Let's do a little make believe post on this dream I have of building a small community of homesteaders living off the land focused on creativity and living off the land. This is mostly to help me visualize and make sense of what's in my head. While this dream has changed, or rather evolved, the base of it is still the same.
I want to make it into a sort of story, as if it already is a running community...
Tucked away between the road and the hill, where the forest meets the river, our little anarchist homestead has truly come to life. What began as a dream—a whisper of self-reliance, creativity, and community—has blossomed into a thriving haven for three families, each living in homes as unique as the lives we’ve built.
Our homes stand as a testament to the beauty of natural building. One family lives in a warm and sturdy straw bale house, its thick plastered walls glowing golden in the sunlight. Another calls a log cabin home, its rustic charm a perfect fit for the surrounding woods and harvested right from the land. We're in the earthship, an architectural marvel that uses recycled materials and passive solar design to stay cool in the summer and cozy in the winter.
All together we live off the land, sharing the bounty of our gardens, orchards, and flocks. Each meal is a celebration of the seasons, with freshly baked bread, eggs gathered from the coop, and greens pulled straight from the soil. Life here isn’t only about convenience—it’s about connection to this earth we live with.
Art is at the heart of our homestead. The barn doubles as a makerspace, where evenings are filled with the hum of pottery wheels, the smell of sawdust from creating custom furniture, and the laughter of kids creating games while playing in the mud. Creativity flows as naturally as the brook that winds through our land.
This anarchist dream isn’t about rejecting structure—it’s about building one that works for us. When it comes to common spaces and activities, we make decisions together, guided by respect and shared goals. Every voice is heard, and every contribution matters. Just like any large family we have our bad days and good days... it's not always a walk on the park.
It’s not always easy, but it’s always worth it. The sweat of our labor, the soil under our nails, and the art we create all remind us: this is what freedom looks like. This is what living truly means.
Obviously, this is a la-la land utopian dream, but I think we can do something like it. It doesn't have to be exactly as I made it out to be just now, but it could be close. And there always is this kind of make-it-work when the time comes. I personally like to tackle problems as they arise better than fully preparing for it.
Let me know what you think about this kind of life... if there were no government regulations to deal with and the cost of living was lower than it is today, do you think this sort of thing could work?
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This is totally la-la-land utopian dreams! Because, those house and barn won't be like that. You have to get rid of the single-family house ideas! Kill it! Kill it with fire!
Instead, you will have several large buildings.
Each person will get a suite of rooms. Bedroom, sitting room, bathroom, closet. Something close to a tiny apartment or a bed sit. And these go around the outside of the building. With a deck running around the exterior. So, each little-suite has an interior door, and an exterior door.
In the center of the house will be large rooms, for gaming/playing music with friends, for eating, and of course, a big communal kitchen.
You will not want a "barn" for your communal money making activities.
You need a real shop, that is set up for the economy-business you/community chooses.
And, of course, you will need a large greenhouse, with hail-shields.
I am glad that you are already thinking of small community homesteads. They are the future.
Been on this path for over 10 years. I know these small communities could be the key to a better future.... but each one works in different ways.
It is said that communal housing works well with a maximum of 11 people, any more and too many problems arise.
I like your design idea tho. Personally I like the single family unit thing. For now, we are just one family, we built a barn because on paper, that's what it is, and that means lower taxes...
We bought land in a place that isn't at all good for this kind of community. Loads of regulations, high taxes but we're close to NYC and that's where we tapped out community income from! Plus our friends and family are all here.
Trust me I want all the fancy things for a maker space but for now... baby steps
I would like to hear the ideas that go with maximum 11 people.
It is not a hard and fast rule, as there have been single families with more than that many family members living under a roof.
But, 11 disparate people and you will start running into some conflict. Each 1 added, creates more points of contention.
However, several large buildings is what will probably happen, and people will move between and that may fix things.
But, i also think the individual tiny-suites are a key element in putting more people closer together.
I also had ideas of building a great big stone fireplace wall. (you run the duct work, all back and forth in the big stone wall, and so you heat the entire place with a massive heat bank. Have it face sunlight in the winter)
The 11 people thing comes from a long standing community (40 + years) that's what they have seen work... more gets stupid, less is better tho.
I've lived with 9 people in a loft before and we shared one bathroom... that was fun!
At some point we were 27 people trying to build a life together and the property we had lined up fell through... after that it was impossible to find a new one, as we tried to run things in a unanimous consent type of governance. So it eventually fell apart and we went off to do our own thing.
Dreams and ideas change... the hardest part of building something like this is finding the right people