Mike Oehler 1938-2016

Thank you for posting that Jesse. I know it must of been hard to go through that. I can confirm what you said about him wanting a community on his land as we talked of that as well as I'm sure he also talked with others about doing the same. He had wanted me to move on his land with my family, but I was tied up developing my own property then sustained an injury that I've been off work from for more than a year.
His niece told me by email that she will continue the publishing of his books, but I don't know the status of his new books.
I really hope his vision is able to be carried on.

From Mike's niece:

Paul, I'm having a gathering for a celebration of Life for Mike at his place in Idaho this Saturday, June 4th at around 2pm. Potluck. Would love it if you could make it and anyone you know that Mike knew. Let me know if that's possible.

If you wanna go, send an email to mole at sandpoint.net

Email sent. I plan to be there. Mike sure would have liked to go, he liked get togethers where there was food!

Jeff

Miles Flansburg wrote:I wonder if Alex would be someone to contact for more info and as a source? Who was Mikes helper? Alex?

From the OBIT...

"Condolences and memories of Mike may be forwarded to Alex Clemow, P.O. Box 6003, Missoula, Montana 59806 or e-mail alextgrt@aol.com."

Miles, I wonder if you or any other permies might have another email address for Alex - an email I sent was returned "unknown" - I can use the POBox, but would prefer a more timely contact if possible.

Alternatively, anyone else have news or updates on what might be happening with Mike's dreams for his land, or know who I might contact to find out?

many thanks!

Alex has been responding to mike's old email.

I believe the family plans to sell the property. Mike had high hopes of someone carrying on his dream, but that did not come to pass unless someone purchases the property and carries on. There is quite a bit of value in big timber on the property as Mike thinned a few times but never clear cut, and he left most of the biggest trees.   His original house needs some maintenance, and the ridge house needs to be finished. Accessibility is a problem in winter, and there is no well on the property either.

That sucks. I dealt with a similar scenario when the man who owned the 14 acres that was the remainder of the old dairy farm my house was the center of, passed away. Even though he wanted it to stay as horse park or just park area, they sold it to a developer who chopped it up to sell it. The developer went belly up, but not before 4 of the six pieces were sold off. The one with the barn, corral and orchard remnant right out my front door is still intact, but the rest has two houses, a work shop and I expect another house/shop to go up soon. For whatever reasons, someone in a family always sees dollar signs instead of a legacy to carry on - and things get chopped up. Sad to hear this will happen to Mike's place, unless whoever buys it does it to keep Mike's dream alive - we can all hope for that.

Mike had a dream of multiple families living communally on his property, all working together. He built the ridge house with that in mind, and subdivided his land into parcels so each person/family could have their own.

 Unfortunately, it is easy to dream up something but the execution of that dream is another matter all together. The family has tried to follow his wishes as much as possible, but the carrying out of this part of his dream wasn't possible for them to pull off. Thankfully, they ARE able to continue publishing his books as that would be even a greater loss if they went out of publication.

 I respect whatever decision they make regarding his property. I hope that it will go to someone who will finish the Ridge House, the culmination of Mike's work.

I've spoke with Alex recently.  Her plans are to sell the property but she would really prefer to sell it to someone who wants to keep the ridge house, as that is really Mike's legacy right there, along with the books.  Nearly all of the design innovations that Mike came up with are included in that house, and it really is a beautiful home.  I was working on the ridge house before Mike passed and it is nearly finished, I was trimming in windows mostly.  It would be great if a permie bought the place, or at least someone who appreciates Mike's work.  There isn't a well on the land but it is hooked up to a small community water system with a well just down the road.  There's lots of possibility.  Someone with the right mindset could selectively log that land and have a small income for decades.

I agree Jesse. That is a beautiful piece of property. If I had the means I'd buy it myself. The Ridge house really isn't far from completion.

 The original house he wrote about in his book needs some repair, but could easily be livable as well. Also, there is the I completed survival shelter that is in good shape, though it needs a few more boards and backfilling. A lot of potential there I think.

 Putting in a drilled well is $10-20,000 in this area so I'd do that if I owned the property.

 I know Alex wants to follow Mike's wishes as much as possible, I pray that she can find the right buyer.

 A couple of weeks ago I read Mike's book again "The Hippie's Survival Guide to Y2K". I got a good laugh as I read it, I could hear Mike's voice as related in the book about going to the city council in Bonners Ferry and talking to various people about the need to prepare.   I think that book could easily been rewritten as "The Hippie's Survival Guide" and marketed again. I thought there was a lot of good advice in it.  

 Though Y2K didn't happen, the potential of losing a job or other personal disaster is very high for each of us, and his suggestions in the book were very good.   Another thing I liked was his discussion about the ills of Industrialization and how he thought that homesteading was the cure for that, which I agree with.

 I recently again ran across some material from Open Source Ecology about the 50 tools to build a civilization. How I wish I could sit with Mike and talk with him about Open Source and the potential there to help the little guy.  He always had some insight that I liked.

ahhh, thank you all so much for the timely replies, and updates.

I agree that to keep the ridge house and land as "intact" as possible, to follow Mike's original dreams, would be a fitting legacy for the creative idealist he was.

I'll try getting in touch with Alex via email again. . . I'm not an investor, sadly - but well, sometimes things come together when the "idea pot" gets stirred. . .

Best to you all!

Jeff Higdon wrote:  A couple of weeks ago I read Mike's book again "The Hippie's Survival Guide to Y2K". I got a good laugh as I read it, I could hear Mike's voice as related in the book about going to the city council in Bonners Ferry and talking to various people about the need to prepare.   I think that book could easily been rewritten as "The Hippie's Survival Guide" and marketed again. I thought there was a lot of good advice in it.  

Funny, he was in the process of re-writing that book to be published as "The Hippy Survival Guide to the Collapse of Industrial Civilization."  He had a few books in the works.  I was helping him edit a memoir called "How To Make A Hippy" about the period between 1960 when he dropped out of college, and 1968 when he bought the land and moved on to it.  It was about to go to the printers.

I recall him mentioning rewriting the book now that you say that but I didn't know the title.

 I wish I could read his last one, I know Alex was concerned about the expense of publishing it on a gamble as to whether it would sell or not.

 The ridge house had really come along since I saw it last. I like the design.

 I plan to build a smaller underground house on my place. Mike helped me pick the spot about three years ago, then shortly after that I had an accident and TBI that put everything on hold. I slowly getting back going so I hope to carry it out in the not too distant future.

 Shortly before the accident I took a log truck load of logs to a owner operator sawmill to have it sawed up for the house. While I was down the man sawed up my logs and sold them!  Still haven't got anything out of him, so I might have to purchase another load of logs and start over.  Maybe I'll use my chainsaw mill this time, I don't want to lose another load of logs!!

The 3rd year of Mike's passing is  coming up. Can anyone give an update on what happened to his legacy?

I hope good comes from the property for the future.

Jesse Grimes wrote:I don't know anything about the legal status of his land, or what will happen to it in the future.  I would like to help protect the land and turn it into the park/museum/village he had envisioned, but I don't know what that might involve.  I do know that it is something that would require a lot of help from others.  Right now I am just waiting to see what happens, and hoping for the best.

So this was posted back in 2016. I'm wondering if anyone has any updates about Mike's land. is the estate still being worked out? Has the property changed hands? Are the houses still in place? Inhabited? Were his aspirations and hopes achieved or did they go ahead and do the opposite of his wishes and cut down the trees and destroy the homes?