Anyone Interested in Starting a Commune? (Pueblo, Boulder: sales, purchase, college)

[ColoradoHereWeCome]

Originally Posted by jkmewright

Katiana, I seem to grow sunflowers better than anything else this year so you've done well

POST PICTURES!!! SUNFLOWERS are my absolute favorite thing. Whenever I know somebody who's family member passes away - I bring sunflowers because they make me feel so good when I look at them. It always works out the same for them.

[Katarina Witt]

Well, we all have ideas about raising kids that change a bit once we actually have them. OTOH, I live in a nice, caring neighborhood like yours, and raised my kids there. You can do the same w/o living in a commune. If you want to try it, by all means do, but don't be surprised if you find that it's not for you. You may find you value your privacy a little more, or something.

[Noahma]

Originally Posted by Shuffler

Taxpaying citizens and USFS rangers don't take too kindly to squatters in the forests. Your plan is noble, but you'll never afford any decent, arable land around the foothills of BoCo...or can your group come up with at least $1M?

Assume you have the money. Next, will the City/County allow for such a thing? They will ask about your architectural design, plans for sewage, potable water, how many people can live under one roof, etc. Adjoining landowners might not support your plans, so you may have to get (pay) lawyers to deal with all of this. Then, be concerned about our prolonged drought, and how you plan to get shares of water to grow your crops.

It sounds like too many '420' sessions might be impairing your thought process...

to add to this one, Boulder is not an easy one to pass anything through the permit process. Water collection in Colorado is illegal, so unless you can come up with costs for water tap (up to 25k) money for land (at least 1mil) and if you plan on any buildings (design fees, permit fees, inspection fees, and depending on the area Architectural review fees, Meeting HERS rating index of 10 if the structure is over 4500 sqft, which tacks on several hundred thousand dollars) you might have a very tough time making a go at this within boulder.

[impala666]

Good luck with the venture.
Just a few words of advise if I may.
Keep close to urban centers if you go too far out in the sticks you will be totally on your own.
Therapy and retreat centers work well if within a couple of driving hours from metro areas. I know you are not setting up a spa resort but access to bucks from the city by work or as customers will be very useful.
Communal living can be great but be careful your project is not hijacked by religious nuts or megalomaniacs,this can be avoided by having a hard core of original members and rules yes rules.
If you think this can all be achieved by good intentions and smiling faces think again.The path you are taking is a very laudable one and may ultimately be the salvation of this planet.
But..
It would be a much more simple project to aim to earn 10 Million a year and live in OC than the one you propose.

Good Luck but Keep it real.

[Shuffler]

Maybe spend some time and become part of the "Rainbow Family". Except they sorta roam around the country. They just made the local news (http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2008/jul/16/man-hit-shovel-possibly-stabbed-rainbow-family-bra/ - broken link) here in Nederland. They sure seem like fine people...

[ColoradoHereWeCome]

Impala and Noah, I appreciate the concern and help but after listening to everyone else, it probably wont work there and I'm okay with that - just as long as it happens somewhere, someday.

In other news, my boyfriend is applying to do a two-year long trip with a couple of Sailors from Colorado. They are going to travel around the world on a boat and do a Documentary on it. Every month they come home to Colorado which means if he gets the position we are off to Colorado..... this OCTOBER!!

[ColoradoHereWeCome]

Dear Shuffler,

No, thanks! I will pass! Hahaha

Love,
Maggie

[RangerDuke08]

Ever try Eldorado Springs? Quite pricey there but quite a few communes already set up.

[doc1]

To have any chance of success, you'll need to REAL choosey about who you let in. In way, your commune will work best if you're very selective with regard to it's members. Think of an exclusive country club, sorority, fraternity or a successful corporation.

If you just let anyone in, you'll attract those that see a good opportunity to live large and take advantage of those with totally unrealistic idealism.

You'll find that you'll end up with a surplus of the so-called "artiste" types who think their fair share of contributing to the commune will be crappy poetry, writing long, boring, lefty political tomes or providing classes in "advanced navel gazing" or "how to milk the welfare system".

Plus many guys will see it as an opportunity to get plenty 'o poontang without having to live under such bourgeois notions as marriage and monogamy.

Hell, I may join when I get tired of the career thing.

Keep in touch and let us know how things pan out.

[livecontent]

ColoradoHereWeCome,

You will be making a big mistake in assuming that Boulder for the beauty, is the best place for a commune. It is not. The land is expensive, not very fertile and lacks sufficient water to raise crops and animals. Water is everything here and you would have to have sufficient irrigation water rights to maintain an agricultural farm except dry land farming.

You mentioned that you are from Buffalo. I grew up in Cheektowaga--I have been in Colorado for 30 years. Land in Western New York is inexpensive and very fertile with sufficient moisture. That area, in your own backyard is ideal.

Oh, you would say the people of Boulder care about the environment. Maybe some but not all. But most importantly people of Boulder do not work the land, do not know how to develop a subsistent, economical lifestyle. Their lives are anything but simple; their goals and rewards are the perceptions of themselves that they want others to admire. Many of Boulder talk the talk, but they will never walk the walk in hoeing a field. You need to settle in an area where the indigenous people know farming and animal husbandry. You need to learn from these people how to live a simple economical life.

You need to learn to work 7 days a week, morning to night, raising your crops and taking care of your animals. You need to learn that the only weeds you will deal with are the ones in your vegetable plots. You need to know that a massage is something that you do to an animals flank when he his injured. You need to know that wellness is achieved in these hardworking rural areas by a quilting bee, a sewing circle, or a church picnic; not by expensive over hyped foods and seminars. You must learn that wellness comes from helping those in dire need, and also having your own critical needs, that only your neighbors can satisfy. In this way you achieve wellness and you allow your neighbors to receive wellness by helping you. This is the simple communal life of a real community.

Yes, there are many rural fertile areas that are looking for people. These are the areas that you should seek. But you must realize these areas suffer from population loss because the work in hard; the entertainment is simple and the rewards are not what many aggressive, attention-seeking, educated people in society want.

Maybe you will be one of the few, that can endure these rural travails. And if you are on of those few, you can learn to live a simple life, close to nature, and be one of those few, who can
Livecontent