Homesteading Can Save America

I wrote This is essay as a letter to a friend. He and I were discussing a variety of issues we’re both passionate about and housing came up. I told him I had a number of ideas surrounding different ways to try and make it more affordable for people our age to find reasonably priced housing. He, like a fool, said he would love to hear more about my concepts. Thus, I began writing (and rewriting) this long winded essay about Homesteading.

The methods described below are some of the ways I have been trying to develop different paths forward to execute upon iterations of my ideas (I’ve had many). This is not intended to be a blueprint for the only way to develop a communal homestead. This letter however is intended to be a Call To Action for one purpose: pooling assets and working together to maximize value and leverage (and ideally to create ethical communal homesteads). Enjoy!

Hi, Matt,

I’ve been thinking a lot about the topic of homesteading for quite some time as you’re now aware. This vision/idea I have is something I believe could really help us change our country, as well as better prepare ourselves and future generations for significant changes to the economy and workforce by spreading out further into more rural farming and undeveloped areas. By combining our resources (primarily money) we can better create our future in a way that benefits us and the environment. And we can live more ethically, the way some of our founders intended.

We can accomplish this by reconfiguring communities to function essentially as private communal housing, farming co-operatives, and homesteads. People will still have private single-family dwellings but they will be built on large, single plots of land (think 10+ acre plots (also look at them as really small subdivisions where you own your residence but share the land)) with multiple residences and these will be co-ops or llc’s (from here on out if I say LLC I also include co-ops but don’t want to keep typing both). They will have community gardens, greenhouses, or vertical farms which will be funded through the resident’s monthly mortgage payments. I prefer the LLC method for this because it encourages everyone to work together to increase the value of their individual holding in the LLC.

If you don’t like this idea and it feels too socialist or communist for you then you don’t have to do it. This is still about private ownership and wealth building but taking a different approach to how we think about “owning” the land. I will not force anyone to buy into this venture/concept who doesn’t want to.

Why farms/greenhouses? Short answer: a workaround to current zoning laws (also creating access to truly fresh fruits, vegetables, and livestock). I don’t envision this as everyone working on traditional farms either. Those are much more inefficient for growing food and using resources, especially water, than vertical farms and greenhouses. This concept is about being more efficient and intentional with all our various available resources (traditional farms will always exist for crops like corn that need lots of space but a lot of fruits and vegetables can be grown more efficiently now).

Here’s how I’ve pitched the concept to a few people already who like the concept: You, me, and 10-20 other people or families would form an LLC (we can call it KieLar LLC in this example), buy either an empty plot of land or an existing farm, design the layout for our community on that plot in a way that provides everyone with plenty of yard space, each resident/family would design and build their own house (ideally 1600 square feet or under), and center all of that around the garden/greenhouse/vertical farm where they would grow fresh fruit and vegetables using sustainable practices to minimize the quantity of natural resources needed to efficiently run the farm portion of the property.

How I see the money part working in a simple enough way (it’s never that simple but I’m trying to make this as straightforward as possible): by pooling our money into KieLar we would use that money to provide a down-payment on the property and secure a loan at a reasonable rate. The down-payment will cost a lot less per residence which opens up the barrier to ownership for a notable percentage of our population. Let’s say we have a total of 12 unique parties who want to live together. The property is $1.2 million and KieLar LLC puts down $300K (25%). If we agree upon an even split for the downpayment then that will be $25K each. That’s a much more affordable downpayment for many people than $100K - $300K. And on top of that this is for a rather expensive property. There are many large plots that are considerably cheaper and thus people would have an even more affordable deposit amount. This is also a higher cost property and there are many that are much more affordable.

Another item that could make this approach even more attractive is The Biden administration’s initiative for a $15,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit. This credit can be accessed immediately by the buyer to help serve as a down-payment. It can also be a helpful marketing point for 20-40 something’s who haven’t previously owned a home. This could provide them their first chance to buy property that will appreciate in value and allow them to build equity.

