I just came across this
thread. It’s an interesting one. I liked the idea described in the opening post - work parties as a way to introduce people to understanding something and/or learning how to do something… and getting something accomplished at the same time.
Sorry to read, in post #3, that the show-up-and-participate level was low.
I’d love to read other stories here at Permies about more people getting into work parties. I started a thread on the topic, and it got a bit of posting…
https://permies.com/t/39844/Share-barn-raising-type-stories#487437
I think this matter gets to the heart of what it would mean to change food production in North America and evolve a permanent (
sustainable) culture. Don’t get me wrong, my partner and I live on an individual homestead and most of the time we’re accomplishing the food production, maintenance, and building projects with our own physical and mental
energy. So I applaud all of you who are doing that. But that’s not what traditional rural cultures have done
exclusively in the past, and by itself is not what we need now and into the future.
There’s a big problem of people growing up now only exercising imagination (in entertaining ways) and exercising their thumbs on online devices. And that happens, to quite an extent it seems, in rural communities, as well as in the suburbs and cities.
So I think it's good to be sharing stories about how cooperative effort is working out in today’s homesteading scene. Why not post what you’re experiencing and noticing?