted before they are allowed into the community. A multi-year very strict probation period may be warranted.
People should have a plan and a written explanation for how they will serve the community, with complementary enterprises, goods, services and expertise.
The community should have one accepted faith, which is a point of agreement for everyone.
The community should have clearly understood boundaries between private lots and between private lots and community land.
The community needs a common goal or mission. This can take the form of rehabilitating and stewarding the entire watershed, and such a project can be driven by farming enterprises.
The community should have a provision for and a prerogative to spawn new communities after it's own image, on new land paid for by the surpluses of the income of the original community.
The community should retain economic ties to other communities, and nearby cities, supplying them with meat, dairy, greens, eggs, honey, candles, tours, shoes, textiles, smoked pureed fish, fruit preserves, pickles, plants, pets, firewood, lumber, horses, nuts and any other goods that there's demand for, and that can be grown and/or manufactured in the community. Again, extra income should be devoted to the establishment of more of these systems in the area.

Thoughts? Criticism? Better ideas?

Myron Platte wrote:Polyface farm. It's a family farm. Different complementary enterprises are run by different people,
Thoughts? Criticism? Better ideas?

That’s kind of what I have going….  Didn’t/don’t have the housing completely figured out. But yes a benevolent leader makes it work…. And when growth/sales/net profit, coupled with the right people the farm gives birth to a new farm, sending 30% of its population to begin anew, with a built in primary product being jointly marketed. Could be a cheese that is made the same way on both farms, or on farm takes the best product with an ability to make that product at the new location strictly and design the facility to optimize the process and capture the whey protein to be made into ethanol/ or vodka.