Artists Farm

Articles of Incorporation as a Non-profit will describe the property as a housing co-op. Co-op Rules are in effect at all times which is to say All House Chores Are Shared. Or maybe Intentional Community, I haven’t nailed that down yet. Maybe just 5 or 6 people.

Karma yoga (Sanskrit: कर्म योग), or the “discipline of action” is a form of yoga based on the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, a sacred Sanskrit scripture of Hinduism. Of the four paths to realization, karma yoga is the science of achieving perfection in action.

The smallest actions can have the greatest affect on other people. Things like doing the dishes, taking the garbage out and generally keeping things tidy is essential to a successful community, and these things should be done for each other without thought of praise or compliment. Its simply the right way to live, and becomes its own reward.

Living cooperatively takes some patience as well as a keen awareness of how your actions impact others around you.  This is a project for people who want to build a fun legacy, but know this will take some work. This is not a free ride; if you don’t contribute, you better be sick and/or dying or else you leave. On the other hand if you make the commitment this takes and make a place of your own here, you can stay as long as you make it in this life. And in the end you’ll get a free cremation, what other job or apartment rental offers that? The umbrella non-profit will finance this, objectively speaking maybe once every 5 years or so. If we don’t have a waiting list, it means we’re not doing it right.

After starting with any original buildings a property will have, as soon as possible geodesic domes will start going up, primarily as housing but also providing additional studio and shop spaces for the residents. Taking advantage of the live-in labor force, we can erect our own buildings for a fraction of the cost of normal new construction. Towards this end one of the first workshops to be installed will be a complete wood shop.

Domes are so cool! These are from Natural Spaces Domes in Minnesota. The kits are amazingly cheap if you do the work yourself.

As many residents as possible will get full master suites, with their own bedroom, sitting room/office and private full bathroom. We may also have single rooms available and even dorm-style bunks during harvest season when we invite all of our friends out for a few days to help the bring in the hops. Even this would become a paid vacation, as soon as the yield is such that money is no longer in short supply and we look for new ways to keep it moving to people who need it.

While this is going to start out as something of a boys’ club, I hope to go co-ed as soon as there is housing for it. I believe the financing is out there, we just need the land, then do some grant writing! Easy!

Regarding general diet: we will strive to make the best things available to ourselves, like seeing if we can do blueberries all winter. My doctors want me on the “Mediterranean Diet”, so I guess there will be felafels. I used to grow lots of sprouts, even made my own sprouted lentil soup, sprouted garbanzo hummus, and other “live foods”. We’ll definitely have a good juicer on hand for raw vegie & fruit drinks. Hopefully one or more people take leading interests in managing the kitchen, meals, gardens, etc. Otherwise cooking will be a rotating chore, everyone gets a chance to try out whatever they want if it falls within a general grocery fund list.

We’ll raise our own chickens for eggs & meat, one or two pigs each year, maybe even someone will want goat cheese – we’ll get some goats! We’ll have a nice bar-be-que next to the hot tub! Of course we’ll install wood-fired Swedish saunas, with outer doors so we can run out in the show drifts. Its good for you!

We will incorporate as many green technologies we can get out hands on, from solar panels for heat & electric too compost piles providing a heat source for infloor radiant systems. Quite likely we’ll have some composting toilets

A word about spirituality: everyone is on their own and encouraged to develop whatever they want, as long as it does not interfere with any one else. Likewise it will be expected to keep other personal vices just that.

All Resident Artists and their apprentices will pay rent and contribute to the general grocery & utility fund. Additional individuals who wish to live on the Farm will tend to the ongoing chores in exchange for room & board; they will only be paid for actual work done for individual studios, or as farm labor by the soon-to-be established corporate entity which will be selling the hops and other farm produce, and in turn paying rent for the fields to the umbrella non-profit. There will be plenty of work to keep everyone occupied on a daily basis; this is not a hospice to hang out while you perish. The primary objective will be to ensure as many people as possible stay eligible for their various programs; this isn’t really a “day job” thing that will be expected to earn you tons of money. This is quite the opposite: its intended to create happy trickles of income for everyone while Farm essentially pays for itself.