# Northern California Commune



## Corvus Inculta

So I want to start a community (really a giant squat) in Northern California. So I am looking for people who would want to help me make this a reality. This community would be at the location at these coordinates 38.86317, -123.56133. You can just put them into google maps to see the place that I have picked. It is near the coast of California. The reason I picked this place is that it is near an abandoned military base (I would have decided to start building in the base, but one person lives there and makes sure people don't do things like that). But the good thing about being close to the base is that no one wants the property because they would have to clean it up and that would be a lot of work (the place that I want to squat is in the woods and clean, but the base itself has all the lovely toxins such as led paint.) So this squat would be on property that no one wants making this commune less likely to be destroyed by police. Also the place that I picked is in the forest about five miles from any town and only accessible by one road that does not even have a name and then a about a half mile hike. So this commune will be unlikely to be discovered by the general public. But this commune would still have access to products that we can not make ourselves because if someone walks five miles into town they can buy stuff granted they have the money to buy those things. But for the most part I am hoping for this commune to be self sustaining. Which I have done the research and I believe I have all the knowledge to make it self sustaining. The commune would also be close to the coast giving us mild growing seasons, but very long growing seasons. We might even be able to have gardens all year round but I doubt that the gardens will be very productive in the winter even while only growing winter crops. The commune would also be close to a river which would provide water which could be boiled and then drunk. The river is also known for its fishing. So fish could be a good food source during the time of year when salmons and steelheads migrate through the river. But I also care a lot about the environment so fishing needs to stay at a rate that is not detrimental to the salmon or steelhead population in the river. Also there are deer near by which are practically tame. So hunting deer when need be would be very easy (again no over hunting.) Obviously over time the deer will stop being tame, but at the start (which I think will be the hardest part of making this commune) deer could be hunted pretty easily. Also this commune will be on a hill which will make irrigating gardens easier. I also have 8 chickens which I am going to bring with me and I am going to try to get more chickens soon.
If people are concerned about how this commune is going to be run, and what rules might apply. I don't have any formal rules. But I do have some things that I would like to see and some things that I would not like to see. First off drugs. I don't like drugs. I am fine with people who do some more mild drugs or who only do drugs on rare occasions like celebrations and stuff. But if you have an addiction or just really like drugs I would prefer if you stayed away. Not trying to be a prude about drugs. But in excess drugs can cause a lot of problems for everyone. Also food will go to everyone and anyone who needs it. But I want people to be willing to work. Also my plan for settling conflicts are going to be group meetings. I would hope that most conflicts could be settled by the people who are part of the conflict. But I know people are not always good at working with each other and compromising. So if there is a conflict that can't be settled I was thinking that we could just call a group meeting. It would just be a group of people who are interested in settling the conflict. If you don't care about helping to resolve the conflict you don't have to get involved. So it would be all voluntary. Whoever goes to the meeting would try to think of a deal or a solution to the problem that both sides of the conflict would except as fair. This may not always work and people might start to hate each other. But I am hoping that most people could be reasonable enough so that mostly everyone gets along.
So anyway if you are interested in helping me with this ambitious project then you can reply and email me at [email protected] or friend me on Facebook (my name is Corvus Inculta) my Facebook is only going to be used for communicating with people who are interested in this idea so it is a good way to get in contact with me. Also I am still in high school (I know I am young) and I desire to graduate so I was thinking about starting this commune in mid June of 2017. This is not ideal because we will lose a growing season before winter, but I think we can make it work.


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## MilkaNoobie

Skimmed thru but did you mention who owns the land?


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## Corvus Inculta

It is government owned because the property is part of the military base that they shut down in 1998. They have been trying to sell the land but can't because it is just forest or a decaying military base and it would take a lot of money to clean up the base. I would have proposed just squatting on the base but one person lives there to make sure people don't do that, and people occasionally visit the base because people like to see decaying buildings. Squatting in the forest is safer and we are less likely to get harassed by average people and cops.


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## MilkaNoobie

Starting a commune on land that could be sold out from under you sounds like a chance for a lot of hard work to go to waste


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## Corvus Inculta

The land has not sold in almost 20 years and if it does sell it will probably sell for the use of the area where the base is not where the forest is. The commune is about 2 miles from the base. So yeah it is a risk, but one I think is low.


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## creature

interesting...

i'm a surveyor..

thank you for this post.

i'll read in detail & investigate.. there may be some options...


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## creature

looked up the lat-long, but didn't see a military base.. what are the co-ords for the base?

any other details?
PM me if you've done any research beyond the present footwork..


