Would You Consider Joining A Prepper Inspired Community?

[jansman]

Individuals coming together as community might take the form of a farmers type market, training /teaching skills classes to each other or just good old fashioned "breaking bread" and having a beer from time to time, for those who wanted such interaction. Even cave dweller "Hessian-Sack-Hamish" can even come if he scrapes the grunge from his beard.

Over time a closer knit community feel would likely develop anyway, without too much effort or anyone even noticing.

Yes! That sounds really good!

I know someone who lives in such a small village there is no pub or anything, but they home brew a little and have built a small garden bar at the back of their garden, with a lovely seating area, all the neighbours were welcome and used to go round. It wasn’t an official bar, they only asked for the cost of the can etc. I’d be willing to do something like that!

I am actually building a little hut here for our village to put extra produce in and maybe books. I’ve seen places turn telephone boxes into book exchange places and sometimes some one has put extra veg in etc. So it was inspired like that a little.

We have a bus shelter in the village that is a book exchange,or was.It has been cleared for the duration of the virus. The pub also has ( had) a couple of shelves for book exchanges. It works.

[Raven]

Yeah we need something else here....and if it isn’t controlled by the village committee the better.

If you are not in the click in this village then you are an outsider. They can be quite mean to people and look down their noses.

But I will have a lot of veg ready at the same time so I will put some in for people and see if others on the street do the same.

I will certainly improve my woodworking skills in the process...but I can’t work in this heat!

[jansman]

Yeah we need something else here....and if it isn’t controlled by the village committee the better.

If you are not in the click in this village then you are an outsider. They can be quite mean to people and look down their noses.

But I will have a lot of veg ready at the same time so I will put some in for people and see if others on the street do the same.

I will certainly improve my woodworking skills in the process...but I can’t work in this heat!

All villages are cliques.Mine is no different.I am born and bred in this place,but because I don't attend one of the four ( yes four) churches,my face doesn't fit.

[Arwen Thebard]

Yeah we need something else here....and if it isn’t controlled by the village committee the better.

If you are not in the click in this village then you are an outsider. They can be quite mean to people and look down their noses.

But I will have a lot of veg ready at the same time so I will put some in for people and see if others on the street do the same.

I will certainly improve my woodworking skills in the process...but I can’t work in this heat!

All villages are cliques.Mine is no different.I am born and bred in this place,but because I don't attend one of the four ( yes four) churches,my face doesn't fit.

We agree with both these posts.

[diamond lil]

My god jansman - a village with 4 churches My idea of hell Yer very brave!

[Arwen Thebard]

My god jansman - a village with 4 churches My idea of hell Yer very brave!

Or they know something about Jansman we dont!

[grenfell]

To clarify something said to me off the forum, my use of the term "Lone-Wolf" may have given the wrong impression and could have just as many problems in interpretation as my use of the word community.

Some people read community and hear commune.

Some people read "Lone-Wolf" and hear mountain man, Bear Grylls or some such idea of a white bearded man dressed in a bear skin coat carrying a long rifle, living alone in a wooden hut 3000ft up a snowy mountain.

My interpretation of a lone wolf is simply an independent person who can look after themselves. Not someone who shuns society and deliberately avoids contact with other people.

The lone wolves I know are equally comfortable in their own company as they are being with others, they are not afraid to ask for help when they need it and can respond in kind when they are asked. Doesn't that describe most of us?

Sorry for any confusion.

Think that's perfectly clear regarding the lone wolf title , thanks.
Not wanting to add to any confusion but i would like to ask another question and that is about the other end of the scale. Jansman commented that even the lone wolf is still part of a community whether they like it or not , access to health services and such like. Likewise our economy is intertwined with the other countries economies. Whether we like it or not we may be reading this on Chinese technology while our imported food cooks in the Italian cooker powered by Norwegian gas. Our income or pensions might be reliant on the performance of companies in the US , Africa , Asia or Australia. We are all part of the global community if you like but how much does one feel part of that community or is it really a community as such. I am part of it like the rest of us but i don't feel part of it . I know very little about the working or social life of the average Bulgarian , Chinese or Mexican. Can we even be part of the same community if we couldn't communicate ?
So is or should there be an upper limit to a community? I mentioned a figure of 150 earlier but could that be double , triple or ten times larger? Could a town of 30,000 become a community as we talk about it or does the feelings of not wanting to interact with that many people kick in ? A figure of 7.5 billion would really be better if we all felt like neighbours in one big community.

[Arwen Thebard]

GULP! I was only looking for a dozen or so people to get going. (Note to self; Maybe need to up ambition level.)

Seriously though, the only time we have ever genuinely felt part of a community was when we knew everyone's name, their partners and kids as well. That was a small village community and totaled about 10 families with 35 people. We all interacted with other villages and towns throughout the year and on special occasions, harvests, birthdays, christenings etc.

We have lived in parts of larger towns (5000+ people) that liked to call themselves a community, but it wasn't anything like one in reality. Currently we are in a village of approx 450 people and the clicks and politics at that size is not something for us either.

Reading that through we sound almost like recluses, which we are not, we just prefer to know fewer people, only better.

We dont really "feel" a part of any global community as such, although we have a shared feeling of connection regarding conservation of the planet I surpose.

[grenfell]

I'd have to search for it but i remember reading a piece that suggested that somewhere between 1-200 is the natural size of human groupings. Derived at by looking at tribes in less developed parts of the world and social circles in the western world . We probably know about 100 people although not necessarily closely. That number gives enough scope for some to work or gather food while others care for the young or old or prepare food , clothing etc but is small enough to know everyone. It would be great if all the billions of us had the same ethics , morals and aims and could live as one community as it would probably eliminate war and crime . Frankly i doubt such a thing is possible but earlier mention of sci-fy seems to be keen on the idea , galactic empires , federations or commonwealths and planets are looked at as one community , Earth, Vulcan , Kardashia or whatever.
As it is the various communities that we have now have different aims and goals. The prepping community has different goals to , say, the hot rod community which has different goals to the banking community and so on. Perhaps the greatest skill is co-existing with other communities one might not fully agree with a task that would be much easier if we weren't so densely populated.

[Lone]

I may consider myself a (reasonably likeable ) lone wolf, but have given much thought on what it takes to create a community, plus numbers they entail.

I considered it takes a lot to do with abilities/professions, as in, what skills do you need to run a community successfully without requiring outside help ?

Beyond many having several skill sets, there is the chance of a large number having no skills/abilities at all, depending on the ones that do, so what’s the balance between both ?

There seems to be the question - what do you have to offer to gain a place in the community ?

If you have few people with skill sets, but a large number lacking any sort of contribution, would this lead to animosity between those who do and those who don’t - few doing all the work, others benefiting from their hardships.

To me, being as I am, the problems involved in creating and maintaining a community, which involves so much in the way of human interaction, working together, with people who have varying degrees of temperament, energy, interactive abilities, just gives me a migraine like trying to solve an unsolvable puzzle, as we see right now, when you have groups of only a few to many, cliques start, people become left out, others leave...it is exhausting to an already difficult situation.

Lone wolf may not work...but I can only fall out with myself...or even...if a problem arises, I HAVE to find a solution, instead of depending on others, real survival is learning on the go.

I may fail...but I’ll only have myself to blame..but when a group fails..they likely will turn on each other or seek scapegoats...it’s human nature tbh.

I’d hate to be the lowest level of the pecking order in the group...you’d never feel safe...there is a phrase...if you are with a group and you don’t recognise who is the weakest link...then IT IS YOU !