Community Garden

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Socialism Fails as Free Markets Flourish In the Village

In 1620, the Pilgrims tried socialism – and utterly failed at it. For several years, the colony raised crops in “communal service.” It didn’t work. So Governor Bradford instituted one historic change that was to ensure the flourishing success of the colony and change American history ever afterwards. Communal agriculture was abandoned and private planting was established. Here is Bradford’s own account from the original source documents:

“This was very successful. It made all hands very industrious, so that much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been by any means the Governor or any other could devise, and saved him a great deal of trouble, and gave far better satisfaction. The women now went willingly into the field, and took their little ones with them to plant corn, while before they would allege weakness and inability; and to have compelled them would have been thought great tyranny and oppression.

The failure of this experiment of communal service, which was tried for several years, and by good and honest men, proves the emptiness of the theory of Plato and other ancients, applauded by some of later times–that the taking away of private property, and the possession of it in community, by a commonwealth, would make a state happy and flourishing; as if they were wiser than God. For in this instance, community of property (so far as it went) was found to breed much confusion and discontent and retard much employment which would have been to the general benefit and comfort.”

This story from our American heritage explains why private property ownership is so important. Let me give you another example of how we learned the same thing that Governor Bradford did. Those who have visited my website at sewaneecreek.com have seen that we tout our community garden.  This garden was never intended to feed Villagers, but rather serve as a place for training and social relationship building. But, even on that level, I proudly admit that the “community garden” has failed. The good news is that we recognized this early on and, like Governor Bradford, changed to something better. I built a nice raised bed garden and brought in good topsoil for the community garden.  But, because everyone in the Village has enough land to raise their own crops, it’s simply more convenient to farm closer to home. That fact, combined with what the Pilgrims discovered long ago, that socialism discourages real work, doomed the community garden even though it’s still there, ready to be worked by anyone who wants to.

What works better? Letting natural law take its natural course. We began assisting one another with gardening on our own land. That practice evolved further to helping one another with other projects. The key is that there is always a project sponsor who has a vested interest in getting something done with or improving something they own. An enlightened sponsor, interested in optimizing value, getting the job done effectively and efficiently, puts extra effort into organizing in advance. By managing it well, needed tools and materials are readily available. Know-how is acquired by study in advance of execution and necessary training is given.  This happens naturally when the objective is efficient production, not just hanging out together.  Not only does value-added work get done, but leadership and management skills are developed in the process.  The tangible results?

Example 1. Last winter, three families contributed real labor in the planting, tending and harvest of crops from the greenhouse that my family owns. The productivity of our assets increased as needed labor hours were contributed. We felt good about sharing the products of our combined labor. We had an abundance of winter vegetables including cabbage, kale, lettuce, carrots, beets, broccoli and cauliflower.  At times there was much more than the three participating families could consume, and much more than our family had the prior winter, when we operated the greenhouse by ourselves.

Example 2. is actually many examples. As each family realized the benefits received when others contributed labor to THEIR sponsored/owned projects, there developed a free market of labor exchange based on trust that value given would be returned and amplified. A free market requires that kind of trust and it encourages all to give their best efforts in return SO THAT they can earn the trust and contributions of others. An essential part of FREE MARKET is FREEDOM.   No one is forced, coerced, or even made to feel guilty if they don’t opt to play in the free market. But there are natural consequences, in the form of benefits.

Here is a partial list of the products of these many small projects.

ROTATING COMMUNITY PROJECTS
(by sponsor/beneficiary – in order of arrival in Village & participation)

Family #1

  • Raised Bed Gardens Built
  • Greenhouse Built
  • Back Garden Clearing, Plowing, Planting
  • Orchard Irrigation Water Tank – overflow from RWCS
  • Deep Cycle Solar Battery Charging
  • CONEX Guest House Built
    • Insulation
    • Exterior Siding
    • Interior paint & Paneling
    • Plumbing
    • Roof
  • Power Shed
    • Concrete Foundation
    • Shed Re-Roofed
    • Lister Generator Installed
    • Wood Gasifier Installation & Training
  • Micro-Hydro-Electric Generator @ Miller’s Falls
    • drilled for Re-Bar above Waterfall for Small Dam
    • Install Weir
    • Install pen-stock

