Lifestyle First Living
There’s a quiet shift happening right now. More people are stepping out of burnout culture and into something more human and grounded. You could call it lifestyle first living. Wellness trips and glamping retreats aren’t just weekend getaways anymore; they’re becoming test drives for a healthier way of life. People want to move their bodies […]
Why Most Communities Fail
Most intentional communities fail, and we’ve spent the better part of a decade trying to figure out why. It’s not because people can’t live together, or because there’s a lack of good business models or funding. When you boil it down, most failures come from four places: finances, poor infrastructure, a lack of skills, and […]
The Blue Zones
What makes a good life? Some places have it figured out through centuries of trial and error: the Blue Zones, Mediterranean coasts, Costa Rican mountains, rural Japan—where people live the longest, happiest, and healthiest lives. They have things in common: walkable villages with nature, not traffic; strong social bonds and generations under one roof; movement […]
How We Can Adapt
Here are eight ways we can adapt to AI and the changing world. AI is replacing jobs and purpose. We could reclaim meaningful work—growing food, building tools, creating culture. People are isolated and housing is unaffordable. We could build close-knit villages with real connection, minimalist homes, and shared infrastructure. Families are overwhelmed; elders are warehoused. […]
Village With A Brain
What happens when AI helps run a village? In a smart village, AI isn’t just a chat bot; it’s the quiet co-pilot in the background, knowing where things are, what needs doing, and who can help. It can suggest events, flag repairs, and coordinate shared tools without anyone needing to micromanage. Here’s how. Drones capture […]
The Real Work of Building A Village
This isn’t about manifesting a vibe; it’s about doing the work. We’re building systems from the ground up—food, water, power, governance, childcare, housing. There’s no mystical secret, just a lot of digging, wiring, planting, repairing, and listening. We’re not chasing utopia, and we’re not drowning in cynicism either. We’re just trying to live better with […]
Not a utopia
We are not building a utopia; we’re building a prototype. Nothing about this is perfect. We’ve made huge mistakes. Things break all the time. Projects stall. People burn out. But that’s the point. This is a test bed for new ways of living, working, and building community. We’re experimenting with shared tools, local food, childcare, […]
4 Years on 400 Acres
Four years of building. Here’s what it taught us. We didn’t come here as experts. We didn’t know anything about land management before we got here. But we came here to learn, and after four years of field work we learned more than any school could ever teach us. We learned how to fix what […]
The Village Moment
We’re entering a world where most people won’t have jobs. But that’s not the crisis—it’s the opportunity. AI is replacing entire industries, housing is unaffordable, and loneliness is now considered a public health epidemic. What’s breaking isn’t just the economy; it’s the entire model of how we live. The real answer isn’t just another app, […]
What We’ve Built So Far
Four years ago, we crowdfunded a 400 acre campsite to build a village. Since then, we’ve been working on infrastructure and getting ready for phase two of developing our smart village project. We’ve built a wood-fired sauna, a geodesic dome, early versions of our permaculture garden. We laid new irrigation, brought in satellite internet, cleared […]