Thinking of joining a cooperative - love the idea and philosophy of 'tinker's bubble' - any ideas?
Answer:
I have never heard of this but if you get time, would you email me on what this is about?
There's a great book on co-ops. It's called Diggers & Dreamers - the guide to communal living. It gives details of many communities and those that will allow you to visit them.
You can get it from amazon
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/09545...
First, I have to admit I had never heard of Tinker's bubble before this question, but I have read up on the commune.
So, pushing past scary thought of places like that turning into places like the one in the movie The Village, here is my advice to you on your decision.
Having read up on Tinkers bubble, I'm sure you understand that it is and extremely drastic way of life. Coming from a farming background, I can tell you completely making your own means like that is VERY tiresome, though it does have it's rewards... so I guess I'm trying to say, you need to be prepared to work in the rain, in the heat and cold, even when you are sick (moderately sick of course). There will be times where you will have to force yourself out into the fields.
Because this is a co-operative, if crops do bad, or a virus goes around the members, or someone isn't doing their part, it can make life really tough.
One of tinker's bubble's rules is, absolutely NO use of fossil fuels. This not only means no car, but you can't even work at a place that relies on them. so just make sure you take the extent that that will affect you into accout.
Of course, there is also the people factor. Being a small community, having an issue between yourself and even 1 other person can make your life hell, and when everyone is depending on everyone else, stress can rise up real quick.
*My recommendations to you...
-Take your next vacation at Tinker's Bubble or whatever commune you are thinking of (preferably a 2 week vacation). This will give you time to get a real feel for life there, as well as give you a chance to see how you get along with everyone, and get a feel for just how the rusles will affect your daily living.
-Discuss this with you family and closest friends. They know you best, and they deserve to know you are pondering a decision that will take you out of active contact.
-Start living a minimalist as possible around you own home... grow your own food, drive less to not at all. Use next to no electricity and when your done using it cut it off completely. These things will give you a chance to experience the deprivation of amenities over an extended period of time, and test your level of commitment.
*If you do decide to give communal living a shot... good luck, I wish you the best. But I'd recommend that before moving to the commune, you put away at least $1000 into savings so that if you do decide, down the road, to come back to "modern standard" living, you'll be able to transition back better. This would also be helpful if a family emergency came up.
Good luck to you and your endevours. just take your time on this decision and be certain it is the right one for you.
One thing you should consider before you make a move like this is whether or not you have any idea how to live lightly on the earth. Do you know how to garden? Milk a cow? Make candles? Preserve your own food? Sew? Weave? Can you live without a computer or a car?
For learning any or all of these (any many more things you never thought you would need to do) I would suggest reading the FoxFire books. Your local library should have them or you might could get them on Ebay or Amazon. They are an excellent source on living without modern luxuries and are told by the people who actually lived that way.
diggers & dreamers are a useful resource.
the global eco-village network http://www.ecovillage.org/ will help show the range of options available & the diffenet levels of "co-operative" housing & living possible.
their newsletter is incorporated in the Permaculture magazine
www,permaculture,co.uk
Tinker's bubble is very low resource usage, and many people,especially families, would find it difficult to adapt quite that much. but great if you want to do that.
diggers & dreames list other groups you can visit too, on a sort of trial Woofing type basis.
The key is being able to get on with others in the group, so take time with your selection, listen & learn. especially listen to yourself.
Living closely with others, on the edge, trivial things can give a lot of problems, eg vegan vs home rearing, fair-trage/ethical eg should you take old oil from Mcdonalds to make bio-diesel...
An alternative to cooperatives is SMART Networks. SMART is an acronym for Self Managed Action Relationship Teams. A network can be initiated by one person with a clear vision - finding three others who appreciate the vision. They work together to transform the original vision into shared vision. Four individuals have 11 unique relationships - six pairs, four trios and the whole group of four. Cooperation in relationships creates resonance. Competition in relationships create dissonance. The four need a strong commitment to cooperation [not compliance]. When the initial team [of four] has adequate cooperation skills and their team is functioning well - it is a simple process of each individual [with their shared vision in hand] facilitating another team of four with the same skills and understanding as the original [core team] four. With appropriate skills and understanding the SMART Network has the potential to become an almost indestructable [sustainable] social structure.
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