Our ancestors, some of which were the original pioneers who pushed westward into unknown lands, recognized the benefit of community and working together. Even though the original pioneers were self sufficient and independent, they understood that together more could be accomplished, greater numbers meant greater safety, and specialty skills along with bartering, were valuable concepts to keep in mind.
With the renewed interest in self-sufficiency and modern homesteading, we must be careful to avoid isolating ourselves and failing to recognize the benefits of developing community projects that benefit all. If we look to our ancestors, and the present day Amish, we see just how important community can be. From barn raisings, to butcher days, to community gardens, we see how much more can be accomplished with many hands working together. But, there are some down sides when a group of people try to work together for an extended period of time. Let’s look at some of those down sides, and look at some considerations that I’ve learned help mitigate the potential problems.
DISAGREEMENT ABOUT HOW TO DO THE PROJECT:
Each person or family will have their own ideas about how a project needs to be done. Many times these ideas may be very different. Before the project begins, conversations need to take place and plan developed to proceed. When the plan covers all aspects of the project, these ideas and disagreements can be discussed and compromises developed BEFORE the problems develop. Compromise is something that, while difficult, will be necessary. Having an open mind and being willing to consider various ideas will be imperative to a successful project. Many times others have ideas that are better than my own. I constantly learn from others.
UNEVEN WORKLOAD
There will be many times that an even sharing of the workload is impossible. As long as the workload is shared evenly overall, then end result will benefit everyone involved. This past spring we did a community garden for three families. There were many times that I was unavailable when the weeding and tilling needed to be done, due to my work schedule. However, this balanced out by the end of the garden season, when one of the others had a change in her schedule and did not have as much availability at harvest time. They picked up the slack for me during planting/weeding/tilling season and I was able to spend more time during harvest. In the end, I did more harvest, they did more planting, weeding and tilling, and the third family pitched in and did the things I didn’t have time to do during harvest and canning season. Everyone was able to get the food needed for this winter. You sometimes have to look past the current time frame and look at the big, overall picture. An additional thing we did was coordinate our schedules and set up specified days to do garden work. It was agreed upon ahead of time, built into our schedules, and there was no wondering who was doing what when.
LACK OF PARTICIPATION
When you end up with people who can not help as much as others, you have a couple of options. You can have them contribute in other ways, perhaps buying what is needed, rather than spending the time. There may be times, however, when you will just have to eliminate some from the project. At one point I decided that I was going to invite others to participate in a group project, but when I did the planning, I made sure to keep the project at a level that I could handle it myself if it came to that. I did not have specific expectations, therefore I had no disappointments. With that project, we kept track of hours worked, then divided the end result according to the hours of participation. Those who participated more, received more; those who participated less, received less. The job was never overwhelming to me, because I kept it at a level that was manageable alone. This is a great way to test out people that you have never worked with before. It gives them an opportunity to see if community projects will work for them, and allows you to see if they have the time and commitment to follow through with the project. If I find there is someone who simple can not or will not participate at the level needed, then they do not get invited to participate in future community projects.
VARIED SKILLSETS
Initially, it may seem that varied skill sets is a disadvantage to a community project, however, it can be turned into a benefit. If everyone has the same knowledge and level of skill, it is more likely that disagreements about how to do things may develop. If you choose people with varied skillsets to participate, you develop the opportunity to learn new skills from one another. You can also strategically place people in roles that tap into to their expertise. Having different people responsible for various areas of the project helps to balance the workload, and gives each person ownership to the project. Sharing knowledge, learning new skills and being able to take away something from the project, makes the project successful for all. I will be building my high tunnel greenhouse in the next couple of months. I have people who have already offered to come help with the construction in order to learn more about constructing the greenhouse. This will be great! I will get my greenhouse constructed with extra manpower, and they will have knowledge that they want to use for future projects for themselves. I have had others come help me in the small greenhouse, just for the knowledge of how to start plants for their own gardens. I get the extra help needed when the workload is heavy and they get to learn about seeds and seedlings without having to invest anything more than time.
I’m sure there will other potential problems that crop up during community projects, and we will take each of those in stride and try to find solutions that will benefit everyone involved. If you decided to develop community projects, I hope that they go well, you will keep an open mind about new ideas, and there are benefits that result for everyone involved. In today’s time, it is easy to wish for isolation from the world and its problems, but let us never forget that many hands make light work, and our forefathers relied on one another for survival. Hopefully, each of us that are moving toward the modern pioneering lifestyle will do more than just survive…hopefully we will thrive. And we have the potential to thrive by helping one another be successful in living this lifestyle.
community, cooperation, DIY, friends, homesteading, projects, together