Hartwood

The two founding principles of the hubseed concept are affordability and evolving community.

We recognise that both the current situation and the many failed attempts at community arise through our own inability to trust and live peacefully with each other. Sharing, conflict resolution, interdependence are foreign concepts to all of us, trained since birth to value power, wealth and aggression above all else.

In the end, building, landbase, sustainable food etc. are all secondary to how we relate to each other. If we cannot be good neighbours, we must rely on the familiar panopoly of authority and coercion to ‘protect’ what we are supposedly trying to create. The sad story of how that works out is what most of us are trying to escape.

The Hubseed concept is merely one approach at starting from the ground up. It relies on community to flourish beyond its initial stages. It also happens to be truly affordable for all but the most indigent among us.

• Small groups of people up to about 10 or a dozen, each contribute around £500.
• Around £2,000 is used to buy a single acre or so of cheap land, typically forestry plantation or rough grazing.
• The rest goes towards building a communal low-impact hub building containing:
  1. Hot water, bathing & washing facilities
  2. Composting Toilets
  3. Cooking and Clothes Drying area
  4. Warm communal chill space
  5. Safe storage for food and tools etc.
  6. Any other facilities deemed desirable
• Arranged around this in spokes are the dwellings of the residents
• These can be a variety of movable and not so types: Live-in vehicles, caravans, yurts, tepees, benders, simple strawbale etc.
• Some forestry could be retained (or planted) to provide hedging between spokes, to create a small measure of visual privacy

To literally create seeds of the villages we need to flourish in this land through the times to come. In miniature, all the issues and practicalities of community living and dealing with authorities will arise, but in a low-commitment scenario, where it is not the end of the world if you have to leave and take your dwelling with you. Indeed it may well be very easy to find another taker for your spoke, changing hands for the same £500 you put into the project, or at a price that reflects the desirability (good or bad) of the community you are leaving. Worst case scenario – you’ve lost £500, had somewhere to live for a few months and learnt a lot!

Those that learn to deal and negotiate with themselves, their neighbours and even the authorities, will flourish – those that don’t will evolve with different members or fail. Not every seed grows up.

Those that do take root, will be in a far stronger position to take on more land, and build more permanent dwellings and facilities etc. Stronger both between themselves and their neighbours who have had time to realise what kind of people they are actually dealing with, rather than the knee-jerk panic which most rural dwellers feel at the prospect of a bunch of crusties camping out in the woods.

When your dream is to transform society out of all recognition, even one minute portion of it, you not only have an immensely long way to go, you have to start with your feet mired in the cesspit of destruction and denial that engulfs us all. With everything ranged against you, culture, power, wealth, technology and law, it is no mean task in itself to even understand where you are, let alone how to move on.

It is doubtful we will ever be allowed to live truly sustainably, since it is anathema to a growth economy to have its citizens independent of that economy. It is a parasite that cannot thrive on our independence, and knows it. But again, to gather the courage to do what is necessary, it is first essential to believe it is possible. So long as the extravagant waste of resources fills our dustbins, and the welfare cushion offers sufficient leeway to compromise, the choice between self-reliance and slipping between the cracks is an easy one. Dreams born of desperation are a rarity in our part of the world. A cool idea only inspires so much commitment. It is a big gulf to bridge.

Hubseeds are for those who:

• are poor in money, but rich in time, skills, willingness to learn and co-operate.
• are struggling to escape the urban reservations, the dead-end jobs, the alienation and anxiety of UKplc.
• are semi-nomads seeking secure and supportive winter quarters.
• feel alone or overwhelmed by the work involved in living sustainably.
• know a real community is the only true lifelong security.
• know the time has come to stand in their truth and say ‘Enough – this work is desperately needed and long overdue’.
• want to build in beauty and presence for the generations to come.
• seek to heal – themselves, each other, all creation.
• seek to move beyond hubseeds to create the larger low-impact infrastructures: schools, forests, hospices, market gardens, inns, sanctuaries etc.
• hear Gaia calling us home before night falls.

It is unfortunate that the the current planning monopoly enforces privilege and immersion in the ‘growth’ economy, whilst the widespread apathy and ignorance of basic land rights supports the almost complete block to a sustainable, even survivable future, forcing such endeavours as these to become outlaws to achieve even small triumphs of sanity.

