RE: Community Garden "Clusters"

From Alchemical Nursery Organization:
About clusters, or local networks of farms, I believe I have discussed this before, if not here, at least somewhere. The point to this is that it is about the community that the agriculture serves. Unfortunately this is a world of individuals, and because of this the idea of clustering will not work well without some catalyst.

As I continue to work through the building of a farm, I realize that what I am attempting is the building a model from which others can then develop from. As this has always been part of the plan, it hopefully will be utilized as it is built to provide examples to other communities that it can be done in any environment or culture. However I expect that no one will consider this until I have shown how it works, and that it can work, without the new age ideas, that seem to at this time pervade all the community projects that I have seen or read about.

The single largest problem I see with all of the "planned communities" is that they are mired in communities and making sure that they represent all the interest of the participants. The truth is what they need is a visionary who can design a workable model that includes sufficient foundation to ensure that the vision is carried forward. There must be a solid foundation and a form of beneficial transfer of the leadership. There must always be a visionary in leadership, in this way the lead continues to be progressive, however there is potential for problems here as well, but it needs this first, then a contingency for what might be bad leadership.

How does this relate to the article about clusters? First these clusters need a vision to be effective. Second because they need a leadership that is capable of moving this vision forward. Third they need an economy that is not representative, but effective regardless of the political economics. They need a system of time that provides them all with a cycle that is stable in regard to seasonal disturbance. They need to enhance each others diversity rather than enhance their specialization. They need to support the support organizations who are based in artistic competition rather than political division. There needs to be a guild system that continues to provide a logical progression of artistic development based on capability rather than desire. They need a network of communication that is outside the normal political channels. They need access to the market through a common market, so that the community is provided with equal access, and each individual organization is provided with equal access, that is stable to the unique vision of the community.

So as you can see it is more about the visionary that can put this in action rather than a group of people who can debate the potential and try to figure it out, but that will only solve the logistics, it will not provide the engine for the success of the program, that must come from a single engine.