20 Acre Example of the Vision

This blog is the first iteration of what has now become www.OneCommunityGlobal.org, please visit that site for all the most current details on this project. 

This preliminary sketch of the community was drawn up to see what is possible with 20 buildable acres that are somewhat spread out. The property includes everything on our values list as well as eight 3,000 square foot additional buildings (part of a previous business model), 2 acres of parking, 2 fish ponds, 3 acres of growing space, plus an acre of fruit trees and space to spare.

This diagram was created to see exactly how much space we would need for a complete community after a bid on a 2 million dollar 350 acre mountain property uncovered only 11 buildable acres! Seeing what we can do with 20 buildable acres (double what we thought was the minimum) led to the "30 buildable acres of land" on our Values List so we will have extra room and options for expansion and the unexpected.



The 5 Pods...

Pods will be situated as a circle of similar concept homes constructed on approximately one acre of land. This will create a mini themed community and leave room for a combination of single and double residences totaling 12 homes with the option for two connected structures for larger families. The goal of the themed areas are to create a tourism draw while building community.

On the left below you see one of the concept homes with a 200 square foot footprint and a 600 square foot second floor. Minimizing the footprint has building code benefits in some counties and aesthetic appeal. The bottom floor would be set up as a common area or store front with the top area being the primary living space.

Arranging these homes in a circle allows for them to all face a central focal point of the community such as a giant tree, water fountain, fire pit, or other piece of art while creating an easily navigable community for visitors to see the artistic wares or just immerse themselves in the culture.

Community Contribution and Work Incentives

This blog is the first iteration of what has now become www.OneCommunityGlobal.org, please visit that site for all the most current details on this project. 

Community Contribution starts as a 40 hour contribution week and consists of a combination of sharing your creative and artistic gifts and keeping the community running as a  business success and amazing place to live. The 40 hour contribution week can be reduced to as few as 20 hours of community contribution by building and/or participating in successful community businesses or a consensus vote. This approach motivates people to build a retirement plan while supporting the community, culture of One Community, and Community Investors.

"Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming more."

~ Anthony Robbins ~

By definition, community contribution is anything done in an effort to benefit the community and can be broken up into three categories of contribution: expressing natural gifts, community building and maintenance of One Community, and business building. Playing an instrument, teaching an artistic skill, cooking, story telling, teaching yoga or meditation, and watching after/playing with children are considered equally as important to the success and functioning of the community as cleaning, gardening, laundry, construction and landscaping, canning and food preserving, answering phones and attending to guests, accounting, etc. While the latter keep things running, the former are a priority and what really make One Community a special place to live and visit. The third category of business building is operated differently.

Expressing natural gifts and community building and maintenance of One Community both make up the culture of the community and support the happiness of our residents and visitors. This keeps the community 'alive' and thriving as a place of growth and expression and also gives One Community one aspect of its uniqueness in the recreational destination market. Community members invest time in both of these areas as needed and agreed upon by the group. Classes and recreational activities will always be present but ranch needs from week to week will vary as differing aspects of the community growth and function (building a new building, landscaping, food production, etc.) dictate.

Business building is a different part of community contribution and part of One Community's culture of entrepreneurship and a key aspect of One Community as a prototype for global economic change. This aspect of community contribution is also decided on by consensus but is evaluated a little differently because of it is contributing to an individual's business model first and the community business model second vs. the other two community contribution aspects that directly support the larger picture of One Community as a business in and of itself.

Both the individual businesses and One Community as a business are important so consensus is used to weigh in on how the hours of community contribution of Community Members should be divided. This is essential because all businesses built within One Community benefit the community financially and the individual success of our members are part of our unique draw and important to our growth culturally and spiritually... AND the most direct financial benefit to the community is the business of One Community Ranch itself. Because of this we make sure everything is running smoothly for One Community Ranch as a business and a culture (classes, recreation, etc.) and then modify our schedules to support each other and the community's entrepreneurial ventures.

But what if I don't like this setup? What if I want to retire or contribute less?

We recognize that while working in teams and constantly building new things and improving our living environment balanced with playing music, teaching classes, playing with kids, etc. may appeal to many it will not appeal to all and some of these people may still want to be a part of One Community. The option to 'retire' and or work less in One Community must also exist so we created work incentives to allow people to get to a point where their community contribution hours are only invested in businesses they create or expressing their gifts.

These work incentives are important because we believe everyone has marketable talent, but most people don't know how to market it, and we want to encourage and reward motivated and entrepreneurial minds to build businesses with these people. The more a person's businesses are succeeding and contributing financially to the community, the less community contribution they are expected to provide. A person could run one hugely successful business or be a part of several smaller and moderately successful businesses and get to the same place of retirement.

