Kev

[Kev]

Hi Hugh!.. This is very helpful information on the various avenues for acquiring land.. I’ve been talking to some folks locally about such things, especially alternative ways to acquire land, as most of us are able to buy outright..

We’ve had some creative ideas on it, and I thought I’d bullet-point a few of them here to see what others think about them.. A lot of this is unconventional, but your point of “lease-to-own” compelled me to post some of these thoughts, which are scenarios that go a wee bit beyond just the land acquisition itself, and into business ideas and such, which would be required to keep it alive and fuel payments..

1) There is of course the avenue of owner financing, or seller finance, as you mentioned, where the seller “holds the note”, as one person put it, and you pay straight to them.. And there is the avenue of finding a property owner willing to divide their property into smaller lots, making them more affordable than if they were sold as a whole.. I was talking to a guy for a while, for example, who had migrated to the Missouri Ozarks and was going to local farmer/homesteader meetings, and was talking to landowners who, he said, were willing to divide up their properties and sell for as low as $1000/acre, and do seller financing.. He may have been bullshitting me, and not that such land would be choice pickings, but it did get my attention as something that might be possible..

2) Find an existing land-owner that would be willing to lease or even informally grant a parcel of their land for an organic homesteading endeavor.. The land doesn’t need to be divided up legally.. I was speaking in easy terms here, where a group of people would simply become residents of the land as it is.. My ideal, in this type of scenario, would be a land owner that essentially says, “Y’all can have the Back 40.. Go do your thing”.. And it might be more attractive to them to come in with business ideas that would help to pay for leasing of the space.. I also think this approach could be very attractive to existing farmers where there could be potential for collaboration between an incoming group and them.. I hear it said often enough, from folks who are farmers or know that world, that many farmers would be happy to have extra help and have you come live on the land, rent-free even.. And this could fall under “lease-to-own” as well..

3) Find a property owner that has rural property that they’re not using, perhaps fully undeveloped even, and would be willing to let others come in and turn it into something more meaningful.. This could also be a situation of making the homestead at least partially a business venture, especially if the land owner is burdened by property taxes.. A group of homesteaders could generate income to help with that, and maybe eventually lead to ownership..

4) Find wealthy benefactors or investors who want to fund a life-affirming project like an organic homestead.. Benefactors might be easier to find than I imagine (though seems a bit of a stretch, to be honest), and it seems to me that investors would be more numerous.. Though I have no idea how to begin to find such people, but I know I’ve heard others talking about investors looking for such avenues.. In that case, they’d want a return, so the homestead would be a business venture to a degree, whatever degree that is..

5) Crowdfunding.. To gather support/assistance for land acquisition, when it can be framed as a worthwhile project that folks can get behind – such as a restoration project, or any number of ideas, such as an organic farm that donates a specific percentage of yields to locals that can’t afford good produce.. So many meaningful ideas could be cooked up.. One idea I’ve been drawn to for a few years is making a homestead an educational center in some capacity that teaches gardening and food self-sufficiency.. (I personally have no experience with crowdfunding, but someone was imagining this, so I thought it was at least worth mentioning)..

Well, there y’all go.. I thought I’d throw this all out for consideration..

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[Kev]

My all-time favorite film, hands down.. From 1992 I believe.. A classic.. Put on the headphones for full musical effect, dim the lights & enjoy.. My favorite moment? — The snow monkey’s transcendent moment and introspection in the first 3 minutes.. Oh yeah…. ? ..(Movie is 1 hour 36 minutes long)..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=246aaIWf8ng

[Kev]

One of my favorites.. Released in 1970, the year of my birth.. A message apropos for today..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLQJ4toj-JY

[Kev]

Nice.. I especially like that it’s intergenerational, and there’s kiddos in the mix.. I’m an uncle by trade, so I’m personally hoping to find a place with the kiddos around..

[Kev]

Are they online, as in you can look up the place to find the Air bnb??, or are they super private??

[Kev]

Love the vision, david.. Remarkable to me how so many of us are coming to see this as the desired vision for organization: “an alchemical marriage of communing and privatizing, which might organize private domains around a central community space with a garden”.. I too would want to see collaboration around central purposes, such as gardens.. While we would all most certainly have our own gardens, perhaps there could be a larger communal garden, even one that was a specific thing, such as grain crops, where you want to produce a larger quantity, and it’s more efficient to do so collectively.. (but that’s also getting into specifics there, but still, it’s a possible concept).. Another idea I had was a large chicken yard that anyone could contribute to, as well as any other animal husbandry.. (but again, specifics there)…

And I too have envisioned central community buildings to include a healing center, for music-sound-dance, etc.. ?

[Kev]

Oh yeah, that’s smooth.. Good stuff….

