Living in Asheville wasn’t all bad. It’s a strange town with a unique vibe. I had a next door neighbor do an amazing job with my resume. I earned a tidy sum in a short period of time. I enjoyed great community with the lowest members of society. I made a couple really good friends. I had time and space to begin working on the back end of what would eventually become this site.
I also learned one very important lesson in my search to understand how a place like Asheville came into being.
From the food bank. I wonder if the Peruvians that harvested these berries agree with the marketing.
For some reason people equate wealth with mystical knowledge. Asheville is full of wealth, originally brought in by the Vanderbilts and their slave-driven empire. After them, more people came and brought wealth. Asheville became a place that rich people can pursue their eccentricities, be fawned over by “lesser” people that don’t have wealth, and a place where great fortunes go to die.
Posted from Asheville, West Asheville, United States:
With the growing conflict with Branch, and the impossibility that he would consider that he was capable of wrongdoing, I began to make other plans.
I reached out to Jonah, the owner of the junk yard (what is called a farm on his websites) and began a long and tedious discourse, exchanging dozens of emails a day. After explaining my side of the situation, I was invited to a room in one of his houses (the Dorcester Grove), to be a member of what he called the “core group,” pending a meeting with the rest of the group.
There were some red flags popping up: the strange “rental agreement” which included hygiene requirements and rules about attending meetings and further idiocies requiring conflict resolution – the bait for Jonah’s emotional fetish.
The house itself was in a great location but very run down. As a descendent of the Scorcese family, Jonah never had a job or earned anything but he managed to solicit investments from people and then he would grill them emotionally until they were willing to abandon everything to get away from him.
Still, in spite of this his millions are squandered while he the roof leak and mold grow so that only desperate people are willing to house with him.
Room not cleaned before I moves in.
We had agreed that I would supplement my rent with work-trade (free labor in exchange for housing) but he did the same thing Branch did: always asking for my help with tasks that didn’t contribute to my rental balance.
One day Jonah started talking to me and never stopped. Even when i asked him nicely to stop and then insisted he stop he kept going. I am accustomed to peace and his intent to disrupt it were not something I could live with.
I saw him exhibit this behavior with a prior house mate, literally badgering him into leaving.
I knew it wouldn’t be long until I would leave this place and began preparing for my departure.
He also runs ads in Asheville’s craigslist, seeking new people to bleed for wealth and his odd emotional fetish for getting under people’s skin and forcing them to apologize for his wrongdoings to avoid homelessness
Here is a transcript of the usual ad:
We’re a small community with rooms available for those seeking a clean comfortable alternative shared housing environment… on the west side of town. Two rooms are available now, and another may be in mid Aug or Sep. Each is simply furnished, a short walk to Haywood Rd, and shares a kitchen / bathroom with 1-2 others. In general, rent prices vary between $750-1000/mo, with all utilities included. Ultimately, we’re seeking great matches who can grow into longer term residents but shorter term will be considered as appropriate.
Adjoining houses form a unique cluster with a shared backyard. We are a diverse group of M/F 30’s – 70’s who are working, volunteering and/or engaging relatively active lifestyles, while also committed to working on personal healing / internal growth — both separately and together. We reflect a variety of beliefs, lifestyle practices, diets, backgrounds, … value open / honest communication, respectful relationships, and responsible living, … and aspire to maintain the willingness to learn from each other along the way. Cooking, gardening/yard work, DIY projects, weekly house meetings and dinners, creative pursuits (music, art, etc), and hikes are some of the ways we share common ground as co-housemates, with varying degrees of participation.
Smoking, drinking, partying and drug / addictive lifestyles are not welcomed here…. and sorry, but pets are a rare exception to the norm (allergies, etc). We are eco-conscious, striving to maintain fragrance/chemical-free environs — ie, no bleach, perfumes/colognes, conventional cleaning products or air fresheners, etc.
Though privacy is sacred, we’re optimally hoping to find folks interested in more than just a room, who have strong communication ability and/or interest in improving it, and seek to work together cooperatively solving problems along the way. Think ‘intentional community’ — where an open-minded attitude, solid work ethic, and conflict resolution skills are all desirable and valued qualities. That being said, we are also flawed humans 😉 willing to look at our own shadows, and hope you are too. Life has some drama – and we believe dealing with it effectively is the key that opens the door to a more productive shared living experience.
Please be aware: an application/interview process, references, and a deposit will be requested before moving in. We are looking for a mutually harmonious fit, so sometimes start with weekly trial runs, to ensure healthier outcomes… but typically rent month-to-month. Many have stayed for years.
