Homestead Co-Op, Aspirations and Ruminations
A sudden (much-needed) downpour made outdoor plans impossible, so a shift in focus was necessary.
The Homesteaders Co-Op concept has still been percolating in my thoughts, so tidying up the earlier diagram seemed like a productive endeavor. I left the VIVAconomy tie-ins in place, but de-emphasized them, for now, so we can go through the Co-Op side of the equation more easily. Introducing the new and improved:
HUB (Homesteads United Brand) Co-Operative!
Homesteaders Hearth
I envision this page as the homesteaders individual space. They can personalize it to showcase their homestead, administer their profile information, and track their VIVA holdings. It will also serve as a portal to the Co-Op governance entity and ballots for voting.
Education
This will be the number one priority for the Co-Op. Whether it's food preservation classes, livestock best practices, marketing know-how, home-schooling resources, or any other topic, education will be pervasive and ongoing. This page will provide links to classes, resources, and persons who have experience in their respective area of expertise.
Kitchen
A gathering place to swap recipes, learn preservation skills, links to equipment resources and local farmer's markets. This can also serve as a social media spot along with the Greenhouse. Talking gardening and recipes feels like a natural offshoot of these two spaces.
Greenhouse
Plan, track, and show off your crops! Also, provides links to growing / harvesting tips and tricks, including seed swaps, pest control, weed control, and gardening methods.
Healthy Folks
Resources for healthy nutrition, illness prevention / wellness advice, herbalists, traditional medicine, and midwives. Clusters of illness in communities would be valuable knowledge in rapid response in certain disease outbreaks.
Healthy Critters
Resources mirroring Healthy Folks, with the exception the MedicAxess records which apply to people only. The Co-Op could consider the feasibility of partnering with VIVA to expand MedicAxess to pets and livestock. Clusters of illness in animals would be valuable knowledge in rapid response in certain disease outbreaks.
General Store
All homesteaders will have a presence in the Store, if they wish. Sell what you have too much of, buy what you're running short on - and use your VIVA Coins just like fiat to do so. No fiat currency or VIVA Coins? Try a barter arrangement instead.
Bunkhouse
The 'jobs board' of the Co-Op, where you can look for work, look for workers - paid or volunteers. (Steemgigs is a good example of the concept.)
Tradeqwik Exchange
VIVA Coins, VIP retirement funds and alt coin trading occur here and will be the homesteaders 'finance department' within the Co-Op.
Discussion is open and encouraged with the goal of fine tuning the Co-Op mission. The end result, will hopefully be a working Co-Operative with input from all of its members.
Here are a few questions to get y'all started:
What you like to see a Co-Op do for you?
What skills or knowledge could you share with the Community?
Would access to classes (locally or online) be helpful to your homestead's success?
Upvote, ReSteem, 
THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
I have some interest in possible homesteading, so I'm trying to learn what all is involved. Thanks for this article!
You're welcome! I'm presently a suburban gardener and just now taking a good look at my resources. One of those resources is the amazing homestead community here. Am hoping the Co-Op concept can help all of us do well.
I know I'm about 6 days late with this but I finally got through the VIVA white paper and studied the website. I am a bit confused about the implementation. For instance is it a application that is run independent of steemit on top of the blockchain? Is a board elected to oversee its day to day activities and ensure its operating as it should? Does Ned's announcement of the new tokens (SMTs) change opinions within the homesteading community. I kinda see it as being similar to the VIVA concept.
Am I off base and overthinking (there is a tendency for me to do such a thing...) it wouldn't be uncommon.LOL Please feel free to set me on the right path if these questions are symptoms of my disorder.🐓
No worries... the whitepaper is complicated. I'm still trying grasp a lot of it. I'll do my best to untangle things.
VIVA is entirely separate from Steemit. The only connection is that you can use Steem & SBD to trade for VIVA products on Tradeqwik.
My interpretation is that VIVA will be built on a next level blockchain model, but instead of using a single chain, VIVA is using a block 'fabric'. (Think medieval chain mail the knights wore as opposed to a single link chain.) This is supposed to provide quicker transaction speeds and way more room to expand rapidly.
I think the Steemit Media Tokens will certainly come into play for our Co-Op idea. I can see them both being valuable, because it gives us even more options to increase our earnings. For instance, The HUB Co-Op General Store could accept VIVA, plus we could also issue our own HUB-centric coin or set up things to accept the SMT Coins if homesteads want their own specific coin.
The main difference between VIVA and SMT's is that VIVA will encompass an entire economic system, while VIVAcoin, Steem, SBD, and SMT are tools within that system. For example: VIVA will be able to support a retirement plan (via Tradeqwik) which may have been funded by lots of different coins converted into VIP (VIVA Investment Plan), which will then be paid out to your VIVA debit card, which you use like any bank card.
The 'board' are the Crown Holders. They have a place on a site called Basecamp where they meet, discuss plans, and vote on those plans. At this point, I actually hold 2 Crowns, but I only get 1 vote regardless of how many I hold. (That keeps someone from monopolizing the whole thing.) I'm contemplating gifting one of the Crowns to the Co-Op, so it will have a say, too. I'm not sure this is feasible, but it's on my radar.
These are exactly the types of questions and policies we'll get to iron out in setting up the Co-Op by-laws. Thanks so much for asking them!
*** Edit to correct: VIP stands for VIVA Investment Pool.
Thanks so much for making it much clearer, it all makes perfect sense. I think the co-op is a great idea! I would be interested in online classes and other educational endeavors.🐓
I like this idea! May I link this in the next Weekly Homesteading Newsletter and feature your username again? Let me know! Thank you!
Good to hear and feel free to use what you need. Thanks for the shout-out!
I am following along to see how this idea unfolds!
Thanks and good to know! There are a lot of aspects to consider, but with the knowledge and experience pool here, I think it might just be feasible. Fingers crossed and input welcome!