Thanks!


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## Corvus Inculta

I fear cluttering the chat up to much with a bunch of posts but I feel this could be useful information. So here is all the information that I have about the base.

This is a link to a map that I have added a tone of things to. It is really messy and there is not much of a system to it, but for the most part the red markers represent where man made things are. Sorry that it is so messy but I just made it for my notes I never meant for other people to look at it.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/1/edit?mid=1gxTW_NFLHgCstTrWkcr7IJ7mVz4
The coordinates of the base are
38.89378, -123.54103
This is the wikipedia article on the base
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Arena_Air_Force_Station
This is a website with a bunch of photos of the base
http://www.radomes.org/museum/recent/PointArenaAFSCA.html
This website has a bunch of articles. One of the articles close to half way down the page titled "The Point Arena Air Force Station" has some more info on the base
http://theava.com/archives/44028
The base has very little information about it so this is all I was able to find, but it was enough information for my needs. I hope this is helpful. 

Also I have not visited the base or the area around it because I don't live to close to it. But I am hoping to visit the base around Christmas so that I can do some scouting and get more in depth information about the location.


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## creature

PM'd ya.. I can hit the north central coast this weekend, Arena Point, if that is useful & if anyone else might just like a nice drive out of the bay..

I am fucking down with this..


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## Deleted member 14481

That does sound interesting. I think I'm sitting where I am for a while, but I'll point some people your way, if I remember to.


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## MilkaNoobie

Have you thought about what kind of buildings to build?... a bunch of tattered tents does not sound nice however with all that wood around you could build primitive temporary shelters or semi permanent ones


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## MilkaNoobie

You mentioned food for all you could build your commune on a wagon wheel pattern and have the kitchen/meeting place at the center and first ring out could be farms followed by homes in ring 2 and as you grow put additional rings 3 could be more farms....surprising you mentioned hunting in a state like California which is primarily anti gun


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## MilkaNoobie

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## Corvus Inculta

That is a pretty cool structure in the video, the idea that I had for long term shelters would be log cabin like structures. Basic directions for building these shelters can be found at this link 
http://www.motherearthnews.com/green-homes/build-a-log-cabin-zmaz81mjzraw.aspx?PageId=1
Since these structures take a good amount of time to make I was thinking of temporary shelters such as lean to shelters and tents. And about the wagon wheel design for the commune lay out. I like the idea but since this commune is going to be built on a hill that design will not work. All the farms need to be close ish to the river and facing all down hill so that the irrigation system that I designed can work. And I was thinking of just having the buildings above the farms and a local cooking place near the center of the mass of houses. And then the outhouse will be put at the down stream end of the commune just on the very unlikely chance that the bacteria in waist in the outhouse lichees through the soil and hits the river. This is very unlikely to happen as long as the outhouse is built decently far away from the river, but I don't want to take any chances. And about the guns. I am planing on not using guns for hunting. I built a crossbow which is powerful enough for hunting small and medium game, and other simple weapons like this are not hard to make and I know how to build snare traps that can catch small game. And then fishing needs no gun. So hunting with a gun is not necessary. And I would not advice hunting with a gun because guns make a lot of noise and even as secluded of an area as the one I picked I still fear that gun shots will be audible by people in the area and this could attract unwanted attention. Also hunting in general is going to be as minimal as we can, but I think it will be necessary just to give use another way of getting food.


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## creature

the very first thing to do, after assessing the appropriateness of the land, is to find out about issues of title.

communes on abandoned land in coastal california, without legal standing, are a very, very. very bad idea.

i'm down, but don't get your hopes up or start planning anything grandiose.. you *may* get away with camping..

what you need to do, mostly, is find out if any viable mineral claims can be had in the area, if it is federal land, or in proximity..

if it is private & if taxes are current, eviction will follow within 18 months, especially if it is posted..

so.. check it out first, before enjoying the labors of folly, ok?

if step one & two are clear, the biggest hurdles are probably done..


