I have a great deal of respect for Dr. Woodson, but I do not beleive our son who has chronic health problems could survive a battle with a super flu. My husband and I decided to form a small protective sequestration on our land. We live in the mountains and by location we are isolated.
We have spoken to our natural group already. We have decided that we should write a letter to the prospective group members with our expectations. Could I have the wonderful FluWiki community members give me their comments of this letter?
Dear Friends,
I have heard that in New Orleans, people had written, “Hope is not a plan.”
It seems we are threatened by an Avian Flu Pandemic. We all Pray and wish this becomes an empty warning.
In case this becomes an immediate threat to families in Western Canada, Mike and I would like to offer your family a sanctuary on our land.
Our plan is for a protective group sequestration for the duration of the threat.
Limited by the quantity and quality of data, we nevertheless ultimately concluded that protective sequestration (the shielding of a defined and still healthy group of people from the risk of infection from outsiders), if enacted early enough in the pandemic, crafted so as to encourage the compliance of the population involved without draconian enforcement measures, and continued for the lengthy period of time at which the area is at risk, stands the best chance of protection against infection.
http://www.med.umich.edu/medschool/chm/influenza/index.htm
We have a number of conditions attached to this offer.
1) Only the immediate families that we invite are welcome here. If a family wants to bring an extended family member or close friend, they must ask Mike first.
2) All families must bring everything they will need to survive here. Families must bring their own shelter, food, medical supplies, entertainment, defense, energy, etc. We only offer our land. The land has creek for untreated water and game in the forests for meat.
3) Every adult must agree to the community rules at the bottom of this letter.
To help people prepare, I have a number of suggested websites. If you know of good sources of information, please attach them to this list and e-mail it back to me.
Pandemic Preparation Guides
1) http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=Consequences.PandemicPreparednessGuides
2) http://www.fluwikie.com/annex/WoodsonMonograph.htm
3) How to Prepare for a Pandemic (document password = “fluwikie”) book by Will Stewart, Engineer and part-time farmer (Website) (pdf, 96 pages, 1,100 KB. 15 May 2006)
Supplies
4) http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=Consequences.List
General Disaster Preparations
1) http://www.fema.gov/areyouready/
2) http://extension.usu.edu/ueden/index.cfm
3) http://www.pandemicreferenceguides.com/infopages/individualpreparedness.html
Medical Info
1) http://www.hesperian.org/publications_download.php
2) http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/bird-flu/DS00566/DSECTION=1&
Flu Discussion Forums and Info
3) http://www.curevents.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=40
4) http://www.fluwikie2.com/index.php?n=Forum.Forum
5) http://www.recombinomics.com/whats_new.html
6) http://www.birdflumanual.com/articles.asp
PROTECTIVE SEQUESTRATION COMMUNITY RULES
Introduction and Purpose
Mike and I have never lived in a Sequestered Intentional Community. Faced with a possible pandemic threat, we are creating these community rules. We are open to discussions on every aspect of this arrangement.
Mike see’s this potential, temporary community being lead somewhat like a Aboriginal tribe. Group discussions, group voting, but Mike will hold veto power and the final say.
It seems that the key to keeping our families safe from a pandemic flu is to stay away from other people. If this makes sense to you, you can consider coming to stay with us. Our intention is to live like a neighborhood until the threat passes and everyone goes home ;-).
These community rules are based on people living in a small, temporary village. The purpose of our community will be staying alive in as normal style as possible.
Here are the rules/notices that every adult must agree to follow before coming to stay on our land.
1. Everyone can leave whenever they want, but they can not return unless Mike agrees in advance. One condition might be agreeing to a two week quarantine 200 meters from the “village” boundaries. The reason is that someone who is exposed to other people may return to group contagious.
2. Each family unit MUST be self contained. The ONLY thing Mike and I can offer is a temporary plot of land in the mountains. Every family must bring their own shelter/home, food supplies, first aid and medical supplies, firearms, fire suppressions, clothing, entertainment, etc. YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN.
We do expect fair and voluntary trading/bartering for items, but no one should come expecting any hand-outs. An example would be if I managed to grow many potatoes in my garden, but my cucumbers flopped. Maybe someone else in the village would like to trade some of their abundance of cucumbers for my potatoes.
