Chattanooga Homestead Community Concept

 

Summary: A community centered around a regenerative farm that provides members with healthy food, fitness & wellness programming, early childhood schooling, and community and recreational engagement.  The homesteads would be built around the farm and community assets whilst preserving forest for hiking, biking, fort making and more. The gated community would offer a variety of building sites, with modest community guidelines (this will be described later in the presentation).  The community would have flexibility in designing their programming but would rely on a third-party management company specialized in operating community-based regenerative farms. This would enable members to participate in farming activity without having to onboard full personal responsibility for core day-to-day operations.  Recreational, educational, and spiritual communal amenities will also be described in detail in subsequent sections. 

Vision:  To establish a regenerative community in every sense of the word.  The gated community will be centered around a cooperatively held but  privately run full regenerative farm operation.  The community will provide services and dynamics which are not meant to entertain the individual as much as build each individual, and thus, each family. 

The Real Country Club (by Joe Riley):  We believe a “Real Country Club” can deliver the same positives that people find in “faux” Country Clubs while avoiding some negative side effects. 

 

Urban residents long for temporary escapes from the chaos of the city. Country clubs fulfill that desire with large, tastefully developed tracts of land situated near city centers. However, we believe farms can offer more meaningful retreats because farm activities facilitate a deeper connection to the land, cultivate a stronger sense of community, and provide more restorative opportunities for self-reflection and self-improvement.

 

Second, country clubs provide a “safe space” for children. While affluent membership and extravagant grounds may ensure security, this environment can breed entitlement. In contrast, the farm would intentionally include children in hard and tactile work including raising and caring for animals, planting and harvesting crops, and other meaningful chores. 

 

Third, country clubs offer community amidst the transient nature of cities. Real Country Clubs will offer community, as well, but one more focused on healthy living and meaningful work. Real Country Clubs would host regular programming for all ages. Members could participate as little or as much as they wanted.  

 

Fourth, country clubs offer adult activities, like golf, spas, pools, tennis and exercise facilities. The farm will offer a range of outdoor activities, as well, but with a greater focus on productive and meaningful work as opposed to purely leisure. In addition to normal farm activities, which are physically demanding, the Real Country Club would offer functional farm fitness programs, shooting, fishing, archery, and other practical skills. 

 

Fifth, country clubs provide nice gathering spaces for hosting events. These include restaurants, bars, and meeting areas. Likewise, we want to offer beautiful spaces for members to gather and host. No doubt, the farms will have a more rugged and rustic aesthetic, befitting with the overall mission to provide a more Real country experience.  

 

What aspects of the Country Club model should be replicated? 

1.      Convenient escape from the city. Country clubs are almost always large tracts of land situated close to population centers to offer a convenient escape from the city. Small - mid-sized farms of 100 - 500 acres close to the downtown areas would accomplish this same objective. 

2.      Large indoor and outdoor spaces to facilitate group gatherings. The farm would need to lean heavily on the outdoor gathering locations with pavilions, fire pits, and other outdoor activities, but should also allow inside events, albeit potentially smaller than in the traditional country club clubhouse model. 

3.      Pools. The pool on the farm would likely be less opulent, but we would offer a pool, and would ideally find properties where we could excavate a pond, or possessing a creek or river access.  

4.      Fitness and Wellness classes. We would do this by hosting farm-focused (AKA functional fitness) workout programs and healthy nutritional programs, centered on the farm’s produce. Workout facilities would likely include a lot of farm implements and activities would often resemble those done on a farm. 

5.      Tennis court.  The community would offer a Tennis court likewise striped for two pickleball courts.  Furthermore, sports turf and volleyball options would be considered.

6.      Childcare. Country Clubs often have activities for the children to give parents time to themselves. We would want to similarly provide parents with a reliable option for watching little ones, but would likely do this in a more educational context.

7.      Hosting private events. We want people to be able to use the farm spaces to fellowship with family and friends who may not be members, as well. 

What aspects of the Country Club model should be changed? 

1.      Inclusive vs. Exclusive. Requirements that the venture be profitable will require some combination of membership fees and/or ala carte pricing. However, the goal is that the farm + hospitality operations + less opulent facilities + dropping golf course can make it much more affordable than country club dues. And then we could figure out certain activities and events that are open to all and/or work out comped or reduce membership plans in return for more working.   

