What is Northwest Kingdom?

Northwest Kingdom (NWK) is a distinct neighborhood area within the Miccosukee Land Co-op (MLC), a land trust community in Leon County, Florida. Like other neighborhoods within the Co-op, Northwest Kingdom has its own character, land, residents, and informal culture, while operating within the shared framework of MLC governance and covenants.

This site is a personal project of Josh Bechtel, an NWK resident — a place to learn and experiment with web technology, and to share the occasional useful thing with neighbors (like the community shirt preorder). It also gathers some NWK-related information and the neighborhood newsletter (the Alternate Current) for anyone who finds it handy.

Northwest Kingdom and the MLC

The Miccosukee Land Co-op provides the legal and organizational framework within which Northwest Kingdom operates. MLC governing documents — including articles of incorporation, bylaws, covenants and restrictions, and policies — apply to all NWK properties and residents. This site references those documents as the current framework. See the MLC Reference section for document links.

Northwest Kingdom does not have a separate legal entity. Governance and formal decision-making occur through the MLC Town Council, which includes representation from neighborhoods across the Co-op.

About this site

This is the personal website of Josh Bechtel, an NWK resident, built to learn and experiment and to share useful things with neighbors. It is not an official Northwest Kingdom or Miccosukee Land Co-op site and does not speak for either. Content here reflects one neighbor's perspective and self-organized notes. Any MLC source documents and links are provided for reference only.

The site is organized into public information (this section), a member area for residents with accounts, and an admin area for site maintainers and records stewards.

The Alternate Current

For more than fifty years, The Alternate Current served as the newsletter of the Miccosukee Land Co-op. In 2025, the MLC Town Council directed that the reports once carried in its pages be posted directly to the MLC website. With that change, The Alternate Current was no longer the Co-op's official journal of record.

Rather than fold, the newsletter found new footing. It continues today as an independent community chronicle, a place where neighbors' submissions are published as they are sent in. Its longtime curators live in Northwest Kingdom, and the newsletter is now produced and curated entirely on NWK land.

Northwest Kingdom has also taken over its printing and delivery, removing a $1,300 expense from the MLC budget. The Alternate Current is now fully independent and no longer part of Miccosukee Land Co-op administration.

Contact and participation

For questions about the neighborhood, contact information for current coordinators, or to get involved, see the contact page. Northwest Kingdom residents can request member access to the full neighborhood records and resources.