Family #2

  • Dam for Driveway and Pond Built
  • Driveway Built, Rock Surfaced
  • Outdoor Wood Furnace Installed
  • Raised Bed Gardens Built
  • Chicken Coop designed & Built
  • Rainwater Catchment Tanks installed
  • Solar PV System Installed
  • Roof Repair – Main House
  • Seed Lawn
  • Move In: Unload truck and move furniture
  • Kitchen Cabinets Finished
  • Special House Cleaning for guest visit
  • Solar Fence Installed
  • CONEX containers for shop installed,
    • Ground work, leveling
    • Windows installed
    • Trenching for electrical connection to shop

Family #3

  • Storage Shed Built
  • Raised Bed Garden Built
  • Garden Leveled and Plowed
  • Stone Retaining Wall & Garden Bed Built
  • Fallen Tree Removed
  • Chicken Coop Built
  • Installed 2 TV Antennas
  • Move In: Unload truck and move furniture
  • Rainwater Collection System Installed

Family #4

  • Put Out Large Brush Fire
  • Built Goat Shelter
  • Re-Mapped New Lot perimeter for Solar fence and Dam

Family #5

  • Raised Beds for Garden Installed
  • General Yard Clean-up during Construction

COMMUNITY PROJECTS

  • Tile Fired and Installed for Face of the Village Sign – Donated by a generous Villager
  • Planter at the Village sign, maintenance – Family #3
  • Winter Greenhouse Garden, Cabbage harvest & Kraut Processing
  • Bee Keeping
    • Monthly bee club potluck And instruction
    • Continuous learning & sharing of info re: bees
    • Hives built
    • Bees installed
    • Regular weekly rotation of bee care & feeding
  • Food Service Equipment donated for Commons, pending installation – another generous Villager

SOCIAL / CULTURAL & EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES

  • Weekly Monday Family Home Evening get-togethers for games, discussions, lessons, etc.
  • Pot Luck Dinners
    • Christmas, New Years and Thanksgiving
    • Monthly Village Potluck – Rotating Venue
    • Ad Hoc – too many to count
  • Preparedness Fair (with over 15 expert presentations)
  • Preparedness Workshop (with gourmet outdoor cooking demo and feast, rock climbing and rappelling and more
  • Annual July 4th Celebration (potluck, entertainment, movies, fireworks, pig roast)
  • Summer movies under the stars @ the Village Amphitheater
  • Movies @ the Miller’s Home Theater – Too many to count
  • Plays attended together
    • Les Miserable – Nashville
    • A Mid-Summer Nights Dream – U. Of South, Sewanee
    • Julius Caesar – U. Of South, Sewanee
    • Picasso at the Lapin Agile – U. Of South, Sewanee
  • Movies away from the Village
    • Defiance – U. OF South
    • Atlas Shrugged
  • Educational presentations attended in Huntsville twice
  • Many gulf hikes, cave explorations
  • Stone Fort Park Tour – Manchester
  • Local Worm Farm Tour
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We have extra land. Anybody want to farm it?

Food security is the ultimate liberty.  If you can do it in  urban NYC, you can do it anywhere.  For some more inspiration, watch this YouTube video.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDxBEUOImjI

The Village on Sewanee Creek is about 750 rural acres on Tennessee’s lush Cumberland Plateau.  Of that, about 80 acres is cleared land that could be farmed.  Some of it is.  (The balance is either in deep woods or in a deep rugged canyon nature preserve) We have already built a community raised bed garden.  But there’s more.  Either on lots currently owned by Villagers, but as yet unfarmed or on unsold lots.

Want to farm but need land?  We have it and we can help you learn to farm.  Call us at (931) 442-1444.

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Community -The Value of People

I get calls all the time from people saying they are looking for a community of “like-minded people”.  It seems that has become a cliche’.  Like most buzz words, it’s worth digging a little deeper to find out what it means to the person using it.   A wise man said, “the map is not the territory”.

The Village is all about making a place to live where people share similar, bedrock values especially caring about and being able to depend on their neighbors.  That takes a lot of work.  It means I have to explore their map of reality below the surface cliche’s.  Fortunately, by the time most people call me they are pre-screened.  They have found us by searching on some important key words.  They know they want a self-sufficient lifestyle and they want community.  They aren’t very interested in a superficial country club lifestyle where everybody wants to flaunt their wealth.  Most of the time, they are busy professionals, intelligent, successful folks with solid values who want to simplify.  They have usually read my blog, so the field has already been narrowed to a select few with a pretty good fit – compatible values.  But even then, I’m not shy about telling people who wouldn’t fit that they might be happier with a different kind of community.  Why?  Because I live here and I’m building the kind of place where I want to live for the rest of my life.  Great relationships with people are more important than money.  People are more important than things.

