Fwd: [SustainableCommunities] New member forming intentional community!

[Guest guest]

I got this from someone forming a community in Costa

Rica. They're omnivores, but read some stuff on their

web site. It may be a situation amenable to folks

like us....

 

 

--- WaterSpryt wrote:

> SustainableCommunities

> WaterSpryt

> Sun, 24 Feb 2002 01:16:33 EST

> [sustainableCommunities] New member forming

> intentional community!

> Reply-to: SustainableCommunities

>

> Hello, Communitarians!

>

> I have run an e-mail list called PIC (Pagan

> Intentional Community) for over 4

> years now, and networked like crazy in the interest

> of building a real life

> egalitarian consensus community in Costa Rica. It

> has been a long 4 years,

> and I have felt discouraged many times by the lack

> of commitment, money, and

> land for my proposed project. I now have a

> wonderful announcement to make!

>

> Ray Beise, of <A

>

HREF= " http://www.lapurajungla.com/NewPages/door.html " >La

>

> Pura Jungla Eco-community</A>

> (http://www.lapurajungla.com/NewPages/door.html

> ) and I, have officially joined forces on the

> community building front. He

> closed on February 20th, 2002, on a 130 hectare

> piece of property (That's

> about 320 acres!) near La Pura Jungla, which is near

> the town of Paraíso, on

> the northern Pacific coast of Costa Rica. He has

> opened that piece of

> property up to the PIC project (which is soon to

> change names!) and has

> invited our family down to live in the tiny Tico

> style house that already

> exists there. We are now doing our damnedest to get

> our house in Oklahoma

> sold in 60 days, so we can get our butts down there

> and move in. Needless to

> say, we are really happy about this development!

>

> The property is also open to others who wish to help

> build/become part of

> this new community project. Ray has asked me to be

> his representative, and

> to take on the job of disseminating this information

> to the PIC list, and the

> world at large. This is a partnership that has been

> almost 6 months in the

> making, and Ray and I have been communicating behind

> the scenes on how best

> to combine our two projects. We are in accord on

> all the important issues,

> and open to coming to a consensus on the rest, once

> we have a few core

> members together on the property. Basically, if you

> like/agree with the

> ideas set forth on the <A

> HREF= " http://members.aol.com/WaterSpryt/ " >PIC</A>

> (http://members.aol.com/WaterSpryt) Site, and are

> open to creating this new

> project together with us, we are ready to join

> forces with you!

>

> Here is a little information about the property

> itself. It is, like I said,

> a large piece of land. It has two working wells on

> it, one of which is

> rigged with electricity, for easy use, and the other

> of which is a rope and

> bucket jobbie. The land is situated in an area

> where it becomes very dry for

> half the year, and is almost desert like, in areas

> where there are few trees

> for shade and water retention. That being said,

> there are also wooded

> portions of the property, and it also has a gorgeous

> ocean view. It is very

> near to what looks to me like a great beach! The

> place is hilly, in part,

> and open cow pasture type land in other areas.

>

> The property is close to a few small stores, and if

> you want to go to a real,

> good sized grocery store, you must drive, walk, or

> hitchhike 20 miles. There

> is also a bank, post office, and other

> establishments, 20 miles away. The

> place is 200 miles from Costa Rica's capital city of

> San José, and an hour

> and a half from Liberia, which is a good sized city,

> with an International

> airport.

>

> The crime rate in the area is low. It is a rural

> location, and a person must

> travel down an 8 mile stretch of gravel road to

> reach the property. This

> will be a good thing, since it will make it unlikely

> that anyone who comes to

> our community will have found it by accident.

> Anyone who gets there, will

> have most likely been given instructions on how to

> find it, and that will

> help to keep folks out, who have no business there.

>

> The Guanacaste area, where the new property is

> located, is a sort of " wild

> west, " kind of place. Lots of families still raise

> cattle as a means of

> livelihood, and the locals like rodeos and loud

> Latin music. Most of the

> physical work in the new community will need to be

> done between 4 or 5 AM and

> 10 AM, when the sun becomes too hot for folks to

> want to work in. That

> leaves a lot of the day for community planning,

> leisure activities, and

> getting to know one another. There will be another

> window for outdoor work

> between 3 PM, when the sun gets a bit lower in the

> sky, and sunset. Daylight

> hours are between 6 AM and 6 PM, year round.

>

> The land was purchased with the help of investors,

> and the community will

> need to work to pay back the loan, with interest,

> over the years. There are

> many, many ways for this to be done, and each

> community member will need to

> help in this regard, whether it be with cash in

> hand, an ingenious business

> idea, an excellent grant proposal, pure elbow

> grease, or whatever each person

> can come up with. It is not necessary to have money

> to contribute in order

> to join this community, but in the beginning, until

> we have enough

> garden/orchard resources in place and the plants are

> flourishing enough to

> feed us all, it is important that everyone who comes

> can at least feed

> him/herself, and any dependents.

>

> Ray wants to make sure (and I couldn't agree more!)

> that each member of the

> community is valued as a contributing individual,

> regardless of what form

> their contributions take. There will be no class

> system, where some types of

> contributors get special privileges, or are held in

> higher esteem than

> others. Everyone will be important and valued

> greatly for what they do to

> make the project a success. That being said, it is

> also important to note

> that no one will be given a free ride. If someone

> comes into the community

> thinking that they can get by without working, they

> will have to change their

> attitude quickly, or find another place to live. We

> can only succeed if

> EVERYONE works hard to make it happen.

>

> If you think you'd like to explore the possibility

> of coming to join us,

> please join and post to the PIC list, rather than to

> me or Ray, privately.

> Everyone on the list can benefit from reading

> whatever dialogues may ensue as

> a result of this announcement.

> I have run the PIC list for more than 4 years now.

> I have seen it show great

> sparks of enthusiastic activity, and then shut down

> completely for months. I

> have thought many times of just closing the list

> down completely, because I

> was so discouraged by it's fickle displays. I am

> glad that I didn't, since I

> am now able to share this wonderful opportunity with

> a large number of

> (supposedly) community-minded people.

>

> If this announcement fails to wake the PIC list up,

> I will seriously begin to

> question whether it is the right medium through

> which to recruit members for

> the new community. If you care about this list, and

> wish for it to continue

> to exist, please USE IT! An e-mail list is only as

> good as it's members make

> it, and posts are a list's life's blood. Don't let

> this one, which currently

> has a whopping 113 members, die a lonely death! We

> have record membership

> numbers right now, and I would like to believe that

> there is a serendipitous

> reason for this... If you think you have an

> interest in this community

> project, and can lend a hand to the maintenance of

> it's e-mail list, by all

> means, join right away! We could sure use some good

> energy there.

>

> The new community will not be called PIC. Ray and I

> agree that the first

> wave of community members will have the honor of

> choosing the name for the

> new community, by means of consensus. I will keep

> the Website under the PIC

> name, for ease of networking, until the new name has

> been chosen. You may

> already know that PIC is listed in the Fellowship

> for Intentional Communities

> Directory. We can easily continue to get contacts

> this way until the

> project's name changes. Eventually, we should be

> able to get a new listing,

> under the actual community name.

>

> Anyhow, now I have thrown out the bait... Anybody

> gonna bite? ;-)

>

> Brightest blessings! Meli

> WaterSpryt

>

 

 

 

 

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