2.      Faith-based (or at least moral-based) vs. secular. Not all programming will be faith-based. There will be plenty of discussions around business, economics, current events, etc.  And non-Christians are encouraged to attend events. It’s not a “Christians-only” environment, but just one that proudly embraces and cultivates Kingdom values. 

3.      Work-focused…not leisure-focused. We want people to fellowship and certainly plan to provide space and time for purely leisure activities, but our view is that the principal focus should be providing opportunities for meaningful and rewarding work, self-reflection, and self-improvement. We believe that working on the farm, exercising, gardening, hunting/shooting/paintball/fishing, playing outdoor team sports, discussing important topics around the campfire, cooking, and those sort of purposeful activities, when centered around family and communal fellowship, can prove every bit as restorative – if not more so – than just lounging by the pool, playing golf, drinking in the bar or being served in the clubhouse. 

4.      Swapping golf courses for pasture land. Instead of the majority of the country club land being dedicated to golf courses, we would use the land for pasture for animals and/or wildlife management and finally forest conservation along with trails for hikes and bikes. 

 

 

Community Amenities: Though the farm sits as an anchor of the corporately owned community and provides heaps of hands-on engagement for community members, we envision a raft of amenities that foster a spirit of “intentional community”.   Some of these ideals will here be provided in list format, however, some will be expounded upon later in the document. 

1.      Tennis Court with two pickleball courts with lights

2.      Community swimming pool with ample room for gatherings, grilling, and hosting

3.      Sports pitch for soccer, football, and baseball and volleyball court (on grass)

4.      Half-size hoop pick-up surface outdoors with lights

5.      Trails for hike and bikes in protected forest areas

6.      If possible – a swimming hole with a jump tower

7.      Barn with Stables for horses and a stable master that can host trail rides and equine training

8.      Chapel – the chapel would be the community center with a stage.  It would host family gatherings, community meals and meetings, special teaching events, special worship events, debates, talent shows, concerts and more. 

9.      Roughly once a quarter the Chapel would host a concert (typically bluegrass or Americana) and invite folks from surrounding communities to come for the concert and see the farm and experience a taste of what life is like in a farming cooperative

10.  Shooting Range

11.  Archary and Axe throwing stables

 

Community Activities: 

1.      Concerts

2.      Lectures

3.      Worship

4.      Poker night

5.      Bonfires and Cookouts

6.      Festivals

7.      Harvesting

8.      Farm work

9.      Horse riding

10.  Horse training

11.  Swim parties

12.  Fishing

13.  Paintball

14.  Shooting at the outdoor firing range

15.  Archery and Axe throwing

16.  Soccer and flag football games

17.  Basketball pickup

18.  Tennis, ping pong and Pickleball tournaments

19.  Farm fitness

20.  Trail races

21.  Mountain Bike instruction

22.  Bible studies

23.  Dinner parties

24.  Debates at the chapel

25.  Hiking

26.  Organized fruit picking

27.  Barn raising (does not have to be a barn but there will be community construction projects)

28.  Farm Camp

29.  Book Club and Book Exchange

30.  Prayer groups

 

What is Intentional Community: The dictionary definition of intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork.  The classical Intentional community is most often bound by social or spiritual views and have some degree of shared property. 

I understand intentional community to be any situation where assets are shared, responsibilities are spread and you are forced to practice putting aside your ambition to be reminded that achievement moves less than relationship.  It’s living in an environment where you both get to and at times are forced to set aside time for connection and being present for others.  Marriage is typically, when submitted too rightfully, a man’s first great leap into mature manhood.  Kids is the next big development, pushing him further into a selfless territory where he accepts his responsibility to work, provide, and protect and in those duties finds great fulfillment.  I would simply call this obedience, however, these formative events are designed by the Father to move us forward.  Intentional community is a willful step past familial responsibility and is meant to foster a greater kingdom awareness, develop emotional safety in the individual, allow for practice of vulnerability and foster genuine spiritual growth.  Growth continuously if the man lives in humble obedience.  Greatness is not made in buildings or net worth, but in the spiritual and emotional legacy a man leaves first his family then his community. 

