Category Archives: Community

It’s not about fear, it’s simple economics!

November 17, 2008 – 1:39 pm

Table of contents for Act Now

  1. It’s not about fear, it’s simple economics!

I was talking with a friend this morning about the changes that are occurring in our world – such as the scarcity of food, rising fuel costs, farmland losses due to topsoil erosion, freshwater availability – and I was asking him how he was planning for the future – how was he going to mitigate any major changes that could cause “modern society” to come to a grinding halt.

I was speaking of course about becoming more self-sufficient, how did he plan to (as Farmer John says) “disentangle” himself from being only a tiny cog in the huge economic and agricultural machine that is todays world.  Did he have a garden?  What about a few chickens for his eggs?  How about planting some fruit trees so he could at least have fresh fruit for a few weeks a year?  Was he off the grid?  Did he have compact florescent as his light bulbs?  How about keeping his tires inflated or oil topped off so he used less gasoline?

These are all relatively harmless things that are becoming mainstream.  Not a huge leap.  It’s still allows a comfortable way of living.  However, he’s still in the middle of a big city, still buys 95% of his own food, 100% of his own fuel (car and electricity).  In a word, he’s still “dependent” on that giant machine called the global market!

I asked him to think back to this summer and how dangerously close we, as a country, came to loosing our food security.  We were down to less than a month of grain reserves.  That was the lowest we came as a nation in over 20 years to not meeting our own food needs!  That doesn’t count the additional cost we as a nation have to pay to transport and ship that food since we aren’t a local food producing economy.

If oil goes up, if food supplies go down, if costs of production rise (since fertilizer comes from natural gas, it will) what happens then?  What happens when supplies get slim and demand keeps up or raises (if the population goes up)?  You have runs on things.  Remember the articles about Costco and Sam’s clubs rationing wheat and rice sales to one bag per customer?

Well to be blunt, people begin to get desperate and buying up stuff which makes things MUCH more expensive!  If you believe in Peak Oil, if you believe that a higher demand coupled with a decreased supply equals worldwide problems, if you believe that honey bees are in trouble and having a harder and harder time doing their job, if you believe this is a throw-away society, then it’s not about fear!

It’s about being prepared for when things happen that are out of our control.  Buy seeds today – not in two years when they’re skyrocketing costs are prohibitive.  Buy those garden tools today – not when your worried about cutbacks at work and how you’re going to put food on the table.  Buy (or help to buy) land today – not when you’re 200 miles away sitting at a desk pushing papers – those papers will be there in two years, but the fertile land that has been worked for two years and produces beautifully will only be a dream.

Things take time to develop and grow.  Gardens take time to become fertile, water systems need time and several seasons to be prooven, housing takes time to construct, people need time to adjust to new ways of living.

If you’re not prepared today to move from the city and become a farmer, I understand!  There are those of us who are further along that path than you.  Let us pave that road for you.  You don’t have to do it now, but someone does!  If things aren’t prepared NOW, when things shift and change, they’ll be too expensive, or worse, simply NOT AVAILABLE!

As I said in the title, it’s not about fear – it’s about economics…what you put in today is an investment in the future.  Buy low today so that higher prices tomorrow won’t limit your choices.

By theobill | Also posted in Food Security, Front Page, Land for Communities, Permaculture | Comments (0)

Your Future Well Being Depends on Your Actions Now

November 16, 2008 – 8:51 am

Table of contents for Act Now

  1. Your Future Well Being Depends on Your Actions Now

I get so frustrated with people I know and love who bury their heads in the sand of unconsciousness.  We all have our gifts, something we do better than others.  Mine has been feeling the pulse of humanity years before things would actually happen.  For years I’ve tried to find the courage to tell people what I felt was on the horizon for humanity and the United States in general.  Like others, I felt it was past time for a radical change in how we live our lives.  Most people listened politely, but thought I was nuts despite the fact I was not alone in my thoughts. Now as things come to pass (like our failing economy, global warming, etc…) those same people I wish I could say were realizing what is happening in the world and acting, but they are not.  They have simply taken a look outside their shells long enough to realize what they are “aware” of scares the hell out of them and they feel power less to do anything.  Most believe it is out of their hands anyway and the new president will fix everything.  The troubles our world faces is beyond the scope of one newly elected president no matter how well intentioned.