[Kev]

“Blessed hummingbird, come and sing to me.. Remind me of your ancient song that plays always”.. Well, I think I just found a nice call-out to the hummer that comes a-chirpin’ around my balcony.. Lol.. And isn’t funny about some singers — you look at them and can’t imagine that voice comes out of them.. I’m wondering and guessing she’s got some soulful songs a little more on the gritty side, maybe??.. Loved this one.. ?

[Kev]

Wow.. Just gorgeous.. She’s one of those singers that’s got a vocal quality that stands alone.. Clearly it just flows from her in such an easy and natural way.. Loved.. (and now I got the melody running in my head).. ?

[Kev]

Loved this.. Inspired lyrics.. I have to point out my favorite: “The lightning out of the sky, and shooting right under our feet.. I feel the Earth come a rumblin’ up to meet the healing”.. Beautiful visuals there.. ⚡

[Kev]

I concur!.. That’s definitely something I’ve discussed with others here locally, who feel the need to create a situation where everyone is truly independent in their own right — a real kin’s settlement situation (what I alternatively call “homestead neighborhoods”).. Personally, I could go either way, but would tend toward wanting to divide it up into individual domains, especially if it were a relatively easy process.. Thanks for pointing this out Hugh.. Definitely a way to create a collection of homestead neighbors without massive, multiple purchases of land..

[Kev]

Eliza!.. Speaking of glorious comments:

“Maybe the only way is through – if a group dynamic / community to go to the land passes the discernment step – we have to just take the plunge, take the medicine and go through the growing pains so we can level up to finally get unstuck and get to the thrill and rewards of a new challenge”

Yes indeed, so well put.. Been thinking about this very thing.. A group can hash out their agreements, get on page with each other on homestead life, find common ground, even in relatively fine detail.. But then you get down into how you deal with the nitty gritty of the interpersonal.. You can’t possibly know everything about everybody, if not very much to begin with.. So what you say there is such a good summation and reflection of what I’ve been thinking – what you need is commitment to the process and commitment to creating something better, and not giving up on it.. As you say, “level up” and embrace the growing pains.. I’m all about it.. ?

So inspiring to see this.. Glorious comment..

(Also love the idea of workshopping this in some way, or some informal reflections on experiences, etc.)..

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[Kev]

Sarah.. Such an insightful articulation of your experience and many of the issues at the core of a group of folks coming together in a collaborative community/settlement.. Thank you!.. I personally especially resonate with the realization that it starts with the self, and owning yourself and being clear and honest about what you really truly want.. In my limited (though significant) experience living in community settings, that might be what I would consider the heart of interpersonal conflict – folks not owning themselves and projecting outward onto others, which breeds conflict.. (Or at least part of the equation)..

So many threads here to unravel and follow.. So I’ll jump in and go with it.. (Maybe/hopefully, others will chime in as well)..

Overarching, it’s so true what you say about how modern society has devolved in a way that people don’t know how to truly exist in a community or village, in the sense of the ways of the past, where homes were intergenerational, and everyone knew each other and depended on each other, and shared with each other.. We’ve all said or heard it said in the West, “most people don’t know their neighbors”, and with the instillation of the scarcity mindset, how selfish are most people, just trying to survive??.. (Not being judgy here, it’s just the way our world has been orchestrated).. I can speak for myself, and I see that others will certainly agree: we need to take it back, and I assert that it starts with the self and local community, and building the energy out from there, by example..

Your pulling back from the arrangement with your friend (with the ex-wife) could also be instructive.. If I’m seeing it correctly, it simply boiled down to it “not feeling right”, and a sense of a bit of insecurity about the future, with unknowns, and maybe a bit of not being in control, so you had to pull back.. That’s instructive to me because it demonstrates how it’s best to listen to instinct.. I would hope that that is a force that others tune into when organizing a community-village-homestead, but none of us can or should influence how others approach it, in their own searching.. But certainly something to be aware of.. Maybe you might come across others who “think it’s a great idea”, and you think great, and then in the end they weren’t being honest.. How can you tell??.. In time though, you do start to be able to discern..

Congratulations on finding your piece of land that works for you & your daughter.. If I’m understanding correctly, you can/may possibly bring in others for building a small village in the future, if you ever feel that’s something you want to do and you’re “ready for it”?.. In any case, having the experience of negotiating how everyone is different, and group dynamics, and interpersonal conflicts, is quite valuable to have under the belt.. I would say it’s now a solid position to be in, moving forward..

