We build campsites with basic necessities. Water is hauled in until wells are drilled, or a tie-in to a neighbor’s well is arranged etc. Run-off ponds and rain harvesting a la permaculture is developed. Electricity and/or off-grid modalities are explored. Simple composting toilets etc. are installed. Everything goes one step at a time.

From the beginning the project is open to marginalized and disenfranchised people to move onto the land. Simple housing will be developed, along with gardens, tree planting and other projects to develop the land into a working homestead.

Life only has meaning when we are helping each other, expanding ourselves in some way. Is that not the definition of a meaningful life? Self expression, the development of caring relationships, compassion, mercy, etc. So, in my vision, local people who have knowledge of different vocations, such as electricians, plumbers, mechanics, farmers, ranchers, bookkeepers, tailors, artisans and craftspeople, carpenters, masons, all these types of people gather together to help oversee the project and the development of this property.

Then also, artists, musicians, painters, poets, dancers, whatever and whoever they are can also join in to beautify the land and enrich the experience. Of course, writers, photographers, beekeepers, barbers, massage therapists, therapists in general, all of them would have a place to come and share their talents.

At the same time, the homeless could join in and co-build their own houses, thereby learning new skills, winning an avenue of self-expression and gaining self-confidence. There will be a great large kitchen, where those who love to cook can serve up their creations. Food preservation will be also a big part of the project.

Fruit trees, nut trees, hardwood trees will be planted and nursed. It becomes a grand learning experience for all concerned. In the immediate future, a retreat center is set up as a glamping site. People from the city book the rooms online and come for a holiday in nature year round, in summer and winter both to enjoy the beauty of the mountain snow.

Large gatherings are accommodated in an event space, weddings and community events. All of this brings revenue into the project to expand it and keep it going. There will be soap-making, honey, beeswax, candles, pottery, rustic furniture made and all these products sold in a little country store onsite. The residents can sell their art and other handicrafts. In this way, a great educational project develops and the local economy gets a boost.

Older people who are so precious to our society, have also been marginalized. They have so much to share, after having worked for so many years and had so much experience in life, which they really (often desperately) NEED to pass along to younger generations. There would be a place in this community for everyone.

As this project moves forward and we gain experience, we would expand to other tracts of land in other areas of the state, in other areas of the country and the world.

Last but certainly not least, a really big part of this project will be therapy. This will be a place for therapists, where even young and less experienced, can come and learn alongside their mentors. The homeless will have access to help for the relief of mental and emotional issues including trauma and PTSD, which are at the root of substance abuse and other less affirming behaviors.

Since the whole community is be involved, there are plenty of people on hand to provide support. Through working together on various projects, trust and confidence grows in marginalized persons. They slowly develop a feeling to live and thrive, not just to survive. Mainly, the absence of the constant stress of the threat of violence, homelessness etc. fosters healing. The natural environment helps everyone relax and feel closer to earth and the heart. Animals play a big part also, cats, dogs, ducks, chickens, horses, donkeys, even sheep, goats and cows.

With reference to the long-term vision, “graduates” of the program go out across the land, throughout our country and the whole world, to develop similar projects according to this model, where people will come to learn to live again, where communities will take the benefit of such a congregation of diverse groups of people. This teaches our young people and all of our nation true community and diversity.

With the emphasis on personal involvement and development with loving and committed support and acceptance, there will be few rules, mainly only the mandates imposed by local zoning and the GOLDEN RULE. In other words, FIRST and FOREMOST, DO NO HARM.

Each community functions like a small town with town meetings held on a regular basis, with each person able to express their views and make suggestions for the betterment of the community. We will function in the same way as a loving tribe, with many eyes on the project, making sure that dominance and coercion are left outside the gate in favor of true self-governance.

There may be some who feel that such an undertaking would have to fail, since they believe that all humans are innately bad. But, in all of my life and through all of my experiences, I have become convinced that humans are innately good, that the difficulties will be overcome through focus on openness, loving communication, support, commitment, and the determination not to give up.