What should you do then? Disentangle yourself from non essential affairs that are not enhancing your chances of survival. Yes, I said survival!  This includes emotional, physical and financial attachments. Your new vehicle is not going to ’save’ you, it’s usefulness is limited and it’s future is already determined, it has a very short lifespan. That home you love is the same, if it’s not sustainable (for example: Do you control your water supply?  Where does your food come from…can you grow it?) and is located in an area that is not sustainable or saamerofe, then this emotional and financial attachment will wind up killing you. Sell it while you still can before the bank takes it from you or it becomes worthless and you can’t even give it away.

The global economic crash that is happening now will affect everyone.  Can you really afford to wait for housing prices to continue to fall before you make your relocation move? Use any monetary assets you have now to invest with others that have the same goals.  Find land or communities to buy into.  The “AMERO” (our new currency to be representing US, Canada and Mexico) will be hitting the market as soon as the U.S. cannot afford to pay the interest on it’s debt any longer.  Which is projected by some to happen as early as February 2009!  At that point your dollar will be worth whatever the government decides it will be.  Some say the buy back could be as low as two pennies on the “AMERO”.  I know, almost does not sound real, but google it and see for yourself.  Educate yourself!

crackedearth1Wake up to the present situation and circumstances. Stop kidding yourself. Assess your own dependency upon the entire system – it’s what’s keeping you alive right now. Without it, you would die. Learn to live without it’s support if you can. Disentangle yourself more and more, working on it constantly so that you become self-reliant and self-sufficient and capable of dealing with a world in chaos. Dependency is also a one way street and has created a world full of incapable humans who really cannot take care of themselves. They lack even the basic skills to survive. The future won’t permit that, so do something about it.

Get educated, get trained, put real skills into daily experience and learn how to take care of your own needs.  Learn practical skills in self-sufficiency, gardening, animal husbandry, mechanical repair, including bicycles,  seed saving and alternative construction. Raising food is going to be essential for localized citizens and how to do it. Food storage, preservation and preparation will be essential skills. Start learning how to do this now while mistakes are easy and survivable. Seasonal crops are an easy way to try out your green thumb. Learning to grow things isn’t hard, but it does take time to learn from your mistakes, so get started now.

This is what we have done and why we have joined FOSL.  We have liquidated everything of value and invested in supplies, heirloom seeds, farm animals, fruit trees, tools, sustainable technologies and information.  We have allied ourselves with people that have the necessary skills and know how for our continued existence.  We attend workshops with the folks to continue our knowledge and most importantly we are laying the foundation of community.  FOSL currently has one property that when finished may sustain 15 people.  This property has been slated for retirees desiring to be close to health care facilities.

However, there is a larger group of us who are searching for the right piece of land to build another community on.  One that would sustain many more people and would be much more rural in its location.  FOSL is a non-profit land trust.  FOSL needs land for communities. One of its many missions is to protect farmland and help create community based agriculture.  Community farms not only produce food, but involve as many people as possible in that production and distribution.  Since FOSL is a land trust, a not for profit organization, part of FOSL’s mission is to educate.  FOSL seeks to involve communities in social issues associated with agriculture and care of the land.

Our future survival and well being depends on agricultural land.  It depends on community.  Community is people coming together for a common good or cause.  Your future depends on your ability to act now.  Please, bring your knowledge, will to create a brighter future, physical resources, monetary resources, whatever you have and join us now.  Time is running out.  If you are reading this article you all ready know this on some level or you wouldn’t be here.  Trust your feelings.  This is not about fear, I see it as an opportunity to enrich our lives with community. A type of community that our grandparents knew, but with a new awareness.  It is a challenge and we will have to change the way we live on this earth if we are going to survive.  If our children are to survive and prosper.  I’m not asking you to change the world, but start with something you can change…yourself.  Open your mind and heart to an awareness of what is happening around you in the world.  Decide that you do want to change and join us in making that change.  We need you and we need your help.   Will you help us?  Will you help yourself?  The choice is ultimately yours…

If you have land you would like to discuss placing in a land trust please contact us.  If you are interested in joining FOSL or have questions contact us immediatly.