Living and Lodging for non-residents:  While it is not fair to say that a woofer is not a resident, they are in fact transient, so, they are not considered permanent residents.  However, they will be provided with room and board as their compensation for the time they spend working on the farm.  The accommodations will be modern and simple tiny homes tucked into the forest close to the farm. 

It is anticipated that folks will host visiting family.  It is also anticipated that others will travel to the community to experience life in the community for the purpose of being equipped to found one of their own in their own region.  The farm will offer two small homes that sleep up to six each as rentals for tourists, guests, or family of residents. 

However, for tourists that want to book a farm tour or ride horses, they will have options just on the side of the mountain in Chattanooga Glamping, a property that will be connected to the community by trails for horses or bikes (runners or hikers). 

 

Home Sites:

1)     Mini-Ranch:  We will offer up to forty homesites that range from 5-10 acres.  These will all be custom homes. 

2)     Neighborhood:  Within the gates community we will create a subdivision with properties averaging .5 acres each.  Upon these lots we will construct pre-designed homes ranging in size from 2000-3200 sq. ft.  – There will be up to 50 of these homes offered. 

Farm Operations: Because residents have businesses, jobs, and professions they must tend to, the operations of the farm will be managed by a for-profit entity specializing in cooperatively owned farm operations.  The full-time resident farmers (woofers) will assign tasks based upon participation hours submitted at the beginning of each week.  Farm labor will come from three primary sources:

1)      Full-time Farm residents (wwoofers) – these are typically younger folks from other countries that want to connect with the land through the farm and work for room and board.  Wwoofing is considered an active vacation.

2)      Community Residents – family members of all ages move to our community because they understand the value of working to grow, and doing so together.  They want to live healthy farm to table lifestyles and enjoy the fruit of their work.  Thus, residents will commit to certain farm chores as they are able, with a particular pickup in the summer when the youth are out of school. 

3)      L’Abri (style) residents – this will be unpacked later in the document, but this is a living, breathing ministry supported by the community but the residents, who stay for terms, spend half their day working on the farm and the grounds and half their day in study, living in intentional community

4)      The goal is to have the farm break even while providing residents with regular portions at a discounted cost.  To achieve this there will be several streams of revenue

a.      Selling of produce, meats and eggs to the outside community

b.      Farm Camps

c.       Horse Boarding

d.      Rents from guest accommodations

e.      Farmer’s Market on the farm

f.        Sports and competitions

 

HOA Operations – AKA community governance: Dues will be administered by the same organization responsible for the trade and operation of the farm.  Claims will be resolved by the same administration with the approval of the community board.  Dues will be set annually by the resident board with recommendations from the operator.  Because each permanent resident is a stake holder in the farm as well as the common amenities and protected grounds, the administrative entity contracted by the board will be responsible for maintenance of the farm, the structures and shared grounds, and finally the roads and bodies of water that are NOT located on private homesites such as ponds and the community pool. 

Education: A small portion of acreage will be provided to the Ingleside tutorial.  The mission of Ingleside is as follows: Ingleside follows Charlotte Mason’s principals and methods of education providing students with excellent, challenging, gospel-centric education during the morning hours, while leaving afternoons to the family for personal development and community service.  For more information visit: https://inglesidetutorial.com/

Community Service:  Several pledging members of the community have agreed to purchase/dedicate up to ten acres for a local non-profit called Warrior Freedom Service Dogs.  This remarkable ministry was begun in Flintstone, GA for the purpose of providing veterans with brain injury, such as PTSD and TBI, a means to reconnect with society through the use of trained service dogs.  The training facility and offices would be located on this donated acreage and the vets would be paired with their service dogs at the location.  For more information visit: https://www.warriorfreedom.org/

 

 

A L’Abri style fellowship: L’Abri – meaning shelter in French – is vaguely dubbed a shelter for honest questions.  The specific residential ministry began in the 60’s when searching American and European youth began visiting the home of Francis Schaeffer at his home in Switzerland.  Mr. Schaeffer was a reformed Christian philosopher that dealt with disorienting but relevant philosophical challenges springing from modern thought movements at the dawn of the post-modern age.  These questioning and traveling youth came to him in search of answers to burning existential questions that could only be conclusively handled by the Christian Faith.  Many were friendly to the faith but unsettled.  Others needed to walk a road of personal healing, and still others were intellectuals who were not content with their place and understanding of the world.  The ministry has grown to include twelve residential locations.  L’Abri has provided a powerful template for how intentional and guided community can serve to restore the wanderer or hurt, and make strong the tired servant to the kingdom. 