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## Corvus Inculta

Okay so I have done some more research on who owns the property and I was wrong about the government owning the property the government only owns the base itself not the land around the base. I found that I need to move my original location about 2.5 miles inland, but on the same river and everything. This land is owned by the conservation fund. This is not ideal, but nothing in this world is ideal. And it is the best location I could find. It is still good for farming and hunting, it is even more secluded. It is still near the ocean which has a lot of resources such as salt. And stealing land from the conservation fund seems relatively safe. They own a tone of forest in Northern California which they sell to logging companies after letting citizens tour the area and weigh in on if the forest should be sold or not. Since the conservation fund owns so much land and it takes a long time for logging deals to go through it is very unlikely that we will be disturbed by people. And even if we get discovered and people want to kick us off we could probably convince the people who find us to let us talk to the head of the conservation fund. The person who is the leader of the conservation fund for this area is Chris Kelly. He is very concerned about the environment and agriculture since he also plays a role in the Marine Agricultural Land Trust. So personally if I had to convince anyone to let us stay on their land it would be him. So in conclusion it is unlikely that people will find this commune, and if people do then we just have to convince a person whose career is based around conservation and agriculture to allow us to continue to practice sustainable agriculture on a very small portion of his land.

Now I know the idea of stealing land might be scary to some people, but squatting is the act of stealing land, not only to avoid the costs of buying land but also to make a social statement about private property and the illegalization of homelessness whether it is homelessness out of circumstance our out of choice. So yes this idea is risky I will admit that, but every protest is risky and I have tried to minimize this risk as much as I can.

So that is my report/inspirational speech. So look at this information and use your own judgment to decided if you are willing to take this risk. I get that it is risky and I don't blame anyone who is not willing to take these risks.


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## MilkaNoobie

Share map/coords and plans please 


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## creature

Interesting... On a river.. Def might be claim territory..

Also, going a conservancy may come with at least minor usage rights..


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## Corvus Inculta

The coordinates are 38.87158, -123.51877


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## MilkaNoobie

Corvus Inculta said:


> The coordinates are 38.87158, -123.51877









You sure do like building on the side of hills and mountains ....thats 500ft up on the side ....just barely east is a valley next to the water of the river plus a tributary and a lake near the end of a fire road


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## MilkaNoobie




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## Corvus Inculta

The area that I picked is approximate, it could be moved slightly. But a hill side makes irrigation much easier because you can use a wind powered pump (I have the design but it is a bit hard to explain through text) to get the water up hill and into a holding ditch then the irrigation system can go from the holding ditch to the farms and water through gravity feed. And I don't want to build next to a fire road because fire roads might be patrolled occasionally and that is kind of the opposite of what we want.


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## Corvus Inculta

Okay so I have been off for a long time, sorry. I have been busy with the rest of my life and have not had much time to work on the commune. But I have been working on researching food production and I should be done with that soonish and I have also made a timeline so that people can see kind of what I am going to be doing in the next few months and if people are interested in helping they can. Here is the link to the timeline https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CugQBhmLqdj11rk1ahMHQkJyEUfpGRsGfdp4WbJvWog/edit


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## Kal

MilkaNoobie said:


> Starting a commune on land that could be sold out from under you sounds like a chance for a lot of hard work to go to waste


Have you heard of Slab City people have been squating here for years.


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## Corvus Inculta

Hi Kal, are you from Slab City? It looks a little bit like Cornelius' library in the background of your profile picture. But anyway I have heard a lot about Slab City and I was wondering if you know if the cops harass people from Slab City or if they ever tried to shut it down and if Slab City has any legal thing that is protecting them? Because I am going to try to start a commune in Northern California even if it means I might get chased off by cops or even arrested, but I am curious how likely cops are to show up and try to shut down a squat/commune. And knowing Slab City's trouble with cops might give me a guideline of how much of a pain cops are going to be.


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## Corvus Inculta

Just a reminder that I am going to do some scouting of the location next week Saturday the 17th until friday the 23rd or Saturday 24th. If anyone is interested in also scouting anytime while I am out their let me know.


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## creature

Corvous, hi..
I haven't replied to your message, yet, since I wasn't sure when I would be in the area..

I should be near Arena Point, soon (24 hours or less, as I am in Fort Bragg), and am going to make a quick scout of the area.

Unfortunately I don't see being here any later than tomorrow, though I am going slowly.. About 50 miles or do a day, I would say..

Update yer status & bump the post.

Good luck!!

John


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## Deleted member 17306

Corvus Inculta said:


> Hi Kal, are you from Slab City? It looks a little bit like Cornelius' library in the background of your profile picture. But anyway I have heard a lot about Slab City and I was wondering if you know if the cops harass people from Slab City or if they ever tried to shut it down and if Slab City has any legal thing that is protecting them? Because I am going to try to start a commune in Northern California even if it means I might get chased off by cops or even arrested, but I am curious how likely cops are to show up and try to shut down a squat/commune. And knowing Slab City's trouble with cops might give me a guideline of how much of a pain cops are going to be.