By Farmer John | Also posted in Front Page, Land for Communities, Safety | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

WHAT DO YOU WANT IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD?

November 3, 2008 – 10:10 am

In my community, whether a village or neighborhood, I would like to be able to help my neighbors work together toward sustainability. If I can chose or help make a community it would, I hope, be a community that sees its duty to change the way we live and work together, to build the courage to make the changes required so that our children have a safe comfortable future.

In community, I would work with my neighbors to be as self-sufficient as localizing production of our basic needs can make us.  I would like to help to shorten the distribution web for what our community needs and produces, and trade with other locals for as much as possible. In my community we would make a unified effort would be directed to help all of us live and work together to break free of working for the unfriendly Corporations and Governments so we can be with our children, our neighbors, fellow sustainable workers, and friends more.

In the place I would like live, those with experience would mentor those without particular knowledge, older folks passing on to younger folks what they know, those with knowledge and skills teaching those who want too know. I think the best community, for me, would teach the children in place and make children part of each person’s day as they help by working in the community part of each day.

I would like to learn what I don’t know from those who do, until I pass.  In my community I would like to see respect for, and study of, the genius and work from those who went before us, employment of the best of today’s knowledge and skills, and discernment of the best of what is coming – all bent to an intelligent creativity for truly living sustainably.

In my neighborhood would I like to see those with a more “wealth” share what they can and choose to by sponsoring those with energy and skills for living sustainably.  While I want time and space for privacy, I would like to see my community more closely involved with one another – less divided in time and space to their “own” private estates.  My preference for my neighborhood would be to work to create community space; more shared space and facilities and less private redundancy – common assets directed toward common need to shift to living sustainably.

In my neighborhood I would like to see retirees helping to build a community with facilities and jobs for those who would help them to live useful, productive, dignified lives. In community I would hope that those with energy and skills will help those who may not need help now, but will.

It seems to me that there should be ways to make a smaller footprint, less impact on nature by a community sharing many things based on a shared commons: large gardens, orchards, small animal husbandry, water systems, local power production, a motor pool, and repair and/or mini-production shops and facilities.  I want my community, by working together, to teach the young what they will need for tomorrow, leave an improved bio-diversity, a cleaner environment, and larger productive commons to those coming after us.

I would like to live in a community where folks are glad to see me and one another, happy to help one another and help with common work and needs so all can become agents of, and participants in sustainability. The world is changing, and it seems to me that we will all have to live with less things material, so, why not work together to be richer in non-material things, and in our relationships, in our communities?

FOSL is purchasing a parcel of land that can be our first suburban campus with a central commons area in the unincorporated area of Cleone just North of Fort Bragg, CA.  There are other properties available in the neighborhood.

If you are looking for a place to retire, co-house, live more slowly/satisfactorily, raise your children, design and form community, to learn, and to share the coming time of transition with like-minded folks, please contact us.  We need people, teachers, farmers, gardeners, skills, craft persons, old knowledge, young energy, sustainable businesses, more aligned neighbors, and financial support to expand the start we have made – come and help us, yourselves, and those coming after us.  To learn more watch this video clip.

By Parker | Also posted in Land for Communities | Tagged | Comments (0)

We are ready to move…

October 17, 2008 – 10:23 am

farm2As wonderful as this small piece of land has been we are currently at, we have out grown it (picture is not our place, but places are what we are looking for).  We have learned a great deal about living near the coast and living on the north side of a mountain and are thankful for the experience.  BUT….

We are ready to move on and continue growing.  The community land seems to be trying to manifest in a few places with land owners, lawyers and community members doing their best.  However, there is not a place to call home yet and we need a place to live where we can be more self-sustaining…more sustainable!  We need to continue growing Open Pollinated vegetables and grafting heirloom fruit trees, but on a bit large scale than the 1/4 acre we currently have.  The need to continue breeding the perfect dual purpose chicken who lays well, but makes a tasty meal. More land so that we may grow our own chicken food and not have to buy GMO contaminated farm3feed from the feed store.

