Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: common meals good/ problematic

[Sandy Thomson (sandykthomson]

At Heartwood Cohousing we have always really valued common meals and have done 
a few different things to keep them going. Now we have a Taco Tuesday potluck 
that is really popular especially with families.  It is early at 5:30 and 
people bring their own dishes, so there is no clean up, and something to share 
that goes with tacos.  We use mosaic also and it works really well for potlucks 
and for common meals. People can sign up with what they are bringing and we 
know what is needed.  Wednesdays is a regular common meal with two cooks, two 
clean up people.  There is a head cook who shops and planes the meal and an 
assistant who helps get it on the table and the tables set up.  Before COVID we 
had two common meals a week after just one but we added the taco Tuesday so we 
still have three meals a week.  We have a regular potluck on Fridays.  Cooking 
and cleaning count as work hours.  We ask that everyone put in 25 hours a 
quarter work for the community. We also do a monthly Sunday brunch that 
sometimes is potluck brunch and sometimes someone wants to cook and it is 
treated like a common meal. 
Hope that helps,
Sandy 
Heartwood cohousing



> Cohousing ABQ in Albuquerque is looking for input from other communities on 
> what has worked well or not worked well when it comes to policies or programs 
> around Community Meals. Lots of factors to consider! We?re working on getting 
> our policies in place prior to construction getting started later this year. 
> Your experience in this area would be greatly appreciated!
> 
> Pat Bailey
> Cohousing ABQ Membership Team