The first residents of Pumpkin Hollow Community moved onto this rustic and remote land in late November 1996. By 1998, we incorporated as a mutual benefit, nonprofit corporation. In 2001, that corporation assumed responsibility for the mortgage and deed on the land. A “mutual benefit” corporation is not the same as a public benefit or charitable corporation. Other non-profits like ours include housing cooperatives, neighborhood associations, and clubs. The partners in the non-profit corporation are the legal stewards of the land, and the land will be paid for entirely within ten years. Until then, everyone on the land participates in the financial obligation to pursue communal ownership.

Our charter statement declares, “The specific purpose of this corporation is to maintain a rural, residential community for the practice of sustainable agriculture, ecological living, art, and education.” Over the years, we’ve added doing radical activism, practicing earth-based spirituality, and throwing transformative, carnivalesque festivals to our mission.

Since 2002, Pumpkin Hollow has been home base for the editorial collective of Fifth Estate, North America’s oldest anti-authoritarian publication. The Barn houses an office, library-archive, media center, cultural clubhouse, and living space for an FE intern. We’ve hosted homegrown variety shows and touring circuses, punk rock ensembles, and old-time string bands.

The first residents chose this region for the wild (and relatively affordable) land in proximity to an already established, extended “neighborhood” of intentional communities. Being close to the magical, radical faerie sanctuary Short Mountain and the radical arts collective IDA were huge factors when finding this land and finally calling it home. Ongoing participation in the local network of communities reflects our value of mutual aid.

The values of equality, diversity, and tolerance have been combined with a visionary, down-to-earth, DIY culture committed to listening and liberating, recycling and reevaluating, composting and communicating, sharing and celebrating. In affirming these values, this space can be a healing refuge from the alienation and hurt perpetuated by the dominant culture. But this space can also be a place where our wounds become more visible; honoring and acknowledging this allows us to set boundaries. While some communities have the resources to provide an open gate to any and all who come, we wish to be more cautious, to create a voluntary association that carefully welcomes visitors and fairly selects new members.

Because many of us feel an affinity for anarchism and paganism, our values honor the maxim: “ ‘Harming none, Do as you will’ shall be the whole of the law.” That said, decades of combined experience in community living has taught us that open communication, transparent agreements, honest disclosure, and mutual respect are required to seed the context where freedom might bloom. In the desire to maximize both personal autonomy and communal cohesion, we’re always in the process of creating and testing several basic guidelines for the cooperative. Our anarchy is not a place without rules or responsibility but rather a vision that hopes that these structures will never become arbitrary and authoritarian. This statement may lay some groundwork as we welcome new friends, visitors, interns, residents, and potential partners.