A BRIEF HISTORY OF TOMPKINS' COUNTY'S COMMUNES PART 3



	Steve Sierigk was a resident at Hemlock Grove in West Danby from 1980-83. Hemlock grove
was established in 1978. "I was 26 and I had been in graduate school in Cornell."
	"When we first started it we all purchased Ithaca Soy together. We saw it as a way to link
economically and spiritually."
	"I think all of us came from a culture where we were very individualistic. I was coming from
an academic background in a competitive culture. Before that I had been a working class
person and I had never seen alot of plants grow." But on the commune, "You're really connected
to everything because you're making the tools and working on the equiptment. It was a really
healing time because I was so stressed out from the culture."
	To Sierigk, "It represented a philosophy about food, openness and acceptance that I didn't
feel anywhere in the culture. There were days when I felt like we were all on the same
wavelength, we saw the world the same way."
	"It nurtured my creative spirit. I always did art, even when I was a scientist, but it was
never a big part of my life."
	He says, "Ours wasn't as structured as the other communes, but there was a community with
the other communes. Some of the nicest celebrations I've ever been to were the Thanksgiving
dinners with other communes. The gatherings reached 100 people and we sang songs."
	"We were attempting to do co-ownership. We were trying to live together in a rural center
and build a land based economy."
	"I think they were started as a response to the emptiness of this culture that was really
individualistic and destructive of the Earth's resources."
	"To me it represented a whole other mindset of sharing, being supportive and nurturing the
land. Evolutionarily speaking, we are meant to be in larger social groups than we are."
	There were some frustrating aspects to Hemlock Grove for Sierigk as well. "We weren't
trained in group process." And,  "We couldn't rectify the fact that people who went out into the
workforce made $8 an hour while those of us who worked on the farm and sold veggies at the
Farmer's Market made about $1 an hour. While we were working on the land to better the place
for everyone." 
	He juxtaposes this situation to Fool On the Hill in Spencer where they, "Pooled their money.
They were trusting enough to do that. That took care of alot of inequity problems. It really
helped them function as a unit."
	Today Sierigk is living in a different kind of intentional community in Trumansburg. "We
don't call ourselves a commune, we're all just tennants in common on a piece of land. We'd like
to set it up as a limted equity landtrust where you can only own your own share." He notes
that in order for it to be successful, "It requires people to be like minded." He feels that,
"Native Americans lived together for so long that they were of one mind."
	Sierigk's advice to people who would want to start their own communes is to, "Visit other
intentional communities. I would also say that you have to be process oriented. You have to
put the group on the same level as your own well being." And, "It has to be something you all
believe in."
	Alan Greene was a resident of Fool On the Hill in Halsey Valley near Spencer which is
currently the home of the Rune Hill spiritual retreat center. He says, "It was a great
experience for me. I learned how to function as part of a group."
	"I was there for the better part of ten years. We first moved out there in 1971 and I left for
awhile in 1976 and then came back."
	Greene says the uniting force initially was that, "We had a common intrest in education. Most
of us met in a planning group to form Markles Flats School which evolved into the Alternative
Community School. Most of the people were either teachers, student teachers or involved in
the organizing of the school."
	Casey Carr also resided at Fool On the Hill and says, "For me I wanted to be part of a family,
but I didn't want to be married. To be part of a stable group that was gonna be committed to
each other. Our assumption was that we were gonna stay together for the rest of our lives. It
started as a group of 10 people but shrunk down to a core group of 6 who stayed till the end."
	"It was very organized. Every Thursday for the entire 15 years of it's existence we got
together and had a house meeting and made decisions by consensus. Decisions were made for
the general good, but individual needs were taken into consideration too."
	There were other chances to communicate, "We would car pool, which gave us a chance to
debrief after work. I was working at Cornell in the Dean of Students Office running the EARS
Program, Alan was working at the Youth Bureau, Rich was a gardener, Michael was a professor
at Cornell and two people worked at The Learning Web."
	"It was so easy to live that way. We could work at meaningful jobs that we loved, even if
that meant that we made alot less money. We could all do that because it didn't cost that
much to live when we all pooled our money together." 
	Although Carr was single and without kids at the time, she thought that, "It was a
wonderfdul place to raise a child. There was one couple with a child, he's probably 19-20 now.
He had his parents plus all these wonderful people with special skills. They never had to seek
child care."
	Even though the parents had final say on issues like discipline, we would talk about it as a
group. "We are still in touch and try to help each other out. In fact my husband just helped him
find a job in Pittsburgh."
