Living On Communes

And you know best little foot dont you, how dare someone have an opinion of their own.. stupid americans.. ahh but don't you live in america too little foot.. well you know what they say.. love it or leave it or come up with a real plan to change it.. thank you very much. It seems to me you are the one who is intolerant.

sh

 

Opinions are like assholes: Everyone has one.

Some opinions are based upon knowlegde and reason and some
are just self-serving nonsense.

No. A country is composed of a geographical area and a culture. I
have almost nothing to do with American culture, so I don't live
in America. Neither do a lot of people that I know. We have our
own little world that we like a lot better than America.

Just north of me is the Canadian border. Take one step and you are
no longer in America, you are in Canada. But it's the same continent
and the same ecosystem and the same meadow....

I decided to leave it. Without going anywhere. I'm not all the way out,
but am very close to the edge. And I know people who live in the
mountains whose lives wouldn't be changed one iota if America was
to vanish from the face of the Earth.

Only of self-serving bullshit and willful ignorance.

I have a real and foolproof plan to change it. It's not mine, I didn't create it, but I share it
with those who will listen. The plan is working, albeit slowly. It has been implemented
and passed every test. There are many little invisible (to Americans) villages
scattered throughout the vastness of the Rocky Mountains where people live
without harming the Earth or exploiting other people or using brutality.

But almost everyone wants to make grand changes in the world without
making grand changes in their own lifestyle.

That obviously won't work.

"You must become the changes you want to see in the world." --Ghandi

LIttlefoot

 

Your Still Preaching To The Chior!! No one is disputing the thriving communities that are in place or the need for change.. It's you that is pissing everyone off. It's your attitude that is a turn off, and counteracts what you profess.

sh

 

Hello, I see you haven't posted in a while. I'm hoping you see this. I lived in a commune right in the area at the same time as you. I'd like to take my mom back and see the area and if there's anything left of the place. She is having trouble remembering some details. I see you have info on several communes so I thought I'd ask you some questions if you didn't mind. Please PM me if you can. Thank you! Heather

 

Hi you guys. I grew up from a baby, my entire childhood, on a very large commune called The Farm in Tennessee. Back then, though out the 70's & early 80's, it was off the grid, all assets and money were shared, everyone had to sign a vow of poverty...

I am doing this blog chronicling the memories of my child self relaying what it was like to grow up like that, not trying to put a negative or positive spin on it, just a completely honest narrative:

http://hippycommune.wordpress.com/

 

Never did see this post..some interesting points of view.

Amazing how different people experience the same thing and end up with different points of view.

Living in Canada, I see two classes of people,,,folks who believe big brother is fucking them over and those that don't. I guess the US is pretty much the same

I happen to live in the latter camp. I pay taxes. I drive on roads, somebody picks up my garbage.

If folks believe modern living is so freaking horrible, then get off the net and get off the grid.

 

.."folks who believe big brother is fucking them over and those that don't. I guess the US is pretty much the same". Yes, there are those here who believe "Big Brother" is fucking them over, and unless you've paid no attention to USA politics for the past 40 years or so, you'd realize that, YES, big brother IS fucking them over! We have had, for a long time, a government that is by no means representative of the people, contrary to the tenets of our Constitution. We have special-interest (read as: MONEY) groups lining their pockets with politicians by lining the politicians' pockets. I saw enough of this as a fresh military inductee in 1968, and by spring of 1969, was AWOL from the base, and not wanting to return. Of course, today, MANY years later, I realize what rash mistakes I made in fits of youthful abandon, and to some degree, regret some of those decisions (like spending 10.5 months locked up in a correctional facility). While I, like you, pay taxes, drive on roads, leave my trash out (as well as my recyclables) for others to haul away, I still retain some of my criticism/cynicism from my younger days, and although I now consider myself somewhat of a conservative, there are many ideals and beliefs from those days that I still hold dear. I don't want to sit back and get stoned and hope that everything turns out OK; I get involved and try to make change happen; so far, I've been pretty much beating my head against the wall, but that doesn't mean I totally given up! Where evil exists, it's our job to expose it and try to exterminate it, or at least, mitigate its negative effects on the population.

 

By the way, I relate to your observances. I lived in Edmonton, AL during 1975-1976, and was very much aware of the similarities of the populace compared to what I had been exposed to in Arizona, where I moved from. After returning to AZ after living through ONE winter in sub-zero temps, I thawed out and realized just what a gap there actually was between the classes, where I hadn't noticed it as much up to then. I had become a working-class type person, and didn't travel within the same circles in the US that I happened to become involved with in Canada. It's funny how familiarity often breeds complacency.

