Even as we launch our urban community, Timothy and Christa and their family are dreaming of a rural outpost that would be connected to Vine and Fig Tree Germantown. Here is their vision. If you have ideas that would help this come to fruition, please contact us! We are excited at the idea of an urban-rural partnership.

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For over ten years we have had a vision to start a rural community: Creating a meaningful, beautiful environment where we engage in life-affirming work, live simply and in closer connection to the land, and offer hospitality to refugees and/or immigrants, to those who need a safe environment or refuge from some of the pressures of city life.

There are a number of particulars that are very important to us and that we want others to know about.

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First, it is critically important that we are connected to other people, to a wider community, that this is bigger than just our little family on some piece of land.  We do not want to be lone pioneers, rather we want to be a rural extension of Vine & Fig Tree community in Philadelphia offering space for them to join us in our work and for restful time away from the city, and having a point of connection with the city and those in need there.

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Second, we want to live in as sustainable a way as possible, growing and raising food, creating more than consuming, engaging in simple activities that directly impact our quality of life: baking bread, growing garlic, drying herbs.  We would like to limit our need for money as much as possible so that we can engage with the people we are involved with and so that we can do work in line with our vision rather than working for others of differing interests.  That being said, we also want to continue to have some income-providing work off site such as playing music and continuing to work as a doula.

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Third, we would like to work towards needing very little outside money or work that is not directly connected to our community by finding a cottage industry we can engage in which others can learn from and help with when they are present.  Ideally it would be a small business involving local, hand-crafted products such as herb soaps, fruit preserves & jams, or beeswax candles.  These are things we've dabbled in; we plan to try different products depending on our location, the amount of land available, what grows well on the land, the market, and our abilities.  We would also consider a bed & breakfast type of business if possible.

 

We've drawn inspiration and experience from living at the Catholic Worker in Worcester, MA, visiting Jubilee Farms in GA, living with a small, newly-forming post-college community in Denver, CO, from living and managing the Walker Center for Global Mission in Newton, MA, from our current time with Vine & Fig Tree in Germantown, and from countless other households offering their space and time to those in need.  Also working with refugees at Lutheran Social Services in Worcester, at the Center for Rehabilitation of Displaced Persons in Thessaloniki, Greece and ANTIGONI in Thessaloniki, as well as working with recovering addicts with KETHEA in Greece have given us valuable time listening to and working with those on the margins.  Two seasons on an organic farm in Perkasie, PA, shaping and working our garden at Vine & Fig Tree, and many seasons growing up in community gardens have all given us a love for growing food and a desire to work hard outside.

 

Why do we feel the need to 'move on' in some sense when we have a wonderful community we're a part of here in Germantown?  Much of our desire for a rural re-location is about making an intentional shift in our life-style.  It means very practically moving in the direction of lessening our dependence on the city; we've started taking small steps in the last years by cutting down to part time work, gardening intensively, and home-schooling the girls.  We've been thinking and working on this vision for over ten years and we're ready to take this next step.  Ideally we would see ourselves as an extension of the life of Vine & Fig Tree, a model embraced by Peter Maurin of the Catholic Worker movement who saw “the farm” as a rural extension of the urban Catholic Worker house. Since our land here is limited, we cannot grow a significant percentage of our food.  Also, while we do have a small apartment for hospitality, we as a community cannot currently offer people staying with us daily meals, work experience, ESL lessons, or the stability of participating in established, daily family activities.

 

We would love to follow Helen and Scott Nearing's model of working for four hours a day on communal tasks (gardening, animal care, cottage industry) and four hours a day on other projects (outside work, personal growth).  We would love to provide a restful place for friends, activists, and artists to enjoy when they need a break from their urban routines.  We would love to be connected with other groups like New Sanctuary Movement, local permaculture groups, or the slow food movement.

 

So, we're looking for a minimum of 2 acres of build-able land, or land that has a dwelling on it, within about an hour and a half's drive from Philadelphia. Our resources at present are limited, so we would really be looking to find something affordable or where the owner might be sympathetic to our vision. Ideally we would purchase the land but we'd be open to renting long-term as well.

 

If you know of a person or of resources to connect us with that might be helpful in our search, we would be grateful for your suggestions.

 

In peace,

 

Timothy and Christa

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