Anyone living in or previously lived in an intentional community ?

[RosemaryandThyme]

Hello, I live in an intentinal community and am wondering if anyone else does or did ?
Ours is a community for the education and welfare of it's members, of which there are about 9 families (plus a few floating extras) living in an collection of houses and a main maor house in a rural hamlet - anyone else in a similar position ?

I think that the OPs community is very different from the 'typical' co-op, if there is such a thing. I think ditziness' experience sounds much more the norm, ie living better & more cheaply than you could do on your own, in our case being able to live on a 80 acre farm with goats, horses, cows et al which obviously we could never do in the normal way of things.

It is hard work, though, living and having to make day to day decisions with lots of other adults. Where we lived we all had our own separate spaces (mostly converted farm buildings) with their own kitchens etc which I think made it a lot easier than places where everyone just has a room.

But, having said that I think that maybe living in an urban community where you're not having to work together a lot of the time as well as living together would have been easier in other ways.

ditziness, btw did you live in a town famous for a very old university?

I'd end up fighting with everybody.
I wouldn't have patience with all that earnestness, I'm much nicer living alone.
And though some of communes mentioned sound ok for those who like that kind of living, OP's one sounds weird and cultish.

We used to show this film when we had people visit who were interested in community living

MrsCB, can I bring my LV along for a polish?

Could we share our handbags and stuff? Or should we just sit and polish it, looking enviously at each others' possessions?

Oooh Sarah perhaps there are some advantages to communal living

But seriously I would be a total nightmare - I prefer people generally speaking at the other end of a broadband connection.

Nope takver, not really.

feels a name change coming on incase I've accidentally outed myself

LadyBeagle, agree that its pretty hard going sometimes living with people - but at least where I lived it wasn't very earnest often if ever.

The one thing I do remember very vividly is a youngish single bloke who lived with us for a while but had been away for a few weeks, coming back in at dinner time, opening the door, then sort of recoiling as the noise level hit him and saying weakly 'ah, I'd forgotten quite what it was like'. (IIRC there were 7 children at the other end of the dining room from the table all pretending to be a dragon underneath an old bedspread, plus all the adults talking simultaneously loudly enough to be heard over the 'dragon'.)

Me too, MrsCB, me too. I'd much rather you all stayed within the safety of my laptop. No RL crossover tyvm, and I'd rather die than share my living space with people.

Don't be daft, ditziness- there must be thousands of aga shatters in mumsnet

Ditziness, sorry, but, I think you safely haven't outed yourself, just I used to know a 'women's house' & a few people who lived there a bit like you're describing many years back.

I still want to know what goes on in those science labs.

Doesnt sound like a very good life for the children at all being in an enclosed community. At some point they might wish to travel further afield, what about University, careers?

Aga shatters mwahahahaahah! Brilliant. I think you mean aga shaggers?

God we are not earnest at all.

We're a bunch of narky old cynics that make far too many dirty jokes and drink a lot of tea

Damnyouautocorrect

I would love to live in an intentional community and it was something I was looking into before I met dp. He does not really like other people though so that put an end to that idea

Why does autocorrect think shatters is more polite? That's what gets me!!

That's quite comforting, Beer.

"Doesnt sound like a very good life for the children at all being in an enclosed community. At some point they might wish to travel further afield, what about University, careers?"

I think you might have a bit of an odd view of communities, Fabby. Where I used to live some children were home educated (and did loads of stuff out and about both 'educational' and regular stuff like youth club, drama, et al), some including my dd went to school. Some children who've grown up there have gone off to uni, others got jobs, just like if they had lived in a 'normal' one family household.

Really, I think where we used to live is a fantastic place to be a child, I still feel guilty to some extent about taking dd away (and she was really heartbroken to leave, even though we only moved less than 2 miles).

I just want to make it clear, regardless of whether I have outed myself or not, I have never ever pooed on an aga.

'Well yes I don't do any of the research myself'

Why 'of course'?

And

are you trying to recruit?

And

I know its wrong but your calmness and refusal to be riled by the MN poking is a bit creepy.

Soz

Hmm, the stench of slowly warming shit has put me off the whole lesbian vegan thing, I must say.