Looking for Community in US NW... Land shares? Shared investments? Farm shares? Who's out there?

I'm in the US NW looking for a farming community.  I've tried to join communes in recent years but I either shy away or am rejected because the groups are built on a narrow ideological focus that must be adhered to.  Getting along and co-existing is about embracing and respecting others as human, not forcing them into your dogma.  < my stance, at least.  
For example; Most groups I find aspire to veganism and no-kill; I have carnivores who need meat and I eat meat (though not much).  I butcher and I hunt and I handle meat.  It's a part of sustainable living.  Several groups out there are focused on free-love and polyamory, with mandatory participation.  Not my bag of chips.  

I built up a hobby farm for myself that generates most of the meager income I need.  I'm debt-free, spouse-free, offspring-free.   I raise small livestock, mostly poultry and some goats.  I'm finishing my solar setup right now.  I like to hunt and fish and hike, I'm quiet, I am virtually self-contained.  I'm very reasonable, practical, and down-to-earth.  I have a sharp mind and excellent critical thinking skills, which is a strong suit to me than intensive manual labor.  I am a master of no farm trade, but learn as I go.  I sold my 1 acre farm and am trying to find where to go next while staying with a friend.  Living in a nice 5th wheel for now, with the ultimate goal of someday building a quaint cob and stone house.  
I "could" just go by land somewhere remote and keep on truckin', but I'd really like to explore the option of communal living.  I may keep to myself but I'm not intentionally seeking isolation!  Yet isolation, in our modern day, seems to go hand-in-hand with self-suficiency.  

What communities exist in our NW?  Whether it's a proper commune, a land-share, or just a tight community?  I'd be open to going in on land with someone (pooling resources for large land then subdividing, for example), joining an existing effort, or even just temporarily joining another farm for a year or two and helping out.  What say ye?

Edit: I was born and raised in SW Idaho.  I've travelled around the country sight-seeing and feel like my heart definitely lies in the wild NW corner here.  My family, though we are distant, is also in Idaho.  I've entertained the idea of leaving the NW but I think in the end I'd have to be entering a very ideal setup and situation to stray too far.  I've entertained Canada, but I don't think I qualify for immigration and I don't know how I'd get my farm over the border :/

I would be interested to know where all these vegan communities are as I haven't found many. FYI I'm vegan myself but consider hunting or raising and butchering one's own meat is just fine. It's the modern industrial meat complex that is morally reprehensible and anyone that participates in it needs to do some soul searching.

Unfortunately, it is narrow ideological focus that tends to bind communities together. I've read hundreds of times on this forum and other sites about the difficulties people have finding that one special community where they can do their own thing and share the community commons and engage in meaningful community all at once. 99% of the time this doesn't work. We can't bring our modern social conditioning in individualism to a community setting and hope that we can live in both worlds at once. Maybe cohousing is more what you are looking for?

I'm not sure what you are drawn to. Have you looked at Alpha Farm in Oregon? Round River Community in Alaska?

Hi Jen, welcome to permies.  I hope you find the community for you.

I too have had 'interesting' experiences with militant diet groups.  I have very strong opinions on diet and I eat what is healthiest for me.  What I dislike is when people tell me how I should eat - which is usually the opposite of what keeps me healthy.  So I don't force people to eat the way I do.

But this is what is great about permies.  We don't allow dietary dictocrats or militant anything here.  There are lots of different communities on permies, so you're bound to find someone here that matches your style.


Some Canadian provinces have special immigration programmes for farmers - if you want to farm in Canada, then they will sometimes sponsor you.  Occasionally they have programmes where they provide land as well as the required paperwork, but that's not so common anymore.  Getting animals across the border is a bit tougher - but not always impossible.

hey jen, so where are you now? In idaho somewhere? My partner and i have 20 acres in southwest washington. Were looking to have a small community here. 10-20 people. our common theme is low to no electronics. Currently we use a  40 watt solar set up for extremely minimal charging of computer and  phone. But once we have a community going we plan to get rid of the solar too. Human powered community is our goal. We eat meat, raise a few chickens, getting better at bow hunting and fishing. our goal is to grow lots of perrenials, wild harvest, and fill inthe gaps with some annuals. trying to keep away from labor intensive farming. Love natural farming. Come for a visit some time if you're in the area.