The monthly mortgage per member could range from a couple hundred dollars up to north of a thousand bucks depending on how KieLar wants to develop the property. One of the figures that will be calculated into each resident’s monthly payment into KieLar will include money to cover operating costs for the greenhouse/vertical farm. Maybe one day the farm portion will not require further payments from the residents because it will be generating enough profits to cover operating costs from selling excess food to local markets, grocery stores, as well as directly to the community, but that’s not a guarantee nor does it need to be a priority if the KieLar members decide it isn’t (Each LLC gets to choose how they want things to operate. I am by no means trying to say that each entity needs to operate and function the same way as any other one. I want people to get creative with the concept of pooling resources to create the kinds of communities they would want to be a part of that will better prepare us for the future).

The idea for incorporating the farm operation costs part is that KieLar members would be reallocating money they’re currently spending on rent or their existing mortgage and putting that towards fresh food that’s readily available to them. In theory this should minimize their current grocery bill and thus allow them to use money they’re now saving on groceries to save, travel, or spend however they please.

Another feature I want on any property I develop is solar panels, wind turbines, hydro generators, or even try geothermal. This would be dependent on where the homestead is located and what renewable energy source makes the most sense for that region (and this creates another potential revenue stream depending on the size and output). I would want the array on the property to be able to comfortably support all the dwellings and the farm and over time build it up to routinely provide a surplus that could be sold back to the grid. By keeping the dwellings under a certain size this will also help (hopefully) decrease the amount of energy you need to use.

After seeing what went down in Texas a couple weeks ago with their energy grid I would want to be less reliant on outside systems. I would also want a fireplace, or jack stove in my home as a back-up.

Let’s stay optimistic and say you love this idea and you want to buy into it but aren’t sure you want to live on this one farm for the rest of your life (we are fickle millennials after all who romanticize living in different cities, states, and even countries (when I’m saying millennials I still include anyone who’s interested in this concept, it’s simply that me and Matt are both millennials)). I see the property sale working like this: you get an overall valuation of KieLar (the whole property, farms and all dwellings) as well as individual valuation specifically on your dwelling and portion of the property and that would give you the sale price for your portion of KieLar.

If people wanted to be even more simplistic about this they could build each dwelling to be exactly the same (I don’t personally love this but some people might) and each person owns the same percentage of the LLC. You would sell your percentage based upon the current valuation of the LLC and the new resident’s mortgage/monthly payment would be based on the amount of that sale.

Another reason I see properties like this being enticing to people is they could buy these dwellings as second homes or rental properties. Imagine if you would’ve been able to go through the Covid pandemic living out in the country on a sizable plot of land with a bunch of neighbors you know (ideally you get along well with them) and can safely interact with on a daily basis. And on top of that you have consistent access to fresh fruit and vegetables. I know at the very least this is something I would have loved and is what initially sparked this specific concept.

Hunters in these local communities could go out and hunt animals to butcher locally and be able to provide truly fresh meat to their neighbors. This is also an excellent and ethical way to help control certain animal populations from getting too expansive and overrunning local ecosystems. I truly hope this can encourage a broader sense of community and learning about people from different backgrounds who might initially feel at odds with each other. There are a lot of ways to bridge these gaps and a big one is to simply spend time in new environments and around new people. On a basic level we all want the same things for ourselves and our families: a roof over our heads, reliable access to food, and a safe place to live. There are a lot of unnecessary divides in our country right now and a large part of it is due to people’s unwillingness to interact with those who might have different views from them (I know I’m guilty of this sometimes).

Imagine if tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of 20-40 somethings started doing this over the next few years and moving to these more rural and remote communities all across the country. Many of these small towns feel like they’ve been left behind are now all of a sudden getting new life and capital injected into them. Our country is trying to pull itself out of a depression and this is an excellent way to demand infrastructure investments and small business investments for these communities. Millennials wouldn’t want chain restaurants in these small towns. We would want local restaurants, coffee shops, and markets that are run by people from the community. We want a more authentic experience, not Applebee’s.

Ok, I’ll pause here to say that I don’t think this will outright save the economy but I do think it can help spur a lot of redevelopment and reinvestment over time. It can be one of the avenues or catalysts for recovery after the pandemic. We always hear politicians on the news talking about reinvesting in rural communities and this is an excellent way to drive that reinvestment, both private and public. The amount of infrastructure and construction jobs could be substantial. The number of new small businesses that could come out of something like this could be significant. But we have to choose that we want this kind of reinvestment.

I would also call on rich people who talk about our need for redeveloping our rural communities to offer small business loans to people living in that community with an interest rate no higher than 1% to show they’re more committed to helping rebuild our country than maximize profits (still getting some return for your investment but mostly doing it to help make our communities better). If we invest in each other we can make a better country for all humans to live. And I mean ALL of us.

