Thanks. Always wonder about how one would be run/organized. Worked at 2 food coops in my life that failed. Usually were a slow death...

Thanks! Maybe an atheist/non-believer, progressive and green kind of goal? How did the other aspects work? Like money, living quarters, chores, organizational meetings etc.

Maybe. I think you can form a community around just about anything. All good communities leave room for people to change over time though.

In the community I was a part of, we owned the land in common. You bought a lifetime lease that was not transferrable or refundable. You could build a house on the land but if you wanted to sell that house, the person would need to be approved by the community since the land it was on was owned by the community. The good thing about this is that you could live there for relatively cheap. The bad side of that is that if you needed to move on, it could be difficult to recoup money you sank into your house. Most folks had their own house, big or small, and most incorporated off-grid living into their house at first. Some later added more solar or wind and/or grid tied set-ups. There was a house at the edge of the property that was totally on-grid power and even municipal water. That had a community washer and dryer in the basement and also a community refrigerator and deep freeze. The only other monthly expense for being a part of the community was about $50 at the time, per month, usually per member, maintenance fee. This money was used to maintain the community property, pay taxes on the land, and maintain the community tractor and roads with gravel. Each household paid their portion of the property taxes for what their house added to them each year. Chores were mostly community determined work days where we'd do things like clear brush or mow fields, etc. Just whatever needed done, we were expected to help however we could/were able. We usually had a meeting once a month where we'd have a potluck and business meeting to make decisions about the community. If we were working with interested people on joining the community, we'd have more meetings. We also used group emails to work things out and make decisions. That's all I can think of for now. If I think of more aspects to share, I will.

Fascinating! Thanks for all the info. Do you think you would chose to live in one again, even if by yourself? Do you think non-belief could have worked along with all the other focus' of your commune? Do you think it would work or even be appropriate to have atheism/agnosticism be a qualifying factor for residency in a commune?

I would choose to live in one again but more likely would wanna start one with friends. I don't know about having atheism/agnosticism being a qualifying factor. Probably could work...being on the same page with the people in your community is a good thing I think. Non-belief would not have worked in the previous community because there was a wide variety of beliefs in that regard. I was still a spiritualist at the time...so even I wouldn't have fit into the community if that were the case. I think people change over time, hopefully for the better, but sometimes they devolve back into religion/spirituality and that would be difficult if there wasn't room for people to go with where they feel they need to.

Yeah, I was kind of thinking that having non-belief as a qualifying factor for residency might not work either. Maybe encourage non-belief in some kind of mission statement?

But there wasn't necessarily that much atheism. Most hippies had/have some kind of spiritual approach to their beliefs. I was born in '62 so I wasn't completely conscious of the commune movement but I don't think there has been intentional non-believer communes.

@ kmdskit3 , My older sisters were hippies as were their friends most were atheists and still are today, of course this is Canada. Here part of being a hippy was renouncing god and the religious crap that went along with it. I was a teenager at the time and emulated them a lot.

Wow, thanks for the info. It's good to be reminded that there were more facets to the counterculture than is often remembered.