I would just like to say right off the bat people looking for a way out of the overcommercialized mainstream right away this oppurtunity is not for you. Yet I was looking for people that are looking for oppurtunities in two years from now, yet I only plan on begining the planting and initial construction phase then. I don't plan to make the transition for another four years.In that time I am going to be tied up with getting a major in Horticulture Science, getting permaculture certified, and getting some training on the installation of solar panels and battery systems. This is gonna be a very open community whose main goal is an alternative way of life, and freedom from persecution and opression of that way of life, yet everyone will have there independence so they can draw from it whatever they wish. The investment Im looking for to join the community is from 4,000 to 6,000$ depending still on a number of factors. I plan for a permaculture based food system in a location with a long grow schedule, this would be an extremely minimum maitanance system, setup is the most complicated part. Initial investment may seem a little steep, yet this is due to the fact I would plan for everyone to have power night and day though power during night would be off battery cells so it would have to be used with care. In particular this request may strike well to aspiring taoists, as I am, or buddist for this retreat in the long run would alot much time for cultivation. Please reply with any questions about details,expressions of intrest, suggestions or skepticism, for its always good to be sure you have all angles covered. sickhobgoblin@hotmail.com , or simply reply to the thread. ________________________________________________________________ As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there's a twilight where everything remains seemingly unchanged, and it is in such twilight that we must be aware of change in the air, however slight, lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness. -- Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas
I wanna know where your getting your education and how much its costing. that sounds right in line with what i'd like to know how to do.
I was thinking about Southern Colorado or possibly Kansas. I would prefer Colorado though, for Ive heard much better things about the landscape. Yet in the end the only real necesities are cheapish land and a good long grow schedule. As for the whole commune thing, I would definitely like to have a good group of people with me when I can set this thing up. I certainly don't want to be any kind of leader, to be sure I would be quite content in just helping everyone as best I could and just chillen and doin whatevers available. Plus, Im sure I could be tight with anyone open minded enough to embrace this project, for I am a very comprimising person and seldom have a problem with anyone, and that reminds me of another thing I gotta find land next to a good size body of water a kind of ambition of mine was to make a decent sized solar powered boat with battery cells.
As for the courses I was planning on taking, were you intrested in checking some out? Permaculture Design Course at Three Sisters Farm: August 8 - 20 2005 Three Sisters Farm is a bioshelter / market garden farm in rural Western Pennsylvania. Since 1988 we have been developing our site according to principles of permaculture design. As part of course work students will participate in planning and design to bring our site closer to the ideal of sustainability. Specific areas of concern include our pond and gardens, appropriate technologies for the bioshelter, and further addition of perennials to our landscape. This certificate course uses hands on training and team learning. Students participate in the evaluation and design of our bioshelter and permaculture farm after fourteen years of development. A nearby 10 acre woodland homestead will also be used for course study. Course leader Darrell Frey has been studying and practicing permaculture design since 1980. Principle designer of Three Sisters' bioshelter, co-designer of Three Sisters Farm and consultant to the Harmony Homestead at Slippery Rock University, he has over seventeen years experience teaching PC. Additional instructors and field trips are planned. Most years we visit the Jenkins Homestead and the Macoskey Center for Sustainable Systems Education and Research at SRU. Costs: $1000 includes food, camping and course materials. Textbook, Permaculture:A Designers Manual required reading. (not included in fee). Please pre register with $100 deposit by July 1. Solar Installation with Ed Eaton Dec 6-10, 2004 in Punta Gorda Town, Belize May 4-7, 2005 at The Farm in Summertown TN Dec 5-9, 2005 in Punta Gorda Town, Belize Become a solar installer with this week-long course from Ed Eaton of Our Sun Solar, one of the foremost solar installation companies in the world. In the US course $490 includes food and lodging or $350 if you just want the instruction without accomodations. In our Belize classes, the course includes final banquet and overnight stay in Mayan or Garifuna village for $400, with separate lodging booked to suit your comfort needs. July 22-30, 2005 Ecovillage Design and Permaculture Practicum Requirements for certification for the full permaculture design course are met by completing this second module. Many instructors, ourselves included, have found it useful to