Cohousing-L Mailing List: Agriculture as a community funding process is probably not realistic

[Rob Sandelin (floriferous]

One approach to on-site business is to build space into the commonhouse to
support at home work and then lease it. I know a couple of cohousing groups
that have done this and as far as I know it worked just fine.  I don't know
of any farm based cohousing communities however. I suspect that the work
hours and very low income from such activities would probably not be
compatible with home ownership/mortgage payments. It might be possible that
one  person might be able to host a community CSA  business and make enough
to pay their mortgage, if the community donated the growing space. I think
Ithaca Ecovillage has tried this, not sure if it worked out or not. It would
depend on the cost of your home, and your mortgage level being low enough
that farming or animal husbandry income would pay the bills. Most on site
business in cohousing is high tech, consulting, or other, relatively high
paying type business. As a long time farmer friend of mine told  me
recently. Farming is a great hobby, but it sucks as a way to try and make
your living.

I have been part of numerous, late night wine drinking brainstorms with
community forming folks, usually young folks, who think they want to move
out to the farm community. Too often these kids have never  actually worked
on a farm. My experienced advice is, before you invest your trust  fund in
such a scheme, spend a year working as a small farmer somewhere. Its a dawn
to dark job, heavy labor, and very uncertain. Many small farmers go into
debt, then bankruptcy. Not because they were not good farmers, but that one
bad storm season, or bug plague or root rot sent them into a spiral they
never could recover from. The farm I lived and worked on for two years went
out of business simply because the state changed the rules about the sale of
home produced eggs and milk, made roadside sales impossible for small farms,
and this took away the $4500 of income that made the difference. Hundreds of
small farms failed because of this.  While working the farm, my first years
actual income (one share of three) was $600. I was young then, and
fortunately in robust  health. The second years income was $250. I left
shortly after, having learned a lot about working a small farm. I don't
recommend it as a community funding process unless you can grow a very high
yield, high profit crop, and the only things I know of that are in that
category are illegal.


Rob Sandelin
Sky Valley Environments  <http://www.nonprofitpages.com/nica/SVE.htm>
Field skills training for student naturalists
Floriferous [at] msn.com


-----Original Message-----
From: cohousing-l-admin [at] cohousing.org
[mailto:cohousing-l-admin [at] cohousing.org]On Behalf Of Honeysuckles
Sent: Tuesday, January 21, 2003 12:30 AM
To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
Subject: [C-L]_Small business and shared resources questions



Greetings  : )

My family and I are cohousing wannabes in South Central Alaska.  There are
so many aspects of cohousing we are attracted to, but as we work through our
overall vision and primary goals, we're wondering if some of the things we
don't want to give up are even compatible with cohousing.  We'd love some
input on the following:

How have small business (out of the home) been handled?  In particular,
artist/shop space, where the activities are not hobby but the family's
primary source of income?  (Individual shop/studio space on the family's own
land, community shop, or ?)

What kinds of farming activities, and how have they been handled by the
community?  Two things here - when animals are kept on common land for
personal use such as horses and chickens, and when animals are also a source
of income, such as sheep.

If one derives economic benefit from community resources, how does one
compensate the community, or is it even an issue?  As an example, the
community has 20 acres set aside as pasture and you're not just grazing your
horse but raising animals to sell.

Have any communities dealt with these issues, and can you share how it was
handled?

Thank you ever so much,
Rhea
in Alaska, looking to cohomestead on 160 acres or more, with other wonderful
people.  (Email me for more info!)

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