Q&A 2: Empty McMansions for Intentional Communities

Lori from Texas wrote in to ask if using an empty McMansion, a term used to describe large, indistinct homes often located on several acres of land, would be a...

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Lori from Texas wrote in to ask if using an empty McMansion, a term used to describe large, indistinct homes often located on several acres of land, would be a good basis for an intentional community. My answer turned into a broader one of “What do we do with the Suburbs?”.

Here are links for more information on:

• The Transition Town Movement, started by Permaculturist Rob Hopkins.  He wrote The Transition Handbook which fully describes a process for re-localizing communities and preparing them for energy descent,

• Gardening When It Counts by Steve Solomon. This book gives details on how to grow your food with minimal inputs or tools, regardless of the conditions at hand, in less space than I ever imagined. Though there is a good bit that I wouldn’t do from a Permaculture standpoint, I find his methods as a good place to start if one has never gardened.

• The Dervaes Family.  They are growing 350 different vegetables, herbs, and fruits, nearly 6000lbs a year, organically on 1/10th of an acre,

• Robert Hart. His work and the book Forest Gardening: Cultivating an Edible Landscape revived the idea of the forest garden and has influenced a generation of gardeners and Permaculture practitioners.

• The Farm in Tennessee.  A place to receive training in a variety of intentional and ecovillage related topics.