Re: CH use
From: Lynn Nadeau (welcomeolympus.net)
Date: Wed, 1 Oct 2003 20:33:09 -0600 (MDT)

>HANGING OUT
>Newbies here fantasize a lot about pleasant times "hanging out" in or
>around the CH during non-meal times.
No, outside of community gatherings (meetings, work parties, meals, or 
other announced events). Now and then a couple of people watch a video 
together. (This, and other use of our rec room is constrained by a 
not-yet-fixed mold problem in that room, which leaves a number of us too 
allergic to it to use it.) Or someone might collect their mail and sit 
down to read it. Or go into the kitchen to put away some clean dishes. We 
don't experience this as a problem, really. Oh, sometimes someone 
watching kids will use the kid room with them. 

>- What are the "magnets" that draw people in?
Food, music, mail. 

>- Does it depend on a visual connection from outdoor high-traffic areas?
Visibility is good. From my house I can see if the lights are on in the 
dining room, and with my binoculars I can even see some of who is there, 
with the large windows we have. 
>- Laundry 
We don't have a community laundry facility. One washer/dryer that's used 
for kitchen laundry, is all. We couldn't build our CH till after most of 
the houses were built, and most houses have washers in them. 
>- What if any "Rec Room" amenities get used
Once we get the room un-moldy (long story - re-used old flooring from 
salvage), I imagine the ping pong and video will both get more use. 
>
>QUIET PLAY & CRAFTS
>Another popular idea is that children can be involved in quiet
>activities ....In FROG
>the play room is like an indoor playground (plus dress-ups) and is
>usually used in a loud boisterous manner, mainly after common meals or
>during meetings. Fragile or messy items have been removed due to
>experiences resulting from unsupervised use. The quieter activities seem
>to require an adult to initiate and oversee...
Very accurate. I was a preschool teacher for 8 years and set up a really 
well-equipped play room (art, blocks, books, legos, cushions, teddies, 
dressups, tumbling mats, etc). It was designed for at least 
moderately-supervised use. Too often, the kids are in there UNsupervised, 
and I'm sad to say they've climbed up and gotten down stuff not designed 
for free play, have broken toys, scattered game pieces, scribbled on toys 
and furniture with markers, taken inappropriate stuff out into the dirt, 
etc. We really need someone to be watching kids when they are in there, 
during work parties, meals, meetings. But it doesn't always happen. 

Our room is about 15 x15. It can be used for either quiet or rowdier 
play. Note that we usually only have about 6  young children using the 
facility. 
>
>INTEGRATING CHILDREN
>- Any tips on what works for including children in daily activities such
>as cooking, laundry, cleanup?
The only thing we've done with much success is during outdoor work 
parties, moving dirt, sorting worms back into the worm bin when the 
compost is transferred, tractor-mower rides. 
Having young children in the kitchen has not worked well in my 
estimation, due to hygiene issues, sharp and hot stuff, etc. If I were to 
have a child help prepare food, I'd set them up in the dining room, at a 
table, with an appropriate task. We actually have a rule that children 
are not to set foot in the kitchen, unless directly invited by an adult. 
Around meal times there are too many hazards as adults are moving with 
hot stuff etc. 

>LIBRARY/MEDIA
>- Have you had success in sharing music CDs, videos, etc?
We have a lot of CDs at the CH, which we enjoy while cooking, or during 
meals. There are some kid videos on a high shelf in the kid room. We 
don't yet have appropriate shelving for more in the way of shared videos, 
books, etc. It also takes a diligent gatekeeper/librarian to sift out 
what's there. Even our magazine sharing gets messy and overloaded. 
>- Success with sharing computers, printer, fax, etc?
No, except between households.
>- Success with TV/VCR?
Yes. Many of us do not have a TV, so it is good to have access to a 
common one. Some folks want to add cable or satellite-dish capability, so 
we could watch Democracy Now, or other special programming.
>
>FLEX SPACE
Our dining room is also our living room. Heat stove at one end with 
sectional sofa. Tables and chairs in main part of room. Sofa area is used 
(supplemented as needed from dining chairs) for discussion circles. 
Tables can be moved aside for big circle for big meetings, or for 
people's parties etc. Otherwise, we have kitchen, kid, and rec rooms, and 
they are used as such. We are now working to turn our patio area, by the 
dining room, into a sort of outdoor room, with stucco walls around it, a 
little "stage", place for outdoor dining etc. As it is now, it is too 
exposed and too windy. 

>DISH ROOM
>My experience is that the noise & moisture associated with dishwashing
>necessitates a separate room adjacent to dining area.
Our kitchen is adjacent to, and open to, our dining room and that has 
been just fine. Good, in fact. The interface is an area of counters. Look 
on our website www.rosewind.org for some kitchen photos. Clean side vs 
dirty side concept in kitchen (thanks Mary Kraus), with center prep 
island. On clean side, our main serving counter, with track lighting, 
stone tile surface. Drawers on dining room side of it have napkins, 
take-home containers, and table linens. Dish cart with clean plates, 
bowls, silverware. On the kitchen side of that counter are shelves for 
serving dishes, and a drawer for serving utensils. 
On the "dirty" side, we have a (clean) beverage bar in the dining room, 
with a small sink, shelves for the cups and glasses, pitchers, coffee and 
hot water pots, drawers with tea bags, corkscrews etc. Nearer the kitchen 
opening, the Formica counter has a drawer for the compost bin to scrape 
plates into (emptied at the end of the meal), and counter space for 
collecting dirty dishes, right by the spray table for the dishwasher. 

Dish washing is fairly brief - maybe half an hour - not terribly noisy, 
and an activity that, at that point in time, involves most who are 
present. Much back and forth collecting dirty dishes, wiping tables, 
sweeping, putting away food etc. And those who want to keep sitting and 
talking don't mind it at all. I would not separate the dish area. 

Moisture? We have an exhaust fan we could run, over the dish wash area. 
But not a lot of water. Instead of much spraying, we usually prep the 
dishes with a dish brush, in a dishpan. Steel counters collect the water 
and rechannel it to drains. Our pot sinks are also steel. 
>GREEN FEATURES
Strongly encourage you to put a line item in your budget for ecological/ 
more environmentally friendly upgrades. Because almost all such items 
cost extra. At least then you have some amount that WILL get spent on it. 
Otherwise, you end up eliminating one item after another because it costs 
so much more. 

We paid extra to have wonderful real linoleum (Marmoleum) flooring in 
kitchen and kid room, Smart Wood oak flooring in the dining room, stucco 
exterior (nearly maintenance free). Any low maintenance or energy saving 
aspects are good eco moves. 

The eco lead balloon was the recycled flooring in the rec room. It came 
from a waterfront demolition site, and was (we now understand) moldy. 
Numerous mitigation attempts have failed to solve the problem. Lab 
analysis has confirmed that we have a major allergen there (as also 
demonstrated by my near-instantaneous asthmatic coughing fits if I go 
near it). We'll probably need to tear out the whole floor and subfloor, 
replace it, AND do chemical treatment of the walls and more. 

Our built-in vacuum system is also great. I suppose that might be 
considered eco, since it replaces what might have been many vac 
appliances over time. 

We compost our food waste via two (sequential) worm bins, made of wood, 
with hinged lids. That works. 

I hope some of this helps a bit. 
>


Lynn Nadeau, RoseWind Cohousing
Port Townsend Washington (Victorian seaport, music, art, nature)
http://www.rosewind.org
http://www.ptguide.com
http://www.ptforpeace.info (very active peace movement here- see our 
photo)
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