This incentive of reduced community contribution hours and  agreeing as a group to contribute community contribution hours to individual business models is just another aspect of One Community that is unique and part of the abundance culture we share with the world and the reason we say we offer unparalleled opportunity (teamwork, talent diversity, and available labor pool for entrepreneurial endeavors) without necessity (option to just contribute 40 hours to the community and culture that is One Community).

Community Building and Maintenance Stages

This blog is the first iteration of what has now become www.OneCommunityGlobal.org, please visit that site for all the most current details on this project. 


One Community is formed and maintained based on a specific series of community building steps that lead to elevated states of connection, creativity, understanding,  and ultimately genuine community. While easy to understand, moving through the stages can be an intense experience as people shed their judgements, expectations, need to fix other people, fear, and egos in favor of higher states of consciousness.

The foremost authority, researcher and author on the topic of community building is Dr. Scott M. Peck who identified in his book, The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace, 4 clear stages to successful building of genuine community.

• Pseudocommunity: This is a stage where the members pretend to have a bon homie with one another, and cover up their differences, by acting as if the differences do not exist. Pseudocommunity can never directly lead to community, and it is the job of the person guiding the community building process to shorten this period as much as possible.

• Chaos: When pseudocommunity fails to work, the members start falling upon each other, giving vent to their mutual disagreements and differences. This is a period of chaos. It is a time when the people in the community realize that differences cannot simply be ignored. Chaos looks counterproductive but it is the first genuine step towards community building.

• Emptiness: After chaos comes emptiness. At this stage, the people learn to empty themselves of those ego related factors that are preventing their entry into community. Emptiness is a tough step because it involves the death of a part of the individual. But, Scott Peck argues, this death paves the way for the birth of a new creature, the Community.

• True community: Having worked through emptiness, the people in community are in complete empathy with one another. There is a great level of tacit understanding. People are able to relate to each other's feelings. Discussions, even when heated, never get sour, and motives are not questioned.

It is easy to see why we are committed to true community. This is the place where people shine the brightest and the most profound healing and growth emanate.

"In genuine community there are no sides. It is not always easy, but by the time they reach community the members have learned how to give up cliques and factions. They have learned how to listen to each other and how not to reject each other. Sometimes consensus in community is reached with miraculous rapidity. But at other times it is arrived at only after lengthy struggle. Just because it is a safe place does not men community is a place without conflict. It is, however, a place where conflict can be resolved without physical or emotional bloodshed and with wisdom as well as grace. A community is a group that can fight gracefully." ~ Peck ~

Maintaining community is a process of recognizing the stages and committing to always returning to genuine community. This process becomes easier and more fluid each time as stages of pseudo community and chaos become more recognizable and undesirable with time spent in genuine/true community. Even more profound is that with time, while the issues that can cause a genuine community to slip back into chaos become more and more complex, the rewards of higher states of consciousness and deeper and connection are also greater and greater.

"It is like falling in love. When they enter community, people in a very real sense do fall in love with one another en masse. They not only feel like touching and hugging each other, they feel like hugging everyone all at once. During the highest moments the energy level is supernatural. It is ecstatic." 

I can attest to this "supernatural" and "ecstatic" feel because I have experienced this in large groups, working for an organization that taught communication and the Graves Values Levels, and in small groups consciously deciding to gather with the intent of keeping our hearts open and communicating and sharing from this place. The feeling and these moments have been some of the most profound in my life and one of the many reasons for the creation of One Community.

Different Views

Sara and I had a profound and clarifying meeting with T and M this evening that really helped us all get clearer on each others visions and individual values and the importance of a clear direction.

The most valuable thing that came out of this meeting was a strengthening of my desire to build a community and culture for world change... not just another off the grid place to live and be safe because a lot of people think society is going to collapse. I am confident that there are enough of the latter already and a definite need for the former and I'm the person to make that happen.

Our meeting covered a lot of different options for creating this place... traditional real estate investment where people would buy their own ranches in an area and come together as community, parcelling up a large piece of property, and building something small and then expanding with a lot of the objections/concerns of T and M focused on safety and being sure everyone contributed equally. Sara and I shared a vision that T and I have spoke about many times and is much different than these more traditional models and I think this was M's first exposure to this 'grander' vision.

While warmly received I don't believe they think it is possible and they made it clear that it is definitely not the fastest way to security... and we are also clear that a more traditional model is definitely not the fastest way to community.