There will be inevitable conflict with those who enslave us to money and debt, their agents or the many who have succumbed to the yoke, seeking to deny others their freedom so their own loss is less painful. Within the current system the legal owner of land is responsible for what occurs upon it – so we would not recommend arrangements based on leasing or permission to use, which although cheaper, will expose the owner to pressure and penalties you yourselves will not have to bear – creating additional vulnerabilities and conflict.

Although ownership is in truth a corrupt concept rooted in slavery, a figment of the collective imagination – unless you are prepared for the additional burdens of tackling both ownership and access at the same time – it is perhaps wiser to tackle them one at a time i.e. use land that you legally ‘own’ to focus the battle for access on your own ground. The deeper malaise must be addressed, but like any addict, victims have to recognise their bonds before they can break them.

Hubseeds also offer the ability to test different legal and financial approaches to the problems of land rights, again on a small scale with minimal individual loss and disruption in the event of failure. Structures so far identified to test include:

• Industrial & Provident Society (IPS) Co-operatives
• Private Trusts
• Untitled Land

IPS Co-ops are well-tested landholding structures, with the advantage of familiarity and private loan issues. However they are likely to be abolished by the present government (as obsolete!), are registered and regulated by government (which is why they can abolish them) requiring annual fees and political compliance.

Private Trusts are the favoured tool of the wealthy for removing their property from the reach of government by plebs. An extremely complex area of law (over 200 types of trust exist, many of which are useless for this purpose), Hartwood is actively exploring the possibilities they present, which include:

• unregulated by government (unless engaged in fraud or criminal activity)
• exempt from annual fees, most forms of tax except through commerce – Customs & Excise, VAT etc.
• free to set up – although legal guidance on wording is advised

There are two ways trusts can be useful. They may allow land to be removed from the oversight and responsibility of local planning, health & safety authorities etc. by de-registering the land and re-asserting your claim to be capable and responsible denizens. This is at present doubtful, and would in any case have to be proven by establishing legal precedent, lawful rebellion style. Worth a shot as just one test case will suffice, and the advantages would be immense.

Of probably more immediate value is the ability to set up complex networks of interlocking trusts at virtually no cost, obscuring the legal owners of the land. This obstructs the enforcement process by (since all legal proceedings have to be served against the owner) making it prohibitively expensive to uncover the target for process. This would still require careful management of legal process, and is of course open to abuse by wankers who just want to do their own thing, with no consideration of the future nor their neighbours.

Untitled Land is an early anarchist approach to removing the land from speculative extortion by literally and publicly destroying the Deeds of Title once purchased. Since production of title is the root of land law, this effectively makes it impossible for anyone to claim right of seisin, leaving only possession (occupancy) and custom as just claims to use.

Nature’s way is to broadcast a plethora of hopefuls, of which only the favoured flourish. To be successful, we need many Hubseeds trying to establish themselves all over the nation. This also creates a network for exchange, allowing folk to move from one Hubseed to another as required. Parallel to this it would be useful to have some form of referencing system, so mongers and mashers can potentially be identified before they drain another community. This might seem harsh, but these fledglings are frail and tender, and will have enough of a struggle on their hands to succeed as it is, without bearing the weight of those who refuse to contribute.

It is of course always at the discretion of those who form each Hubseed, how much of these ideas they take on board. Who they choose to live with, and how. It is also assumed that planning permission is not being sought (Plan B style) as it will inevitably be refused. And that there needs to be a network of support to help defend property against the belligerent actions of the ‘authorities’.

Hartwood offers its networking facilities and any potentially useful research for tools and techniques as they manifest. If you think you may be interested in taking these ideas further – actually joining with others to make them real, then take a look at the Seedbed tab on this page.

The first step is deciding whether you want to be a part of this, the next finding others who share your dream. After that actually meeting up, gathering funds, finding the land etc. etc. Hartwood can’t hold your hand – only help with contacts and advice, possibly training and volunteers etc. Self-help means what it says. Without that inner drive, you will get nowhere. It takes a different kind of commitment to invest and create in discomfort and uncertainty, for a long period of time.

But if this is you….

As well as your own networks, please feel free to use Hartwood’s Regional Forums to advertise gatherings in your area for any seeking to build Hubseeds. You just need a space and a date. A room in your home, a pub, a park. The regional forums have built in mailing lists so you can easily send an invite to everyone signed up to that region. Instructions are in the Welcome post in each forum. Click here to access the regional forums and start posting.