Why is it that every time I poke around ic.org, I always wind up finding, not farm communes with shared labor and the open discussion and exchange of ideas, but what sounds rather like rural gated communities?

"Hi, we're the (blah blah blah) Community. We live in separate houses, don't share our finances, don't share our labor, don't have any shared practices or philosophies, don't share our meals, and don't even see each other a lot of days, but we're still an intentional community. But we're excellent conversationalists and have an interest in nude hot-tubbing together at night. Come and join us just for that! But you'll have to go to your own home afterward."

All I want is a frickin' farm commune that doesn't require a hefty join-fee upfront and that operates every day of the damn year (a lot of them I've dug up don't even stay open except in the spring and summer).

But most of what I've found sounds like an average neighborhood. They're supposed to be communes and intentional communities, not gated communities, dammit.