	"It was also wonderful because I always loved kids, but wasn't ready to have my own at that
point. Here was my chance to use that kid energy that I had but wait until I was ready to have
my own. I could be there for him without having the main responsibility. So when it came up
for me, I didn't have all the anxiety that my friends had."
	"We owned the land and house and we had a joint account which not only covered our own
needs, but our extended familiy's needs. With six or seven adults pooling money, finances were
never a problem."
	"We put Michelle through law school and me through social work school and we were able to
send David, who was a minister, to Israel for a religious retreat."
	"We raised all our own meat and canned vegetables to get us through the winter. But alot of
people were doing that in those days."
	"We were able to take time off of work to tend a garden or raise a child."
	"We all had our own expertise. One person was responsible for car repairs. Another would get
us together for home repairs. We felled our own trees and with ten people it never felt like
work. You only had to cook one day a week and you only had one common room to clean."
	"We took labor day vacations together and even went to Utah and Mexico for a month
together."
	Greene says,"One of the things that proved a little challenging was figuring out how to
successfully bring in new people. Once you have this core group that gets established it's a
little hard for new people to break into it and make a contribution. For instance if someone
developped a new relationship, it might be hard for that new person to fit into a group."
	Although it was hard for new people to fit into the group, Fool On the Hill found it's niche in
the neighborhood. Greene says, "We used to have some great Halloween parties."
	"Because most of us looked like hippies in some way with our long hair and beards, most of
our neighbors didn't know what to make of us. So we thought that it would be good to know
people and we hosted a Halloween party and invited the kids and families."
	"We also invited the Highwood String Band to play in the barn. That turned into a nice annual
event. We had a pumpkin carving contest, fresh apple cider, apple dunking, a square dance and
a piņata. Kids in the area really looked forward to it."
	 Carr adds, "We helped farmers and had a big Easter egg hunt for the kids. People who were at 
first hesitant came to accept us. They came to see us as a strong force that was reliable in
the neighborhood. They got to know us before they assumed we were this crazy commune,
which we weren't. Even though somebody lived in the silo and somebody else lived in a yurt we
were all caring individuals who cared about our neighborhood and contributed to our
community."
	All good things must come to an end. Carr says, "What ended up happenning is that there was
a point where we felt that we were putting more energy into the group needs than the
individual needs. So we spent each meeting discussing each person's individual career and life
dreams. People felt that they we were spending alot more time on group household and found
that they weren't reaching their full potential. For me it was social work school and the group
paid for it. David wound up pursuing a relationship that was important to him. Michelle went
to Cornell Law School and we sent her there and eventually moved to Boston to be in a big
city. Alan is still at the Youth Bureau running ther Youth Development Program."
	"We were so attentive to each other when we broke up. We made sure everybody had what
they needed. That they had enough money. That they had the right things to start their new
life. We're all good friends, we write, call and visit whenever we can."
	Carr says that communal living changed the way she looked at sex roles in marriage. "It's
impossible to function as the stereotypical couple. My husband, who I met as the commune
was breaking up, and I share things in terms of cooking, childcare and repairs because that's
how we did it at the commune. You learn to deal with people as individuals."
	"When I met my husband he wanted to start his own computer business but he was working at
Borg Warner full time. I told him quit your job and I'll support you for two years. He built a
business that went on to have 20 employees. The business eventually moved on to Boston. He
now works in Ithaca as a computer consultant. I don't think I would have been able to be so
altruistic if I hadn't seen how well it worked at the commune. If I hadn't seen people do it and
then come back and contribute and help me so that I could take time off."
	She also applies her experiences to her counseling when working with couples. "I help them
look at how they can use their best skills and potential in the relationship and how they can
support each other."
	Carr says, "After it broke up my dream was to get together with families who wanted to buy
land together."
	When asked if she would ever do it again she says, "Sure, if it was the right people at the
right time. Maybe after the kids are grown. But I don't know if I'd want to live in the same
house with other people."
	Her advice to people who would like to start a commune today is, "Have house meetings once
a week. The key to us surviving is that we communicated so well. We had a section of our
meetings which we called pet peeves where someone might say, 'Casey, I hate when you leave
food in the drain.' or, 'Guys, please put the toilet seat back down.' You could mention your
gripes with a sense of humor."
	"It was also a regular time where you could sit down and talk about how  things were going,
how things could be better and plans for the future. To take into consideration individual and
group needs." 
	And you don't need to be a commune to do this. "Now that my kids are 7 and 9 we are going to
start having family meetings."
PART ONE
PART TWO
PART FOUR