Competent adults in the village may bring dependents with them, assuming Mike knows and approves ahead of time. We do not expect dependents to provide their own way, but we do expect the adults who are responsible for them to completely provide for them. Here is an example, let’s say that Tim become’s ill. We don’t expect anyone else in the village to care for him. Tim is our responsibility.
Charity may be welcomed, but never expected. To continue with the above example, let’s say that Tim becomes ill with something that may be contagious. We would isolate our family unit from the village to protect everyone else. If a friend dropped off some fresh cookies at the doorstep, of course that would be welcomed by us. But we can not expect or demand that others give up their supplies to help us.
Maybe our child will become ill and we will run out of the supplies we need. We can not force anyone to give up their own limited goods to help us. Maybe people in the village will, but that their decision. Maybe, we will be able to trade other goods for what we need. As long all contributions/trades are voluntary, that’s fine.
3. Every competent adult must contribute to the village good for five hours a week, or more depending or group needs. For example, we will have weekly group meetings. For these meetings, someone must cut the firewood (assuming winter), clean up after the meeting is over, etc. If everyone pitches in on the various tasks, we should have a happier village.
Other tasks will include, but not be limited too,
A. Guard duty if the village is in danger of others trying to enter without clear permission. We have to say no to protect the village from possibly contagious people.
B. Group hunting or butchering.
C. Organizing entertainment.
D. Building or cleaning the group outhouse used for group meetings.
E. Teaching village children/adults your area of skills.
Mike will not charge anyone money for staying on the our land for this purpose. In exchange for “free rent”, we expect adults to work a few hours a week for the community good. Mike and I will also work the same amount of hours as every other adult.
4. Children are the responsibility of their parents. It may take a village to raise a child, but parents must know where their children are at all times, feed them, etc.
5. Our dogs may be problematic for others in the village. This is an area that may require a constant and open dialogue. Assuming our dogs do not become ill themselves, we do allow them to run free on our land.
6. Of course, all government laws that apply to our area will apply to the village. We do not want anyone on our land that may cause legal problems for us. I believe the most relevant laws will pertain to proper and safe firearm storage. Please plan on following the laws for everyone’s protection.
7. We intent to have our guest cabin as the village common area. During the weekdays, schooling could (if parents choose) happen there as a one room school house. It’s a great place for smaller meetings, the village library, etc.
We envision the cabin as short term housing for urgent situations. In the case of domestic dispute, a couple of nights of one party staying in the cabin may provide a cooling down period. Another example would be someone’s shelter being damaged. They could stay in the cabin while repairing their home.
Anyone who stays overnight in the cabin must understand that it is still a common village area during the day.
We will place a maximum stay of three nights a month. Anyone who required a longer stay in the cabin must first ask the group. The village may decide to offer an extension.
8. Parking. We ask that once people have unloaded their vehicles, they park them by the front gate.
9. No nudity in public, please. The exception, with discretion expected, will be creek bathing in the summer months. Please swim or bathe downstream of the village drinking water collection areas. Another exception is very young children; clothing in the summer is up to the parents.
10. House locations. We are expecting that the village will form as people’s personalities and area requirements dictate. Close enough that help can be offered in the case of fire, far part enough to give families privacy and a “space to call their own”.
11. Please plan on respectful use of our land. We understand that some of our pasture will be damaged, but we ask that families minimize their footprint as much as reasonably possible.
12. Please plan on building an outhouse.
http://www.hesperian.info/assets/EHB_Sanitation_EN_lowres.pdf
13. Please ensure that the creek is NEVER polluted by garbage or human waste.
http://www.hesperian.info/assets/Water_EN.pdf
14. Please plan to remove your uncomposting/unburnable garbage at the end of your stay with us. As a group, we will have to discuss storage options for this kind of garbage.
15. These are the existing Guest Cabin Rules.
MIKES’S CABIN RULES
1) No smoking.
2) No pets.
3) No candles. If you would like an exception to this rule, you must first speak face to face with Mike and ask for permission.
4) Main house quiet hours:
Weekdays: No visitors in the house from 7:30 pm to 7 am. These are Tim’s sleeping hours.
5) Firewood is stored by the dogs. Feel free to cut some if you need wood.
