Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: No Shared Community Economy?

[Jeff Buscher (jbuscher]

When I posted my original question I didn't have a very clear picture in my
head of how a guest ranch should be included with Cohousing (or Intentional
Community for you sticklers for proper terminology).  Now I've thought about
it.  Here's my idea:

My family buys a couple hunderd acres of land and builds a guest ranch with
a main ranch house which will become the community common house later.  We
operate the guest ranch for a few years, and start a community on part of
the ranch - including the part with my family's houses and the common house.
My family sells that portion of the ranch to the community.  As people fill
up the community they buy a share of the community land, but my family owns
and operates the guest ranch which is officially next to (or surrounding)
the community.  My family would hire and employ any members of the community
that worked on the ranch - or maybe set the ranch up as a corporation or
coop and offer shares and voting rights to interested residents.

I know it is not officially Cohousing since the new residents would be stuck
with the land my family choses and the common house my family designes and
builds, but new residents will see what they are buying into.  As Rob said,
it would attract a different group than the typical Cohousing community.

In addition having overnight guests like a Bed and Breakfast, the ranch
would host events like:

Kids Summer Camp (3 or 4 day stay)
Concerts on Friday Evenings
Church Dinners on Sunday evenings
Family Reunion type gatherings some weekends.
Etc. (any ideas?)

Ranch guests (10 or 20 at a time, typically) would share in community meals
cooked by community residents like typical Cohousing communities.  There
would be access to the ranch and events for community members in return for
sharing the common house that would be used for events and feeding ranch
guests.

The community would not necessarily be self supporting centered around the
ranch income.  In fact, it could end up that the ranch would not be an
integral part of the community except sharing the common house.

Sorry, I'm really getting away from Cohousing now.  Can anyone point me in
the direction of the Intentional Community Email List Server?...  :-)

Jeff Buscher





----- Original Message -----
From: "Rob Sandelin" <floriferous [at] msn.com>
To: "Multiple recipients of list" <cohousing-l [at] freedom2.mtn.org>
Sent: Sunday, August 13, 2000 1:19 AM
Subject: RE: No Shared Community Economy?


> I think such a guest ranch cohousing would simply filter in a different
set
> of  people than what other cohousing might do. So Joani would filter out
:)
> but others who find the burden of going away to make a living would
perhaps
> filter in, seeking a greater connection perhaps, or just the convenience
of
> making your living in your home instead of somewhere else. Certainly tons
of
> people living in self supporting Intentional communities do this. I think
it
> would be an interesting experiment at the very least, to see whether or
not
> such economic sharing and risk and management would work under the
umbrella
> of cohousing.
>
> There is an interest I suppose of keeping the definition of cohousing
crisp
> and clean so that the banks and other bureaucracy can feel comfortable
that
> cohousing  is not  something  too odd or scary. Defining itself in
> respectable terms has been a constant issue for the first decade of
American
> Cohousing, and it is still an uphill battle in some places. But I am not
> sure how much awareness a bank would have of the variety of cohousing. I
> have often thought that the more you look like a "normal" condo or other
> acceptable form, the better off you are. So, perhaps a guest ranch
cohousing
> would be a joint venture business partnership of some kind?
>
> There are "ranch" developments out here in the wild west where homes in a
> development share riding arenas, and other recreational facilities related
> to horses. I suppose however these are legally organized could be setup to
> also include a guest quarters space, although I am no lawyer and this
seems
> like an complicated sort of arrangement, especially given something like a
> ranch business would have such a potential for injury and liability. Would
> all the home owners then be liable? The details would be interesting to
work
> out.
>
> Rob Sandelin
> Who  is covered with Nettle stings from todays trail building project and
> can't sleep
>
>
>