Damn, I might have stayed in Missouri 12 years ago...

[snooper2]

Had I known about this place :rofl:


http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0508/feature7/?fs=www3.nationalgeographic.com&fs=plasma.nationalgeographic.com



Keeping a fractious socialist commune running in Tecumseh, Missouri, takes good old-fashioned capitalism.


If most meetings at the East Wind commune typically draw about 10 people, why did more than 50 come out of the woodwork for this one?

"Well," says Kara Jo, an East Wind resident for nine years, "people always show up for a lynching." She's kidding (mostly). Yet when a majority of the commune's 75 free-spirited residents appear in one place at one time, something clearly is at stake: Yarrow, 26, has been getting drunk again. He's failing to meet his labor quota; he's smashed up a communal car; and he's ticking people off. After posting complaints on the bulletin board, members scheduled a meeting to find a cure for this chronic pain.

Every community has its problems, of course, but it's hard to visit East Wind without high expectations. Nestled in the Ozark Mountains on 1,000 acres of land, this commune bills itself as an "intentional community" that strives to be egalitarian, noncompetitive, nonviolent, and "an ally of our bioregion and planet." Members use first names only—often ones they've made up, like Pilgrim and Simple. They eat organic fruits and vegetables from their garden, where some labor in the nude. And they run a business making nut butters—peanut, almond, cashew, macadamia—that annually generates $500,000 in profits. The money is pooled and pays for everything the residents share, including food, clothing, child care, and transportation. If this sounds like hippie heaven, East Winders are quick to set you straight: This is not utopia.

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[Lucian]

1. Nothing like working in the nude and making nut butter.

[Taverner]

3. But what if something gets caught in the nut squisher?

[CJCRANE]

2. How come there are no

materialistic communes?

:shrug:

You know people ganging together to buys things they normally can't afford...
like a Ferrari and Porsche. That's the kind of commune I'd like!

:evilgrin:

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

4. Sounds like hell