A Walton wrote:I would be interested to know where all these vegan communities are as I haven't found many. FYI I'm vegan myself but consider hunting or raising and butchering one's own meat is just fine. It's the modern industrial meat complex that is morally reprehensible and anyone that participates in it needs to do some soul searching.

Unfortunately, it is narrow ideological focus that tends to bind communities together. I've read hundreds of times on this forum and other sites about the difficulties people have finding that one special community where they can do their own thing and share the community commons and engage in meaningful community all at once. 99% of the time this doesn't work. We can't bring our modern social conditioning in individualism to a community setting and hope that we can live in both worlds at once. Maybe cohousing is more what you are looking for?

I'm not sure what you are drawn to. Have you looked at Alpha Farm in Oregon? Round River Community in Alaska?

I checked out Alpha and Round River.  Alaska's a little too white and cold for me  They have an extensive section about -40F.  I weathered -18 this winter, that's cold enough for me xD  Alpha is interesting, it may be something to look into more...

R Ranson wrote:Hi Jen, welcome to permies.  I hope you find the community for you.

I too have had 'interesting' experiences with militant diet groups.  I have very strong opinions on diet and I eat what is healthiest for me.  What I dislike is when people tell me how I should eat - which is usually the opposite of what keeps me healthy.  So I don't force people to eat the way I do.

But this is what is great about permies.  We don't allow dietary dictocrats or militant anything here.  There are lots of different communities on permies, so you're bound to find someone here that matches your style.


Some Canadian provinces have special immigration programmes for farmers - if you want to farm in Canada, then they will sometimes sponsor you.  Occasionally they have programmes where they provide land as well as the required paperwork, but that's not so common anymore.  Getting animals across the border is a bit tougher - but not always impossible.

I looked at Canadian immigration and figured I wasn't qualified. I swore I'd skip the country when Nazis took over the white house, but now I feel compelled to stay close and find a way to help immigrant families and other persecuted minorities...  I don't know how I'm gonna do it, but it's strongly on my radar right now.  I'm looking more in Washington and Oregon for the time being.  We shall see what happens this summer

Jaime Wise wrote:hey jen, so where are you now? In idaho somewhere? My partner and i have 20 acres in southwest washington. Were looking to have a small community here. 10-20 people. our common theme is low to no electronics. Currently we use a  40 watt solar set up for extremely minimal charging of computer and  phone. But once we have a community going we plan to get rid of the solar too. Human powered community is our goal. We eat meat, raise a few chickens, getting better at bow hunting and fishing. our goal is to grow lots of perrenials, wild harvest, and fill inthe gaps with some annuals. trying to keep away from labor intensive farming. Love natural farming. Come for a visit some time if you're in the area.

I'm in SW Idaho.  Where in Washington are you?  

Solar is wonderful  I'm finishing a 400~ watt 500~ AH solar setup on my RV.  Was supposed to finish it today, but, alas, hopefully tomorrow!  I run incubators for the chickens, a dehydrator, basic RV appliances, a laptop, a chest freezer, and I needed enough power to spare for winter when de-icers or heat lamps may be needed.  I've eliminated almost all of the non-mandatory electricity use.  I can't tell you how many people told me to give up and hire a professional to set up solar.  Why?  I wouldn't learn anything!  And I'd be dependent on a professional all my life!   I can't believe how much I've learned about wiring, voltage, amperage, and the whole dadgum system, but I'm pretty chuffed with what I was able to put together.  To the meager tune of $1200- less than 1 year of what it cost me in electricity when I had a 1,200 sq ft house with minimal use!

I want to be completely self-sufficient and virtually trash-free, I'm almost there  

I keep rabbits for income and meat for the dogs and cats, homing pigeons for cat meat, income, and back-up communication, turkeys, ducks, and chickens for income and food, plus fiber goats and pack goats.   Will be adding nigerian milkers to the mix, I do love raw goat milk.  And bees!  Gotta get me some bees.

I like to streamline work, reduce waste, get creative, and still retain the ability to set the farm up for 2-4 days of me being gone (hunting, camping, visiting, etc).  I have all the theoretical seasonal pasture and wild forage and crop systems on paper but haven't had the land to try it on yet.   I've come up with a diverse (on-paper) system with the goal of providing at least 4 year-round naturally-available food sources for every life form on the farm.  Plus dozens of other seasonal food sources of course.  My goal is to have the space to implement that someday  

Jen Fan wrote:

R Ranson wrote:Hi Jen, welcome to permies.  I hope you find the community for you.