In hard times especially, people need to draw together.  Trusting relationships are everything.  This message seems to be resonating with people more and more as the economy looks ever more shaky and the government looks ever more out of control.  At a time when most luxury resort type communities haven’t sold anything for a year and are going bust, we are growing rapidly.

If you call or visit, there is no high pressure sales pitch.  Even before we show you around, we like to sit and chat for a while – explore your “map”, your values, your goals and aspirations.  Before you fall in love with the land we want to know that you will love the kind of people who are here.

We offer a private website where villagers, prospective villagers, contractors, and even neighbors from outside our “non-exclusive” development can get to know one another and share their views, ask each other candid questions and make sure this is where they want to be.  I have even offered to set up conference calls between prospective and current villagers to explore the fit.  It’s a slow process and it risks killing sales, but I think it’s worth it.  After all, making a move like this is a big change for most people.  There’s more to a happy life than a nice secluded house nestled in nature’s beauty.  You’re not buying dirt and trees, you’re hoping to buy a happy life.  We do everything we can to assure that will happen for our Villagers … and for ourselves.

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Sustainable Living Progress Report

Progress Update

OK, so I have been really bad about posting updates lately. That’s because I’ve been working hard on projects and I’m dog-tired at the end of each day.  The good news is that we’re moving forward with lots of cool stuff here.

Thanks to my wife, the greenhouse is planted and lots of little sprouts are poking their heads up. The weather has gotten warm enough to shut down the greenhouse furnace for now. Daytime temps are in the 70’s and greenhouse temp’s are in the 80’s and 90’s. We still need to install the shade cloth for the summer. Should be arriving this week.

We have engaged a land company on several projects. A huge track-hoe is now sitting on the property ready to begin work this week expanding the retention pond where we plan to raise cattails to be distilled for alcohol fuel and retain water for irrigation.

Chuck is making good progress on the wood gasifier that will also make fuel for the stationary generator installation. This green electricity generating system will also become an economic mainstay for producing a valuable product in the Village.  Chuck is part of the larger community web of folks dedicated to being self-sufficient. When you visit, you should make time to meet him. He’s an amazing resource and an amazing guy!

We have finished grading a large pad for a workshop / storage building. I’m excited about this prototype project because we will be using 40′ X 8′ shipping containers as the green building blocks. These large steel containers are built for ocean shipping conditions. Therefore, strong enough to handle hurricanes but inexpensive because there are millions of these things piled up at sea ports needing to be salvaged. I plan to face the sides of them with oak slab paneling – a FREE byproduct of local saw mills and insulate them with recycled insulation from the many commercial chicken houses that have closed near here. We will install roof trusses with a pitched steel roof and, once again install tanks to collect rainwater for irrigation. The shop will be heated in winter from the same outdoor wood furnace that will heat the greenhouse and two other homes. So, when we’re done, we’ll have a state-of-the-art green facility that costs not a lot more than our sweat equity and has an attractive, rustic look to boot.

Now for the part that really gets my creative juices going. We have purchased three of these containers – two for the shop and a third one that will be used to hosue the screen and backstage at the amphitheater. By this year’s third annual July 4th event we hope the amphitheater will be fully and permanently functional. The stage container will also house electronic sound equipment, a small kitchen and serve as a multipurpose community center.

My brother has been here for the past month working on his house and helping with all these projects. It’s great to have like-minded people who you love focused together on the same goals and having fun at it.

It seems that the worse the economy gets the better it is for the people in the Village.

We look forward to seeing all of you soon.

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Neighborhood Rules for a Sustainable Lifestyle

From time to time I receive an email with lots of great questions. This one needs to be shared.
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Grant,
Thanks for the information on the lots and prices. There are a lot of things we like about your development – it’s clear you’ve put a lot of time and thought into it.

We have in common some concerns about the economy and what will happen over the next few years, and we’re very interested in finding a community which has some of these concerns in common and a commitment to a degree of sustainability and self-reliance. Separately, I’ll email you a couple articles on the economy / future predictions which you may find interesting.