And I wholly understand what you say there about initial idealism and the dreaming, and the getting along during the honeymoon, only to see later the storms of conflicts and the emergence of “true colors”.. That’s the nature of human relations, I think.. I’ve personally given a lot of thought to this – I mean, a lot.. The conflicts are unavoidable, and always will be.. For me, the best or only thing that I can do is own myself and treat others with respect, and keep working at that, always.. So for a truly voluntaryist reality, it’s important to find others committed to the framework you agree upon as a group (which would need to be hashed out), as well as folks that are committed to owning themselves (whether they do fully or not at any given moment, but yet are committed to checking themselves and owning their actions and projections and how they treat others).. My experience in communities was quite rough years ago – I mean, rough.. (In retrospect, my assessment is that it was a matter of others not owning themselves and projecting outwards, oftentimes in what now seemed like a cry for help – but that’s entirely another gopher-hole one could slip into).. And yes, I was one of those crying out for help..

But as far as the dreaming and idealism goes – I can say and fully embrace that I’m the biggest dreamer and ideas-man I’ve ever met.. Lol.. But I also straddle the line between dreaming and ideals and practicality and function.. I can lay out a fantastic vision and reflect with others in our inspirations, then the next moment I say, “We need water.. What’s the plan and technique for securing water?.. What’s the engineering blueprint?”.. I think that in a sense, the day-to-day “getting shit done” with a sense of purpose will be bonding and grounding.. Perhaps necessity will dissolve some of the inclinations towards conflict – maybe not, though maybe to a good degree.. If you’re thirsty and hungry and focused on securing a stash of food for the winter months, are you gonna fuss about how someone’s holding their shovel??.. (Had to inject a bit of humour there).. ?

Yes, so much to be said about conflict.. I coined the phrase a while back to encompass the dualistic mentality our world is steeped in – “the mentality of conflict”.. Sounds a little harsh, I know, but I can’t help but see the conflicts of the world (and I’m speaking interpersonally here, between people) is a program of duality.. I’ve discussed this quite a bit with a close buddy, and I think also that anyone would agree that conflict and disagreement are inevitable – it’s one of the aspects of human life.. No illusions there.. But I will assert that a lot of it is unnecessary, in some cases just a knee-jerk reaction to this or that which is different from you, so you launch into disagreement and conflict.. Another way I put it is: “There’s 8 billion folks on the planet, all with unique points-of-view and perspectives, so you’re gonna be doing a lot of disagreeing” – (i.e. “what’s the point?”).. I can only speak for myself on this, and this assessment is what I’ve come to up to this point.. So I’ve been working/focusing diligently on just simply honoring the points-of-view of others and respecting it for what it is, as their own thing, and try not to get “triggered”, as they say, by how others are different or challenge me.. (There are of course some things that are so egregious you just have to walk away).. But flushing the dualistic bullshit is challenging, with a need for mindfulness – it’s constant work at this point.. So can I expect others to see through this lens??.. Nope, sure can’t.. Everyone has their own path and their own way.. I’m no saint or guru, just over here working it out for myself..

So see, what can you do??.. Try to find others with a commitment that aligns with your own? – creating a better reality, regardless, and not losing sight of that??.. An assertive commitment to evolution, not stagnation or continued devolution??.. A commitment to embrace the conflict and work it out face-to-face??.. It’s a tough challenge, just thinking about it sometimes..

And I do love your realization through experience that relationships will take a long time to fortify and strengthen.. Actions and energy-of-intent are everything, and that, I think most folks would agree, are foundations of trust.. And yes, “radical self-responsibility”.. Speaking for myself again, “self-responsibility” is truly brilliant and liberating, once you find it, or the path to finding it and becoming it.. I’ll tell ya, victimhood melts away.. Y’all, can I get an “amen”?!.. ?

But briefly, back on the point of being honest about what you really truly want.. Again, speaking for myself, I have come to (quite often now) really question what it is I want in this lifetime, and keep reassessing what I think my purpose is to manifest.. It’s an honest questioning, and I’m wholly open to radical reorientation if necessary.. (Have always been one to redirect, or step off the cliff, if necessary).. But I keep coming back to the essence of it – reclaiming and cleaning up the toxicity of our world through ownership of the self, and rebuilding of community, starting with the homestead and building out locally.. The homestead is the heart – where you own yourself, and control your destiny and that of your family, where you’re responsible, ideally, for everything (food, water, medicine, shelter, the joy you can create).. In my initial spiritual awakening/upheaval early in life, in my 20’s, living in San Francisco, I plugged into the realization that the old ways of the homestead is the way to go for our liberation.. So far, I’m sticking to that notion, even doubling-down a wee bit.. See, ideas-man.. Now, who’s got the engineering blueprints??..

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[Kev]

Wow — gorgeous ladies, cross-generational collaboration, unique & interesting song writing.. I see why it’s a favorite.. I especially like the musical writing and Sampa’s vocals in the second verse.. So good, so interesting..

[Kev]

Wow, these guys are great, with a really pleasing sound.. I can see how that’s a favorite song.. That singer can really open up in his upper register, too.. I love to hear that.. And the guitar solo in the middle, employing a mandolin-style strumming technique — fantastic.

[Author]

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