I think you misunderstand what slab city is. I haven't spent much time there in the last few years, but the cops in slab city are funny. They're bored, they will fuck with you if you give them a reason to and they do a sweep twice a year to ID everybody. Amusingly, I've given them a fake name with no SS on 5 separate occasions and walked away..one time, I was riding in the back of a truck..got pulled over, cop knew my ID was sketchy from a prior experience with him, so he pat me down, made fun of my Mexican weed, gave it back to me and sent me on my way. They're not terrible for the most part, but they probably will want to fuck with you at some point. 

With that being said, starting your own commune is going to be nothing like slab city and comparing the two isn't likely to be of any help.


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## creature

Double check the coordinates in the message body. They are about 60 miles north of the map coordinstes.

I'm using the map coords, now.

Interestingly, the text coords give a route that says private Rd & registered guest, so they're pointing at something, but def not near Point Arena. I'll take the roads to the map coords as far as I can, but if they get too rough, I'll see what I can do on bike or foot. 

Looks like it should be a nice place to crash, if reachable.

I'd imagine no service, so I'll fill you in when I come out.


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## creature

OK.. i konked out at the beach, last night, since it got a bit dark, nearing the road to Booneville, off of CA1..

Started out for the map coordinates this morning, heading east/southeast on Mountain View rd..
from CA1 it is 16 miles, 8.5 of it on Mountain View... of the last 7.5 miles 5.5 of it is behind a seriously gated road, the final 2 are off road.ok.

i just lost a full page of editing, so, briefly..
i'm sorry to be the bearere of bad news.
you have a 15 mile round trip hike.
this is posted as govermnet land, and the gate is a heavy duty steel swing barricade that cannot be circumnavigated.

i can't seem to upload the photo, but maybe later from my computer, insteads of this fucking phone..

in any case i would *love* to find a place on the rual or undeverloped coast..
i'm not juyst shooting this down.. been waiting & hoping..

there's no access, but may you can find another way in..

good luck, Corvus, & thanks for wanting to do something solid..


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## creature

BTW.. I'm going to look at Miner Hole Road, about 2 miles north of Point Arena, on the west hand side, just before the bridge, heading north.

Been there a number of times, but have never researched owners or boundary lines
.


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## creature

For, hit me up.
I can stay here until Saturday, and we can use my truck, if you don't have a vehicle while your here.

Please let me know ASAP, since I have to meet folks in Berkeley.

Good luck!


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## Corvus Inculta

Okay so I read your post and that is problematic with the gate and everything. I will do a little looking around when I am up there and see what I can find. I only have five days to scout because I am getting there on Saturday and coming back on Wednesday (I can no longer stay a week). But anyway I will do some looking around and road exploring and see if I can find a good spot. I feel like there has to be some place in that giant forest… hopefully. And if you want to meet on Saturday I can, but if you need to get to Berkeley I don't want to get in the way of those plans. Also once I get back I will give a report on what I found so everyone interested can look at my findings. I am going to do some scouting for a better area, do water samples of boiled river water for pesticides, copper, lead, nitrates, nitrites, PH, iron, and a few others such as hardness, chlorine, and bacteria since these tests come with the kit I bought. I will also do soil tests for nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, and PH. And I will do a few other tests while scouting.


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## creature

Hopefully you hit paydirt on you first run.
Don't be disappointed if you don't.

Def poke around on Google maps for Miners Hole Road.

I have a sneaking suspicion..


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## Corvus Inculta

Okay will do, thanks for the advice and the help, and just your general interest


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## creature

pm'd ya..


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## Corvus Inculta

Okay I did some scouting. On the bright side there is a lot of wild food (tones of raspberries and some manzanita), dead trees for firewood, some wildlife (not much), the soil seems fertile (I was going to do some soil tests but couldn't) and the water tests show that the streams are most likely fine to drink long term if the water is boiled first. But it seems like the hole forest is basically a no go. They patrol those woods really well. I avoided getting caught trespassing and camping some how, but they had quads scouting around where I was most days, which I somehow always just nearly avoided. I heard them driving around, I saw there tracks, and the day I left right after I got onto the main road I saw three trucks go by with the logging company's logo on them each with a quad in the back going toward the logging road I was camping next to. I think they were looking for squatters because I found some notes on logging ribbons about quote "Hobo camps". So yeah they have the whole forest surprisingly locked down. I really don't have a plan anymore, but the commune idea is starting to crumble. If someone else wants to jump in and keep this going go ahead, but it looks like I might be out. Not sure yet, but it isn't looking good.