We need an old barn to hang seed to dry, corn for the winter and a place for the new dairy goat we having been dying to get.  We want to try our hands at goat cheese and share the bounty with our friends.  Our heritage turkeys need a place for new babies (sure to come next spring) to graze on green pastures.  Our honey bees need fields of wildflowers to gather nectar in for that liquid gold they make. Land is needed for us to raise enough fresh food for us and our neighbors in the challenging times ahead.

We are asking everyone we know!  Maybe you know of someone who has old farm land sitting fallow.  Some great sunny space populated with old barns that are crying out for new life.  A farmer ready to retire or someone who just inherited such a place and doesn’t know what to do with it, but knows we don’t need anymore track housing.   I just read a book of such a retiring organic grower in Maine.  He was complaining about no new blood to take over in his footsteps and what he wouldn’t give to see his life’s work not go fallow.  I would love to partner with someone like this, but I don’t want to move to Maine!  No, I would like to farmstay here in California if ya don’t mind!

So I’m putting it out here!  I learned long ago I can’t get what I want if I don’t ask for it.  So I’m asking.  If ya don’t mind the crow of a rooster waking you in the morning, the taste of fresh eggs for breakfast or the taste of homegrown honey on your bisquits let us know!  We don’t mind sharing in the hard work or the good times.  In fact some of the best times I remember were making sure my grandparents had enough wood to last them for the winter.  Yeah, it was hard work, but it was from my grandfather that I learned how to use an axe.  At a young age I was instilled with love, knowledge and the confidence that I could take care of not only myself, but others.  We have trying times ahead and during these times I know with a lot of hard work, love and paitients we will be just fine.  However, in order to take care of all the above mentioned we need land.  So, if ya know of a little old farmstead for lease let us know!  You’ll be glad ya did!

By Farmer John | Also posted in Front Page, Land for Communities | Tagged , | Comments (1)

Finding, Developing and Conserving Water

June 19, 2008 – 11:43 am

Today we are rationing water more so than normal. Our Landlord called stating our pump in the creek is no longer producing enough to sustain the houses on the property. This is something we have known since moving here and evaluating the water situation. We tried to to encourage the our land lord to seek out a spring on the property above us and we would help her develop it, but she put in a swimming pool instead. As this would bring her more money per night on her vacation rental. She rationed with that she could develop large water catchments and new springs next year. This however doesn’t help us now and this is not our land so there is little we can do outside our normal conservation like heavy mulching and other conservation practices. It is a bit frustrating because there is so much a land owner can do.

Water is essential to all life and its extremely critical here where we get all of our water in about a 4-5 month season. Being originally from sub-tropical Texas where it rains frequently throughout the year, this really unnerved me. How was I going to have enough water to irrigate crops spring, summer and winter? The answer was not a simple one as there are many ways to collect and store rain water. Ironically, here in Cazadero we get almost double the amount of rain Houston does at 93″ a year, but we get it all at one time. So how does one store water? Well the first thing that comes to mind a permaculture technique that stores water in the ground using swales/berms. Some of you are familiar with this I’m sure, but simply stated you are using the natural lay of the land to gather water. For instance, putting a berm a below a naturally occurring “V” on a slope will catch water. This is easier to explain in a drawing, but if you learn to read the land you can see where water is naturally draining and on a hill side/slope it normally comes to a “V”. By putting a double berm across the bottom of the “v” you slow down the water giving it a chance to percolate down in that area. Now if you go a step further and plant fruit trees on that berm they will also not only benefit, but store water themselves. If you go further and plant trees on both sides of your berm you will create a shady area in between thus reducing evaporation. The trees will drop their leaves and add mulch thus reducing evaporation even further. Now you have created a simple water storing device on your land and given yourself another food source. See it wasn’t that hard!

