Welcome to Thunderbird Disco Homestead

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About Our Homestead

We’re a family of four living outside Charlottesville, Virginia. Back in 2020, we were trying to stay sane during quarantine and found permaculture homesteading to be a solid solution.

Now, the project has evolved, and we’re slowly transforming our home, property, and lifestyle into a safe and sustainable ecosystem that can survive a grid-down situation. One we can understand and build ourselves with the help of friends and experts; one that offers the chance to learn new DIY skills, teach our kids, connect with neighbors, and renew our appreciation for our land and its resources. Dig in!

 

About the Author

I’m ADAM NEMETT, author of WE CAN SAVE US ALL, a New York Times-reviewed novel about an apocalyptic commune of psychedelic superheroes, and one of Booklist’s “Top Ten Debut Novels of 2018.” I spent 10+ years researching doomsday prepping, homesteading, and communal living for the climate change scenarios in my novel — but after it was published, I realized I had few of the self-reliance and DIY skills I’d been writing about. So we started Thunderbird Disco Homestead. To learn new stuff.

My writing has appeared in Rolling Stone, The New York Times Book Review, Salon, Lit Hub, and Fatherly, and an excerpt of my novel was anthologized in THE APOCALYPSE READER. I graduated from Princeton University (BA in Religion) and received my MFA from California College of the Arts (Fiction/Screenwriting). After spending 13 years as creative director for History Factory, where I developed the trademarked StoryARC methodology and authored award-winning business history books for Fortune 500 companies, I now serve as Director of Brand & Content Strategy for WillowTree.

When I'm not working on our homestead with my wise and talented and patient wife Kate Lynn Nemett (Finely Feathered Design) and our children, I lead a creative team producing articles, podcasts, and video docuseries on digital technology. Previously, I wrote/directed the narrative feature film THE INSTRUMENT (2005), which LA Weekly described as "damn near unclassifiable," and co-founded MIMA Music, a student organization that grew into an educational 501(c)3 nonprofit operating in 40 countries worldwide.

 
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Project Goals

After a period of planning, our goal is to collaborate with our neighbors, skilled friends, and local professionals to take on 10 categories of homesteading projects:

  1. Power (fossil fuels and renewables)

  2. Food (animal and vegetable)

  3. Drink (water and booze)

  4. Shelter (building and repairing)

  5. Plumbing (drainage and sanitation)

  6. Medicine (herbal and chemical)

  7. Mechanics (simple machines and engines)

  8. Security (deterrents and weapons)

  9. Communications (short- and long-range)
    and, perhaps most importantly,

  10. Community Culture (arts, education and spirituality).

This is a long-term project (think: 10+ years) and we’re just getting started. The point of all this is to do it collaboratively, not wall ourselves in a bunker, so we hope you’ll join us on this experiment!

START HERE.