The broad theme of this vision is partnership and collectivism within private enterprise. Some towns could have 10 or 20 of these LLC style community properties if they wanted (or even more if they wanted). I would encourage people to be bold with their ideas of how they want to live and use the internet to find others who want to live similarly. We have that capability now.

Another thing I hope for is that this can foster more inclusivity. This could lead to a new type of agro-tourism where people can travel around to these different small towns and communities that are in desirable regions of the country. I love the idea of setting up some of these communities near national parks like Yosemite or Sequoia and have a small camping ground on-site where people could rent campsites (another revenue stream!) and hang out on some of these large properties, and reconnect with nature (and still have internet access so they can post about it on Instagram). I think these communal homestead communities would thrive all across the country.

I also want us to pull from the history of our land, not just the history of the United States but of the Native Americans who have lived here for around 15,000 years. The way they worked and lived together in their various tribes all throughout the country, not wasting resources, honoring the lands that they lived on (also, we really should stop saying that we own the land because it will be here long after all of us are gone. We are all renters of this world so let’s start acting like it). We can live, eat, and use our resources in a more ethical manner.

I would encourage each LLC to develop their own community guidelines for how they want to live. They decide on the types of dwellings they allow as well as defining their own internal “zoning” laws. This can allow for people to express individuality with their dwelling but also not impact the value of the whole property since the idea is for these properties to rise in value and all owners to build wealth.

A few other reasons I’m into this concept:

1. Food security is becoming a major issue and we need to rethink our relationship to factory farming and its impact on the climate. This is a great way to keep your food as local as possible and minimally impact the environment compared to massive corporate farms. By the year 2050 we will have to produce as much for people as has been produced in the last 2000 years. Factory farming could lead to the next disease outbreak if we are not careful.

2. UBI - This could be a good way to start setting up communities for people who want to live a simpler life on UBI (because UBI is an inevitability for our future) but they’re still active in building and improving their local communities. People on UBI could co-own and live on one of these farms in a modest but comfortable way. They could build these to be fully off-grid and self-sufficient so they don’t require any significant capital to operate.

3. Mini eco-corporations - Some of these LLC’s could partner together across a few towns and/or counties and trade goods and products if they wanted to. And this will be possible as long as we continue to push more companies to allow for remote work. I could even see Google or Apple or other major tech companies buying into some of these large farms to create rural campuses for groups of employees to gather and meet for certain operations that require people to routinely meet in-person.

4. Mental Health - I see this as a way for us to slow down a little bit, get back to the basics, spend time in nature, and clear our heads. I don’t want this to be a tech-free environment (in fact, I highly encourage remote workers and digital nomads to spend extended amounts of time at these farms) but a space where we are not glued to our devices all the time. I spent three hours today pulling weeds and grass from a garden bed while listening to a couple of podcasts including “How To Save a Planet”. I loved working with my hands while listening to interesting conversations about topics and subjects I love. I also can see the direct results of my hard work, which is a very satisfying feeling. Stressed out people could come out to one of the farms for a weekend and spend time chopping and stacking wood, clearing excess debris from forests and other manual tasks that don’t require much brain power but yield a deep sense of satisfaction that we often don’t get from our desk jobs. This can give us a sense of calm and inner-peace we often do not have (or this point is clearly a cry for help from me that I’m losing my god damn mind).

Living in California I have been thinking of how to do this in the state that I love dearly despite a lot of its challenges. One major challenge for this concept is dealing with wildfires. I will not pretend to have the answers for how to stop wildfires but I hope that by more people moving out to the country side this would help spur investment into sustainable fire-prevention building practices for dwellings being built in areas at higher risk of fire (I also really hope this could lead to investment in organizations that would do brush clean up to remove a lot of the “kindling” wildfires thrive off (also, I know this won’t solve wildfires at all but hopefully help decrease their severity and devastation)). We need to push for more federal funding to combat wildfires. The smoke alone from these fires will only get worse if we continue to do barely anything (the smoke is obviously not the devastating part of these fires but it’s what has a more direct impact on the whole country because of how it can cover the sky all the way to the east coast).

