An Unintentional Community
No rent zone
By Grandma KoKo, March 2016 - Author of More to Come
Learning to BE - A Human Being at E.A.S.E. (earth as
sentient entity), living close to the earth. We believe no one should have to
pay rent to live on this generous planet.
Alice Alice began
building a home out of papercrete, this is like paper mache with cement as a stabilizer.
By mixing cement, water and paper and shaping it into blocks that are allowed
to dry, these blocks form the walls. The walls are about a foot (12 inches)
thick, before plaster is added, and offer great insulation. Papercrete is load
bearing and not as heavy as concrete so it did need to be framed, especially
since this is a single story home.
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| “No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem” at the community center and kitchen. |
An Unintentional Start
While most of the world was preparing for the new
millennium, partying like its 1999, wondering what the computer brain would do
about 1999 becoming 2000, and generally suspecting something is not right with
the world, some folks in New Mexico
were starting to begin a journey of homesteading. A generous person with a big heart owned a piece of land and had a greater vision. Her love of nature and hiking
in the wilderness allowed her to become friends with a number of other folks
she found who were also enjoying the free range part of New
Mexico . New Mexico
is a free range state meaning it is legal for people to move about and camp on
the land in the wilderness. These are folks with a deep love of nature and
wilderness. Some moved to camp on the land and provide stewardship, care and
direction for this eco-friendly plan.
So, right around 2000 they devised a plan to make the
property into a land trust. Remove the land from commerce, placing it into a
stewardship under which it would never be bought or sold.
A land trust as defined by Wikipedia, is a private,
nonprofit organization that, as all or part of its mission, actively works to
conserve land by undertaking or assisting in land or conservation easement
acquisition, or by its stewardship of such land or easements.
A land trust makes it so the land is not owned by anybody, a
least by no one individual. Regulations or rules are established by the group
rather than owner. While it took a long time to process through the slow-ass
bureaucratic/legal machine the trust got put in place and signed in 2007.
Despite the land trust not being settled a couple of folks
started building in 2000. Two more stayed there; one in a tent, another stayed
in his bus. All four of these folks are still living rent free on this most
beautiful tract of land near the wilderness.
Sometime around 2000 two dwellings were starting to be built.
It was already becoming a community without really planning anything or having
‘rules’. The people who wanted to stay there longer, wanted to settle and make
this their home had some things in common. They were all independent survivors,
people who did not like the trappings of the civilization of EMPIRE. Each one
offering a variety of survival and sustainability skills, and they all shared a
great love for the earth and for the plants and animals that live among us. They
were already living lives apart from the 9-5 grind.
The roof is made of papercrete. Held up by vigas (logs for
rafters), the decking is lumber, then tarpaper, and then the 6 inch thick papercrete
blocks are set in place. The papercrete is covered by elastomeric paint to be
waterproof, and it looks really nice. Looks like snow on the roof, even in the
middle of summer.
The entire home is 24 x 24 square feet. The one big room is
24 x 12 feet and contains the kitchen and living room. The bedroom is 12 x 12
feet and the remaining area is the porch. It is 576 square feet including the
porch.
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Kitchen side of the big room in
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Bedroom – 12 x 12 feet
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Outside view of
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Sherpa’s Home
Sherpa began building a small round home she calls her ‘hooch’
or ‘kiva’. Starting with the posts from an old corral that was in the spot she
liked to build. She had to move a few posts and put a tall one in the center. The
walls were made of ‘put together what she had.’ And she was experimenting with
a variety of available building materials. One wall was cobb, another stone
adobe, bottle inserts, chicken wire strung between the posts, then stuffed with
straw and then adobe plaster applied for finish. The little hooch is about
14-15’ in diameter, not symmetrical. She started with tarps for the roof.
Because of the asymmetrical shape of the building she used repurposed lumber
and fit it to size for the rafters. She used discarded paneling for the roof. Under
the paneling is cardboard, used as the ceiling. Sherpa is enthusiastic about
cardboard being an incredible structural material, most useful for building. Straw
is stuffed between the cardboard and paneling for insulation. Cloth was
attached under the cardboard to look better and help secure the cardboard.
Community Center and
Kitchen
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Community Center and Kitchen, near Sherpa’s home. Also built
by Sherpa.
No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem at the community center and
kitchen.
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The kitchen walls are formed from recycled pallets, repurposed
lumber to secure the pallets, cardboard to stuff inside the pallets for
insulation, then chicken wire stuffed with straw before applying the plaster.
This makes a wall about 12 inches thick and serves well to keep the place cool
in summer and warm in winter.
Jacob’s Home
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| Jacob’s porch, an extension of the main home, seen on the right. |
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Inside Jacob’s home, notice the rock and adobe stove to the
right.
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Looking from the front door offers a better view of the
amazing rock and adobe stove, on left.
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Jacob’s home is built predominantly from found material, free
stuff. Insulated with cardboard and straw, cardboard is a great insulation. He
used natural materials for functional and aesthetic values. The rock and adobe
stove offers the stacked functionality of cooking and heating. The thermal mass
of the stove works to cool the house in summer and warm in winter. Total sq. ft
is about 300. The roof was inherited because this home started with a pavilion
with a gabled roof of plywood and rolled asphalt roofing. Windows were
important, and repurposed, offering lots of light and solar gain.
The Sauna
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The sauna is near the community center and the babbling
brook.
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The sauna has bottle inserts that add light and color. When
you step inside on a sunny day it seems like it is a stained glass window. The
roof is a repurposed satellite dome.
Building Community
Along with building the actual structures to house them, the
people were learning to live in community. A community of free spirits, who do
NOT like rules, has to find a way to communicate and resolve ‘issues’. All
people who want to live together have to find a way to get along. This part of
the equation can often be the harder part of getting a community to form and work
together.
After more than 16 years of learning to live together and
get along the consortium has set some rules, yet no one likes anything to do
with formal meetings. While members prepare their own food for the most part,
every homestead has its own kitchen. There are times when they gather for food.
Often, they are joined by neighbors or friends for the weekly pot luck, or the
weekly peasant soup night. Other than the expected kind of visiting with
neighbors and friends, the compound is NOT public. This is a CLOSED community.
It is not accepting new members. It does not offer tours.
A couple of community members shared some insight as to how
and why they have been successful as a peaceful community. At the forefront is
choosing like minded folks who share the same values. For example, no one here
wants to have any kind of toxic chemicals sprayed on plants in the garden or anywhere
at all. Rather than have a rule about no spraying, rules often get ‘ignored’ by
people who do as they wish. It is better that all members are in agreement
about the importance of respecting the earth and each other.
So rather than have a lot of rules, forming the community
around people who share the same values is the key. These are not poor homeless
people, these are a proud people who love the land they stand on. A people who
love and honor the world, the earth, all plants, animals and so much more. They
don’t want to live the life of greed and excess that is dangled in front of the
consumers of EMPIRE like a poison apple. They are content to live close the
Mother, nestled in her bosom.
Sharing is caring. The other overriding value is that these
people are givers, rather than takers. Community members love to share. The
newer members worry if they are sharing enough. People value the gifts of one
another, and everyone offers a variety of talents and skills. All members of
the community have enough, they live a life of plenty. Plenty to eat, warm
clean homes that are magnificent personal creations, fun things to do, but the
best part of all is having a community that works. Shared values!
Respect is the bottom line.