In the end, I think the major differences between our vision and T and M's is why we want to create it. When our discussion ended we all agreed that T and M's priorities were definitely on safety and security and Sara and my priorities hardly even focused on this even though it was part of our top 5 reasons for creating something like this. Now I'm not so sure if it is truly a reason or just a benefit and from a personal perspective I think I've learned something very important - the value of a clear focus.

Sara and I have decided to drop the "Security and Safety" aspects of our vision and continue clarifying the details of our vision here to make them more understandable and realistic for people that haven't been studying this as long as I have. Social structure, government, entrepreneurial structure, investment opportunities, community stages, community dynamics, community maintenance, sponsorship into the community and all the other details create quite a mindful and while T and I have discussed this, it was more than M had ever heard and his comments made it clear that what is in my head needs to be put down in writing so it can be mulled over and digested in a manner that is more comfortable for most people.

Bottom line: Clarity of Vision IS the most important aspect to start with and T and M's is very different than mine. Seeing that has clarified mine even more and it is time to put it all down in a form that can be referenced and understood easily and I'm thinking this blog is going to be the place to do that.

Ranch Values Alignment

The values totals have been calculated to get a clear picture of what our collective thoughts look like and to give us something to work with as we continue discussions to get even more clear on exactly what it is that we are looking for now that we have seen every property in the four states we are considering.

There is some concern on Sara and my part that T and M are much more focused on security issues than community building but we hope to negotiate those differences as our combined effort, if aligned, will create what we want much faster than separate efforts.

To weigh the totals equally, everything from the individual totals was given a number in order of importance from 43-1 and then the 4 individual totals for each priority were added together and a final list was created and sorted based on high to low score with the highest score possible being 172 (43X4 if we all had that as our #1 priority) and the lowest score being 4 (4X1 if we all had that as our last priority).

Here are the final totals of our collective scores:
1 Clarity of Vision and this as Part of Purpose 160
2 Clear, Concise Heart Felt Communication 157
3 6+ Mos of shorts and t-shirt (growing temps) 151
4 300+ Sunny Days 149
5 Garden that provides 90% of fruit/vegetables 146
6 30+ Acres Buildable Land 140
7 3-5 Independent and Stable Water Sources 140
8 Clean/Loving Energy of the Land 138
9 Self Sufficient Energy (solar/hydro/geothermal) 137
10 Healthy Land 132
11 No need to work off the ranch 129
12 Everyone Contributing 125
13 Surplus Revenue 119
14 Green House 116
15 Diversity of Artistic & Spiritual People 113
16 Center of Peace 111
17 Center of Healing 108
18 Trees 106
19 Fruit Trees 105
20 30-40 min from Town of Culture 103
21 River 86
22 Hot Springs 85
23 Lake 84
24 Master Farmer 84
25 5 pods 75
26 Food Reserves (2 yrs ea person) - root cellar 75
27 Berry Bushes 62
28 Streams 59
29 Dentist 50
30 Nurse or Doctor 50
31 Master Electrician 49
32 Elk, Moose, Sheep and/or Deer 46
33 Amphitheater 45
34 Goats & Chickens 42
35 Labyrinth 42
36 Master Plumber 42
37 Master Wood Worker 38
38 Bunker 37
39 Master Seamstress 34
40 Turkey, rabbits, pigs, quail, pheasant 33
41 Master Potter 29
42 Medicine Wheel 21
43 Exercise Facility/Jungle Gym 18

Next step in this process is a sit down to discuss this data. Sara and I feel good about the final numbers.

Individual Values

Getting Clear on our Values...

"Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values." -Dalai Lama-

Each person who gets involved with a project like this comes to the table with different strengths, different ideas, and different values. Looking at our list of what the ranch should include it became important to recognize that different purposes for the existence of the ranch will require different aspects to be emphasized in its creation. To get clear on what this means, Sara and I along with two friends creating a similar community (T & M) but with a different focus each made a list of our top 4-6 "ranch purposes" and placed the items in order of importance to these purposes from most important to least.

I then weighted each of the 43 items to reflect its level of importance with the #1 priority getting 50 points and the #43 priority getting 1 point. #1 purpose items all got +5, #2 got +3 and #3 purpose got +1 to add additional weight to the priorities under these key reasons for ranch creation. The totals were then combined to see what the accumulated focuses would produce for each individual's priorities.

The list of what a ranch (more their description)/community (more our description) should contain illuminated some very different ideas and we came together and to do this exercise in order to negotiate these differences and illuminate strengths and weaknesses to determine if our visions should be combined or progress separately.

