25 Alternative Energy Strategies – 5

In this, the last five items in the list of 25 strategies, a look at community efforts to become self-sufficient is in order. While an energy self-sufficient homestead can exist in any rural environment, the more neighbors (no matter how spread out) who catch the bug, the more resources are available to be developed for the good of all. It’s the natural ‘next step’ in extending the idea of energy self-sufficiency toward the broader society.

The real “trick” in items 21-25 are the collective will to work together and agree upon sustainable agricultural, building, energy production and distribution practices.

Part 5: Collective Strategies for Communities

When FDR was elected President in 1932 – in the midst of the Great Depression – he addressed the awful situation by means of the “New Deal.” Tucked away in the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 which established the huge public works programs, was the Subsistence Homestead Communities project. The plan was to relocate some of the idled workers from over-populated industrial areas into planned subsistence communities they would build for themselves with government money.

Read about the Cumberland Homesteads project for yourself, it gives a rough idea of the rewards community development can reap, even if the whole thing is privately financed by the motivated homesteaders themselves (as it must be today). Sure, there are many grants available for rural community development (such as state agri-tourism initiatives) when there is someone skilled in applying, from all sorts of government agencies federal and state. And some resources available from corporate largesse these days as well.

21. Community Commodity Cooperatives

One of the best collective strategies for any rural region – and all self-sufficient sub-communities in those regions – is to establish a production planning group that includes all willing members of the community who farm or produce any truck crops for sale/trade in-season.

Some rural communities already have cooperatives that share big equipment (combines, harvesters, etc.) and collectively purchase seed at discount, so those memberships are ready made for organization. Other rural areas don’t have such cooperatives, but in places where “everybody knows everybody” it’s not that hard to knock on doors, produce the literature and book the community center for meetings. Enlisting the aid of rural town chambers of commerce, local Lions and Ruritan clubs, etc. is also a good way to enlist members. Only a few meetings a year are required to present research and plans, those can be put together by volunteer committees.

Based on who produces what and what their usual markets are, it’s not that hard to figure what acreage is available for which crops, what local markets are available or could be developed, and what other local resources and talents can be put to use for the whole community – commodity storage, food preservation and processing, distribution and/or warehousing, etc. This way a community can be ensured access to staples not every acre-or-less gardener grows, while the small farmers who grow grain have access to the high-nutrient value foods the smaller producers grow.

22. Community Seed-Saver Cooperatives

No matter what the gardeners and small farmers in an area produce, it’s not that hard to encourage the use of heirloom and open-pollenated cultivar seeds, and institute a seed-saving bank right in the cooperative itself that all have ready access to. If the decision to avoid GMOs and hybrids can be made for the collective stores, there will be seed available year to year to all who wish to participate in the community commodity self-sufficiency program.

23. “Shares” and Agricultural Practices

Community cooperative members who raise livestock (preferably by agreement without factory-farm or chemical/illegal feed practices) can contribute to community composting efforts on a convenient lot, available for members to use on their collective-dedicated plots. Cattle, goats, chicken, horses and donkeys – any of these animals produce waste that composts into fine fertilizer. Rotting hay, grass clippings, leaves, wood chips, crop wastes – all these things can add to the pile, any member free to dump their trailer loads on whichever pile is freshest, any time. A community-owned backhoe can turn and manage the piles, help loading.

A community with lots of youngsters and teenagers can put ‘em to work during the summer pulling weeds, in-row cultivating and bug-picking if the community-dedicated plots don’t use chemical poisons by mutual agreement. And whoever’s dirt produces the hottest habaneros every year should get a break on everything by donating that crop to production of insect repellant sprays for the dedicated truck plots. The hot stuff works well on most pests (especially soft-bodied ones), and if vegetable oils are used for suspension they’ll last on the foliage through a couple of rains. Most pest infestations come in waves, so timing is everything.

24. Community Power Grid

If several (and more coming all the time) homesteads in the community produce electricity from their own resources, the coop can house and maintain the centralization of tie-ins, much as rural electric cooperatives did in the past. This can maintain the primary reverse metering to feed excess into the main grid as purchased production by the electric utility, and share production among members for regular load capacity (usage). Money earned by utility purchase (if it exceeds draw by individual members) can go into the cooperative maintenance fund.

It is also worth noting that there is government money available for such rural community cooperatives for developing community resources for electrical generation. These can help finance solar installations and/or wind generators on cooperatively owned land, as well as larger waterway (like the local river or through-town deep-creek) development for mini-hydro generation.

25. Community Fuel Production & Distribution

Instead of an in-barn homestead-size ethanol still (and/or oil press), why not build a larger, community-size still/press? If the farmers pledge to produce an acre or two of oil or dedicated grain crops per season (tractor, harvest and transport fuel supplied by the cooperative, processing collectively paid for, central storage, supplied seed) it wouldn’t be hard for a community to enlist a few workers to man the equipment. If the farm diesel equipment is geared to operate on SVO and the gasoline engines are set run on ethanol, this can be a closed system.

Localized food, energy crop and energy production are the wave of the future in sustainable and self-sustaining communities and regions. It’s a different way of life from the “crowded with strangers” culture of modern urban life, but it’s a way of life being deliberately chosen by more and more people. While rural areas are also full of people who never left the farm (so didn’t decide to leave the cities), those people tend to already know what it’s all worth.

In my 15 years’ worth of homesteading experience, the ‘old timers’ are quite amenable to getting to know their new neighbors and up for working collectively for the good of all. Most would rather sell their crop production locally than ship it halfway around the country or world for less than it cost them to grow the food. Farmers have been in trouble for awhile now, but they’re still the best living knowledge resource for any serious homesteader. To make best use of them and their knowledge, it’s best to include them in the plan!

These 25 strategies are mere outline of what’s out there or in development. Places to start planning for an individual and collectively sustainable and self-sufficient future. Diversify – everyone has skills, and most people can develop more than one! More people, more talents, knowledge and skills. The answers are simple! Making them work takes some work.

Posts to This Series:
Part 1: Electrical Generation
Part 2: Transportation and Motorized Equipment
Part 3: Building Technologies & Direct Alternatives
Part 4: Hybrid Energy Systems
Part 5: Collective Strategies for Communities

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