start with the hull, then build the rest of the ship

This Saturday, some of us met at Red Emma's to discuss our intentions for this project. First we started with introductions and reasons for wanting a shift towards self-sustainability. I think this helped us understand what we all have in common. Here are some reasons I jotted down:

-artistic and emotional fulfillment

-re-learn a skillset that has been lost over several generations (handmade homes, homegrown food, animal husbandry, etc.)

-learn about techniques involved in building a home (energy alternatives, construction, modern greenhouse systems, etc.)

-disseminate knowledge about self-sustainability to "interns" who come to the community in order to carry that information back to the city

-shift away from an "office job" lifestyle

-break free from the "system"

-to start a pit bull rescue (Brandon's dream)

-build a community or support network that will satisfy the needs of everyday life (farming, building, child-rearing, etc.)

-prepare for the potential economic collapse

Some of us are prepared to be more or less "floaters," while others are gung-ho about finding a place to settle down and build a home right now. All involved are willing to help build the homes of their future neighbors. We are enthusiastic about learning how to build different styles of homes. (Straw bale, rammed earth, etc.)

We decided that a time banking system would be an effective way to determine what each person gets out of the community. We still need to work out the logistics of this. Maybe once we have land we'd decide on a set number of hours per person per month... maybe not. We can decide when we need to. This will help sort out any issues regarding people who have no monetary contributions available vs. those who have money and less time. We also need to consider how the community will be "governed." How many people are planning to build homes there? How many interns can we host at once? Obviously we aren't going to be absolutely rigid, especially when it comes to a friend in need. But this is something we need to think about so things don't reach a point that we can no-longer handle. Limits need to be set based on the amount of land we purchase. The amount will depend on:

1. number of projected houses
2. amount of crops we plan to grow and animals we plan to raise
3. what's available to us for what money we have

Some personal qualifications that were determined are listed below, as well as the jobs each person decided were appropriate to take on in italics:

Elizabeth: Environmental Studies Major, Design Minor, works with Baltimore Free Farm, knowledge of greenhouse design, possible earthship internship in summer 2011

will study permaculture, make a list of different home styles and post links to each, study alternative energy designs

Brice: carpentry, experience with temporary structures like tee pees, family history of raising swine, general knowledge of building code, assorted tool connections

study building techniques, study various "systems" like plumbing and energy,  learn about metal working

Mandy: grew up on 10 acre family farm (horses, cattle, chickens, growing food, etc.), able to find connections if we have questions about particular farming systems

determine which crops/animals are necessary to sustain an individual and how much land that would require. Based on this number, we can determine how many acres we need to serve the needs of the larger group

Mike M./Robin: city networking gurus, Robin is willing to help construct if time permits, Mike is 100% ready and able!

networking, networking, networking... keeping track of which people have which skills to offer, Mike M. has a connection to an internet wizard! Robin is going to find similar intentional communities (please post them on the facebook page or add them to the list of fellow homesteaders on the sidebar of this blog)

Brandon: has a mini-mule (hell yeah!), knowledge of training pitt bulls, energy systems wizard (wind turbine, solar, etc.), potential large drill connections

leading the research on alternative energy sources, talking to brother about Napoleonic code (?)

McKenzie/Jamie: have alpacas, chickens, and a sheep, experience growing food and preserving it, CSA experience, goat experience, farmer connections, saw mill connections, hunting/butchering experience

leading the search for land, assisting Mandy in calculating how many acres we should acquire, researching ways we can support ourselves financially (beekeeping, etc.), talk to Regina about land funding options

Mike H.: leading MacGyver

general MacGyver-y things, learn electrical wiring systems

Something each one of us needs to do is decide what type of house they would like to build and get researching how they'd like to do that. (Post stuff here!) Brandon suggested we build a community center first. This can serve as a place to stay while we build individual homes. It can also be a community kitchen, group library, home-schooling center for children, and a place for interns to stay. We also plan to build an underground root cellar nearby. This can be a place to store our root crops and other perishable food. The center will be a learning experience for us all in that we can test out the systems (electrical, plumbing, septic, water heating systems, building techniques, etc.). That said, please start posting your research on this blog. This way we can stay updated in each other's progress and have documentation of the process we've taken for personal reference and for other interested individuals who may follow our path.

Sorry for such a long post (tried to keep it visually interesting...) I just wanted to sum up the meeting for those of you who missed it. If there's anyone who is seriously interested in becoming involved with this effort, make a comment on this post and we can talk more. Each person involved has administrative rights to this blog, so get posting! ;)