Here are the results:
Jae Priorities:
#1: "A PLACE OF AMAZING BEAUTY"
#2: "A PLACE OF COMMUNITY & GROWTH" TEMPLATE - (PERSONAL & SPIRITUAL ABUNDANCE)"
#3: "A PLACE OF COMFORT"
#4: "A PLACE OF FINANCIAL ABUNDANCE"
#5: "A PLACE OF PEACE AND HEALING"
#6: "A PLACE OF SAFETY"

Final Totals:
Clarity of Vision and this as Part of Purpose 282
Clean/Loving Energy of the Land 267
Clear, Concise Heart Felt Communication 266
300+ Sunny Days 234
30+ Acres Buildable Land 231
6+ Mos of shorts and t-shirt (growing temps) 228
Everyone Contributing 228
Self Sufficient Energy (solar/hydro/geothermal) 223
3-5 Independent and Stable Water Sources 219
Healthy Land 211
Garden that provides 90% of fruit/vegetables 207
Surplus Revenue 198
Lake 181
Trees 181
Fruit Trees 174
Center of Peace 168
30-40 min from Town of Culture 166
No need to work off the ranch 166
Hot Springs 157
Green House 152
Berry Bushes 149
Center of Healing 149
Elk, Moose, Sheep and/or Deer 146
Diversity of Artistic & Spiritual People 141
River 137
Streams 132
Master Farmer 129
5 pods 100
Labyrinth 92
Turkey, rabbits, pigs, quail, pheasant 89
Goats & Chickens 87
Amphitheater 85
Nurse or Doctor 85
Food Reserves (2 yrs ea person) - root cellar 82
Master Potter 79
Master Seamstress 78
Dentist 77
Master Wood Worker 77
Master Plumber 74
Master Electrician 70
Medicine Wheel 65
Exercise Facility/Jungle Gym 62
Bunker 54

Sara Priorities:

#1: "A PLACE OF COMMUNITY OFF THE GRID"

#2: "A PLACE OF ART AND BEAUTY"

#3: "A PLACE OF PEACE AND SPIRITUAL GROWTH"

#4: "A PLACE OF SAFETY AND SECURITY"

#5: "A PLACE OF ABUNDANCE"

Final Totals:

Clarity of Vision and this as Part of Purpose 259

Clean/Loving Energy of the Land 242

Clear, Concise Heart Felt Communication 233

300+ Sunny Days 217

Healthy Land 207

Garden that provides 90% of fruit/vegetables 200

30+ Acres Buildable Land 198

Diversity of Artistic & Spiritual People 188

No need to work off the ranch 180

6+ Mos of shorts and t-shirt (growing temps) 175

Center of Peace 170

Self Sufficient Energy (solar/hydro/geothermal) 167

Center of Healing 165

Trees 158

Green House 149

5 pods 139

Everyone Contributing 136

River 129

Fruit Trees 128

30-40 min from Town of Culture 124

Hot Springs 124

Lake 123

Master Farmer 115

Elk, Moose, Sheep and/or Deer 113

3-5 Independent and Stable Water Sources 105

Berry Bushes 96

Streams 96

Turkey, rabbits, pigs, quail, pheasant 87

Master Wood Worker 84

Nurse or Doctor 77

Surplus Revenue 77

Master Electrician 76

Master Seamstress 76

Amphitheater 75

Medicine Wheel 74

Food Reserves (2 yrs ea person) - root cellar 70

Labyrinth 64

Master Plumber 64

Master Potter 63

Goats & Chickens 52

Dentist 41

Exercise Facility/Jungle Gym 35

Bunker 31

T Priorities:
#1: "A PLACE OF INFINITE CULTURE"
#2: "A PLACE OF SECURITY"
#3: "A PLACE OF ABUNDANCE"
#4: "A PLACE OF HORIZONTAL GROWTH"
#5: "A PLACE OF FUN AND HAPPINESS"

Final Totals:
3-5 Independent and Stable Water Sources 249
Clarity of Vision and this as Part of Purpose 239
Clear, Concise Heart Felt Communication 229
300+ Sunny Days 211
Garden that provides 90% of fruit/vegetables 209
6+ Mos of shorts and t-shirt (growing temps) 205
Healthy Land 205
Self Sufficient Energy (solar/hydro/geothermal) 200
Clean/Loving Energy of the Land 195
Diversity of Artistic & Spiritual People 175
Everyone Contributing 170
Surplus Revenue 166
Food Reserves (2 yrs ea person) - root cellar 162
Master Farmer 157
No need to work off the ranch 156
Green House 154
30+ Acres Buildable Land 148
River 143
Lake 137
Center of Healing 131
Center of Peace 127
Trees 125
Fruit Trees 122
Dentist 115
5 pods 107
Goats & Chickens 105
Labyrinth 88
Berry Bushes 85
30-40 min from Town of Culture 80
Amphitheater 79
Master Plumber 77
Master Electrician 71
Streams 71
Bunker 70
Hot Springs 66
Nurse or Doctor 58
Medicine Wheel 57
Exercise Facility/Jungle Gym 48
Master Seamstress 48
Master Potter 47
Master Wood Worker 46
Turkey, rabbits, pigs, quail, pheasant 28
Elk, Moose, Sheep and/or Deer 21