Some other obvious solutions are building ponds where water naturally occurs or near homes so they may be used to reflect light to solar arrays. Placing ponds above crops is crucial to irrigation. We believe anytime you can set up a passive system you are way ahead of the game. Meaning you are not using a pump and energy to pump up your water to use gravity to bring it down. If you catch your water above you simply need a system of irrigation gates that can irrigate crops and be used for fire protection. The higher, the better the pressure will be and this can be very important in fire fighting. Some of the best laid out farms I’ve seen here lay this system out so that they can tap into that water anywhere below the source with lots of underground pipes. Expensive yes, but save just one house/barn from a farm and it’s paid for itself. Now add to this the potential for hydro energy, aquaculture and duck production. You can see that one or many lakes would pay for themselves in more than one way. Put a dam across a seasonal creek and in the winter you have hydro power. Add the proper fish to the lake and you have a high protein food source. Mix in ducks to that mix and you have meat/eggs. Plus you could grow aquatic plants that serve as fodder for the animals and fertilizer for the gardens. The potentials are endless!

Building storage tanks are essential for drinking water. Many of our friends gather their water from springs and store it in tanks. The more the better I’m convinced. These storage tanks can be built into homes and greenhouses creating excellent heat sinks when needed or the verse in summer. The important thing is this water store stay clean and free of debris, animals and bugs. People have built cisterns from rock long before there was fiberglass, but in our earthquake prone area I prefer to have something that can withstand our regular mini shakes without cracking. I’m sure there is a way to build one, but alas I’m not an engineer. I would hope will have a few on the community though.

Finding the springs to fill these cisterns can be a whole other matter unto itself. Many times we notice the flow of springs as we hike, but marking these area and watching them during the dry season is critical. Often times springs that look good during early summer dry up and no longer produce a flow. Other times it is about looking at the land and knowing what plants like to grow where water lies. Still yet, it is always wise to start your search on a North slopes as this is where many springs are found due to the fact that the sun hasn’t dried out the land as it does on a Southern exposure. I could go on here, but any of these books listed here will do a much better job than myself!

By Farmer John | Also posted in Front Page, Permaculture | Tagged , , | Comments (2)

Maybe it is the small things in life…

June 13, 2008 – 8:44 am

I was Watching the The Waltons this morning, an old TV series that ran back in 1971. The story line took place in the Blue Ridge Mountains as some of you may remember. I would call it a piece of Americana and it is where that infamous line “goodnight Johnboy” comes from.

I deeply enjoy the show because it speaks of family, friends and community during one of the toughest times America has seen…the Great Depression. It is about taking pleasure in the smallest things in life when you don’t have anything else and how those thing turn out to be the greatest value. It reminds me of some of my greatest treasures. Like my memories of my grandparents. Now they didn’t live with us as they did on the Waltons, but we visited them often deep in the piney woods of East Texas.

I remember the summers most fondly as all of my cousins would go to stay with my grandparents for the summer. They had an extra room with built in bunk beds for all us grandkids. I was the oldest boy and can remember lying there on a still East Texas summer night with the windows open, lighting bugs floating near firefly1the tree line and telling my younger cousins that those glowing lights were really eyes! Yes, Bigfoot was watching us from just beyond the thicket I would tell my cousins as they pulled the sheets further over their heads. I remember scary myself as much as them!

I would awake in the morning, intact of course as the lighting bugs never manifested into anything more menacing than my imagination. As my body began to take in all the senses around me, my ears would tune into the warbler singing in the tree outside the window. Then my body would start to move and feel the sensation of the quilt covering me that Grandma made from her wedding dress, my father’s first overalls and other various scraps, each with its own tale to tell. Then my nose would first tune into the rich, sandy East Texas soil, then the pines swaying in the morning breeze and finally to the kitchen. Grandma was up baking biscuits!

bisquit1I remember watching Grandma roll out the dough and cut each biscuit with a tin cutter. The one I have now. She put some much love into her baking because it was for us. I didn’t understand it at the time, for I didn’t think my grandparents were poor, but truth be told they were living with limited means although I never knew it. Their little house in the woods felt like a mansion to me and the world outside it a place for a boy to discover himself. Grandma gave us everything she had and those things even though not material; fill my heart even today.

Grandpa was no different; he taught me how to chop wood, how to fish and how to be patient with my younger cousins. I’ll never forget him teaching me how to swim in the lake and more particular how to dive. My I can remember how that seemed to be such an important thing at the time. We would load up in Grandpas old 1953 Chevy truck with a wooden bed, all of us, Grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles and cousins. How we all fit I don’t know, but we didn’t mind being close back then. In fact it felt wonderful to be cradled in your aunts or uncles arms, safe from the perils of potholes in the old asphalt road as the truck puttered towards the swimming hole. Once there we would all unload with inner-tubes in hand and run as fast as we could splashing in with a big belly flop. I have so many memories in that swimming hole.

