Introduction

I'm starting this blog as a way to keep people updated about the documentary I'm making, We Are Everyone Else's Goats, about CRIC House. 

What is CRIC House, and why are we everyone else's goats?
A large part of my purpose in the documentary is just to explain what CRIC is and why.  But before I try, here it is in their own words: their blog is here.
On the blog, it is called "the Anarchist Bed&Breakfast and Retreat Centre," we sometimes called it Anarchist Summer Camp, but what does any of that mean?  I usually tell people it's a Pacifist-Anarchist Homestead, and they usually give me a blank look.  "Pacifist-Anarchist" and "homestead" aren't words we often use, much less in conjunction. 

So I'll break it down:
Pacifist-Anarchist: CRIC mostly labels itself just as Anarchist, but I found that makes most people think that we're blowing things up, smashing things, and rioting, which is not what CRIC is about.  CRIC definitely could be said to be Green Anarchist, but I found it important when talking with people to have the "Pacifist" aspect in there. 

Homestead: The Wikipedia entry references "the back-to-the-land movement" and "a sustainable, self-sufficient lifestyle." Homesteads can look many different ways, some are urban, some rural, some off the grid, some on the grid, but they have the common focus of a sustainable, self-sufficient lifestyle.  CRIC is fairly rural, a few miles outside of Sebastopol, CA.  It is on the grid (meaning we don't produce our own electricity), but we do have our own waste management system, and get our food mostly from dumpster diving (see Freegan, below), some from our gardens and the CSA farm that is part of the same Intentional Community (Green Valley Village), only buying a very small percentage of our food. 

But while we're defining useful terms (and reading wikipedia articles), here are some other words that may help you understand the world of CRIC:

Freegan: While "The word "freegan" is a portmanteau of "free" and "vegan"^[2]; freegans are not actually vegetarian," the "free" part is more of a focus than the "vegan" part.  Basically, freegans eat whatever is free of cost, and usually eat vegan/vegetarian.  How do they get this free food?  Generally by dumpster diving from supermarkets or from factories/food producers.  And you would probably be amazed at all of the amazing, beautiful, edible food that comes out of the dumpster!

Intentional Community: CRIC is part of a larger Intentional Community called Green Valley Village. About 40 people live in Green Valley Village (GVV), from infants to senior citizens.  GVV's mission is to "model an intentional, integrated culture that fulfills the broad spectrum of our human needs in harmony with all Life."  It is important to note in the conversation about CRIC House that GVV is not as a whole Anarchist or Freegan.   GVV could also be called an ecovillage.

Ok, that's a lot of reading material but I wanted to make sure that there are resources for anyone who wants more information about what I'll be writing/posting video about!  Part of why I wanted to create this blog is that I have about 50 hours of footage that I am working on turning into an approx. 2 hour documentary, so there will be plenty of footage that I can't incorporate and this is a way that people can see it.  Also, I hope it will help members of the CRIC diaspora to get their CRICfix until they can make it back.  :)

Thanks for reading!
Jean