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## ped

Really wish ppl would want to go in on a buy. So much cheap land in outskirts. Could have it by spring.


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## MilkaNoobie

I'm married now and would have to discuss it with wife but I personally like the idea of going in on land but the deed should be held in a trust so that not one person could sell it off.... she's a teacher so distance to a town that would give her a job would be important


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## MilkaNoobie

Noticed your list and I think a few bee hives would be a good idea .... soap candles molds candy ..... all sort of things can be made from a bee hive


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## ped

MilkaNoobie said:


> I'm married now and would have to discuss it with wife but I personally like the idea of going in on land but the deed should be held in a trust so that not one person could sell it off.... she's a teacher so distance to a town that would give her a job would be important



For sure on a trust. Then we'd have to deal with everyone pulling their weight on taxes.

To me that would be about the extent of the commune aspect. The rest is up to everyone if they want to share a house or meals.

I don't think buying enough land to farm 100% or even 25% is feasible though. We're talking 100+ acres for that kind of thing.


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## Corvus Inculta

Actually I have been doing a lot of work on planning out a farming system. And with a selection of about 10 or 15 common crops (I haven't had time to look at more crops) assuming we can grow all year round (so winter has to have nights in the mid to upper 30's, basically the valley or low foothills) and assuming average production for small farms. And assuming we have green houses that can start some plants that take a long time to grow and fruit (for example eggplants), and we harvest and plant the new crops in two weeks between each growing season (any longer and we couldn't have four growing seasons). One person could eat off six rows that are 3 feet wide and 100 feet long with 3 foot walk ways between every row, and then a seventh row would be added for seed crops so we could have seeds for the next year. Also this would produce 20% excess food (I like to over estimate some since the conditions I am requiring might be a bit on the ideal side).


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## ped

what would be the diet? how many calories daily? I assume theres no grain for flour?

the overall rule of thumb is about an acre (~43,500sq ft) per person. you have it 3,600 sq ft or less than 1/10th of an acre. the lowest estimate I've seen is about 8,000 sq ft total.

http://www.farmlandlp.com/2012/01/one-acre-feeds-a-person/

finally what about wood for heating and cooking?


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## Corvus Inculta

The one acre thing is for the average american diet which is made up of large amounts of meat. This would be a vegan diet. If you add in meat and other animal products the area starts climbing really fast. I did one plan with chickens and just a few chickens made the land need go way up. And this is just farm area so fire wood and all other necessities aren't taken into account. For the diet I used these crops. 
Summer crops
Sugar beets: 200 pounds 200 plants (34 pounds of sugar) not considered when calculating food
Cucumber: 120 pounds 50 plants
Summer Squash (assorted): 150 pounds 66 plants
Corn: 150 pounds 100 plants
Eggplant: 100 pounds 66 plants
Tomato: 100 pounds 66 plants
Spring crops
Lettuce: 50 pounds 600 plants
Carrots: 100 pounds 600 plants
Potatoes: 100 pounds 120 plants
Cauliflower: 100 pounds 85 plants
Parsnips: 100 pounds 400 plants
Endive: 55 pounds 200 plants
Soybeans: 50 pounds 300 plants
Fall/winter crops
Broccoli: 100 pounds 85 plants
Leeks: 45 pounds 600 plants
Cabbage: 150 pounds 85 plants
Turnips: 50 pounds of root/ 50 pounds of greens 600 plants
Onions: 100 pounds 400 plants

The pound and plant amount is based off of 100 foot rows of plants. And for calories. I didn't take calories into account, I used poundage which I find to be a more reliable gauge. Because a protein bar could have more calories then some cans of soups, but the soup fills you up more because it weighs more. I assumed that everyone eats 5 pounds of food a day. 4 is considered necessary for people to be healthy. And 5 1/2 is what the average American eats. So I went a little on the high side of food consumption.


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## Corvus Inculta

Also not saying everyone should go vegan, because a lot of people won't want to. I am just telling you the base land requirements. Adding stuff on will add onto land. But vegetable wise this is how much land you will probably need.


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## MilkaNoobie

You almost lost me with the vegan thing


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## rusty

Corvus Inculta said:


> I really don't have a plan anymore, but the commune idea is starting to crumble. If someone else wants to jump in and keep this going go ahead, but it looks like I might be out. Not sure yet, but it isn't looking good.



don't give up! it could take a lifetime, but you can do it.


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