Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Farm Oriented Cohousing Community

[Mac Thomson (ganesh]

Bill Hartzell wrote:

> The questions for the coho-l are; Is anyone aware of  an existing coho
> community that operates a farm or is closely linked to one, or are we
> plowing (so to speak) new ground?  What are the general thoughts about a
> coho community that moves beyond just living and eating together and
> provides the opportunity to physically work together?

Our property includes a substantial portion of irrigated farm land (60
acres of 250 total) that we plan to keep it in agriculture.  We probably
won't be doing that as a community project, but rather as a project of
those who are attracted to farming.  We plan to make some kind of
arrangement with them whereby they would get to use the land in exchange
for organic meat and vegies.  This is all still in the
dreaming/visioning/planning stage, but we already have a number of
members interested.  As a matter of fact, our most recently joined
members already have many goats, a couple of beautiful draft horses,
lots of chickens, and a huge organic garden.  The look forward to moving
the whole operation from the dry, rocky ridge where they currently live
down to that irrigated pastureland.

Even though I don't know if I'll be very directly involved in much
farming, I love the idea of combining farming with cohousing.  We'll be
able to really nurture that farm land, which has been rather beat up on
for the last few decades.  Our kids will be able to romp around with all
those fun little critters and experience first hand the cycles of life. 
And we'll be able to enjoy scrumptious, wholesome food while financially
supporting our neighbors.
-- 
           Mac Thomson                   San Juan Cohousing
           ganesh [at] rmi.net                Durango, Colorado
            Web Site:   http://www.rmi.net/~ganesh

 "A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on."
                           - Carl Sandberg