Can you be more specific about what you mean by the local community? Are you striking up conversations with random people on the street, or are you volunteering, or some other such thing?
yes. having people around you to interact with does not require working in an office. people on the street. people at the dog park. people at the coffee shop. people bagging your groceries. people are everywhere (generalization , but if you browse HN you're probably not in an extreme rural area)