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Aloha SuperForest!
My recent post Another Way inspired a back and forth between an anonymous SuperForester and me, which has inspired me to share the continued conversation via this post…
SF Reader: Do you get to live for free on a farm in exchange for work? Or do you and Jackson pay rent? It sounds almost feudal. Do you think that is a better model?
Me: Aloha! Thank you for your questions.
We have been doing both of these things. At Zero One at Jesse’s House, we were doing purely a work/trade. There wasn’t an exchange of money nor were there set hours. It was a very freeflowing work environment. We each understood what needed doing to reach our long term vision, and each person following his or her bliss, doing what felt good for them in each moment, created a very well-oiled machine. Things were accomplished and there was always forward movement happening.
Now, we are at Zero One Love Gardens, where we are paying rent using money that was gifted by Jackson’s parents while we figure out a way to raise enough money to buy the land.
I can see how it would seem feudal, and in some ways it is. Work the land in exchange for a place to stay. However, in feudalism, the vassal’s principal obligation to the lord was to “aid”, or military service in exchange for the land itself. In our system, we are simply talking about an equal opportunity work agreement in which someone needs a place to sleep and put a few things and in exchange works the land for part of their time. 12-20 hours a week in exchange for a place to live, water and food ain’t half bad when I consider the many hours I used to work, often doing something I loathed so that I could make enough money for rent.
Feudalism was a system people used to acquire land. We’re just talking about an alternative to renting a space for money. I do think it’s a better model. I get to set my own hours, choose my daily tasks, have a space to call home, have fresh food and water and still go play at the beach.
SF Reader: Thank you for your reply and continued exploration. I was curious before, but now I’m just confused. I think what confuses me is that you are choosing to rent a space for money instead of taking advantage of the unique opportunities you mention. This is not an issue of do as I say, not as I do, but something more…
From my understanding, “lord” Jesse pulled the plug on the well oiled machine of his “peasants” 1 year into a 3 year deal at his whim alone. From what I read it was not received well. Imbalances in power and wealth often aren’t. Now you seek to exchange the dreaded american cash for an ownership interest in property. To what end? If a better system is currently out there, why not participate in it? Clearly, there are land owners willing to exchange their space for your help. Are they not doing it well enough? Not well enough that you still feel comfortable recommending this life path to others? I don’t see how you and Jackson aren’t just using his parents money to create your own sense of independence.
Please help! I must be missing something!
Me: Jesse’s decision to pull the plug on Zero One is confusing for me. My experience of the story was one of a communication breakdown that eventually led to its end. The original arrangement at Zero One was like a business agreement in which only Jesse and Jackson had a stake in any profits from the land, which they were to split 50/50. This was later opened up to include Augustin, Mea, and me. No one ever had a stake in owning the land itself. Jesse was the financial backer of the business. Then, for reasons unbeknownst to me, Jesse became unable to tell us what he wanted. He communicated that he wasn’t happy with the team of people chosen, but not why he was unhappy with us. This made for a very confusing series of communications.
Most of my questions to Jesse regarding why Zero One ended, the reasons behind decisions made, and overall pono in the whole situation have remained unanswered or unclear. I feel there has been an unwillingness to communicate (in person/skype/phone call) honestly, openly and without fear of offending each other. I have asked for and would like the opportunity to speak with Jesse about all of these things. I would like the opportunity to take responsibility for my mistakes and learn from them. Without someone telling me where they saw I went wrong, I am only left with an opportunity to make up stories about why things happened the way they did, just as Jesse has been able make up stories about what happened at Zero One when he wasn’t around. I’d like the opportunity to responsibly share those stories with each other, get all the cards on the table, and then make some semblance of what happened, why, who, how, how much, etc. Until that time, we’re all just makin’ shit up. Perhaps it didn’t go down exactly as intended and there is still confusion to be sorted, but one thing that is clear is my gratitude for Jesse’s willingness to play this game and share his abundance. Thank you, Jesse.
Now then, in February, Jackson’s mother gifted him $10,000. I was there when she gave it to him. She told him to use it for rent, traveling, to feed us, and whatever else he saw fit to do. Jackson decided to share that money with me. (If you’d like to know what prompted that decision, I’m sure he’d be happy to explain.) When Zero One ended in May, at least half of that money was left. We had many many options come our way in terms of where to go next. From traveling to renting an apartment on the North Shore to hiking into the Kalalau Valley and living off the land. After what had happened at Zero One, we thought what if we had the opportunity to have our own land without having someone over us to pull the plug willy nilly, how amazing would that be!? We decided that unless we got a Big YES for the next place to live, then we would go to Kalalau.
