To be more specific, i'll be in the Guelph university Centre cafeteria between 2-4pm, sat. Jan. 31, with a greenish ecovillage poster hanging from the table. I have white-ish hair on my face....less on my head.
It's free to tour the many vendors tables and the cafeteria. Parking can be tight.
Here's a recent posting to our members with current considerations....bearing in mind that this is intended for those who value the community aspect with it's eco-values :
Greetings , fellow long-time and newer site members!
Out of the January blues, let's revisit our potential, our strategy and our will, all together. I'll try to re-iterate the possibilities in a big nutshell, for members who have not read this before, and still long for the opportunity to develop relevant, alternative community freedom, while it's still relatively easy.
Since our membership has increased more rapidly over the past months, i was speculating that more people might be realizing that big changes can come quickly , and that it just might be prudent to develop our options more quickly also.
The economic/environmental implications of big oil games , the currency devaluations, job insecurity, political rattlings for power, etc., are hardly evened out by cheaper gas and a quarter percent drop of the prime rate....with rumours of another quarter later.
Yet, it might give us a timely edge, to reconsider action sooner than later to acquire our larger property, while also looking for a smaller/cheaper property with similar location and features.
Currently, we remain at about halfway in our pledged purchase funds....and there have been no more "larger" shareholders adding to that....perhaps spooked by societal changes, personal circumstances, or financial complexities and ownership misperceptions with unequal shares of investment and extra costs to cover the risk factors to the larger investors.
While this approach can still work with several more larger investments :
I recall that one of the scenarios we proposed at around the 80-member level, was that : if each member put in an equal share towards the purchase, fees, and reasonable initial infrastructure costs, (totalling 400k) that we could just buy it now with "clear-to-everyone", uncomplicated , instant ,transparent, equality of ownership.
Now, imagine with the current membership, it would be all done for 3k each ! ...... or with 100 members, 4k each, 50 members 8k each,... in the form of a promissory note. This is the reality of group buying power.
These figures would include the 1k membership fee, plus 2-acre , or 3- acre(@5k) lifelong , inheritable plot lease.
Seriously, in these times, who would not see the wisdom in securing an alternative haven, for such an amount, which one can use as a private campsite, seasonal retreat, a leisurely cabin-building site, or a (legal) permanent home,.... all while being assured that any number of likeminded friends can be present, living there, watching over our collective investment, our optional future homes, for whenever we individually decide the timing is right. Remember that this is a rare possibility still, all because of the zoning.
In any case, this is a ground-level economy bonus for the ones enabling the purchase. Thereafter, any new members would rightly have to "buy in"or "trade-in" at a higher-valued rate, determined by careful commons infrastructure/development progress at any point in future. (min. gravel roads,water access,hydro,meeting/dining-house,workshop, common gardens).
In this low-activity season, we would seek to make a lower offer on the property which would certainly help.
Any member would have access to any transaction documents related to our project.
Hopefully this is clear to all, and that you might all actively seek others who similarly value the nature of our described vision/project.
I'm always available to clarify details.
Hi folks,.. The Organic conference this year,.... i really only had time to make contact with a dozen older friends, and folks they introduced me to. As soon as i got there, i hung up 6 informative posters in various spots, with our website details attached.
They are still being viewed in the vendor areas today till after the last presentations are over,....some by longtime friends of mine.( I could not attend any of the presentations this year, and was back home last night, ...was talking the whole time except while eating and waiting in the cafeteria)
I met 6 new folks who are as interested as any of our current members, so it's a matter of time before we see them, i guess. There was good response to my outline of the minimal investment option, but that takes larger numbers or a combination of larger investments and compensatory smaller ones.
One of my friends was teaching a minicourse on knowledgeable woodland/permaculture gardening, and i'm sure would come to our property to do the same when the time comes. He had done one in Huntsville last fall.
There were many homestead/permaculture /woodland types of themes....and many overheard conversations around need for viable changes....even just to stay afloat, so most everyone encouraged us to keep going . We'll see.
This is a preliminary heads-up for any more interested in our project.
Our membership has doubled in the last 3 months, and so we are equally hopeful of the larger numbers seeing the sense of being an equal shareholder from the start, avoiding the more complex necessity of a sliding scale of financial adjustment for largely unequal combo of several "larger"investors with more "smaller" ones. Hey, small is beautiful. Let's see what happens.
There will likely be a time of further fence-sitting before commitment as some folks reassess their individual implications before spring/summer, but from an individual and seasonal readiness consideration this cannot be prolonged.
So, meanwhile we have begun to compose a crowdfunding campaign to cast a much larger, more public net. When this is ready, we will give out a "last call" to all who already know of the choice, so you/they have first opportunity before the launch....because the public response may well be way over the current, aware membership. You know who you are, and who would be. PM is good, asap.
Hi Villager. Keep us in the loop. I have been following your progress. I would be a "smaller" investor, (but I would make it up in hard labour 🙂 ) As I have been doing more and more research in prepping/homesteading ect and I think a joint project like this would be more feasible for me instead of trying to do something on my own. Keep me in the loop.
Yes, it's a win-win scenario even if we never need it. It would give any of us an already established choice of where/how to live, and play a part in educating any who find their way to us. At the very least, it would be a perpetual (advanced) retreat 🙂 We are still working on a fundraiser to get over the hump before summer. More details via PM.