Truth be told my soul is filled with 100 hundreds of wonderful memories from those times in that little house. I supposeswimminghole1 that is why the Waltons resonate with me so much. Even though they grew up in one of the most difficult times in American history they were rich. We are embarking on yet another challenging time, not just in America but the world. We as a race of people have a great deal of challenges that lie before us. Things are changing whether we like it or not and I believe it is this richness of spirit that will keep us going. My Grandparents made it through the depression and I know I can make it through this one with loving friends, family and community by my side. This is why I believe building community is so important. We need a piece of land that will nourish us and on that spot of dirt we need to build homes that will shelter us from the storms ahead. We need to form those places and bonds now before the really difficult times hit us. I know we won’t be totally insulated, but we will have a bit more say in how we live our lives. I urge you that if this resonates at all with you join us or your community and start learning to live a more sustainable, enriched life. We need your help, your resources and knowledge. Bring whatever it is you have and let’s get to work. We need to start making choices about what is important in our lives. For me, it is the love and support that comes from living this type of life. It may be a simpler life to some, but it is one that filled with deep rewards beyond imagination. Help us build our own “Waltons Mountain”.

By Farmer John | Also posted in Front Page | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Today we Explored Comptche as a Possible Community Site

June 11, 2008 – 6:55 am

comptcheaerial.jpg The remote town of Comptche lies between Ukiah and the village of Mendocino. Elevation 639 feet. The latitude of Comptche is 39.265N. The longitude is -123.59W The town is the northernmost city in the Anderson Valley region of Mendocino County and is literally off-the-beaten-track, difficult to reach from any major highways, including Highway 128, which travels through this picturesque valley. About 19 miles due north of Navarro, this town is actually more populated than others along the highway, with about 368 residents. It’s surrounded by the beautiful Montgomery Woods State Reserve, one of the most remote of California’s 31 redwood parks. You’ll find both the Sierra Redwood and the Coast Redwood in this reserve.comptche.jpg The park is 1,142 acres in size.

A search for Comptche on Google reveals little or nothing. I couldn’t find any of its history on-line after searching for over an hour. All I could find were these few pictures here on this page and a listing for the community center, grocery, doctor, dentist, church and saw mill. SOUNDS LIKE MY KIND OF PLACE! From what I can tell by the driving we did and the aerial maps it would appear to be a series of small valleys surrounded by redwood forest. There seems to be ample creeks and the Albion River headwaters start here I believe.

comptche2.jpgQuite honestly it is near nothing, but seems to be the perfect little hamlet. When Theo and I drove it to it after driving through many other small towns, we both looked at each other and said “this feels like home”. What we are looking for is a place near enough to the coast (16 miles away) to provide cool breezes and easy access to coastal resources like seaweed, fish, mussels, salt, etc… Based on our criterion this seems like an ideal spot. It has gently sloping or flat southern facing valleys, ample water, lots of timber and is uniquely isolated. Of course this is just a preliminary drive through, so we have to start doing are research now. We need to discover the folks that make up this place and what land may be available. We have a few leads on properties and we will start digging to learn more of this promising area!

By Farmer John | Also posted in Front Page, Land for Communities | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

This Weeks Harvest!

June 5, 2008 – 11:22 am

Sumer is here and we have been pulling in some of the bounty of the season!

brocharvest08.jpgHere is some of the broccoli harvest. I planted the Italian heirloom “calabrese” and a hybridBrocolii variety that I saw at a friends garden. I know bad, but it is the only hybrid in the garden. Look at the size of the heads…as big as my hands! We have tried very hard to can everything, but broccoli is one of those that can only be canned if you pickle it. I’m not so sure about pickled broccoli, but we just got a small energy efficient freezer so it went there. The heirloom produces much smaller heads, but over a longer period of time. We also think it has a much better flavor and of course we can save seeds for next years harvest. OH, and our honey bees seem to love the yellow blossoms.