6) Do not leave fire unattended.
7) Please keep clothing, bedding, and furniture away from the wood stove.
8) No burning of incense.
9) Please keep the cabin in a tidy condition throughout your visit.
10) No swearing/foul language around Tim.
11) Do not leave an empty kettle on a hot stove.
MIKES CHORES for his GUESTS
12) All rubbish and recycling must be packed out by our visitors. Do not leave any of it behind for us to pack out. Take it away from our property entirely and dispose it yourself.
13) Please clean up the cabin when you leave. We do not enjoy doing this for you.
14) When leaving please turn off lights, and replug in the mouse deterrent device.
15) Wash all dirty dishes in dishpan.
16) Leave the kitchen spotless.
Since Mike and I do not have any experience with intentional communities, I have raided the rules and standards for other organizations. I just cut and pasted them here.
FluWiki – For the sake of space and copy write laws, I will just include the links I used. In the “real” letter I cut, pasted and credited what I thought was relevant to the group.
Our intention is to live like a neighborhood until the threat passes and everyone goes home ;-).
What if they don’t have a place to return to, or having parked “away” they no longer have a way to return to see if they still have a home?
I’d want my vehicle near me to help store my stuff & lessen the stress of stumbling over it in my tent and breaking my neck.
Very very very nice of you to open your land to those you choose to. Your generosity is admirable.
You are much more accommodating than us. The people who might come here looking for help are family that have chosen not to prepare for any length of time. ( 2 weeks maybe ). If they show up asking for help it’s not going to be a democracy, it’s our rules or don’t come. I’m not going to risk my families lives.
5) Firewood is stored by the dogs.
I think that is great. I’ve never been able to get my dogs to be that helpful.
Ranch Wife and Mother: Excellent concept. I have planned to do the same. Won’t be running a cult or commune, only a temporary respite for those that I invite. However, in addition to the rules (excellent, by the way), I may be inclined to charge an admission fee. Haven’t decided yet. The admission fee would reimburse me for my time and expense of preparing this mountain retreat over the course of the past year. The folks that have repeatedly ignored my warnings to prepare may be charged the most, ‘cause when it hits, I know they will be the first to immediately come running to me (of course, they had no qualms about mocking me and my preperation plans). Good luck.
Dennis—LMAO!!!
Dennis in Colorado – at 13:17 --- I read that exactly the same way, but I didn’t want to open my yap!! ;-)
Ranch Wife and Mother – at 11:55 --- I wish I had the kind of land that y’all have, so I could make the same kind of open-hearted offer you have!
For your own safety, you might need to specify the fire suppression requirements.
Will there be only one outhouse? Or one per family? Should they bring bags of lime, shovels, lumber?
This is a great enterprise! Good luck!
Thanks for cut-n-paste-n a nifty community bylaws.
Thanks for cut-n-paste-n a nifty community bylaws.
Just curious. What kind of shelter do you expect them to bring? Would it be some sort of travel trailer, motor home or other type of recreational vehicle? Or would they be building a cabin or house of some sort to live in? I get the impression from your post you are in Canada and I am just thinking that if this begins in winter that hastily built shelters might be very inadequate as would any sort of recreational vehicle. Also have you considered you might find yourself with a bunch of poorly built cabins to demolish when it’s all over? Maybe it might be best to lay out plans for this village around your existing guest cabin with these specific families in mind, yet allowing for extra room should people want more distance between them, so there is some order to start with and to reduce the impact on your property.
Your offer to these families seems a generous one to me.
Dennis in Colorado – at 13:17 5) Firewood is stored by the dogs. I think that is great. I’ve never been able to get my dogs to be that helpful.
I thought about that….Ranch Wife and Mother how much would you charge for your dogs to teach my cats??
I think you really should consider a monetary charge, since you very well might be left with a mess on your hands, or worse, with quasi-permenantly damaged property from a major fire — like lightning for instance — and the charge could be held in ‘reserve’ to cover any emergency ‘fixes’ you might find you need during or after a pandemic. I hope you’ll consider that, I’d hate for your generosity to be stomped on in some bad way that you couldn’t repair easily.
By the way, is it just me or is anyone else haing trouble with the second intentional community link at the bottom of Ranch Wife and Mother’s first post?