A call for community identity

I want to live in a community that could exist without importing essentially every item we use, from food to furniture to clothing to building materials. 

Unfortunately, in our contemporary North American culture, we not only import goods, we also import culture: everything we watch, read, and listen to comes from a media conglomerate that exists someplace else. 

I want to live in a community that makes things to last, that fixes things, that sees store bought clothes ("ready-made") as the exception and not the rule. 

I want to live in a community that is involved in the creation of its own existence. 

We garden. We make our own foods. We make furniture. We make our clothing. We make and buy sewing machines that will last. We make from DuPont polyester and cotton blends so the clothing will last sixty years, like my grandfathers jacket.  We fix the jacket when the threads grow bare. We demand fans, toasters, vacuums and other appliances that will last years, that we can fix. 

We do not want to live in a throwaway culture. We do not want to merely escape consumerism, running away in fear. We want to rise together to live in communities of thrift, of regional character, where the foods, clothing and furniture of one geographically bounded area are noticeably different from those of another area. 

And we want to do this as a community: not as an individual or as one family. We believe that we can thrive as a community that chooses to make these points priorities for a shared way of life. 

I cannot make all of the clothes, candles, furniture, machines, and food I want to have locally produced. I need to be a part of a community, where individuals focus on each of these different aspects. 

This is the community I want to be a part of. This is what I long to share with others.