Anthony Martin

My family, along with another family are working on doing something similar. So far we do not have much built up but We are praying for your success. Go forth and do good.

Anyone here be interested in helping with such a project? Reach out to me thru email. Kingdomtraveler777@gmail.com. Very much looking forward to a different way of life!

We have found some land and are talking with  some people we know about trying to start an intentional community. This looks like a huge mountain but we know we are but 1 part of it all.  We found 175 acres in VA for a good price. How far and how fast this goes remains to be seen.  We have grown more and more excited at the thought of starting a homesteading type community where we get to grow our own food, raise animals, raise our children in a simpler way and do our best to help those around us. If anyone has experience with this type of thing, please do share your wisdom and experience! We are hoping to start with 2 or 3 families and go from there. The biggest hurdle I see is getting people to adjust their viewpoint out of the culture they are accustomed to and change mindsets. My family and I lived in a 33 foot class A motorhome for 7 years and made many sacrifices to do so. Most of the people that have shown interest have no such experience. Here is to hoping all turns out well!

Rachel Lindsay wrote:Almost any group of people is interesting to me--that's why I read psychology and business books!  I love to see how people organize themselves and set priorities, make decisions, and revise their decisions and intentions as a group.

Personally I would particularly be interested in a religiously-based, agricultural community--similar to the Amish, but with my particular religious background. To my knowledge, nothing like this has existed for at least 60 years.

Would you be willing to share what beliefs you have that you would base a community on?

My parents come from a closed community of Old Order Mennonites. They left 2 years before I was born. I work for and with Old Order Amish. These cultures work because they are like minded and in close proximity to each other. The Mennonite community my parents came from is no longer thriving for various reasons but they do remain active. I have watched their close relationships for all my life and wondered why non plain people are so cold towards one another. i attended public school and experienced secular culture there and my parents attended a charismatic church for several years. With all these different cultures I had a taste of, I never found anything as tight knit as the Amish. I have no interest in following their ordnung (discipline) but I would love to recreate the close relationships. My wife and I trained for years to work with people who have experienced the worst in life. Emotional, mental and spiritual problems abound. Our vision for a community is similar to one we visited in Kentucky. People have shown great response to working with plants and animals as a therapeutic aid. In this way we want to attempt to help more people, more in depth.
The other side of this is financial. The cost of everyone maintaining their own properties vs the cost of multiple families working together on the same property is considerable. If you are sharing the work load, the food bill, utilities, ect it brings the costs to a more manageable range. Once everyone is accustomed to each other and things are going smoothly, more projects can begin. This will require sacrifices to be made by everyone involved. Everyone must be like minded and willing to work with others for the betterment of the community instead of bettering one's own position.  It requires a near total mindset change and a new way of doing life. There are several such communities around the US and Canada. One such community in BC collapsed because of mismanagement and personal greed.
I do not see where ego fits in unless someone would explain that idea. We have been slowly gathering people who are open to the idea for awhile now. Sometime we hope to buy land and set up an intentional community. Once we are established we can also use our foundation to start other communities to help others with housing.
Abundaculture is one such system already being used by many people. Maybe we will go in that direction. Who knows?
The area we are in right now is unfortunately now tourist country and rather crowded. Also very expensive to buy land. Tillable acreage is around $40,000 an acre.... Most people are not open to the idea of working together on a personal or financial level. We tried and have only angered the locals.

My family and I as well as at least 1 other family have a similar goal of setting up a Christ centered off grid community that is free of the rat race and the overwhelming amount of politics in today's society. We just do not see the value of working just to pay bills but instead, we desire to build up as a community, a brotherhood of sorts, that we may all share in the work, harvest, tears, laughter, plenty and if need be, lack. I have been watching people work for many years and accumulate possessions just to have their children sell it for pennies on the dollar after their death. I believe firmly that we, as Believers should be living and working as a community, Like the Early Church in the Book of Acts. Have you achieved your goal?   I would love to hear an update!