Living Life Together

It’s hard to imagine in our modern age here in America, what it’s like to live every aspect of life in a well-functioning, tight-knit geographically local community of multi-generational households — without government assistance or heavy commercial engagement. But people did it in years past.

Once upon a time the majority of Americans lived in the countryside, and they lived their lives together on the local level.

Of course, at that time everybody had to engage in some kind of manual labor and produce at least a minimal amount of their own food.

And property, knowledge, understanding & wisdom were often handed down from one generation to the next, providing each generation thereafter a leg up.

And given the limitations on transportation and travel, people had to rely on those within their physical midst to meet their daily needs. Therefore, they had to figure out how to get along with one another and cooperate.

This way of living worked.

People constructed & repaired their own housing & sundry structures, made & mended the bulk of their own clothes, dug & maintained their own wells, cared for their own loved ones & livestock, produced & consumed the bulk of their own food, and properly managed their own waste — all in the company of those who appreciated where their shelter, clothing, water and food came from and the work it took to obtain, build, grow, maintain and preserve it.

And they learned from one another and ultimately grew in wisdom & strength.

It was satisfying work, enriching even, when people came together with the desire & will to live, love, work, learn, share & exchange with one another. And I believe they found enjoyment in their lives and in each other’s company.

This is the way of life we want to live.

I’m not talking about a commune — because we believe private ownership is important and people ought to be free to live as they choose without taking from or harming another.

I’m talking about a community of people who live in close proximity to one another — people, who are committed to taking personal responsibility for their own lives and the lives of their own family and cooperating voluntarily with their fellow man.

But I believe for this to happen, people need to realize they need one another in order to live — and at the local level that need must go beyond spiritual (emotional & mental) aid and support. It must include physical engagement.

For many people, to have that kind of life, it might require them to move from where they are currently living. And it might require a change in lifestyle. A change from simply plugging into an economic system that provides everything for us to participating in an ecological system where everyone is responsible for providing for themselves.

And when that change takes place, the realization hits very quickly that none of us can make it on our own.

The current way of life that most of us are living today in America (namely our economic system & the money we use as a means of exchange, as well as a host of other systems tied to it) is failing, and it is clearly leading us towards financial enslavement, severe lack, poor health (even death), and social unrest, and it’s not going to just magically (or miraculously) change for the better on its own (or even with the help of a political overhaul). It’s likely going to keep getting worse.

So, we, as a family of five are striving to not simply take care of ourselves & our own but to also develop our own micro-community here at the local level on our private homestead and a sort of ecovillage prototype within our borders, with the hope of being a part of a greater localized ecovillage-type community in the future.

And we’re working towards building a network of people whom we know, and come to know, outside of our gates, from both near & far with whom we can interact & engage in social, educational & economic exchange to meet our respective needs and desires.

WiggleCulture.com is where we are sharing what we’re doing in general to achieve that aim and why.

If you would like to be a part of our world either at the local level in/around Fluvanna County, Virginia or from wherever you are, please let’s connect.

(And if you are desiring to transition to a more autonomous, natural way of life and what we present here on this website interests or appeals to you, please say so. We typically host campouts on our homestead to give folks a taste of what it’s like to live life together on the land here, and this might be of interest to you.)

[This page was last updated on 4/24/25.]