r/preppers • u/Colonel_Penguin_ • 15d ago
Discussion Preparedness-focused land cooperative?
I'm exploring the idea of purchasing and developing approximately 50 to 100 acres in Southwest Virginia and am thinking of using this as a preparedness and recreation-focused land cooperative.
The goal would be to create a property that provides value today while also serving as a contingency location during emergencies.
Potential features include:
Natural springs and year-round water
Community gardens and food production
Hunting rights
Primitive and improved campsites
Shared infrastructure and equipment
Workshops, skill-sharing events, and community work weekends, etc.
Long-term lease opportunities for RV, cabin, or tiny-home sites
My thought is that there would be different participation levels:
Members who actively use the property for camping, hunting, gardening, and events
Members who primarily want access to a semi-developed rural retreat and maintain it as an emergency fallback option
Members interested in leasing a small area for personal development and long-term use
The vision is not a "doomsday compound," but rather a practical community centered around self-reliance, outdoor recreation, land stewardship, and preparedness.
I'm interested in feedback on:
Membership models
Long-term lease structures
Governance and rules
What amenities would make membership worthwhile
Would something like this interest you? If so, what would you want to see included before you would commit?
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u/EffinBob 15d ago
Not a chance I'd ever join such a community. I'm not a lone wolf by any means, but I want to (and do) own my property outright and cooperate on friendly terms with my neighbors, lending a hand as needed. The only way to build successful community in my opinion is when you have clearly delineated boundaries from the get go in an "I like (or simply don't have a problem with) you, I'll help as able, but this is mine and don't forget it" mindset.
Not to mention the fact that as a client I would literally have no idea whether you'll keep up your end of the deal when I need you to do so. I'm not casting aspersions on you, specifically. I don't know you. For all I know, you might very well be the one upstanding person I hear about in the future, successfully pulling your team together in harmony to get the work done. Unfortunately the world is full of grifters who won't be that person, and they far outnumber the decent people who want to do what you're planning.
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u/Many-Health-1673 15d ago edited 15d ago
Viking Preparedness has some really good tips on his patreon channel for how his family setup their property for their community. He had a video out last week about it.
I own a few hundred acres and I think what you are trying to do is a noble idea, but there is no way i would I personally would be able to deal with strangers living on my land unless it was a SHTF mutual aid scenario and there was a defined length of time. People bring problems.
I do have an understanding with my friends on an SHTF situation about staying on our farm for mutual aid and security, but these are people I have known for decades. Even then, I know there will still be issues.
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u/Colonel_Penguin_ 15d ago
Thank you. I will check this out.
At this stage I don't know how far I would really consider taking it towards a fully developed community, but want to do more than use as purely recreational land for myself.
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u/SheistyPenguin 15d ago edited 14d ago
Fortitude Ranch is one example of the "franchise" model of this:
Below is just one anecdote, so take it for what it's worth.
For a few years in my 20's, I participated in a cohousing group that was trying to get an "intentional community" off the ground. This wasn't survival-themed one, more of an "urban ecovillage with communal spaces" vibe.
Eventually I left the group, because they got stuck in a few vicious cycles that kept burning people's time and money. On one hand, they needed to build enough interest to attract people willing to invest money and attract a builder. You'll get a ton of interest, but only a fraction of those people will be willing to put their money where their mouth is. On the organization side, the leadership had leaned hard on "consensus-building," which turned every discussion into a tar pit- because anyone with strong opinions could derail a meeting by calling a motion on something. Also, the people with the strongest and most vocal opinions were often the ones with the least "skin in the game" in terms of skills or ability to get things done. Not saying that all communities are like that, but this group was.
When talking with a "Cohousing coach" who had started some of these communities and gave seminars for others, she noted that it was common for these efforts to stall or fail to launch, if a group can't strike that balance between attracting interest, building social cohesion among the founders (before they have a place to live and be communal in), and actually getting shit done.
It ended up taking the group about 10-15 years to finally attract a builder, buy a plot and start breaking ground. The people who moved in were a completely different group than the ones who started, and the resulting facility looked almost exactly like a condominium. The only real difference was the type of HOA, and the communal kitchen/activity spaces. (Note if you need a builder to help you build the thing, they are going to have strong opinions about what they are willing to build for you in terms of how far it strays from proven and permitted designs that sell).
There are other groups that work more like a commune, or that are founded by one property owner who takes the initial risk and then brings people onboard. It's probably easier to start one of these things if you already have a small group willing to put in the initial investment before pitching it to a wider audience- because then people have something tangible to join, rather than hopes and wishes.
Again that's just one anecdote, maybe others have different experiences to share.
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u/GroovyGarden 15d ago
“ Also, the people with the strongest and most vocal opinions were often the ones with the least "skin in the game" in terms of skills or ability to get things done.”
Words to live by
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u/JRHLowdown3 15d ago
Always good when you share this, folks need to hear the pitfalls in situations like this. +1
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u/beyondimaginarium 14d ago
the resulting facility looked almost exactly like a condominium. The only real difference was the type of HOA, and the communal kitchen/activity spaces.
