Homesteading
Village-Building Stumbles: A few of the things Earthaven Ecovillage has gotten wrong
Posted on October 1, 2019 byThose of us privileged enough to find ourselves in an intentional community often imagine that our environment will be free of the horrors and evils of the world. But alas, we bring it all with us.
How to Stop Climate Change and Never Be Lonely Again
Posted on July 30, 2019 byEmpowered, sustainable communities are the antidote to isolation. And they are the pivotal technology that makes renewable energy, essential for reversing climate change, actually renewable.
What Can We Learn from the Amish?
Posted on April 23, 2019 byTouch the soil, live simply, and be satisfied with “enough”: it’s worked for the Amish for almost 300 years and it can work for us as well.
Community, Land, Self: We’re Part of the Same Elephant
Posted on April 16, 2019 byEscaping to an ecotopian or intact natural world proves neither possible nor effective as a way to avoid the realities of human and planetary suffering. Instead, a communitarian receives lessons in interconnectedness that he will never forget.
Growing Together through Trauma, with the Land
Posted on April 9, 2019 byWhen La’akea Community’s stability is disrupted and its existence threatened by the aftermath of an earthquake, members discover that their land is a much larger source of “glue” to keep them together than they had thought.
Regenerative Victory Gardens
Posted on October 15, 2018 byStacking Benefits of Gardens When you plant a garden, you are doing more than practicing a resilient skill, and cultivating mouth watering beefsteak tomatoes. You are reducing food miles by creating sustenance locally, without the need for costly and dirty energy inputs. You can skip the application of dangerous pesticides and fertilizers, and instead of… Read More
Earthaven Experience Week June 8–13, 2018
Posted on April 17, 2018 by3 Comments
The FIC is proud to co-sponsor the School of Integrated Living’s Earthaven Experience Week This residential service-learning program immerses learners in the life of Earthaven Ecovillage. Participants join the homes, lives, businesses, and farms of the Taylor Creek Watershed community for a hands-on, skill-building, life-changing experience. You can find more information and register here. The Earthaven Experience Week curriculum… Read More
Colonists Wanted: The Story of the Llano del Rio Commune of LA County
Posted on February 20, 2017 by“Colonists–Wanted,” the ad proclaims. “Llano del Rio, in the Antelope Valley, Los Angeles County, California, needs 900 single men and women and married men and their families. This is an opportunity of a lifetime to solve the problem of unemployment and provide for the future of yourself and children.” It almost sounds like something you… Read More
Are Seasteading Communities the Next Wave of Sustainable Living?
Posted on February 13, 2017 byWayne Adams and Catherine King, two artists living in Tofino, Canada, couldn’t afford to buy a house of their own. Instead, they took their assets offshore — literally — and created a floating paradise off the coast of Vancouver Island called Freedom Cove. For over 20 years, they’ve been living off-grid on this brightly-colored collection of buildings and rafts.… Read More
ThePOOSH Connects Volunteers With Natural Building Projects
Posted on January 23, 2017 byLots of intentional communities are connected with the WWOOFing network (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms). It’s a great way for volunteers to gain experience living and working on an organic farm in exchange for room and board. But have you heard of the POOSH network, which connects people interested in natural and sustainable building projects?… Read More
The Untold Story of Utopian Communes In America
Posted on November 24, 2016 byIt was a time of great change and social experimentation. Groups of like-minded people pooled their money to buy property in what one writer called a kind of “socialist land mania.” Another philosopher said that it was impossible to find a well-read man without “a draft of a new community in his waistcoat pocket.“ Residents from these communities traveled… Read More
The First Seasteading Community May Be Closer To Reality Than We Thought
Posted on November 17, 2016 by1 Comment
In June, I wrote a blog post about the Ephemerisle Festival, a gathering on the Sacramento River Delta that imagines what a floating city might look like. The festival hopes to educate people about “seasteading,” which refers to long-term communities at sea, away from the interference of national governments, where residents can practice self-reliance and self-governance. At the time,… Read More
The Micro-Nation of Liberland Could Be The World’s Biggest Planned Community
Posted on November 3, 2016 byPicture a country built from scratch: a city-state with open borders, where paying taxes is optional and there are no laws other than “live and let live.” At just three square miles, cars will be unnecessary; the open-air cityscape will allow for algae-powered residences and vertical farms. Private property, drug use, and sexuality will be free from interference by… Read More
How A Mystical Novel Spurred the Ecovillage Movement in Russia
Posted on September 15, 2016 byOver the years, many intentional communities have drawn on works of fiction for inspiration. They can serve as cultural touchstones, helping connect the communities in a particular region with a shared philosophy or way of life. Here in the Pacific Northwest, books like Ecotopia and The Fifth Sacred Thing sit on many communal bookshelves. The… Read More
This Alaska Community Took Its Own Approach To Treating Mental Illness
