Handmade

Mission: Small, rural community striving for social and ecological sustainability, with a focus on off-grid homesteading, cooperative childcare and open-hearted communication.

From www.ic.org/directory/handmade/:

Handmade: A Vision for Human-Scale Community

We are a family of five humans working to build a human-scale community and living laboratory.

What is a human-scale community?
In a world in which globalization, industrialization, and large-scale thinking is the norm, our interests lie in fostering the development of hyper-local, small-scale thinking and living.
Our vision of a human-scale community is one that values, first and foremost the well-being of the humans within the community. This includes – perhaps most significantly – the well-being of the children within the community.
Well-being, as we understand it, is a multifaceted phenomenon. It consists not only of physical health, but also of a sense of belonging, a sense of purpose, and the support and nurturing of fellow humans. It means access to clean water, clean air, a pleasant and safe environment, and nourishing food. It means a safe place to learn and grow for children and adults alike.
Moreover, we do not believe that well-being can exist without consideration of the larger context in which humans exist. That is, though we believe that human-to-human interactions and communication is essential to individual well-being, that is not the whole of it. Also, it is crucial that each of us is given the opportunity to form a connection to the place where we live – the land, the wild animals, etc. We must come to know and respect the needs of the non-humans around us in order to preserve and protect the balance that supports our human needs such as clean water, clean air, healthy soil, beautiful views, and beautiful sounds.
In light of this, we believe that a human-scale community is one that prioritizes daily human-to-human communication and connection, the needs of all members of the community, and the needs of the non-human plants and animals who live in symbiosis with the humans in the community.
Although human-scale community may take many different forms, there are some underlying principals which provide some clear guidelines on what is and is not included in a human-scale community when it comes to things such as food production, the construction of buildings, and the ways in which the humans within the community interact.
Food Production
Our vision for community involves hyper-local food production. Our aspiration is to produce as close to one hundred percent of our food as possible.
This aspiration is not a rigid rule. We do not dictate that any member of the community must produce all their own food. Nor are we presently equipped to achieve that goal for ourselves within the next five years.
However, our view and experience is that having a connection with our food through its production also helps to generate many other benefits within a human-scale community. It connects us with the land and wildlife, the natural cycles, the needs of our non-human neighbors. It connects us with one another as humans because it places upon us the need to clearly communicate with one another and work cooperatively. And it helps us feel a sense of purpose since food is one of our primary needs as humans.
Within a human-scale community, food production should aspire to use as little inputs from outside the land as possible. Our vision is that, at a minimum, we wish to use no chemical inputs.

Building Construction:

Today, the norm for construction is to use manufactured lumber, adhesives, foams, and so forth, which are made in part or entirely from chemicals and in factories. Meanwhile, they are transported, often hundreds or thousands of miles – sometimes across large oceans.
Furthermore, the norm for new houses continues to be to build large dwellings.
That style of construction – while it has its advantages – is not compatible with human-scale community.
Our vision for building construction is to build houses and outbuildings by hand, using local, natural materials.
In this case, “by hand” is a loose concept open to some interpretation by the members of the community. It does not exclude using milled lumber of timbers, nails manufactured in factories, etc. But it does emphasize the value that is at play – that building within the community should be something in which our primary value of the well-being of the humans in the community is preserved.
Therefore, rather than attempting to build with haste, our vision is to build with the long-term needs of the human and non-human needs in mind. We seek to ask questions such as “What will be the impact of this decision 50 years from now?” and “Does this decision lead to greater connection with one another and the land?”
We are particularly interested in cob as a building material. Cob is made from clay, sand, and fibrous plant material (such as straw) – all of which are generally available on one’s own land. Cob can produce strong, resilient structures that can last hundreds or thousands of years. Though cob does not have a high insulative value, it does provide thermal mass, meaning that it can help to reduce the amount of wood needed to heat a space.

