After hearing from some folks about intentional community ideas, we have come up w/ a flyer and some ideas. We anyone interested or ideas or feedback let me know! have a follow up letter i can send too after this one is disectedINTENTIONAL COMMUNITY OPPORTUNITY

WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE NEIGHBORS OF KINDRED SPIRIT?

Are you a “Countryside” type of person? Want your kids to have room to roam safely? HOMESCHOOLING, HOMESTEADING, COUNTRY LIFE APPEALLING?

WITHIN 15 MINUTES OF CHARLOTTESVILLE YET PRIVATE. EASY ACCESS TO TOWN AND INTERSTATE 64, 30 MINUTES FROM WAYNESBORO, OFF 29 SOUTH. BEAUTIFUL VIEWS.

3-4 FAMILIES DESIRED TO DEVELOP A SMALL COMMUNITY. PRIVATELY OWNED HOMES AND LAND, YET WITH 60+ ACRES OF UN-DEVELOPABLE FARMLAND SURROUNDING. Each family would own their own 2 acre lot, with access to additional area.

CHRISTIAN, HOMESCHOOLING, INDEPENDENT,FARMERS- AT- HEART FAMILY HAS AN OPPORTUNITY TO DEVELOP A 4-7 FAMILY COMMUNITY .

INTERESTED IN DEVELOPING SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE, DIVERSE PRODUCTION, CO=OPERATIVE SPIRITED VENTURE, WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF FAMILY INDEPENDENCE AND PRIVACY.

IF THIS IS NOT DONE 63 ACRES OF RURAL LAND WILL FALL TO SUBDIVISION DEVELOPMENT AND WE WILL HAVE TO MOVE. Time is of the essence…….. Please call 804-293-5514 or email LOTZAKDZ@JUNO.COM

-- kathryn russell'' (lotzakdz@juno.com), February 25, 2001

Answers

Sound more like a 60's counter-culture commune than a community.

-- Lynn Goltz (lynngoltz@aol.com), February 25, 2001.

Some people would be glad to find a area to do the things they dream of. Even small homesteads are sometimes within a feww acres of each other. There are people who need extra support while learning to be homesteaders. Good luck ,I hope it works out. P.S. there are ways to set asde your property for farmland only ,I believe it is called a Farmland trust. of course you would never be able to use or sell except for farming.

-- lexi Green (whitestone11@hotmail.com), February 25, 2001.

we have a rural preservation thing here, where land is declared for famring only. that is what i plan to try for...

i guess after reading back i jsut don't quite get what sounds 60's commune about it. here is my 2nd flyer that i have gotten together. if anyone has a specific critique that i could consider, please feel free:Intentional Community info…..

OK, here we go. We are a Christian rural-wanna-be-farmers family. Father of the clan works at UVA, in facilities maintenance, , Mother holds no out-of-the-home job, home schools appropriate children, and handles daily farm chores. We have 8 children, 7 still at home, and 2 delightful granddaughters who live w/ their mom and dad in Florida. Our children at home are aged 20, 15,15, 9, 7, 3, 3. They are all girls except one of the 3 year olds. (anyone w/ little boys ,….) We have beeves, meat and milk goats, 3 dairy cows, 3 cats, a bunny, a dog, and chickens. We DO NOT want to live next to a subdivision, having lived in a relatively private isolation for the last 10 years (4 here). We would like to be able to visit our grandbabies in Florida without selling all our farm animals and leaving electric heaters on throughout the house. (we heat w/ wood).

So….. the idea of having neighbors that are compatible with our values and lifestyle, and amenable to co-operative community life within a framework of privately owned property, independent family living, and good old fashioned neighborliness is rather appealing. I can’t do it all! We wouldn’t all need to have chickens, dairy cows, goats, bees, etc, but could have the availability and “barter- ability” within spitting distance. We would be here for each other in times of need. While I am very much an independently oriented private person, I recognize no man is an island, and would like to have neighbors that help with the peacefulness of country living. Does being able to drive into town and have a trusted adult handy to keep an eye on the children, go out w/ papa without struggling with the childcare, doing “group” projects in home school without having to drive off somewhere, being able to have fresh milk, eggs, etc. right at your doorstep, AND having the reassurance of extremely limited growth within 15 minutes of Charlottesville appeal to you? Like the fact that you don’t have to justify your lifestyle to neighbors who are 2 wage-earner, kids institutionalized and TV and Nintendo-heads. Like to be able to talk herbs, home remedies, cooking and gardening tips over the fence with your neighbor? Crack up over Veggie Tales? Backwoods Home, Countryside, more appealing than Time and McCalls? Do you know who John Galt is? You just might add a lot to the neighborhood. While certainly we don’t expect to have clones of ourselves (pretty boring picnics) we would like to have “kindred spirits”.

SOOOOO down to the nitty gritty. A developer has made an offer. Need to act with haste. We need 3 families who would like to purchase building lots of 2 acres @ for the price of $50K a lot. What would you get for your big bucks? Well, for no more than 10% down, we could finance the purchase UNTIL you got a mortgage or construction loan. Or if you were one of those real hardy types and wanted to pay-as-you-go build, no sweat. You would have your 2 acres, your own piece of dirt. AND you would have access and use of at least one 2 acre community lot, to be decided by the group how to most appropriately utilize it… Ideas~~garden, playground, ballfield, picnic area, sandpile, so many options (my favorite~~community canning kitchen….) You would also have the assurance that the farmland on 3 sides of the property would be UNDEVELOPABLE in a rural preservation district. In addition, there would be access to the creek and buffer zone of land around the creek for recreation, playing, and just quiet walks. However, one thing that you would NOT have~~~Dogs will not be allowed to free roam. Nothing against dogs, we have one ourselves, but they can cause a great deal of distress when not properly supervised. The property is close to a major highway (ST RT 29) but not on the road. Very easy access to town, as well as quick trip to I-64. Within commuting distance of Waynesboro (35 minutes).Gorgeous panoramic mountain views from building lots. The property is pasture land, so there would be no need for clearing. There has been NO problem getting wells drilled in this area, and the water is very good.