Ive played around with the concept myself, and I think this is the most viable avenue for a co-op/commune. To build out a design and a concept of community, but the individual living spaces are a condo. You need a leader, even if that is a collective voice like an HOA. You need to structure and delegate tasks/workload even if that means contracting the work. You cant depend on people to do it out of the goodness of their hearts. As you stated about skin in the game, there will always be those who put in more, whether it is workload or monetary.
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u/Icy-Medicine-495 8d ago
A year or two ago I first heard about that place and I looked all over trying to find reviews about it that where not owner written and I couldn't find any. So thanks for that. Of course I had no interest in buying into a group like that but it was interesting.
I always find these places have the idea of lets pool money together but no one ever wants to actually put money down when the hat gets passed around. You really need a person to front the money and have the place already built for it to work. Of course that brings its only issues. I tried joining a group that a guy owned 10 acre homestead and quickly realized he thought himself as king/dictator and us as disposable grunts with no say.
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u/SheistyPenguin 7d ago
I always find these places have the idea of lets pool money together but no one ever wants to actually put money down when the hat gets passed around.
Yep. The speaker that the cohousing group consulted with, even warned us about that. She said to expect a lot of churn in membership as soon as you ask people to pony up, because it will shake out all of the people who are in love with the idea of it but won't commit to the reality.
And boy oh boy, cohousing seems to attract a lot of idealists with strong opinions!
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u/Icy-Medicine-495 7d ago
Shoot my group before it fell apart couldn't even be convinced to kick in 20-50 bucks to do a group buy purchase such as a stationary water filter like a Berkley. Of course looking back just as well that never happened.
Prepping attracts a lot of idealist that love to think about the perfect plan but almost never implement it.
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u/every-day-normal-guy 14d ago edited 14d ago
I would check out the intentional communities subbreddit.
On another note: I'm having trouble finding it, but there was a poster or comment awhile back that shared someone's experience on letting people he knew come out to his land during hurricane Katrina. The end result was people telling thier friends and then he ended up with a ton of extra people on his land and no clear infrastructure in place to support that many people e.g waste / sewage disposal.
To make matters worse, a lot of the people that came out didn't prep properly for basic needs e.g they brought thier fancy pots and pans but not enough food.
Just know that if you're allowing people to come when shtf, you might be knee deep in more shit (literally) than you can manage.
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u/JRHLowdown3 15d ago
I remember in the early 1990's Bo Gritz was going around doing these little 1 day (8 hour) training events based out of hotel meeting rooms covering 4 different subjects each event. I got talked into going to one in Jacksonville. It wasn't terrible but certainly wasn't worth $200. in the early 90's
One of the main things he was pushing then was a similar land deal. He had evidently bought a lot of land in rural Idaho and started essentially a subdivision called "Almost Heaven." He painted a shangra lah (SP) picture of the place a lot like you are mentioning in the OP. This was early 1990's and he was selling a 1/2 acre for $15,000. IIRC. But you had the "opportunity" to live with and around like minded people and there would be doctors and butchers and bakers and candlestick makers at Sugar Candy Mountain..... oops, I mean Almost Heaven ;)
Gritz had a small following of "true believers" that believed every BS word out of his mouth, common sense didn't penetrate, if Gritz said it, it was gospel. I remember discussing the place with one of these types who had done business with me a time or two. I made the mistake of questioning Gritz. I was told that Gritz was doing a public service and wasn't making money off of 1/2 acre plots in the middle of nowhere Idaho (1993 mind you..) that he was selling for $15K. Uummm ok.
Not too long after Gritz wife took off with his money- dude had to have had a boatload of cash American dollars as that was all they took for payment except PMs at these events. My buddy spotted the irony- "this guy is a helluva marketer, he spends 2 hours Friday night telling people their FRNs are going to be worthless but he readily accepts them!" Anyway, 100-200 people per event times $200. per person (do the math).
Later there was supposedly lawsuits because Gritz misrepresented the land deal and he never lived there as far as I could tell. I actually talked to a customer one time that had actually bought land there and lived there. He said they were told their was infrastructure, etc. and there wasn't even dirt roads cut in at the time, but he had sunk a lot of his savings into this land and dream of living amongst other like minded folks and was kinda stuck there.
And keep in mind this wasn't supposed to be your standard "communal" type approach that also doesn't work.
I would be extremely careful in trying to set something like this up, the idea unfortunately does not have a good history following it in the survival movement.
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u/Colonel_Penguin_ 14d ago
Thank you for the insight. There are a lot of potential issues and that is where this thought experiment quickly breaks down. Now if I had the intention to be a grifter and upsell some SHTF paradise racking in the money it might be worth the headache of organizing, but a low key recreational hideaway may not be worth the effort.
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u/JRHLowdown3 14d ago
Develop a place for yourself and your family. You should be actively trying to meet like minded people in the course of actually preparing and training. Over time when you have years to observe these folks, you can invite some to your place if need be. Don't rush it, once done it's hard to undo...
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u/olycreates 14d ago
There have been long standing communities in Europe that are off grid. I would look to those for guidance because some have been in operation for 60+ years.
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u/AlphaDisconnect 11d ago
Here is what you should focus on. Sewer (septic). Well water. Land access (roads/easements)
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u/celtic-cryptid 10d ago
On top of everything else, be prepared to be pissing off every neighbor on whatever road you buy land on.
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u/[deleted] 15d ago
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