Off Grid Comminity

These days I see a lot of posts from earnest sounding people longing to join or form an off grid community.  Even though I post a question asking these people to define what they see as an off grid community I have yet to receive a reply.

I have also discussed the subject in person with people I consider well qualified to answer. These are people who either live off grid at present or are actively planning to move off grid.  I have also discussed this subject with people who were born in off grid homes and grew up in a home not connected to the grid as we know and define it.

What better authority than someone who has been there and lived the experience.

My wife is one such person. She was born on the family homestead as the third generation to do so and she never saw an electric light before she was 14. When she was 20 she moved into her own off grid log cabin where she lived alone except for her hunting cat. Every week the cat brought home grouse for dinner.

I also lived in a region where old order Mennonites lived in farming communities having no electric power.  I myself lived on a boat which I guess is a specialized kind of off grid.

We often speak of communities but what exactly constitutes a community?

Is it simply a collection of homes that happen to be in close proximity or does it require something else?

I know people who home schooled their children because they are cruising around on their boat or live in places where it is remote from existing schools and some people object to the policies of the local school board. At one time I worked for an architect who was fond of saying he got his education despite the school system not because of it.

In Europe especially  there is a  trend  among young people  living by themselves  to  seek an off grid lifestyle and I suspect these  are  the most frequent  originators  of the  posts asking to  form an off grid community.   However in order to have a community you need continuity and a place to raise a family. Living in a tent, small trailer, or RV is not conducive to raising a family; at least not by conventional standards.

Yes it can be done. But all my boating friends who cruised with children eventually came ashore because they felt living in a settled community was a valuable part of their children’s upbringing.

I also know people who came from communities with a particular focus such as religious beliefs or lifestyle choices.  They discovered the rest of the world had broader horizons or offered more choices than their original community.

Some of us remember the hippie communes back in the sixties. Where are they now?

Obviously there is more to forming a viable community than simply having one common interest or living in proximity to each other.

So the question is; what do you feel is necessary to form and sustain a community dedicated to living off grid?