Uprooting for Awhile

I have lived at Roots Ecovillage for 6 years of my life. I've lived in Austin for 9 years. Before that I traveled a lot, never staying in one place longer than 6 months and when I was still living at home I was an Air Force brat so I moved every 3 to 5 years. Roots was the first place as an adult I have ever called home.

During my time at Roots, handfuls of people have come and gone, and Roots has evolved and changed depending on who is in the house. We started at 1708 Fortview Road in Austin, TX, right off Manchaca, before gentrification had really taken a hold of the area. I wasn't one of the founders. It was founded by a bunch of people who through Occupy in 2012 felt inspired to keep their activism growing and built a community and space where events could be held and gardens grew and an anarchist, self-governance lifestyle could occur.

Slowly, all of those people who helped create the foundation of Roots left and for awhile only one remained. A shaggy-haired man who cared so much for Roots and what its mission had been was the last one left, and after he was gone because he felt stagnant I stayed and never left.

There have been times it's been hard and I almost left. Where people said we weren't really a cooperative and that Roots was just a bunch of shit. At times it was a bunch of shit. At times it was just drug-fueled parties. At times it was angry people shouting at each other over terrible misgivings. On the opposite end though we had fundraisers like A Bloody Good Show where we gathered feminine hygiene products for the houseless community, we held Austin SOUP which is a live crowdfunding event that connects the community, we put on a show and art auction for Standing Rock and we planted beautiful gardens together, drank beer and worked on the aquaponics, we had 3am dance parties and shared in beautiful ceremonies under the moon and around the fire together.

Roots survived eviction due to gentrification and then survived an ending of a lease and a search for a new home that would hopefully fit more people. We found it in our new place. Now, currently, we have 8 people here which was the number we were at right before the eviction at the original place that halved our numbers. We have two houses, two full kitchens, 3 full bathrooms, three shared common spaces, two backyards, chickens, gardens, a beautiful patio. It's grown, Roots has survived through tough times and besides those first two years of its conceptions I've seen all of it.

I am leaving Roots November 1st for 6 months but I'll be back a better person. The reason I'm leaving is a story for another time.