My wife and I have a few questions – I’ve numbered them for reference, the number does not signify a priority:

1. What is the threshold to quality for the “Green” discount?   That is, is there a list of specific things one must do to a home?
Currently there are three types of green installation that would qualify. They are Wind power, Solar power and Rain Water Collection System. One of my objectives in offering this rebate is that our efforts in this direction be very visible as an example to educate and encourage others. Hence the choice of these. From a quality perspective, they must function for their intended purpose. Proof that electricity is generated in the projected amounts and stored in a manner to provide a meaningful contribution to your sustainability. You may either contract with an approved professional for installation, in which case the rebate may be applied against the total installed cost or do the work yourself, in which case the rebate will apply only against materials. The project must be completed within one year of purchase.

2. Is there a build deadline – a date by which one must build, after you’ve purchased a lot?
There is no build deadline, only Green Rebate deadline.

3. I see there is a common garden area, but it appears that all forms of fencing is prohibited on an individual lot. We’d like a place where we can have our herb garden for the kitchen and a small vegetable garden on our own lot … and that would mean fencing of some type to keep the rabbits and deer out. Is that a possibility, or is the no-fencing rule absolute?
I need to clarify the covenants. The no-fence rule is meant to apply only to opaque privacy fences. We want to have an open community that invites interaction between neighbors and minimizes barriers. Fences for other purposes (pet or livestock containment, garden protection, etc) are fine.  You will find that anything that makes good common sense for the establishment of a sustainable lifestyle will be encouraged here. The primary principle that will govern all rules is the golden rule with an emphasis on personal liberty to use your land in the most productive manner for the pursuit of happiness and your well being.

4. Similar to fencing question above and related to the goals of sustainability and self-reliance, we’d also like a place that would allow a small chicken coop … I can understand that on lots of an acre or two, neighbors may object to a rooster – that’s the one that creates the early morning noise, but not so the hens. Recently, even large communities like Raleigh and Durham have affirmed that homes with small yards can have – in Durham up to 10 hens, but no rooster … I don’t recall for sure what the Raleigh rule was. What are your thoughts on this?
We encourage small-scale farm production of all types. I keep rabbits on my property. I intend to build a chicken coop as well. Just haven’t gotten to that project yet. There are many small farmers in the extended community who raise chickens, beef, pigs, bees, etc., so as yet, I have relied on my neighbors for these commodities. Personally, I have no problem with roosters either since I am usually up before the roosters are. I think we will leave that up to the vote of the community as to whether we should impose a rooster rule in the future.   At this point there is none.

5. Also, our southern woods are infested with ticks … we’d like to have the freedom to have a few guinea hens to run loose during the day and gobble up the ticks … they are far better at tick control than any other creature – – and that also fits with our mutual dislike of chemicals and sprays.
Guinea hens are not only great for controlling ticks, they are excellent watch “dogs” as well. Highly encouraged.

6. The annual HOA fee is set at $600 … what additional fees / assessment do you envision (i.e., amount and frequency)? From heading a couple HOAs in the past, I can understand that you can’t be precise about predicting the future, but what’s your best guess at this point in time?
We have actually reduced the HOA fee to $300 and as yet have not collected it from any homeowners. At this point, we do not maintain expensive improvements like a lodge or a pool, so our costs are minimal. The trails that connect each lot and the 500 acre nature preserve and the entry sign area do require maintenance, but so far I have carried those costs either from my own pocket or my own labor. The future will be, as you say, difficult to predict. However, I believe there will be sustainability projects that the HOA will want to take on where it will make sense to share the costs as opposed to tackling them as individual families. For example, it might make sense for the HOA to own a tractor to cultivate the community garden and to purchase fuel for it. Some of us have also talked about how much fun it might be to have a zip line system for access and enhanced appreciation of the canyon nature preserve. These commitments will be taken on by common vote of the community. I am careful not to impose costs that reduce sustainability or become a burden to Villagers.

7. How many total lots do you expect to put on the market (i.e., how many neighboring families will be in this community when fully populated)?
There are 30 lots in phase 1. Approximately the same in phase 2. Several families have purchased two adjoining lots. I encourage people to build multiple homes on their lots for extended family where they have enough land, as I plan to do for my children and aging mother. So the total population is difficult to predict. This said, we carefully chose this area for the quality of people who surround the village. They tend to be hard-working, resourceful, honest, open people. I view them as an extension and a vital part of our sustainable community.  We differ from many gated, closed communities in that we strive to maintain excellent, close relationships with our indigenous neighbors. We hope to be of great value to them as they are to us.