Plant the Village
  • The Essay
  • The On-Ramp
The Onramp
The Onramp
Foundational Skills
Phase 1: Foundation
  • Food
  • Water
  • Energy
  • Waste
  • Construction
Phase 2: Intermediate
  • Food
  • Water
  • Energy
  • Construction
Phase 3: Advanced
  • Food
  • Water
  • Energy
  • Construction
  • Governance
Community
Formation track
  • Finding your people
  • Building trust
  • Alignment conversations
  • The forming group
  • Governance models
  • Health and care
Soft skills
Interpersonal tools
  • Nonviolent communication
  • Consensus facilitation
  • Conflict resolution
  • Meeting management
  • Emotional intelligence
Cottage economy
Phase 1: Individual income
  • Validating what you make
  • Pricing for sustainability
  • Legal basics
  • Sales channels
  • Reinvesting in your craft
Phase 2: Group income
  • Collective production
  • Cooperative structures
  • Shared brand
  • CSA and subscriptions
Phase 3: Community identity
  • Signature product or craft
  • Community brand
  • Apprenticeship as product
  • Specialize vs. diversify
  • Reinvestment at community scale
Health
Phase 1: Household preparedness
  • First aid and CPR
  • Home herb garden
  • Nutrition and food as medicine
  • Mental health first aid
  • Home pharmacy
  • Knowing when to refer out
Phase 2: Deeper preparation
  • Wilderness medicine
  • Expanded herbalism
  • Preventive health systems
  • Health record-keeping
Resources
  • Books
  • Videos
  • Workshops
  • Communities to visit
The Onramp›Foundational Skills›Phase 3: Advanced

Phase 3: Advanced

Food

Food systems design

Phase 3 food is design, not gardening. Feeding 20–50 families takes caloric analysis, crop selection…

Water

Water infrastructure

Community-scale water is engineering, not DIY, and pretending otherwise is how people get hurt. Phas…

Energy

Energy system design

Sizing a solar array and battery bank for one cabin is a weekend. Sizing them for a community microg…

Construction

Full-scale natural building

The construction track ends with you leading the design and build of a complete natural structure: a…

Governance

Governance & community management

The hard part of intentional community was never the buildings or the gardens. It's making decisions…