If you are interested and feel that this would be a good move for your family, let’s talk more.

Please feel free to email me with any questions, at LOTZAKDZ@JUNO.COM or, if you have no email call at 804-293-5514

-- kathryn russell (lotzakdz@juno.com), February 25, 2001.

Be sure to check zoning and local regs. If you approach it the wrong way, EOC could have some say in the matter also.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), February 25, 2001.

Best of luck on your idea. We tried to set something simular up for years, but it never got started. We just could never find enough people to do it. We have the land, we have realized we could no longer use all of it and would have liked to get some neighbors of like mind that liked the idea of homesteading. Never found anyone that could afford the downpayment of 6,000 dollars much less 50,000. Would really like to hear how you do.

-- David (bluewaterfarm@mindspring.com), February 27, 2001.

Hello Kathryn, Most people think of intentional communities as a "free love, free sex, hippy movement that was famous in the sixties. I for one am not into that kind of lifestyle but, have chosen to live in an intentional community with my children and wife. We are the first of several that will build our homes on parcels of land and share the remaining property, using it a common area that will never be developed. It is sad that you have chosen to offer one extreme or another for what you say in a very beautiful area. An intentional community will not just appear overnight as there are only a few types of people that would be willing to take on such a venture. I chose it because as the caretaker of the property first, I fell in love with this beautiful valley and wanted to live here so much that when the owner offered me a piece of his land, I jumped on it without hesitation. But, my wife, child and I are very congenial people. Even among ourselves we do not argue or even disturb the flow of peace between us. We have been together for over three years and never once have we raised our voices to each other in anger. The owner of the property is the same. Very congenial. We have lived here almost a year and have not ever had a reason to criticize each other or to raise our voices to each other in anger. You will find it hard to match people that well but, it will happen if you give it time. Most of commune living is based on established rules that EVERYONE must abide by, including the first owner of the land. If he establishes rules that he does not follow himself, then this violates an honesty among all communinal peoples. For instance, there is no hunting on this property but, all are allowed to prastice target shooting as long as the others are aware of when it is going to happen. This will allow the others to be safely away from the target shooting area as well as not to upset anyone suddenly. Now if the owner decides he wants to target shoot and he doesn't arrange it will the others, he is violated the established rules that he originally set up for the rest of us. These violations would be enough to breach contracts. Ultimately, having others to share the load of homesteading is a very valuable commodity. When big jobs are to be done, they can be done quicker with several of the men working on it together. Example, framing up houses, laying water pipe, gardening etc. Sharing community responsiblities are easier. When we are away, the other family takes care of our livestock and watches over the property. When they are away we do the same. Again it works but, it will always take time to find the right people to do it with. Most of the people interviewed for this community have been regretably (lazy). As homesteading requires more than just dreamers it requires doers that dream. Now, with all that aside. I hope that you do not hastily decide that you do not have time for these intentional community folks to appear and risk taking the first ones that come to your doorstep and leave it at that. I hope that when choosing these people that you choose them wisely, understanding that they will "make or break" the group your are trying to form. Don't chose ones that are almost like yourselves either. You are probably good folk but, I for one do not want to be living with a bunch of "me". I would prefer people with diversed background that would be capable of handling things of course but, only those that complement areas that I am weak in. I hope this helps you as I write it in the sincerist way to demostrate that patience and time will eventually pay off for your goals. I also write this to thwart you from turning a beautiful landscape into suburbs. We have enough of those already! Sincerely, Ernest www.communities.msn.com/livingoffthelandintheozarks

-- Ernest in the Ozarks (espresso42@hotmail.com), February 27, 2001.

Ernest, some good suggestions. We are only needing 4 to start to get it to go, with opportunity to grow by max 3 more families(maybe) later.

The big starting issue here is the fact that we have a limited window of time to start since there is an offer being put together now and it will need to be countered. The place you are in sounds similar to what we are looking to work for. I don't really understand your comment " It is sad that you have chosen to offer one extreme or another for what you say in a very beautiful area. " What exactly do you mean?

As far as communal living, i and hopefully those people that will be interested are not looking for a hippie throwback, but more a "neighborliness" with OPPORTUNITY to contribute and be good neighbors, not specific requirements to be communal. Like you said, not everyone will be the same, and it would be dreary to be so. But we do not see a subdivision of 25+ cookie cutter houses contributing to our standard of living, whereas off the sidewalkers would likely be willing to offer neighborliness without nosiness....

-- kathryn russell (lotzakdz@juno.com), February 27, 2001.

I've been searching on-line for months under Intentional Communities. I was looking for one in KY or TN. There isn't any like us, just homesteaders. It's just me and Steve, no kids, and we are not sure where we are going to go when this farm sells. We just want to go back in the hills and work hard and be good people.

Bob said at one point he had a few people interested, but I haven't heard back anything. Why don't we buy 200 acres of land in Tennesee within 1 hour of Nashville, and just camp? I'll do it. But I want a creek to sit by and hunt for rocks. There is nothing holding us in KY. I want to be close enough to Nashville to help in the missions and food kitchens and such, helping others you know, volunteering. And Steve makes good money doing construction, he could work when we needed extra money. What about ten 20 acre parcels all hooked together? That would solve allot of problems right there. I quess I'm just rambling this morning. I'll go search some more land in TN, there sure is allot of it, and allot of creeks too.

-- Cindy in Ky (solidrockranch@hotmail.com), February 27, 2001.