If you’ve read this far and think you’d like to consider living here… please email back with a similarly detailed description of your story / current housing situation. Helpful things to include: what kind of living space you are ideally seeking, any budget or special lifestyle needs (ie, veggie/vegan? introvert/extrovert? early bird/night owl? vehicle/spaceship? etc.), shared housing experiences you’ve had (‘good or bad’), and how you think your lifestyle choices would affect other housemates — for better and/or worse. If you send a sincere reply with more than a line or two, we’ll progress to the next step if/as appropriate. Feel free to include a phone number, but we usually follow a 3 step process: email exchange, then phone, then 3D tour / group interview.
Thank you for your interest, and may your search for home soon be fulfilled!
. I have no qualms with homelessness as a long distance backpacker with years spent in the wilderness. He received no apology from me.
In return I was evicted with 7 days notice for failing to comply with the conflict resolution clause in the “co-housing agreement,” which is definitely illegal but I didn’t fight it because the living situation was made intentionally intolerable.
Posted from Asheville, West Asheville, United States:
For a while I had a jolly good time making my nest and surviving primitive style in the junk yard of West Asheville.
Before I agreed to sit on the property, a person by the name of Branch who was the property manager said there would be some work available with decent pay.
I stopped by to check in and offered my hands where needed. Branch didn’t seem to need much help, preferring to practice preaching. Branch needed the practice but I didn’t enjoy the one sided nature of his practice. I prefer an exchange of conversation and find little joy in being preached to.
Weeks passed, then a month. I started questioning Branch’s ability to deliver any paid work. I thought maybe I could help him with marketing and purchased the domain “Branch.diy” to help him advertise his services (primarily moving and junk cleanup, which there was plenty during this period after hurricane Helene. He kept insisting he needed more time and displayed zero interest in promoting himself.
He did make a busy job of spending his inheritance, buying trailers and dollies and straps, all the things needed to do a moving or junk cleanup, just never actually trying to do any work.
When he did ask for help, it was always later on in the day (he was a night owl) after I was worn out, and it was never a paid gig, only helping him collect junk to keep for himself on the 8 acre junk yard we shared (hot tubs, partial buildings, etc).
One day he did offer me a paid job, but at a rate only half of what he originally mentioned. I declined intending to hold out for a better deal and not sell myself short. As it came to pass he gave the job up without cheap labor to lean on.
One say I grudgingly agreed to help him move his tiny house. He promised the job would be quick and easy. We started late in the day. By the time we finished it was well after dark and 35 degrees and raining. I knew I’d have a miserable night with wet clothes and having to start a fire to dry off and get warm. Branch’s refusal to apologize for the shoddy working conditions and lack of consideration for my body temperature escalated and I was prepared to leave.
Before I left I contacted the owner of the property to share my side of the story and be sure I didn’t leave without notice.
After leaving Leicester I landed on an old neglected junk yard under the pretense of being a farm.
Dozens of benzos lay rotting in the weather
I figured I might stay here for the winter, and I knew my tent would keep.me warm with the stove but I also knew I didn’t want to spend the winter stuck in a tent too small to stand in, so I made it into a yurt.
My days were mostly occupied with gathering fire wood for the coming cold. I built a firewood rack out of all natural materials and cut and split all the fire wood using only hand tools. This was quite a chore in late December.
I tried to clean the place up but was led to believe I’d never be able to use anything I was trying to revive: the greenhouse was, like everything else in the junk yard, waiting for “the right person,” which I am evidently not.
In Oct 2024 my seasonal gig at Angels Rest Hiker Haven came to a close and I had to figure out what to do next.
My friend Roadrunner was planning a trip to Asheville and offered to hitch me down there for free. It was a deal too good to pass up so we went south and landed in Leicester just out side of Asheville NC. Leicester fared much better during the storm.
Roadrunner helped me find a consulting gig at a local restoration company while staying in Leicester.
I camped in the yard while Roadrunner parked in a schoolie. Cooking and cleaning was done in the house we were housesitting.
My days were filled with rolling around the destroyed parts of Asheville and seeing what homes could be restored.
There was a tremendous amount of community support with free meals and bottled waters on every corner and impromptu camp sites all around with so many people displaced. Many opposing feelings.
After a month Roadrunner was ready to head back up north and I stayed behind. My consulting gig came to an end but I deemed that I had enough saved up to survive the winter.
A warning to all travellers: the town of Glasgow, VA, is different. The rules of time and space work differently there. The vortex is strong and few make it out in less than 3 days.
It has everything you need in close walkable distance, and free camping with showers and electricity. You can come any time you want…
I don’t do a lot of documenting in town. Maybe that’s a weakness I need to work on. I’ve spent 7 days there this year spread over 2 visits. I even made an unlikely friend.
