Cohousing-L Mailing List: guest ranch and cohousing

[Patty F Gourley (pattymara]

Dear Jeff,
I like your idea.  A lot.  It will provide people with a view of
community life, in real time, instead of the dreamy kind of visions that 
we used to sustain ourselves through the long years of looking for land,
design, development and construction.  As one who helped to market Tierra
Nueva Cohousing (central CA coast) I had to sell the dream for a long
long time before we had anything real to show.  Remember the old
advertising maxim:  "Sell the sizzle, not the steak"?  We had to sell the
hope of a sizzle, the dream of it, and it got really tough sometimes to
sustain the energy required.  

If you go forward with your idea I predict great success.  There is a
huge population out there of folk who are not quite ready to make the
leap to community life.  Your guest ranch will offer an interim trial
that will help solidify the reality of shared resources and community
interaction.  It will plant the seed, and nourish it.  

Another good use for the facilities will be retreat space.  Our group had
years of retreats and we tried all sorts of places to simulate community
living.  None really worked.  Last weekend our common house was used for
a retreat by the Oak Creek Commons Cohousing core group who are
developing their project 30 miles north of us in Paso Robles.  They used
our living room for meetings, our dining room for displaying photo boards
and blueprints, our guest rooms for lodging, shared a common meal with us
on Saturday night, cooked dinner for us on Sunday night, soaked in our
hot tub, and walked through our flower lined pathways and gardens.   It
was a good thing.

Best of luck to you, and by the way, where are you located?  

coheartedly,
Patty Mara Gourley
Tierra Nueva Cohousing, central CA coast, where we are planning our two
year anniversary of living here.  A whole day of games, cards, ping pong
tournament, theme picnic, talent show and a camp out on the village
green.  Whew!


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