Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: co-farming in Pacific NW?

[Mac Thomson (mac]

Hi Kay,

What you're describing sounds a lot like my community, Heartwood  
Cohousing, except that we're located in SW Colorado.  We have 361  
acres, about 65 of which is irrigated pastureland.  Since we moved in  
in 2000, we have been slowly working to restore the health of our  
pastureland by improving the irrigation system, replacing the weeds  
with beneficial corps, and introducing rotational grazing.  Just this  
year we began Heartwood Farms whose purpose is to provide Heartwood  
residents and the larger community with fresh local organic food.   
Some Heartwood members are very involved with the actual farming and  
some not at all, but we all enjoy the good food.

We have 8 strawbale or straw clay homes in the neighborhood so there's  
quite a bit of knowledge in that area here.  We've also just begun  
development of our second (and last) phase of homes.  If any of this  
interests you, I'd invite you to check out our website at:
http://www.heartwoodcohousing.com

Cheers,
Mac

--
Mac Thomson

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


"All truth passes through three stages.  First, it is ridiculed.   
Second, it is violently opposed.  Third, it is accepted as being self- 
evident."
             - Arthur Schopenhauer


On Oct 26, 2009, at 4:16 AM, cohousing-l-request [at] cohousing.org wrote:

> Date: Sat, 24 Oct 2009 18:48:27 -0700
> From: Kay Spencer <oya.stockdog [at] gmail.com>
> Subject: [C-L]_ co-farming in Pacific NW?
> To: Cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org
> Message-ID:
>         <f3f5546e0910241848s1ad94c30oc182fe46b8c90a72 [at] mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> Please excuse me if I am asking the wrong questions for this forum.  
> I don't
> live in co-housing although I've been aware of it for about three  
> decades,
> through my architect friend Dorit Fromm. Now my husband and I are  
> looking at
> retirement ideas. We're in our fifties. We are not interested in a
> retirement community, though; we would like to put our country  
> skills to
> work within the context of community. We plan to sell our house  
> (almost
> certainly for a ridiculous amount of money, because of where it is  
> located),
> and buy farmable land, in about three years time. Exactly where, is  
> not at
> all decided. We will probably want to design and build our own small  
> house
> there, possibly off-grid, probably load-bearing strawbale.
>
> We built our present house together, years ago, and generally do  
> everything
> ourselves, from constructing solar panels to milking goats. The land  
> we live
> on is too steep and small to do much with in an agrarian sense, and  
> the
> wider community (Santa Cruz County, California) is far, far too  
> urban for
> us, and far, far too expensive to consider buying more usable acreage
> nearby.
>
> My dream is to be able to live and work on a  farm but in a  
> community of
> like-minded people. That is, if I am the sheep lady, there is  
> someone else
> who cares for the apple trees, and someone else who is managing the  
> free
> range egg operation, and the vegetables. It doesn't have to be a  
> real money
> maker, just supplying at least some of the food needs of the group,  
> and
> paying for itself. Nor would a majority of the inhabitants need to  
> farm,
> although it couldn't be just me! I want to explore grass-based  
> sustainable
> livestock raising, in particular -- that requires enough grazing  
> land to
> support a flock without buying in feed.
>
> I worry that the cohousing model wouldn't allow enough privacy and
> independence for a couple which, admittedly, isn't the worlds' most  
> social,
> and which is used to being able to design and build whatever we feel  
> like.
> But I also worry that we are no longer frisky enough to launch a whole
> farming venture on our own, or flexible and outgoing enough to make  
> a whole
> new set of friends in a new location. Hence the idea of co-farming.
>
> When I search the CoHousing directory, it seems that almost all the
> communities which are actually farming in any sense other than 'big  
> veggie
> garden' or 'we have a lot of land someone else farms for us' are in  
> New
> England. Not sure we can relocate to such a different culture and  
> climate
> (not saying never though). I always have found the Pacific Northwest
> congenial and always planned to move there someday, but I don't see  
> much
> activity up there that approximates my dream.
>
> So, questions: Anybody have any advice for me? Anybody know of any  
> possible
> useful contacts in the PNW for me to try? Anybody interested in  
> pursuing
> this dream with me, even virtually?
>
> peace,
>
> Kay Spencer
> Soquel California