Flowers, Tahini, Accomplishments, and Three Sisters

by Raven

This week we’ll look at what was on our Facebook feed the last week of April.

Twin Oaks posted about flowers and spring.

This post got six likes and three loves, but it also got less than ninety views.

East Wind Nutbutters was boosting their tahini:

Unfortunately, this didn’t do well at all, with no likes or loves and a mere thirty-four views.

Serenity Solidarity posted about what they did in 2024, and it was impressive.

In spite of all of that, this post got two likes, one love, and only forty-eight views.

And finally, SESE posted about the Three Sisters, a popular traditional planting scheme usually using some type of corn, some type of beans, and some type of squash.

Maybe it was all the pictures or maybe there were a lot of folks who want to try gardening with the Three Sisters, but this post did very well, with eleven likes (including one from the Foundation for Intentional Community), two loves, two shares, and over a hundred and eighty views.

Syrup, Talk, Renovations, Dinner, and Canning

by Raven

Here are some Facebook posts from mid-April looking at everything happening in the communes from boiling down maple syrup to encouraging folks to can their excess harvest.

Serenity Solidarity sent a little video along of them doing a “boil down” with an important message.

These are stills from the video. You can see the original ‘reel’ here.

Unfortunately, this didn’t do very well. Although it got four loves (including one from Serenity Solidarity) and a like, it only got thirty-three views.

We also published something from Serenity Solidarity about a talk that they were hosting on a book against prisons.

It sounded like a great cause but the post got no likes or loves and only twenty-eight views.

At Twin Oaks, they are still making the transition away from making hammocks and that is freeing up space for other things.

This got six likes and a comment but only ninety-nine views.

East Wind posted about a feast they had in March.

This post did very well on Facebook, with two likes, two loves, a wow!, and over a hundred and thirty views.

Finally, Southern Exposure wanted to encourage canning as a way to deal with surplus verggies.

The whole article is here. These are the pictures they put on Facebook.

This got six likes and a love but just ninety views.

Seed Saving, Potato Trenches, Twin Oaks Twins, and Butchering

by Raven

This was from the first week in April on Facebook and while it didn’t start out so well, in terms of viewership, it ended up pretty okay.

The start was with a repost from Southern Exposure.

Here’s a link to the guide from SESE.

Unfortunately, in spite of getting a like and two loves on Facebook, it only got forty some viewers.

They were digging for potatoes at East Wind.

This did a little bit better, with five likes, one love, and a still pretty low viewership of just over seventy.

Then, I reposted a very cute picture from Twin Oaks.

This got three loves, eight likes, and just over a hundred and seventy views.

Finally, East Wind now has lots of beef.

This also did pretty well, with two loves, seven likes, and well over a hundred and seventy views.

Solar Everything

Alexis shows the Solar Cooking Museum how they live at Living Energy Farm.

Chocolate Cake, Farming Book, Snow, and the Conference

by Raven

March did not begin well on Facebook, but I think that these posts were interesting and encouraging.

East Wind started off reporting on a cake that one of their members made for Valentine’s Day.

This post didn’t do badly at all–it got six likes, five loves, a comment, and a hundred and thirty views.

In an intercommunal cooperative effort, Pam from Twin Oaks wrote a book on “Market Farming” that the folks at Acorn (through their business Southern Exposure) are selling.

Unfortunately, although three people loved it, just over fifty people saw it.

East Wind also posted about the snowfall there.

This did okay, with seven likes, two loves, and a bit over a hundred views.

And the Twin Oaks Communities Conference announced they will be back again this year.

Here’s a link to the announcement.

Unfortunately, although this post got eleven likes (including one from the Conference) it got less than ninety views.