Rapha, as this location is called at this stage, meaning ‘to restore”, will be built in the community to house a residential ministry and involve permanent residents in the work of discipleship.  The community will not be responsible for the cost of construction or the cost of operation, rather, it will be entirely supported through charitable gifts from inside and well outside of this particular farm community.  The ministry is NOT a rehab for addictions.  It will not be equipped to deal with those in active addiction, thus, those that come do so entirely voluntarily.  They tend to come from all over the world (in time) with all manner of questions or confusion, but are wanting a safe place to allow for the spirit to restore their mind and their heart and equip them for kingdom service.  Rapha is not a place for youth.  It is a place for adults and young adults that need a safe place to ask difficult questions and find patient answers as they are discipled by members of the community. 

Rapha will not only provide a vital and active ministry that the local community is invited to work with,  but there will also be discussion groups, periodic group therapy supported by outside professionals,  lectures and prayer sessions that permanent residents may have access to and benefit from.  As stated earlier, for a small daily fee, each resident member typically spends one term (three months), though this may vary – shorter or longer as needed and is provided housing as well as three squares a day.  Each “student” will spend half the day working and half the day in study.  The study will be recommended and even guided by a mentor.  These are called workers at L’Abri, however, because community members may choose to disciple an appropriately paired “student”, we will call them simple counselors.  There will be at least two families who are dedicated to the ministry, its organization and administration full time. 

The Workers will be supplied housing for their families.  The “students” will live in dorm style accommodations with one side serving the female population and another the male, though, meals will be shared in common as will the preparation of the meals.  Workers and Permanent Farm Community members will regularly, in fact daily host a portion of the “student” body to a meal in the family home for the purpose of engaging in guided debate and discussion over a 1.5-2 hour period.  “Students” will be assigned to meal prep periodically to assist the hosting family or families prepare the shared meal in their home.  Counselors from the farm community will meet with the student they have adopted to disciple at least weekly, but as often as twice weekly if needed. 

Aside from lectures and debates, shared meals and intentional community, study and research, as well as work on the farm, grounds or during meal prep, the “students” may find themselves sponsored by one of the permanent residents.  In this case, they will share a meal with the sponsor family weekly.  While the L’Abri model was conceived as a ministry to the intellectual, it purposed into a full restorative discipleship ministry, and in this case, will be further supported by the local community.  It will be an active ministry of the community.  And, Rapha will provide heaps or resources for learning and spiritual growth with an MP3 library, and a library of books.  Community members and their youth will also benefit from the access to these resources. 

Preservation:  Preservation – land that is not cultivated for farming will be preserved with original forest.  5 acre or larger homesites may remove trees enough to build homes and create up to a 1 acre lawn, however, the only restriction the HOA will impose on custom homeowners is in the prevention of clear cutting their land.  As a community we have large open spaces for sports, riding, and farming. 

Restoration:  The purpose of the community is not only to protect and even restore the land, but to have a restorative effect in the lives of people and families. 

1.      Regenerative Farming: this is a conservational approach to food farming systems focusing on increasing biodiversity, preventing deforestation, preserving water, and enhancing the top soil through natural regeneration. 

2.      Health:  River May was born with a defect that the doctors told us would chain him to a possibly life-long battle with constipation.  The issue was rearing it’s ugly head in the spring semester and early summer of 23 significantly.  His activities were curtailed because of constant discomfort.  His mom led a charge into the heart of natural foods.  The first move was to cut out breads (gluten) then Lactose by serving him Lactose free milk.  Further revelation many of you are familiar with suggested that the processing of grain for mass consumed flour made goods might be the source of the problem, not the concept of bread itself.  So, she began milling grains and producing all bread products with straight milled grains.  She then replaced lactose-free milk with raw milk.  River has been able to consumer breads and diary without relapsing into his “chronic” plumbing issues. 