Human Interactions:

We believe that daily, meaningful, substantial human-to-human interaction is necessary for our well-being. And we believe that also requires daily interaction with those outside of our nuclear families.
Our vision for community is that all members of the community are afforded many opportunities to come together daily. None of these are forced – each individual is free to choose which opportunities to take advantage of. However, we envision a community in which members are interested in taking advantage of many such opportunities.
These opportunities could include, but are not limited to meals, building projects, shared businesses, maintenance projects, firewood production, animal care, and gardening.
Additionally, we envision regular community meetings to ensure that all members stay up to date with the goings-on of others within the community as well as the community at large. Some, but not all, of these meetings will be community business meetings to discuss the business of the community.

Children:

We have three children, and children are currently central to our lives. Our vision for community is one that emphasizes the needs of the children within it.
Our belief is that children thrive when they have the right to exercise self-direction in play. We believe that a child’s work is play – that play is how children learn and grow. And we believe that children must be given the space to direct their own play.
Children – like all humans – have conflicts. We believe that it is healthy and correct to allow children the space to attempt to resolve their conflicts on their own if they wish to do so. We will intervene if we believe that safety is compromised or in the rare case in which we believe that the level of the conflict is simply beyond what the child or children can be reasonably expected to be able to resolve.
Our vision for community is that all of its children members are allowed to play freely with a level of adult supervision appropriate to the ages of the children and without excessive intervention.
We also envision a community in which children are heard – where the adults make genuine efforts to hear what the children are attempting to communicate. We believe that children are inherently social beings. However, they are not typically skilled in communicating their social needs in ways that adults easily understand. Therefore, we believe that we can foster their social development by taking the time to truly listen.

Social Sustainability:

Our vision is that the members of the community prioritize building a hyperlocal community within walking distance.
Today it is the norm for both children and adults to meet their social needs often through extensive car travel. While we believe that there are many benefits to having a wide social network, we also feel that having hyper-local social outlets readily available offers important benefits most of us are missing.
To that end, we wish to build a community in which no one must travel by car in order to meet their social needs. We envision a community in which the norm is for children members to play together daily and adult members to socialize daily – all within walking distance.

Money:

Our vision is that each adult member or family of the community maintains their own separate finances. Members buy in to the community with a one-time fee. Members also contribute on a schedule to a community fund to pay for property taxes, maintenance fees, and other community costs.

Decision Making:

Our vision is to maintain community-wide values of respect, honesty, vulnerability and clarity in our communication process, and with those values in mind, to make our community decisions through a form of consensus. A consensus-based decision-making process would foster a cohesive fluidity in the long-term growth and evolution of our community. Consensus produces a feeling of equality and collaboration, and although decisions may be more time-consuming to conclude when compared to a majority-rules voting style, the implementation of those decisions would be quicker and smoother within the community due to the wholehearted support of each member.

Growth & New Members:

We envision our community growing in a way which can be sustainably supported by our communal land. At this time, we estimate that fertile land could support one family per 10 acres, not including wetland acreage. Prospective members would complete a membership process, including a trial year, before becoming full members of the community.

Living Laboratory:

Our vision is that the community will house a living laboratory that will be open to the public to share what we learn about human-scale community, sustainability and simple living skills.
The laboratory will take form as publications (newsletters, books, etc.,) workshops and retreats. Ideas for workshop and retreat topics include, but are not limited to: handmade house construction, cob oven building, keeping goats naturally in New England, beekeeping, rainwater harvesting, decision-making in community, and herbalism.

A service of the Data Commons Co-op. The project has been supported by Equal Exchange, the Cooperative Charitable Trust, the USDA, and many others - thank you! Tech volunteers over the years include: Benjamin Bradley with support from GAIA Host. Ben Mauer with support from Quilted. Paul Fitzpatrick. Ronin Tech Collective, Brattleboro Tech Collective, Sligo Computer Services. Jason Lemieux. Default map tiles courtesy of MapQuest. Default map data (c) OpenStreetMap contributors, CC-BY-SA.