Just touching in again.... yup, still here and actively engaging members to commit for purchase during this summer, so there's at least enough time to establish road access and a base camp and secure storage containers for the first migration and further development.
It's hard to find a canadian crowdfunder in the field of real estate involvement, so it's taking a bit longer to acceptably formulate before launching.
A knee injury has also slowed me down from attending to garden work and house preparation for sale, but i'm hoping the bubble holds long enough to get us well-started in our new space. The injury makes it clear, how crucial close neighbors would be in a far more challenging environment than we still enjoy now.
Thanks for the continuing support of this idea and intent shared by so many more than a few years ago.
I hope more folks all over work on similar projects wherever they can, and that we might actually meet more of each other some time on common ground.
Me again. The biennual event has occurred again: The large property we've been working towards with shareholder pledges has been conditionally sold. Let's see if it's still there after closing date.
We have 1 smaller contingency, but would welcome anyone to PM me if they know of another, reasonably priced large property in un org. region between hunts ville and n. bay.
Reward for the right place : lifetime 2-acre plot lease in the context of our ecommunity.
We have about 1.5 weeks before the suspected closing date of the outsider's offer on "our designated property"....when we figure we'll have the slight chance to put in an offer.
There are 3 now contingency property choices, but none quite as beneficial,diverse, or large as this original one .
I'm hoping no-one misinterprets what i'm proposing here:
In a move which may draw more interest and more ready cash, we are announcing the prospective sale of shares @1k
with a max. of 50 per member. This way, fewer investors with real estate incentive could secure the property and start accommodating more members, sooner...with a reciprocal recompensation over time, to the reasonable percentual benefit of the primary investors.(the property has already doubled in value to a niche group of folks.)
If anyone has been sitting on the fence in such consideration, now might be the last opportunity of its kind for this year, to get established.
My 20k is pledged....and more when the house is sold. About 10 others are in with various amounts.... We're keenly waiting for more of the right stuff to join us in this major community enterprise and life-change.
For further details, PM me.
Haven't been on for awhile ,We are looking for something like this, didn't take time to read everything but see this has been going on for awhile .. Maybe someone can contact us privately ...Logger 1 /Robert https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTIkHmTl4qc A link to read behind . we live in Ontario south of Sudbury north of Barrie and have to move soon .
Hi Logger1.....PM sent
Here we go. Our favoured property is once again available! The outsider conditional offer has been declined. We're looking for more shared commitments from eco-likemindeds to co-purchase within a few days. We're pretty sure that it will be relisted at an even higher price than before. There's nothing else out there like this place in an unorg. region, this far south. We could still achieve this and get started before winter with basic infrastructure, as we begin to develop and prepare-in-place.
This might , once again, be our last opportunity for such an ideal place .
Calling out to those who have expressed interest in the past, and any newer folks who share this vision of potential viable, affordable community.
It's ironic that this should come up around the same weekend as the survival expo. For me it has a similar urgency in association.
PM me for more detais asap.
Look fwd to meeting anyone interested in our project . I'll be at the rocket stove workshop sun.
Big challenge ahead for you. Just reading through some of the comments has been rather exhausting. I suggest you contact our southern neighbours who are soooo much more immersed into prepping. There must be a lot of information already out there to answer or help the endless questioning & 'back & forth' dialogue I've been reading. It's all over the map. Where is your basic research? I have always wondered about getting more serious about prepping with likeminded people. But ( and not to sound rude or snooty) you really need to talk in more realistic dollar amounts. People who have to think about $2,000, are NOT serious, nor will they be stable for long-term sustainability.
Thanks for your perspective, and welcome to a forum in which not everything is , nor needs to be, disclosed.
My "basic research" is decades long, continually refined , and is essentially documented on another dedicated site.
The older 2k figure was based on an unlikely particular number of members, but there is virtually no limit to anyones' contribution. That's why i mentioned my own 20k with more to come when the house is sold. So yes, of course 20 or 30 more "serious" folks like that would do it.
Beyond that, there will likely be shares offered after purchase, as also mentioned.
A prerequisite is acceptance of the community context in its various details, including further costs and obligations.
Big challenge ahead for you. Just reading through some of the comments has been rather exhausting. I suggest you contact our southern neighbours who are soooo much more immersed into prepping. There must be a lot of information already out there to answer or help the endless questioning & 'back & forth' dialogue I've been reading. It's all over the map. Where is your basic research? I have always wondered about getting more serious about prepping with likeminded people. But ( and not to sound rude or snooty) you really need to talk in more realistic dollar amounts. People who have to think about $2,000, are NOT serious, nor will they be stable for long-term sustainability.
softchirp , Pursuant to your comments, the updated "buy-in" will be minimum 10k from sept.13. I've heard similar suggestions before, so i've decided to try that. So we'll see how serious that group would be in terms of sufficient numbers to purchase.
Just to further clarify regarding our ably immersed southern neighbors.... Our focus is not primarily to be "immersed into prepping" for its own sake, but to cultivate the ability to live well together in a new private/commons group paradigm . From that fundamental base, any skillsets and readiness we pursue concurrently will be outstanding as well. That roadmap requires more than a magnetic compass or GPS. 🙂