Americans are a remarkably unhealthy lot.  We tend to be overweight because our lifestyles might be quite sedentary.  We also tend to summer all manner of health complications and cancers at all ages while spending far more money per person than ANY other country in the world.  Generally speaking, the US spends OVER 2 times per person annually than any other wealthy nation.  Even with all the cutting edge healthcare and expensive drugs, our quality of life and longevity of life is likewise shorter than many developed countries.  The Japanese woman can expect to live 6 years longer than her American counterpart. 

It is increasingly accepted that our high processed food diets are near the heart of the problem.  The other pertains to physical activity and fitness.  It’s not only the sheer calories in our large portion diets, but the quality of the processed calories expanding our waist-lines.  In fact, we can universally except that a lifestyle that seeks entertaining pleasure and easy foods for quick consumption produces a dull imagination, a shallow heart, and an unfit body.  This community addresses this in many ways:

·         Access to real and raw foods vastly improve the nutritional value of our diet, they also provide for better digestion and fewer side-effects

·         The cultivation of food is active and even strenuous.  Participation in the labor to cultivate the foods provides natural activity, improving fitness and muscular development

·         In a like-minded community living intentionally in fellowship, connected activities such as sport occur more spontaneously – free-range kids are simply much more physically active

·         In fact, Joe Riley’s farm at Quail Run is whipping my wife and twins into better shape through common farm activities – chasing chickens, chopping wood, moving logs and so on 

3.      Healing Hearts: we hurt in isolation, we heal in community if a common phrase tossed about in recovery circles.  For those haunting the halls of a rehab, this might ring a bit cliché, but the common turn of the tongue does not diminish the truth of the statement.  Openness and accountability is what is said to help deliver an addicted woman from the bottle or a sex craving man from the wondering screen.  If these are the elements of restoration from patterns which predictably kill, and they are built into intentional community, it stands to reason that MORE and better quality relationships lead to happier and better living. 

4.      Mending Minds: device living and amazon delivery has served only to further sever us from what was arguably designed to be the human experience.  This experience includes toil, and we learn through it, that work can be it’s own reward but nothing teaches that so well as putting the screen down and growing some of your own food.  While there are infinite lessons to gain from a good day’s study and work, there is little to be gained from endless reels and one-click purchases.  In fact, many of us have simply become pure-bred consumers.  Our endless pursuit is entertainment.  There is a hollowness that can gut the soul and dull the mind in this pointless pursuit.  While many of use have amazing jobs that we relish, often times spending countless hours in front of a screen, I have found that working with the hands and seeing your efforts bring order from chaos offer immense rewards. 

The renewal of the mind doesn’t come on Netflix.   It comes through wisdom imparted through study and community and through a spiritual grounding build on the truths that transcend.  In fact, one could argue that it ends and begins with the Word of God transforming the mind to see and interpret all manner of things, histories, and events rightly.  We all know that the smartest folks can be fools.  So, wisdom does not flow from intelligence but it may start walking from the fear of the Lord. 

5.      Intentional community leads to intentional living.  Intentional living seeks to take captive all the elements of life for growth and full development – mental, physical, spiritual, emotional.  This community is designed for those that want to be intentional about their health, their habits, their community, their marriages, and raising their kids. 

Replication:  Simply stated, we intend to lay out a model that can be replicated across the country.  In fact, we intend to cultivate a manual for various aspects of the operation, including governance that can be given to those seeking to copy what we have created with their own regenerative communities anchored by the regenerative farm. 

Governance:  While most of us will lean libertarian, thus, our community will not be full of dogmas or controls, some guidelines and governance are essential for the protection of the community and everyone within it.  Furthermore, inclusion in the community is not dependent on any faith affiliation or political affiliation.  While the founders hope that our efforts to establish a model for an intentional “working” community rather than traditional disconnected suburban enclave or country club community built to enhance the art of personal entertainment and consumption will attract a good group of like minded people, we are not interested in nor would the mission be enhanced by imposing our personal beliefs or views on any one else interested in living intentionally. 

Written by Frank May with Joseph Riley contributor