I would encourage as many LLC’s as possible to work with sustainable architects and property developers to build properties that create a symbiotic relationship with the immediate environment. This is also an excellent time for entrepreneurs to develop and incubate new building practices and methodologies that are better for the planet than what we currently utilize. We can try to create different fire “barriers” of sorts to protect the properties while advocating for larger-scale solutions to the problem.

Another sustainability practice I hope more communities would start is community recycling loops where people can bring their unwanted products to a warehouse of sorts and leave them as well as look for other products and materials for projects they’re building. We should encourage people to better reuse existing products and refurbish them instead of buying brand new items all the time (think of how many cool science projects and new inventions could be developed to cultivate this way of thinking for future generations).

This can foster a new age of American ingenuity and manufacturing. One wild idea I have is that if the initial LLC-centric version of this were to be successful is to then create what would essentially be a sustainable corporation comprised of a series of these farms that are growing sustainable materials like hemp and bamboo. You then take those materials and process them into things like paper products (toilet paper, paper towel), building materials out of bamboo, clothing, and other essential goods. The company would own a portion of the whole process but allow for individuals on the various farms to own a notable portion of the corporation too since they’re the ones developing the materials used to make the products (also, I’m not set on any specific operating structure for this because it’s not even close to a reality at the moment). Ideally the manufacturing of these products would be done in the same community/town/city or nearby but not by the LLC residents themselves (unless they wanted to).

My inspirations and thought process for a lot of the operational aspects of this comes from some tremendous forward-thinkers like Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, Chamath Palihapitiya, and Andrew Yang to name a few. I hope we can continue to raise their profile and voices, especially Dr. Johnson. She’s doing incredible work for environmental awareness, education, and policy. I view these people (and many others) as trailblazers of concepts like what I describe above, as well as treating each other with more kindness, respect, and understanding. This movement is human-centric after all (and animal centric too! Some of these farms could be animal rescue farms! I know so many people who say they would free all the dogs if they won the lottery. This is a way they could help do that; a series of animal rescue farms all across the country that are operated communally).

As I rewrite this essay (I’ve gone through a few drafts) I think one of the big reasons I’m pushing for this is that lately I have felt this sense of “I have to do this all alone.” Our American ideal of rugged individualism is so deeply ingrained in me and so many others that we think if we work together on these kinds of projects that we are lazy or not as motivated when that’s not the case at all. I want community. I know we can accomplish so much more if we work together. I like being around good, interesting people who want to better understand our individual and collective humanity. There are so many people in this country who have never stopped to really question if we are doing things in a smart or efficient way. We should be more willing and be open to the idea of communal living like this while still having your own personal stake in the property.

I think our elected leaders like it when we are all thinking independently about our own personal interest and not focusing on their inaction (don’t get me wrong, independent thought is something that is largely missing in our country and we need a lot more of when it comes to policies and political leaders). They then run to the media to tell us how the other side isn’t working with them to pass certain bills and essentially manipulate us for their own political gain. 2020 should be a case study in how deeply divided we are as a country and we should examine all parties rolls in it: the news media, politicians, political parties, entertainment media, and average citizens.

We always hear talk about “Red States” and “Blue States” when in reality they’re all varying shades of purple. In the 2020 election in California a little over six million people voted for Trump. There are 30 states in our union that have a total population under 6 million people. I guess I’m hoping with the internet and access to how so many other countries live and their public policies that we will pull our heads out of our own asses and start to think a little bit more about the collective, even if on a small scale. Covid has made it fucking apparent how interconnected we all truly are and how much we rely on one another.

This idea of communal living and regenerative farming is something I’m actively looking into for myself but need to get enough capital in place to secure the land and begin (hence why I stupidly went big on GameStop at the end of January (it didn’t work out great (and I have an essay about that as well))). I’m not saying we must do all these things to save the planet (nor do I guarantee they will do that because major industries are the primary culprits/problems) but I think these are good, practical solutions for us to tackle the compounding problems we are currently faced with. Every person who cares about the environment needs to think of themselves as a climate activist. This will have an impact if done at scale. If we start thinking more collectively we can bring about the types of changes we want to see by using the one thing everyone in this damn country responds to: money.

Cheers,

George

Tl;dr: we should develop and build tons of communal homesteads in rural communities to help build wealth, revitalize those economies, create better access to fresh food, and create more sustainable living environments.