The community itself must reject heavy-handedness of any kind; anyone wanting to be involved must prove their commitment to non-violent, non-threatening behavior. I feel that 99% of people are good, and that the right people are coming. Older people especially are needed, to share their experience. I feel that a project such as this can only give people hope and renew people’s lives, make them want to live again.

Through the support of therapists working in the forefront of modern psychological research I know that people will be helped to lead productive and useful lives again, or even perhaps for the very first time. With mental health in the forefront using professional, loving therapeutic non-coercive modalities, people can get their lives back.

Our homeless are generally some of the most empathic and also misunderstood in our society. It is in the interest of the world, in the interest of world peace, that we save empathic people from being destroyed. From personal experience I can say that they need a voice. Our society has been called “sick”. I believe it is simply organized in the wrong way. People need to have a say; they need a voice in their lives. Therefore, each group will have its own autonomy based upon consensus.

I would like to further say that it is not true that such communities cannot exist and/or have not existed in the past. There is the case of the five Iroquois nations which once were at home on the eastern seaboard, during the early days of this nation as the European settlers came to the first thirteen states. There should be many other examples also. It would be welcome in this endeavor if like-minded people would come and contribute. It is not enough to hope for things to change. It is not enough to say, someone should do something. It is certainly not enough, indeed, it is wrong to leave it to the “government” to solve these issues. We must take the situation into our own very capable hands. I see in my vision a new hope coming to this land and to the world through such a movement.

I would like to close with this example. There was a village in Holland at the turn of the 20th century where there had been an insane asylum. That “hospital” for mental patients was so horrible, such a place of torture, that the townspeople finally got fed up with it. They took it upon themselves to close the hospital. But what they did with the so-called patients was what made the story interesting for me. In that village, maybe there were 50 or 60 families. They got together and decided that each of the families would take one of the persons in the asylum to their house and care for them. Then they did that. Each family got one new “special” member of the household and they closed the house of horrors forever.

So, if we take the disenfranchised and provide them with a space of their own, if we relieve the congestion of the inner cities and distribute these people amongst populations in smaller areas and inundate this environment with “normal” people, we can integrate them again. But we should not consider ourselves better or more powerful for having done so. We should simply do it because it is the right thing to do to relieve the unbearable suffering, rather than to look away and expect it to just disappear.

I have great hope and I know that there are many reading this who have had similar thoughts to my own and who possess the courage and the pioneer spirit to join with me and hopefully many others in this endeavor. At least we will be able to say, we tried, we gave it our best.

To reiterate, we will work with forward thinking psychologists and therapists. There will be no place for self-agrandizing narcissistic abusers or coercive un-self-reflective ideologues, etc. I feel confident that a good group of people will come together and that together we will figure out a way to minimize if not eliminate such abuses; that we will learn to be healthy again, mentally and in every other way.

For the land 300k usd are needed at the outset. 225 is for the land and another 75k for the immediate improvements needed to provide utilities and set up needed minimum amenities for a viable campsite/mobile village. After that, the members of the community will build earth structures together, hay bale houses, tent sites, log homes, set up and repair old RVs etc.

I just saw on FB marketplace someone trying to give away two 20×40 ft manufactured structures. They want to give them away for free to someone who will just come and pick them up. There are so many things that are for free everywhere; people have so much and they don’t know what to do with it. We will acquire some trucks so that members can go around and pick up these items and use them to build needed structures on the property. All of this is to be supervised and supported by all the members of the community.

So, again, I say it. We are treasures. You, that you have read this all the way to the end, that you have opened your mind to my mind, that you are seeing this vision, that you are owning it for yourself, you are a treasure. And you, that you are considering helping, considering giving to this cause, you are a great treasure. And any one of you considering joining me and others in working for this, YOU ARE THE GREATEST TREASURE.