break the course into two, more easily assimilated, sections. The first section, which is primarily theory and involves a lot of classroom time, is called Permaculture Fundamentals. We offer this in March with our Natural Building Immersion. The second, 8 days, involves Sustainable Village Design with Greg Ramsey: chris light tablesite selection, master planning and pattern design for ecovillage; consensus and conflict resolution, financial aspects, work issues, best practices. Participants will join the final part of our permaculture course to learn ecology, energy and resource conservation, social and community skills, and the economics of sustainability. Albert Bates, Gwynelle Dismukes, Greg Ramsey, Scott Horton and guests. $800. Ecovillage Training Center 89 Schoolhouse Road, PO Box 90 Summertown, TN 38483-0090 USA July 2-11 Natural Building Intensive Part 1 Introduction, JULY 2-4 $250 Part 2 Building With Earth & Straw, JULY 5-9 $375 Part 3The Art of Earth Plasters, JULY 10-11 $150 total - 675$ Jul 10-18th, 2004 Natural Building Immersion 800$ Ecovillage Training Center, TN, USA Unparalleled nine day intensive with straw, cob, wood & other natural materials. Wattle & daub, adobe, earthbags, earthships, traditional Mexican styles, timber frame, domes & arches, earthen floors, earth plasters & alis, passive solar, foundations & drainage, living roofs & pole frame. We will build a compete building. Get the in-depth experience. Participants will learn energy & resource conservation & economic sustainability. Field trips may include visits to a bamboo nursery & local Pc sites. Students who would like college credit for this course may register through their university. This year we are adding extensive sections on traditional Mexican styles for reed thatch, zacatlanlolo, slipform claystraw, & adobe-making. Instructors: Architect & builders Howard Switzer, Katey Culver, Albert Bates, Adam Turtle, Matt English, Dayfd Rawlings, Bernice Davidson, Yolanda Hunter, Kiyokazu Shidara, Francesco Casini. I think Im going to have to find a more convenient solar systems and battery installation course
Where ever the greyhound bus stops...somewhere warm tho. Hopefully with a better paying job so I can have my own place
I just wanted to add a detail that might depart this from the schema many people form when they think of commune. If every person could chip in $3,500 I certainly would not intend for any dwellings to have to house more than two, this isn't going to be 15 people cramped inside one structure. Yet if you know folks that would want to do that, it's your call by all means. All structures are going to be built on site from earth plasters is the main reason for this relaxed state of housing though, just so y'all don't think Im talking out my ass or something. Also I wanted to add Im going to be starting on this project sooner than I originally anticipated, in a little more than two years from now actually. I will have all the training I need to start by then, and I will start by making the best of whatever capitol I have at the time. Probably I will just be working on getting the land and the permaculture system set up though, for I feel it may take some developement before we should be relying on it for self sufficiency. If I have the money though, and actually I should because most of the cost is in solar/wind systems and batteries. I may just construct a dwelling.
sounds like a righteous idea to me, I don't plan on everyone being in the same dwelling, so it would be awesome to have some righteous folks like yourselves along. It certainly would make the experience twicefold better to have great company.
If either of you guys are in the only problem I see now that is holding this plan away from practicallity is cheap land near water, though I know there are other ways of getting water, simply being near a source would make things much more convenient, and the water aspect would make for many more awesome things to do. _________________________________________________________________ The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious ; it is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. -- Albert Einstein
don't know. but my husband will be alive, not in the military and more than likely we'll be underground.
Yogi, I was looking at permaculture and I think Im gonna hit up this one instead, http://www.lamafoundation.org/permaculture_design.htm, Its 750$ it's from late July to mid August and its in New Mexico. If ya live somewhere directly northish of there I might even be able to hook ya up with a ride if you are really intrested.
I decided I never really went in depth with this as far as I should when considering the gravity of making a decision to join a communal project, so I made up a sort of outline or charter that leaves few details to be speculated about. It should be available at this link islandfolk.tripod.com/eco.rtf _______________________________________________________________ If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed. --Albert Einstein
I know it works with netscape and is accesible with wordpad, Ill try to figure out a more compatable way to make this accesible seeing as this is the most concrete plan I can set to this vision for now. __________________________________________________________________ Is The Television Taking All Your Thoughts? Is A Man Only Worth What He's Bought? Is The Right To Remain Silent All You Got?
