Finding your people
The first move is the hardest, and it isn't joining anything. It's saying out loud what you've been thinking about. Not a pitch, just honest sharing in places where people are likely to have wondered about the same things. You're looking for three to five families who share enough values to take a few small steps together. That's it. Everything else in this track builds on that.
Where to look
Permaculture design courses are the single best room to be in: everyone there paid money to think about this stuff for two weeks. Community gardens are a close second, with a lower bar to entry and the advantage that you watch people actually work and communicate over months. Regional homesteading forums and Facebook groups let you find geographic clusters of interest before meeting anyone in person. For finding existing groups and communities to visit, the Foundation for Intentional Community directory (ic.org), the Global Ecovillage Network (gen.ecovillage.org), and the Transition Network (transitionnetwork.org) all list active groups by region.
What you're looking for
Not agreement on everything. Total agreement early on is actually a warning sign, it usually means nobody is saying what they really think yet. You want people who disagree thoughtfully, communicate directly, follow through on small commitments, and keep showing up. Shared values beat shared aesthetics every time. Three families who trust each other completely will get further than eight who agree about everything in year one.
Visiting established communities
Before forming your own group, visit two or three established intentional communities. Most welcome visitors and some run formal visitor programs. Seeing what works, and what visibly strains, in a real community is worth a hundred forum threads. Ask about governance failures, membership turnover, and money stress. The healthy communities will answer directly. The evasive ones are answering too, in their own way.
Community Experiences
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