Page 15 - Bulletin #67 - November 2020

Intentional communities offer possibilities for how we all can survive and thrive through crisis by
coming together.

Survey Results

Our analysis of the survey results shows that communities have been impacted by the virus in a
variety of ways on a pretty clear spectrum. On one end of the spectrum are communities who
have been minimally or positively affected by the pandemic (approximately 15% of survey
respondents). On other end of the spectrum are communities who have been severely or
negatively impacted (approximately 5% of survey respondents). Most communities fall
somewhere in between these two ends of the spectrum.

A few remote and land-based communities report how for them daily life hasn’t changed all too
much. Residents were already used to growing much of their own food, delegating trips to the
grocery store to a few individuals in the community and earning an income within the
community’s economy or through remote work.

“Nothing has really changed for us. We set up [our community] with a design to ride out these
types of events – pandemics, natural disasters, financial meltdowns. We are a closed community
on over 1000 acres with private roads and two access points to BLM and state land. We have a full
Equestrian Center, Library (books.over 350 DVDs, games, puzzles, magazines), gym, spa and 3
miles of interior roads/trails for walking, biking, riding. We are adding a pool table and probably a 15
pool this year. We have a garden and our permaculture people are getting set up to add an
additional 80 acres of food forest, aquaponics, and massive greenhouses. We have a resident only
grocery store opening up this fall. We keep chickens and ducks for eggs. We have an Exchange
Program for cash/barter/trade for/exchange money within the community and we hire work done
from within the community so people still have an income. We are remote so most people stock
up on personal supplies.”
— Zhenna, Caballos de las Estrellas Intelligent Living Community, New Mexico and Arizona,
USA

Some community members even report experiencing an improved quality of life since
the pandemic.

“As an urban intentional community focused on social and environmental justice, our members
are often all over the city and traveling around the country in service of movements. During the
shelter-in-place time there has been a unique magic of all being here together, gathering so much
more often than we used to, eating together, growing more food than ever, processing herbal
medicine, distributing food, medicine and supplies to our neighbors… To me, it feels in many ways
so much more like the ‘village’ life we’ve been longing for, that the pressures of our current
systems so often pull us away from.”
— Morgan H Curtis, Canticle Farm, CA, USA