Homemade Pizza

East Wind writes: “Last night as dinner cooks, we did pizza delivery! We made the pizzas in our community kitchen at RB (Rock Bottom) using a mix of East Wind grown and processed ingredients along with some store bought items. Most pizzas featured EW mozzarella and parmesan from our dairy cows, EW tomato sauce, EW ground beef from our beef cows, EW spinach, leeks and sweet peppers. They were delivered throughout the farm but mostly at a movie viewing in Hammocks shop. Packed perfectly in a handmade and drawn pizza box! Totally fun, totally worth it

#intentionalcommunity#ozarks#homegrown#garden#eastwindcommunity#pizza#movienight#dairyprocessing“

Artists, Pucks, and Community Building Puzzle

by Raven

It was one of those weeks on Facebook where the usual communes didn’t post much, so I filled in with an old Facebook post (on Validation Day for February 14th) and a puzzle that was worth two days of posts (one for the questions and one for the answers).

Ericka from Serenity Solidarity did put out a really lovely post on visiting indigenous artists, actually her second one on the subject (see last week’s Facebook roundup for her other post), and this one came with a lot of pictures.

People obviously like pictures and I was pleased to see that this did very, very well on Facebook, with seven likes, three loves, and three cares, and well over three hundred views.

East Wind wrote about a very sweet use of their Peanut Butter:

This also did well, although nowhere near as well as Ericka’s artists, with two likes, two loves, and a “Wow!”, and a hundred and fifteen views.

Finally, I enjoy putting out puzzles now and then, although they haven’t been doing so well on Facebook lately. I have noticed that more people look at the actual puzzle or the questions then look at the answers–which puzzles me. This time the subject was how to build communities.

This didn’t do too well at all, with just one like and not even sixty views.

Now, if you are interested in taking the quiz yourself, take a moment and look at the steps again and see if you can put them in the correct order.

I’ll give you a bit of space before I put down the solution.

Go ahead. Try it.

And here’s the answers.

As usual, the answers did less well than the questions, with no likes or loves and just over forty views.

Cooking and Heating with Solar

At Living Energy Farm, they do everything off-grid–and they are especially fond of using what they sometimes call “daylight drive”, using solar power while the sun is shining.

Indigenous Artists, PB Day, Pizza Garden, and Mutual Aid

by Raven

We’re into the Facebook posts for February.

Ericka from Serenity Solidarity is traveling and posted this.

This post did okay, with two likes, two loves, a care, and a hundred and eight views.

East Wind Nutbutters was promoting…

This didn’t do that well. While it got three likes and two loves, it only got thirty-nine views.

Most folks like pizza. Southern Exposure suggests that you grow a garden for it.

This didn’t do that well either. (What? People don’t like peanut butter? People don’t like pizza?) It only got two likes and a love and just eighty-five views.

There wasn’t a lot to post this week so I decided to finish by asking a question and hoping to get comments and views.

I didn’t get a lot of comments–just one, plus my response.

However, it got four likes and two loves and over two hundred and fifty views.

Workshops, Cows, Bluesky, Deportation, and Cheffing

by Raven

Another week on Facebook, moving toward the end of January.

And Acorn and Southern Exposure were posting once again about what Ira was up to.

Once upon a time on Commune Life, just mentioning Ira guaranteed a high viewing share. That doesn’t seem true anymore. This post got just four likes and a disappointing sixty-three views.

At East Wind, it was all about the cows.

This did pretty well with four likes, three loves, and a hundred and fourteen views.

Twin Oaks was talking about getting a new account on Bluesky. So I asked what seemed to me to be the obvious question.

This got thirteen likes, two loves, four comments (two of which were “Yes” and “yes !”), and an impressive two hundred and twelve views. I’m hoping that we will have a Bluesky account soon.

The deportations are happening, and they are happening to a lot of good folks. Serenity Solidarity wrote about one.

Unfortunately, this didn’t do very well on Facebook with just two likes and sixty-eight views.

Finally, East Wind posted about their chefs, cheffing it up.

This did pretty well with five likes, two loves, and a hundred and thirty-four views.