The area of Riverbed, Utah, isn’t your normal farming community and a land co-op that’s made up of about 135 shareholders, and they have one goal:
Live independently of the modern system of production.
“True wealth is how long you can survive without money,” Jesse Fisher, one of the community’s earliest members, said.
Fisher and Philip Gleason founded the community and broke ground in the summer of 2019 with 15 other households. The property is about 1,245 acres that has been developed to be self-sustaining.
“During the pandemic, I had neighbors who were losing their homes due to unemployment,” Fisher said. “I thought: ‘This is really silly that we keep having this problem. Why don’t we solve it?'”
Currently, about 40 families live on the property full time.
Gleason said that the idea for Riverbed Ranch came after a scary experience during a winter storm in Idaho.
“Our drinking water was frozen, the temperature was dropping rapidly, and we had no way to feed our babies,” Gleason said. That’s when he realized that his family’s dependence on modern systems could be a problem.
“That experience rewired my brain,” he said.
Gleason explained that each shareholder gets a 2.5 acre plot that must be furnished with a modern septic styem, solar power, and a proper infrastructure to grow food.
From Business Insider:
Gleason explained that residents ran an agricultural co-op where everyone could share the food they grew. The goal is to be able to grow enough food for everyone in town to live on in the event that outside resources become unavailable, but in practice, most residents still rely on external income to fund building projects as well as buy food and supplies from regular stores.
If SHTF the community is ready, they have a medical clinic, volunteer fire station, as well as gas and diesel tanks. One resident launched a joint venture with the co-op and created a gravel-mixing plant.
The ranch is 60 miles from the nearest post office, is untouched by a utility grid, and residents use well water however building codes are enforced, and tax dodgers are not welcome.
Residents are vetted, and once approved, shareholders spend $35,000 to receive water rights, the plot, and access to communal facilities.
“The main thing that we look for are people who have integrity,” Gleason said. “One of the most important things is that when somebody says they’re going to do something, they believe they’re going to do it.”
Gleason isn’t stopping in Utah. Recently, he just closed another huge deal in northern Arizona, where he hopes to build a second community.