StrawberriesI really fertilized our “SeaScape” strawberries well this spring with dried blood and mulched them with pine needles. So I’m not surprised to see the bounty rolling in. Now it is time torubarb1.jpg harvest the rhubarb for pies! Here you see on the right just how huge the stalks and leaves of rhubarb. I cut them into pieces for the freezer and once I have collected enough strawberries I will add the together making pie filling. This will be a first for me so any of you out there got a good recipe let me know. Interestingly, you cannot feed the leaves to the livestock because they contain high amounts of oxalic acid. However Theo discovered that we could boil the leaves, add a

rubarb2.jpg

little dish soap and we had a great aphid killer! So, I’m trying that….will let you know how it turns out. I’m also growing tobacco and pymetherum daisy for the same purpose. These are great organic insecticides, but you have to becarful not to spray till night so you will not impact your honey bees and beneficial insects.

We are also collecting lots of carrots and peas. The spinach, chard, arugula, cabbage and kale are just about finished for the season. I will plant some more warm weather spinach and kale for the chickens if I have the room. Boy, we could use a garden 10 times the size we have especially if we were to grow all our own crops for the animals!

By Farmer John | Also posted in Front Page, Permaculture | Comments (0)

An Open Letter to Intentional Community Minded People

May 26, 2008 – 12:10 pm

An Open Letter to Intentional Community Minded People

We believe in a smaller, more community-oriented, self sufficient society where as an individual or household, we live with as small a footprint as possible. We believe that as individuals, we have a responsibility to close the circle on our food consumption by growing as much as we are capable of growing, and by thoughtful raising of animals, we can give those animals the best life possible for them while they sustain us and we them.

We would like to:

  • Grow our own food for our own consumption
  • Grow our animals’ food if they are enclosed and encourage them to forage if free-ranging
  • Build or have built structures that are responsible and not wasteful of their energy requirements.
  • Use the gifts of the land upon which we live to their best and fullest uses, wasting nothing while taking no more than we need.
  • Take advantage of (in all possible ways) the gifts of the sun and wind in the form of heat, and energy.
  • Create lasting co-operative relationships with other people through trading and helping in tasks that we cannot grow or do not have the expertise ourselves.
  • Be a meaningful and productive member of that society.
  • Use wasteful and non-renewable products in as little a way as possible.
  • Create a safe and respectful community where each household gives and helps the other through sharing, cooperation, and community efforts.

We see this world as a decadent, corrupt, and consumerist society where the quickest, fastest, least efficient way is chosen. We build and manufacture items for a specified duration so they must be replaced, then throw away and waste the worn out items instead of building things to survive and be maintained as long as possible.

We would rather build, grow, or create our solutions ourselves and be enriched through the process while utilizing the advanced technology we have at our disposal to make the effort as simple, efficient, and easy as possible.

Ideally, we would like to be a member of a community on a piece of land that is large enough to support a minimum of 20 households and all that they require. That community would be one where each household or individual is allowed complete autonomy over their own actions unless they interfered with other households or they asked for help from the others. However, where community efforts are needed, such as grain or hay production, if each household wanted to use the harvest, they would have to participate fully in it’s creation. Members of this community would be allowed their own individual beliefs and allowed to make their own choices – the result of which is fully their responsibility (whether it leads to failure or success). Each household must not impact the community or land in a harmful way – there must be respect for the needs of the land and people of the community.

We would like to see as little government as possible, with as decisive and sober decisions as can be made while fully weighing the issues. Each member of the community is there at the request of the community at large – the safety and success of the community is valued above individual needs. All households in the community must contribute in a substantial way to their own needs, but also the rest of the community.

By theobill | Also posted in Front Page | Comments (0)

Welcome to the site!

January 24, 2008 – 5:03 pm

Thanks very much to all of those who are new members and thank you so much for your kind words. This site is a work in progress, so please bear with us as we create this online community. We are going to be including lots of teriffic information from our own experiences, but we want to hear from you as well! Please comment on these posts…in the near future we will be inviting those who want, to contribute their own thoughts in articles as well.

By theobill | Also posted in Front Page | Comments (0)