Ya that link is no good, I just decided to post the whole thing here instead, At the moment there's me and my buddy Brandon that are working on getting this off the ground, and we will whether or not we get more people to join, it would be a lot cooler if we could find some folks that were intrested: Ecovillage Project A. Beleifs -Objectives: 1. Creation of a Ecovillage from natural on site building materials - Cob, Logs, Adobe, Staw etc. (will probably bring in some concrete for foundations) 2. Creation of a permaculture system surrounding the commune producing a wide variety of produce for year round village consumption 3. Creation of a sustainable energy system on or around ecovillage dwellings - Solar, Wind, Batteries 4. Implementaion of microlivestock system for obtaining eggs and meat, possibly milk land willing 5. Mandating that there be no source of power in the commune, and authority shall be non-existant. People of the commune shall be entirely self-governed, and it shall not be mandatory they follow any beleifs or regulations other than their own, whatever they be (short of murder, stealing, rape and that sort of rubbish of course). The social order of the village shall thrive on good karma alone. -Initial Requirments: 1. The village shall consist of people with an openness of mind, and good karma of being. 2. We plan for the people of the commune to live well with nature, so we must ask there be an intial funding per person of anywhere from 4,500 to 6,500 dollars. (cost will be expained more in depth later.) And you should have a steady 250W of surplus power to use, along with water, and all the land you could desire at least 1.5 acres to the person probably a good bit more. B. Bringing it to Life -Training Courses 1. The first thing that is needed to create such a thing as this is abviously the knowledge, and for this I have outlined a number of training courses that may be used to obtain the most crucial of information twards completing such a project. - Permaculture Design Certification Retreat with Rico Zook and Josho Somine Cost: $750 Time: 7/31/05 - 8/14/05 Location: New Mexico Source: http://www.lamafoundation.org/permaculture_design.htm - Natural Building Immersion Cost: $800 Time: 7/10/05 - 7/18/05 Location: Tennessee Source: http://www.thefarm.org/etc/courses.html - Solar Installation with Ed Eaton Cost: $490 Time: 5/4/2005 - 5/7/2005 Location: Tennessee Source: http://www.thefarm.org/etc/courses.html 2. I'm simply stating here that I and my freind will be taking these courses, and it is by no means a requirement to join that you plan to take any or all of them, yet it would probably be a huge plus if you did. -Size/Location 1. The land used for this project will be anywhere from 10 to 40 acres, as we hope we may be able to give each person at least one acre, probably more 2. The final population size will be anywhere from 6 to 12 people. 3. The land will need to be somewhere with a decent grow schedule and mild winters, so the final land's biggest requirement will be that it is cheap and south of Nebraska, or around the southern half of Nebraska. 4. Ideally the land will also be next to a reliable water source, as this will save great amounts of time and toil, as well as provide for much more entertainment possibilities. -Dwelling Costs 1. There are a number of costs figured into the initial cost along with land and some may not be figured as so much essencial for yourselves. Though for self reliance purposes we'd reccomend these. - 180W Sanyo Solar Panels X2 $725 - 400W AirX Wind Generator X1 $787 - Various Grow Formulas X1 ~$150 - Numerous Seedpacks X1 ~$200 - T5 Tek Light (4X5000 lumen) X1 $270 - Battery Charger X1 $163 - 12V Household Batteries X4 $65 - Mylar Sheeting 4'x50' X3 $45 - Lumber/foundation Costs X1 ~$400 - Ruck Tube Fan 100mm X2 $100 Total ~$4,015 / 2 or 3 (note this calculation does not include land furniture or food storage, yet this is intended to be devided amung at least two people, if you were thinking of going solo on the dwelling you could probably subtract about 850$) -Example Blueprint 1.This is just a realistic example household, the actual walls will definitely be much more curvular and creative seeing as we plan to take a full advantage of the freeform nature of our building medium (cob) *Hope this plan gave you some idea of what my vision is and wether or not you would like to be a part of it. If youre intrested and the initial costs are getting ya down we definitely still want to try and work something out. We only care about great minds not great wallets*