Posted on August 15, 2016 by2 Comments
The philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti once said, “It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” It’s a quote often repeated by alternative healers and counter-cultural thinkers. In the 1980s, four families from Boston – who suffered from depression, schizophrenia, and other mental illnesses – put that philosophy to the… Read More
The Community Land Trust That Arose Out of the Civil Rights Movement
Posted on August 1, 2016 bySo many of the community structures that we write about here at FIC – such as community land trusts – have a long, but often overlooked, history. That’s why it’s important for writers, filmmakers, and historians to document stories of intentional communities over time. A new documentary, Arc of Justice, does just that. Made by… Read More
This 1800s Commune Tried Free Love and Income-Sharing Long Before It Was A Thing
Posted on July 11, 2016 byMany of the intentional communities that we hear about are recent ones: the back-to-the-land communes of the 1970s, the student co-ops and cohousing spaces being formed today. That’s why it’s especially fascinating to get a glimpse into a commune from a different era – as I did recently in a book called “Oneida: From Free… Read More
Former Residents Call on Black Bear Ranch to Unsettle The Klamath River
Posted on March 30, 2016 byEight years ago, when I moved out to the West Coast for the first time, I wasn’t yet aware of the intentional community movement. I’d always imagined living collectively, but it wasn’t until I learned about Black Bear Ranch – through a documentary called “Commune” – that I realized communities like it actually existed. In… Read More
Rough Start to Rural Community
Posted on May 28, 2015 byRough Start to Rural Community Christian and Johannes Zinzendorf call themselves Harmonists, with central beliefs around the value of hard work in an agrarian life, and a communion with the spirits in nature. They make their own clothes from fabrics that they grow and spin from flax. They grow and harvest grains, care for a… Read More
Permaculture Resources at Your Fingertips
Posted on April 27, 2015 bySelf described as a big crowd of permaculture goofballs, Permies.com is chock full of forums, links to resources, videos, and helpful information about smart ecosystem design! Check out Permies.com for a trove of permaculture resources at your fingertips.
Family Grows 3 Tons of Food on 1/10th Acre
Posted on April 4, 2015 by1 Comment
Family Grows 3 Tons of Food! The Dervaes family turned a “regular city home” into a thriving garden ecosystem that provides more than enough food for their family, and plenty to supply a local food stand. “Surrounded by urban sprawl and just a short distance from a freeway, the Urban Homestead project is a family… Read More
Improve Your Soil – Bury Yard Waste
Posted on April 1, 2015 byWhat can you do to repair or improve your soil? Hugelkultur is a technique that works by burying logs, sticks, and yard waste, which then decomposes into fertile, aerated, moist soil. You can then plant directly on the Hugelkultur pile, waiting 6-12 months first if preferred to encourage more breakdown of the yard waste first,… Read More
Couple Builds Cabin of Windows for $500
Posted on March 23, 2015 byA Cabin of Windows Wouldn’t it be cool if a house had a wall of windows, so it couldn’t confine the sunset to just one little space? Lilah Horwitz and Nick Olson mused at this while watching a sunset on their first date. Just under 1 year later the two returned to those same… Read More
How to Thrive on 10%
Posted on March 13, 2015 byHow to Thrive on 10% It is often taken for granted that the United States consumes and wastes 5 times more than the rest of the planet. At the same time it is well known and highly advised that dramatic reductions in carbon pollution is needed to address climate change. We also know that having… Read More
Free Land on a Tropical Island!?
Posted on March 6, 2015 by5 Comments
Free land on a tropical island!? Pitcairn, a small remote paradise-like island in the South Pacific is running out of people. They are giving land for free to people who want to settle there. Could it make a good Ecovillage location? “With an aging population of around 50 people, this British Overseas Territory is seeking… Read More
UN Report says Organic Farming is Key
Posted on March 3, 2015 byUN Report says Organic Farming is Key In a new report, with the dramatic title, ‘Wake up Before it’s too Late’, “the United Nations is once against sounding the alarm about the urgent need to return to (and develop) a more sustainable, natural and organic system.” Image courtesy of Wikipedia.org Recommendations of the report include… Read More
New Beehive Design does not disturb Bees to Harvest Honey!
Posted on February 22, 2015 byFor those who harvest honey, “the worst part of being a beekeeper is pulling out the honey-laden frames from the box and tearing them up to get the honey. The bees hate it and so do I. That’s why this new hive design, called Flow, is so cool.” Check out this New Beehive Design does… Read More
Property For Sale
Posted on May 10, 2013 byA dear friend on the Tri-communities scene in Rutledge, MO has just put her house on the market. Want to be a neighbor to Sandhill Farm, Red Earth Farms and Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage? She is selling it for $98,500. It is 3 BR plus a large attic space semi-finished that could be a 4th or… Read More
Uses of Vinegar In Your Home
Posted on April 12, 2013 byA safe, cheap, and easy cleaner for all number of things! Here’s a list of cleaning tips for your home: http://thehomesteadsurvival.com/45-vinegar-home