I too have had 'interesting' experiences with militant diet groups.  I have very strong opinions on diet and I eat what is healthiest for me.  What I dislike is when people tell me how I should eat - which is usually the opposite of what keeps me healthy.  So I don't force people to eat the way I do.

But this is what is great about permies.  We don't allow dietary dictocrats or militant anything here.  There are lots of different communities on permies, so you're bound to find someone here that matches your style.


Some Canadian provinces have special immigration programmes for farmers - if you want to farm in Canada, then they will sometimes sponsor you.  Occasionally they have programmes where they provide land as well as the required paperwork, but that's not so common anymore.  Getting animals across the border is a bit tougher - but not always impossible.

I looked at Canadian immigration and figured I wasn't qualified. I swore I'd skip the country when Nazis took over the white house, but now I feel compelled to stay close and find a way to help immigrant families and other persecuted minorities...  I don't know how I'm gonna do it, but it's strongly on my radar right now.  I'm looking more in Washington and Oregon for the time being.  We shall see what happens this summer

I guess I got a little excited there and derailed from the 'no electricity' theme;

I originally tried to devise a system of ZERO electricity 2 years ago.  I realized I couldn't get there yet.  The amount of start-up it would require was too much to conceive; root cellars, insulated earth-bermed livestock housing, wood fuel, etc...  First step was getting into an RV and start land shopping, so I decided to drop fazing out power needs and focus first on getting the farm established.  I looked into wind and water and solar energy and juggled a lot of ideas with balancing power use...  But in short, yes!  That is an ideal I share.  It would just take me a long time and a lot of work to get there alone.  

I am shopping around the Portland area right now, I have vested interest there; my only worry is with this developed of an area, could I actually legally live in a 5th wheel, not to mention build my own cob house (should I end up owning land)?  Most areas are very strict about appearance and codes...

Wife and I are also looking to buy land in the Pacific NorthWest this summer. Neither of us eat meat or dairy but are not opposed to raising farm animals for slaughter. We will be living in a 5th wheel travel trailer for the time being and are looking to make this dream happen soon. We are going to be in the Northwest in a few months and would love to meet you guys and begin working towards the future.

Come stay visit in Olympia. Washington.

Hi not sure if you found anything but you sound like a nice fit.
I read most of your wish to find some space on land that would be open to you and how you want to live your life. I just bought 30 acres in Oregon 40 minutes from Salem Oregon. We plan on building cob houses and inviting others who would like to live in community. Though there will be background checks since we do have kids and would live to invite others with kids. We have 3 kids and a few cats playing around. I have lived in collectives in the past and there won't be in any food police or polyamory rules. Just kinda artsy, down to earth people. We really wanted to find this for ourselves but got lucky and want to share the land with others. We are also open to ther building stuctures. We were thinking $400 a month at the moment. You could building your own little house or pull an rv up. There is spring and access to laundry in the house. We would ultimately like the house to be an art studio and maybe space for others to live. Anyway just trying to give a feel for ideas we have the land. Also I am vegetarian but my partner eats meat. So we are open to whatever diets that people need on their path:)

We do want this to be a communal endeavor so dinners together, meetings would be apart of this too.

Hi Jen, I am in Spokane, Wa. And am really wanting to start a community. I am currently looking at acres and price. My goal is simple: I just want a community garden, some rabbits, goats. Solar. Good people, who maybe just dont wanna work 40 hrs week to pay rent power water and such. I want to live my life more fully. Start with a camper, slowly work up twards a tiny home. I have my own biz. Let me know what you think, and good luck to you.

Some of you may want to view wildcooperative.wordpress.com
My wife is vegan and I am not . While we both have mixed feeling about raising animals for economic gain . we are both fine with hunting and and ethical treatment of animals
We have a great spot in western colorado

Thank you for your responses!  I've actually ended up in Montana!  I will be helping to establish, work, and cultivate a beautiful mountain property :)  New adventures await!

Hi Sam Sammy...and everyone!
I am also looking for some small intentional organic/permacultural community for basic shared living, so if anyone here is (still) looking still looking please drop a line a morebeautifulquitters@gmail.com
Interested in discussing community land trust and other issues. I know the history of intentional community in America. Fun loving, film-loving, reader, builder.