Well we got a Big YES. Through a fantastically amazing series of choices and coincidences, we found ourselves the new stewards/tenants on a working permaculture farm with hundreds of fruit trees already producing, a giant (overgrown) garden of collards, kale, tomatoes, and Mexican papayas, a running fresh water stream with a swimming hole, a greenhouse, work shed, and two livable structures for a mere $1500 a month, which we paid through September. (First month, June, free in exchange for cleaning up the land, which had been trashed and left to grow over by the previous tenants and $4500 for July, August, and September.)
This might seem like a lot of money to pay for two people to live on a piece of land. However, we’re not planning to live on it alone. We have taken advantage of this opportunity and used this gifted money to support ourselves and people in this community. In the one month we’ve been there, we have had five people come and stay for a night or two, and in exchange, they have cleaned and organized buildings on the land that were trashed, many hours of work completed simply in exchange for a place to sleep. We currently have two couples temporarily living on the land. In exchange, one couple is staying in a stucture and cleaning it, painting it and totally reviving it. The other couple is staying on one of five tent platforms, are master gardeners at a permaculture farm on Maui, and are giving us expert advice and work on the land.
To specifically answer your questions, I am offering up first step alternatives for people looking for another way of living. This isn’t to say that I believe someone should give up all they have, move to Kauai and work on someone else’s land for 20 hours a week forever. Though why not? What’s the difference between that and working behind a desk for 40 hours a week so that I can pay rent on someone else’s mortgage?
What I am suggesting is a gateway option for getting out of mainstream capitalism. I have participated in work/trade exchange and now find myself with a potential chance to acquire land and share it. We are taking this opportunity to share this land with others and collaborate to implement our own ideas and systems, not because they are better than other places, but because we can. If you found yourself in a situation where you had the chance to be on or buy a piece of land that provided food and water for life and implement your own creations and explorations, would you not do it?
So are we using Jackson’s parents’ money to form a sense of independence? No, it is Jackson’s money, and we are using it to support and feed ourselves and the people around us while we use the land and our new systems to implement energetically positive ways to make money so that we no longer need our parents’ help. (My parents still help me a great deal as well.) Our goal is to acquire this piece of land, through whatever honest, energetically positive means necessary. Does that include asking for help from the people around us? Yes. Does that include continuing to work very hard to pour our love and energy into this land? Yes. Does it include getting very creative in ways to make, save, and prevent having to spend money? Yes. Are we willing to do all of these things? Yes.
As an example, in the past nine months, had I been living in a place where I had to pay rent, I would have had to make anywhere from $500/month-$800/month given my varied living situations, so by living in a work/trade, I elliminated the need to make $4500-$7200. Also, had I been getting paid by Jesse instead of living on his land for “free”, I’d have charged him minimum of $20/hour. So at that rate, and estimating on the low end of things, working 4 hour days, 20 days a month, for 9 months, I’d have made $14,400. So I alleviated a man from having to pay me, just me, nearly fifteen thousand dollars, just as the people who help us on this new land prevent us from having to pay money. Thus far, we’ve had five people work a total of about 25 hours, so essentially, at a $20/hour rate, we’ve “gained” $500 because we didn’t have to pay someone to do the work these people did.
We would like to use this land, for as long as we have it, to make money through various methods: Guests – workshops, renters, vacationers, Grants – if we become a 501c3, Value added product – dehydrated fruit, juices, smoothie mixes, natural shampoos, soaps, Tours, events, concerts, and to support craftspeople and artisans – monetary exchange for a place for them to work.
I am not perfect, this system is not perfect, and I do not claim either to be true. It is an experimental system in which personal responsibility is emphasized and contraditory practices are often used until we are able to fully sustain ourselves in this new way. The world is in transition, and until the transition is completed, we are having to operate gradually in a one foot in, one foot out fashion. I would prefer to have the land and be able to funtion so that I am fully supporting myself and don’t need assistance from the people around me, but that’s not reality. I will always need the people around me, just as I need you to ask me these questions, which help me to further examine my own choices.
Mahalo!
Melissa
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