Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Agriculture as a community funding process

[Mac & Sandy Thomson (ganesh]

Rhea,

At Heartwood Cohousing (rural SW Colorado), we have about 300 acres of
forested open space and about 60 acres of irrigated pastureland.  Our 24
homes are located on 24 private lots totaling about 4 acres for all 24 lots.
We don't have anyone that makes their living from our pastureland, but we
have a number of families who use it for horses and a donkey, and I
understand we'll soon have llamas.  Some of the horses we pasture are draft
horses used in a sustainable horse logging business so the pastureland is
indirectly used to produce income in that case.

The folks who keep animals in the pasture are the ones who do almost all of
the work there: building and mending fences, weed control, haying, etc.  It
seems to work out pretty well.  As a community, we need people to give the
pasture the TLC it requires and of course our members with pasture animals
need a place for them to live.

We also have a pretty good size community workshop that works similarly.
The folks who use it the most put in most of the work to keep it organized,
clean, and functional and pay a little extra money to help cover the
workshop utility costs.

We have a very high percentage of folks here that make their living from
their home offices -- maybe about 50%.  We tend to attract those folks
because we don't have nearly the job opportunities here that exist in big
cities.

We have a Private Use of Community Resources agreement which provides
guidelines on what types of activities we'd welcome and how much a member
might need to pay the community for use of the resource
(http://www.heartwoodcohousing.com/AGREEMENTS/PRIVUSE.html).  Compensation
to the community generally would be expected when the community resource is
used in someone's business.  For example, our workshop is used year round by
a member with a 'fix-it' business and is used seasonally by a member with a
wreath making business.

BTW, Heartwood has two custom lots available.  You can find out more about
those and our community in general at our website.
(http://www.heartwoodcohousing.com)


- Mac

-------------------------------------
Rhea wrote:
> In case I gave the wrong impression as to why I was asking those questions,
> I'd like to respond.  We aren't looking at the farm activities as a way to
> fund the community or our mortgage.  We currently raise our own chickens for
> meat and eggs and don't wish to stop that.  Prior to discovering cohousing
> we had planned to get Alpacas and sheep for the fiber (and enjoyment) - the
> fiber being for my personal use.  But as we brainstormed about what we would
> give up for cohousing and what we didn't want to give up, the question of
> "What if I started selling fiber at a later date?" arose.  That's why I
> wondered what scenarios other communities had faced and how they had solved
> them, when communal land is involved.
> 
> As for the shop question, our current income is from my husband's work as an
> artist.  While he's used to having a small shop near our house, he loves the
> feedback and energy from working around other artists, and would be happy to
> share his tools.  We were wondering if any communites had done a shop with
> perhaps a communal center area and private shop space around the perimeter
> or something.  When brainstorming about community, a community shop just
> comes to mind.  It seems like a natural extension.
> 
> However, after reading the replies and some posts from the archive, it seems
> the best scenario would be to go with a private shop on our land, or to
> designate land away from the housing, that can be purchased by members for
> shop/studio building.  ???  (The reason my husband's shop isn't part of the
> house is that his work involves power tools, welding, and hammers.)  We're
> just thinking it all through.


-- 
Mac Thomson

Heartwood Cohousing
Southwest Colorado
http://www.heartwoodcohousing.com


"No matter what happens, somebody will find a way to take it too seriously."
              - Dave Barry

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