M Priorities:
#1: "A PLACE OF ABUNDANCE"
#2: "A PLACE OF SAFETY AND SECURITY"
#3: "A PLACE OF COMMUNITY"
#4: "A PLACE OF GROWTH AND OPPORTUNITY"

Final Totals:
3-5 Independent and Stable Water Sources 199
Surplus Revenue 172
6+ Mos of shorts and t-shirt (growing temps) 170
30-40 min from Town of Culture 169
No need to work off the ranch 159
Hot Springs 157
30+ Acres Buildable Land 156
Garden that provides 90% of fruit/vegetables 150
Green House 148
Clear, Concise Heart Felt Communication 140
Self Sufficient Energy (solar/hydro/geothermal) 137
Clarity of Vision and this as Part of Purpose 131
Center of Healing 119
Fruit Trees 119
300+ Sunny Days 116
Everyone Contributing 112
Center of Peace 110
Food Reserves (2 yrs ea person) - root cellar 110
Bunker 109
Trees 109
Diversity of Artistic & Spiritual People 107
Healthy Land 106
Master Electrician 98
Dentist 97
Clean/Loving Energy of the Land 94
Master Plumber 90
Nurse or Doctor 89
Master Farmer 85
River 80
Master Wood Worker 76
Streams 76
5 pods 72
Master Potter 70
Master Seamstress 64
Amphitheater 63
Exercise Facility/Jungle Gym 58
Goats & Chickens 56
Lake 54
Berry Bushes 47
Elk, Moose, Sheep and/or Deer 37
Labyrinth 27
Medicine Wheel 24
Turkey, rabbits, pigs, quail, pheasant 21

This process illuminated one very key point: "CLARITY OF VISION AND THIS (Meaning our #1 purpose and the order of the remaining purposes) AS PART OF OUR PURPOSE" was at the top of everyone's list... good news as our next meeting is to talk about the differences in vision and priorities.

Next step is combining all of the data to see what the overall picture looks like...

Components of a Complete Community

Filling in the middle...

The "middle" stage could take a few years but is well underway. We have looked at countless properties over 4 states ranging in size from 11 acres to over a thousand acres including forestland, highlands, lowlands, some desert properties, one property that was mostly lava rock and everything in between with each property getting us clearer and clearer on what it is that a property like this is going to need.

In alphabetical order, this is the list of desires that Sara and I came up with in collaboration with two of our closest friends purchasing a property of their own.  This list includes all assets to the community. Our search has uncovered a wide diversity of people, ideas and more aesthetic pieces that we include here as part of the complete vision of self-sustainability for community members and a desirable place to visit and grow for the rest of the world.

Here is the list as it stands today:

30+ Acres Buildable Land (20 acres is the minimum needed)
300+ Sunny Days 6mos of short-Tshirt (growing temps)
30-40 min from Town of Culture
3-5 Independent/abundant/Stable Water Sources (gravity fed geothermal hot springs a huge plus)
5 pods
6+ Mos of shorts and t-shirt (growing temps)
Amphitheater
Berry Bushes
Bunker
Center of Healing
Center of Peace
Clarity of Vision and this as Part of Purpose
Clean/Loving Energy of the Land
Clear, Concise Heart Felt Communication by all cultural participants
Dentist
Diversity of Artistic & Spiritual People
Elk, Moose, Sheep and/or Deer
Everyone Contributing
Exercise Facility/Jungle Gym
Food Reserves (2 yrs ea person) - root cellar
Fruit Trees
Garden that provides 90% of fruit/vegetables
Goats & Chickens
Green House
Healthy Land
Hot Springs
Labyrinth
Lake
Master Electrician
Master Farmer
Master Plumber
Master Potter
Master Seamstress
Master Wood Worker
Medicine Wheel
No need to work off the ranch
Nurse/Doctor or EMT/Surgeon
River
Self Sufficient Energy (solar/hydro/geothermal)
Streams
Surplus Revenue / Abundant Revenue
Trees
Turkey, rabbits, pigs, quail, pheasant

Next step is getting clear on what order we feel these are important...