 

Chasm23: good point, I haven't lived in the US. I don't have that frame of reference. Sounds like you have.

I have some exposure to the same media as most, more than some. I see a lot of unemployment. Communities in small town america.canada that are bankrupt and families unemployed. Big business moving production offshore, domestic jobs lost. The offshore communities doing no better.

Move production back to our shores. Buy our products. Easy to say

Most of the products we use are produced offshore. Stop buying foreign...not an easy thing

Then be prepared to spend more for the same item..But we'll all have jobs.

As you previously posted "Where evil exists, it's our job to expose it and try to exterminate it, or at least, mitigate its negative effects on the population."

I just can't relate that to north american culture.

The folks running large North American business think they are doing a great job for their shareholders, who in a lot of cases, are hard working folks trying to save for retirement and using these equities and bonds in their portfolios. That effects me, my friends, my parents and yours

Very complex problem. Not an easy solution

Peace

 

When I lived on a commune we started out living in a huge house in Minneapolis. I was 14 at the time. Most teens my age were looking for the a
Party but I was looking to avoid the party. Luckily the house had a smoking room so all I had to do was avoid the smoking room to avoid the party. I went to a free school called S E Free School back then. I spent a lot of my time doing tarot readings in the hallways. Then I would go home and spend time with my favorites of our household. Eventually the commune moved to a farm around the time I was 16. They took on to many farm animals and it got to a point only two of us were taking care of them. I fed them and milked the goats in the morning and a woman who is still my best friend took care of the animals at night. Everyone else got a house in Duluth and came to the farm on the weekends.Most of them had jobs in Duluth. I loved the farm. We seldom had electricity or running water. I left when I was 18. The commune eventually ended with only a few still in communication with each other. I paid the down payment with a trust fund I got from my father's death. I returned to it when I was 30 and raised my children there for 8 years off the grid.

 

Oh wow, I'm sorry that all of you people who have lived in communes have had such bad experiences...

I currently live over at East Wind, and I don't think we do without very much over here. We have our own factory, we grow food, weave hammocks, make sandals, there is always a lot going on. That is not to say that sometimes people don't have problems, but over all, life for me is very much on the up and up here.

http://eastwind.org/

 

Hi Felarin,

I met someone from Eastwind over twenty some years ago at the Seward cafe in Minneapolis. I bought a pair of purple rope sandals. They were one of my favorite pairs of Sandals that I ever had. I was very impressed by the commune's structure back then. I do not remember the individuals name that sold them to me but I remember the person telling me about the commune. I would love to live in a structured community like that.

My experience with the commune I lived in was not horrible. The only reason that commune died is because I lived with a bunch of city folk who knew nothing about farming. When our commune was in the cities they did well. It is just they could not handle living a mile from their closest neighbor and knew nothing about caring for the animals they had purchased. I had lived in the country before so I had no problem living out on our farm but I was young and eventually decided it was time to live apart from my mother. When I returned at age 30 it was no longer a commune but my ex husband and I lived in our own home out there and raised our two children for 8 years until we bought a house in town.

 

East Wind isn't really all that structured... A lot must have changed in 20 years.

 

What I met by structured is that the commune has a business, and has rules in place. The commune that I lived in had zero organization, no rules, and no business.

 

Ah yeah... I would imagine that a commune without a means of income might be hard to distinguish from a homeless encampment. Business is very important!

 

Our farm was not a homeless encampment. We had a huge farm house, a barn, and a house in a nearby city. Most everyone worked jobs. It is just many of them stopped getting along, did not see eye to eye and did not like farming. There were times when only 2 to 3 of us lived out there full time. I tended the farm animals every morning and went to the local high school. and a woman who was an artist tended to the animals in the evenings and the third individual did most of the firewood to keep us warm during the harsh winters. In the summer more people lived out there. The place started falling apart more due to many of the city folk arguing. Some of the were in multi-sex relationships that fell a part. Those of us who were single kept the peace. When I moved back out there when I turned 30 the place became divided into two households. My mother and her ex did not like my ex husband and we became isolated in our own home away from the main house. I raised my kids there off the grid for 8 years living on wind and gas generated electricity. We often had one other individual there as well. My ex did carpentry, mechanics and sled building. He still lives on land near there and is still well loved by many of the towns folk because if someones car breaks down or they get stranded he still rescues them. When I lived out there I took care of our children as well as babysat my little sisters. I do art, weave, spin, and many other crafts . I also play harp music and a little guitar.

 

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