All stereotypes of the ’60s aside, I’ve been reading about communes in the U.S. and abroad, many of which focus on organic farming and small collective-sustainability. It’s actually a cool concept when you stop and think about it. A group of people coming together to share resources and escape the Capitalist, consumption-driven mindset of the popular culture. Hmmm…
Here’s one example: Communal Living in the Late 60s and Early 70s by Rachel Meunier (Human Issues Project, 12-17-94) who grew up on The Farm in Summertown, Tennessee.
The Farm is involved in activism, as with protesting against the School of the Americas:
A Wave of Peace–Pilgrimage to the School of the Americas
You can read more about The Farm Community and other info on The Farm.
Here are a few others I came across and read up on:
An ecological community in Colombia called Atlantis, started by a woman and her family who moved from Ireland.
Los Horcones, a Walden Two community down in Mexico.
The Sandhill Farm, an egalitarian intentional community in NE Missouri (which sounds pretty cool actually).
Twin Oaks Intentional Community in rural central Virginia.
The Acorn Community, a small “hippie” commune in Virginia.
So many…too many to list here. Go to the Intentional Communities website to see the full directory.
Here’s an article on Escape Artist that discusses the renewed interest in communal living along with the associated benefits.
No, they’re not all religious groups or “cults.” Not all of them even require 100% finance and labor sharing. But the whole concept is breaking away from the idea that a nuclear family is the only way to go, which I personally can get behind as I’ve always supported the pooling of resources in a group or extended family setting.
And this way of living seems to be making a comeback in recent years as the nuclear family continues to experience a breakdown since the 1970s. From A. Allen Butcher’s post on the Federation for Egalitarian Communities site:
Consider further the changes tracked by the Census Bureau. The 2000 Census reported that the number of single-parent families in 2003 was 32% of all families with children (26% single-women and 6% single-men family households). The number of classic nuclear-family households (father, mother and children) has been declining from 87% of all families in 1970 to 68% in 2003, although the drop has been leveling off since 1995. (See: www.census.gov/population/pop-profile/2000/chap05.pdf and http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/p20-537.pdf )
Perhaps partly in response to these changes, or to the motive of economic necessity, or to the desire for some kind of community, the number of non-family, non-related households is increasing. The Census Bureau defines a “nonfamily household” as either a person living alone or a “householder who shares the home with nonrelatives only; for example, boarders or roommates,” this latter household construct being called “other nonfamily.” The increase in the number of other nonfamily households is from 1.7% in 1970 to 5.7% in 2000 (see resource citations above).
I know…sounds like another cRaZy idea I’ve concocted. But hey, I’m willing to give anything consideration so long as it’s in line with my values and principles. Besides, there’s no way I’d run off and join a religious cult, folks. lol Ecological/subsistence communal farming and intentional communities aren’t all automatically the same thing, with most NOT being Jim Jones-style communes. hehe Read for yourself and then form an informed opinion.
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