Technological advances in how people are doing their business these days have prompted one of the largest exoduses in America. Entire close-knit groups, mainly large families banding together, are pooling their resources and heading for the rugged wilderness found in Idaho, Montana, and even California.
One such group calls itself the “New Garden of Eden” after the Bible of course, but more importantly after a quilt design, “Garden of Eden.” The leader of the group, Harmon Eekins of Providence, Rhode Island claims he got the idea from reading a book. “I don’t remember the name of the book, but it was about a family of families that got together, bought a big spread of land way up in the mountains and proceeded to learn how to live off the land instead of conforming to the rapid technological advances of the day.”
Asked if the book Eekins may have been referring to could have been a history of the Amish, he claimed “hell no not the Amish. They’ve been around forever. Besides, they live in the hills, not the mountains.”
The technology that was the final straw for the people in Eekins group was biometric technology. They believe that humans are being tracked through eye prints, fingerprints and more, and that it is just a matter of time before the dreaded chip implant becomes mandatory.
“We can’t stop progress and we sure as hell aren’t going to let Big Brother have a swipe at us, so we’re leaving,” said Eekins. Eekins’ group is not the only one either. Montana has seen a rash of settlements way into the hills. Land is being bought up in record numbers and at a low price of less than $600 an acre in some places, these “outlanders” as they now wish to be called feel that now is the time to strike while the iron is hot.
Eekins’ said they aren’t Little House on the Prairie but close. “Think of us as those people you read about in books and see on television. The ones where, when everyone else was too busy Googling, Twittering, and Facebooking, we were planning our future ahead and we plan on being around a long, long time after technology finally breaks for good.”
Eekins says if anyone is interested in finding out more about their group and about other like groups, they can check out his website at www.gardenofedenitis.com.