La’akea Community Mission Statement
We, the members of La’akea community, dedicate ourselves to each others’ long term health and well-being. We honor and work in harmony with the land we own and steward. We commit to nurturing our connection with each other and with the people of our bioregion. We encourage cooperative endeavors and building loving relationships.
We value sustainable practices, and consider future generations in all our choices. We commit to creating a child friendly environment and holistic childrearing. We embrace processes which work to bring us into unity, while respecting each person’s autonomy. We aim for egalitarian relationships by practicing consensus decision making. We aim to bring awareness to the various roles we play in regard to gender, economic class, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and age. We aspire to shift out of oppressor and oppressed roles moving toward mutual empowerment.
Who We Are
Members: We are currently (2024) 11 adult members and two 16-year old part time teens, and a 6 year old child. We hold an intention of expanding to 12 to 20 full-time members. We now have 1 trial member.
Permaculture: Our philosophy and practice of permaculture starts with cultivating supportive and empowering relationships among ourselves. We have developed systems and practices that nurture this vital component of farm life. We use permaculture principles and practices in stewarding our land. Reducing waste, re-using materials, composting and recycling are everyday activities. Although we are not fully self-sustaining, we experiment to find ways that bring us closer to this goal. We place a high value on growing our own food and medicine. We offer permaculture internships and host permaculture certification design courses. We keep rabbits, chickens and sheep. These animals help maintain our orchards, provide fertilizer for our trees, and are a source of food. We maintain beehives and harvest the honey. We catch and store rainwater for drinking and washing, and our electricity is solar powered. Our practices are influenced by Natural Farming methods. We are focusing more on natural building techniques.
Decision-making process: We make important, long term decisions (capital improvements, new members, changes to existing agreements) by consensus of community members. We delegate more detail oriented decisions to individuals or small committees. We value personal empowerment, trust, and accountability in our decision making process. A key concept of consensus is that members know and communicate their individual truth and desires, while balancing the well being of the community with their personal preferences. Our process meeting (see below) informs our decision-making to the extent that we reveal ourselves to each other and support each other in meeting our needs.
Daily life: We are a group of people working together closely as a means to vibrant health, relationship vitality, economic stability, and personal and spiritual growth. We hold two meetings each week that we commit to attending. One of these meetings is a process where we support authenticity and self-revelation for transparency and community support; the other is a business meeting.
Families and Children: As a community, we value our child residents and guests, and commit to providing them with love and support. We want our children to have a community of involved, caring adults and other children.
Diet: We encourage individuals to listen to their bodies and follow a diet that feels good and promotes health. We eat a diet of organic, fresh wholesome food, much of which we produce on our land.
We can accommodate many different diets and allow for personal diet choices to change over time.
Sexuality and Relationship: We believe relationships provide profound joy in life, as well as an opportunity for self-reflection and personal growth.
We value sexuality as an important part of an individual’s life and a powerful energy that nourishes ourselves and our community. We support individual choices in sexual relationships, understanding that sexual relations between persons do not imply ownership. We do not elevate one sexual relationship model over another, but place emphasis on healthy, positive, mutually empowered relating.
Ownership Structure, Finances and Economics: The title to the property is held in common as a Limited Liability Company. We are currently seeking members who can contribute $50,000 towards full membership equity. We will also consider potential members who don’t have access to the full buy in amount, but do have viable skills and/or a steady income flow. We are moving towards self-sufficiency.
Political: We do not hold a particular political ideology as a key facet of our community. However, as individuals, many of us hold strong political beliefs and interests that in general could be described as: liberal, green, libertarian, or combinations of these labels. We intend to empower individuals to act on their political beliefs and speak their truth without demanding consensus on political topics.
Spirituality: Our daily life reflects our spiritual values. We revere the sacredness of how the life force unfolds in each moment. We honor spiritual diversity, and discourage proselytizing. We treat the land and each other respectfully, with compassion and kindness. We value truth, authenticity and self-reflection. We support the inherent connection among all beings.