They built it but no one came

[rainforests1]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/17/style/they-built-it-no-one-came.html?_r=0

 

[Andy_T]

Interesting.

They should re-define themselves as organic vegan commune, maybe more people would join them

Best regards,
Andy

 

[Second Summer]

I suspect that this level of physical labour is much beyond what most people today (in the industrialised world) are willing to endure. These days there is so much motorised equipment available that make farming much less physically challenging that only a person of deep religious anti-machinery conviction would be able to resist the temptation. And as the story shows, even Zephram and Johannes eventually adopted a more modern approach:

Harvesting by hand gave way at first to Star and Bright’s efforts, and then they sold the team to buy a tractor. They bought a generator and power tools, including a jigsaw. “That was fun — we put gingerbread trim on everything,” Johannes said.

They tried wind power, then solar. “You might get 40 minutes a day, and then it would crash,” he said. “Lightning storms would hit and blow up the transformer.” Four years ago, they hooked up to the power grid.

Too bad about the wind power and solar. These technologies are still new, and are continually improving. I think if I were to be involved in a off-the-grid type commune, I would want it to use renewable power like that instead of going back to 100% physical labour as in agrarian societies of the past.