Any families looking to start a homestead with other families? - Page 2

[Momsteader]

Hey MamaLeslie, you're always welcome here though it's a little far from Toronto ;)   Isn't that always the issue.....location.location.location!

[MamaLeslie]

You know I know it, Holly! The logistics tie my brain in knots!!! Not to mention my wallet, considering the challenges of getting the boy child's papers in order...

Like I said; I wish you lived in Canada! It would make it a lot easier to just say, "Let's go!!"

[Attached Mama]

I would love to be a part of an intentional community! But definitely would NOT like to cohabitate. I freely admit that I am a neatfreak and like my peace and quite and time alone with my daughter and two dogs.

I love the idea, however, of having one's own home adjoining common land, shared gardens, shared orchard, shared lawnmowers etc, shared farm animals. I love the idea of having a community in which the kids can run around together and there can be occasional potlucks and bonfires and shared festivals.

I don't see why this should be prohibitive to single mothers. A small separate living space and shared work should not equal a prohibitive cost.

Unfortunately, there is nothing like this within about 30 or 40 miles of where I live, and must stay to be near my daughter's father.

[mayaandx]

If only coabode let you search for similar interests, willingness to relocate, etc. ..

[branditopolis]

Originally Posted by mayaandx 

If only coabode let you search for similar interests, willingness to relocate, etc. ..

i know, right!

[jimblejamble]

Ohhh, I would LOVE to do something like this someday! Sigh!

[pr mom]

This is my dream too. Unfortunately, I can't seem to work around the finances and health problems. Maybe some day.........

[1ColoradoMomma]

This idea is so wonderful to me!!  I have been thinking about it for years.  I long to do something like this in Oregon, but my communal space idea has always been centered around art.  It would have a wheel and kiln and lots of light for art projects. I grew up with horses and many animals, and the thing that stops me from wanting goats or horses again is how difficult it becomes to travel.  Sharing with another family certainly does seem to answer this problem.  I'm a landscape architect and LOVE organic gardening!

[faithsstuff]

I'm glad to see others pursuing this!  DH and I lived in intentional community in upstate NY and while living in community with others was a bit much for me, we intensely miss it.  We now live in Atlanta and are trying to build community with neighbors.  It's not going to well, but we don't give up easily :).  This year we expanded our garden to a 20'x20' patch, have joined the community garden and are planning our chick order.  Last year was the first year we had a laying flock and we learned alot about urban predators at their expense.  We also learned that free ranging hens are good at escaping back yards.  We actually built alot of community with our neighbors while chasing our small flock through the neighborhood.  

Anyway, please keep this discussion going!

[Shannan Hilton]

Would love to join you! Single mother, with 13 yr old....college educated, GW vet, Jill of all trades, master at many, hard working....white collar education with a blue collar heart. Very simple girls! Love earth, spirituality, happy and soulful people. Have a lot to offer and would love to live off the grid! Please contact me should this become a reality.

[wickedmama]

just rambling, in the good old days, this was done and no one thought it was strange, neighbors helped nieghbors, if you needed something, somone came along and helped, the amish still do it, need a barn raising, the call goes out, the men raise the barn the women ply them with food, its a huge party, everyone getting together helping each other catching up on gossip, having quilting parties, the elder passes on her knowledge to the youngester. the master gardener passes on theirs...a village raising each other up.you dont have a tractor, a neighbor comes and helps in return you help them where you can

.the woman who says she is single and has  kids and no money...you have babysitting skills, while others are working there farms,and animals you can look after the kids, barter your time, and get things you needyou have a small family garder, learn to can things, learn to do other things, plant some flowers or clover and raise bees, sale the honey, or barter it for something you need.,each amish person has there own place, but for the good of their community they come together. if they can do it i do not see why others can not. 

[MamaLeslie]

I don't know if you were referring to me, wickedmama, but I know I have skills, but I don't know how to find a group of people who are interested in getting into this with me in Canada, especially since I can't put in a cash share toward a land purchase or anything. I totally agree that it's so weird how we seem to have fled from the whole idea of having a supportive community working together to help each other out- everything is so competitive instead of cooperative. I still keep my fingers crossed that someday, something like this will find me. I just haven't had any luck trying to find it deliberately. The Amish have a long history of working this way. The rest of our society seems to have decided it wasn't valuable enough to continue carrying on life that way. I think we all CAN, it's just not easy to find people who WANT to.

[koofie]

Subbing because this interests me a lot, but my husband would not agree to share land... Buying together and then subdividing would work though! I'm a teacher who would love not to have to deal with the school systems Our current problem is we are nearly underwater on our house, which needs $$ to fix to sell, so we are stuck for awhile. We have a good community here, but no one I am really close to. I'd love to work with others to be self-sufficient! DH would probably need to still work to bring in $, and finding the right job for him would be hard.

The biggest concern would be finding people we mesh well with if we live in close proximity. Well, we are fine on a small (.25 acre) lot with neighbors, but at the same time I don't think DH nor I are social enough to spend every day with people unless we clicked

Oh, we are in between Baltimore and DC in Maryland. I love some parts of being here, but some issues are driving us out (lack of midwives is a huge deal). The price of land is atrocious, so I'm not sure if staying here is feasible.
 

[Imagining]

I dreamed for years of living in an intentional community. Recently someone directed me to "Back from the Land: How Young Americans Went to Nature in the 1970s, and Why They Came Back"   by Eleanor Agnew and it delves into the reasons communal living didn't usually work out in the 70s back to the land movement. This book and living with family for the past year have opened my eyes to the difficulties of meshing families despite how compatible things seem at the outset.  I do hope something works for you as it can surely be a beautiful and magical symbiosis when it does go as planned.  But I HIGHLY recommend getting your hands on that book before setting out if you can.

[jamesong55]

Thats always been my intent but my home is only 2 acres.  its just me and BF and 3 kids, 3 dogs, 6cats, and a small garden, should have chickens next spring.

Tina

[GoatieGIrl]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/418690311524283/

 We are a group of like-minded individuals dedicated to the purchase of land and the creation of an “Eco-village

” on that land. Some refer to this type of venture as a commune and others as a “Liberty village.” Whatever you prefer to call it, our intention is to create a self-sustaining village capable of existing “off grid” so to speak. By that we mean, generating our own power , growing as much food as the community will need year round, raising, slaughtering and butchering our own meat (for those who choose to eat meat), all in an Earth-friendly manner.
We will sparingly utilize natural resources, where available, with an ey
e toward renewal and replenishment in a manner not detrimental to the local environment. It is not possible to undertake such an endeavor without using some of the natural resources, so we will scrutinize and manage every project which requires the harvesting of those resources.
We invite you to join the group and share your ideas. All ideas are welcome if presented in a respectful manner. We know that this type of project attracts an eclectic variety of people and we want to respect everyone’s Faith and political perspectives. With that in mind, we respectfully request that posts of a religious or political nature be kept to a bare minimum. It is understood that you want to discuss and share your views and we want you to feel free to do so. However, these topics are known to be volatile in nature. So, please remember, you don’t have to share the views of the other members, you just have to respect them.