Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Cohousing-L Digest, Vol 264, Issue 14

[Jim Leach (jim]

Lew, I have asked our Silver Sage community team to help do a joint response to 
your request for input on deepening relationships. I am hoping this will lead 
to some good intra-community sharing. - Jim

-----Original Message-----
From: lewbowers155 [at] gmail.com <lewbowers155 [at] gmail.com> 
Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2026 1:34 PM
To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
Cc: lewbowers155 [at] gmail.com; 'Dyan Wiley' <dyanwiley21 [at] gmail.com>; 
'Neil Planchon' <nplanchon [at] gmail.com>; 'Cohen Raines' <rainesc [at] 
gmail.com>; Jim Leach <jim [at] whdc.com>
Subject: RE: Cohousing-L Digest, Vol 264, Issue 14

My name is Lew Bowers; I am on the "Seniors in Cohousing" Committee of Coho US 
and live in PDX Commons in Portland. I am interested in collecting formal 
techniques/processes/events that communities have used explicitly to deepen the 
relationships between members. I recognize that almost all the structure and 
processes of cohousing have a goal of deepening relationships to some degree, 
but most of those - such as common meals, shared work projects, consensus 
decision-making, architectural design - have other goals as well, i.e. eating a 
meal, getting the work done, making a decision, building a community. Also, the 
impromptu discussions when you run into someone in the common house and the 
informal gatherings can serve this function. I am interested in the more formal 
techniques/events/processes which are explicitly designed with the focus being 
to deepen relationships.
In our community,  we hold listening circles, where a group of members get 
together to share their thoughts on a particular topic; and conversation cafes, 
where a small random group get together over dessert and respond to prompt 
cards to share their unique perspectives. We also have recently started 
"Storytelling Evenings" where several members share true stories about their 
lives with the community. The goal of all of these is explicitly to deepen our 
connections and to have fun of course.
What does your community do to deepen relationships? For instance, if you use 
prompt cards, what cards have you found most useful? What other events has your 
community successfully used? 
After I have collected different examples, I will write an article for the Coho 
US newsletter on the topic and offer a virtual workshop to share what I have 
learned.
Engendering deeper personal connection between members is one of the most 
important benefits of living in community. Let's learn how to do it better and 
more explicitly.
You can either respond to this list , or you can send me an email at:
lewbowers155 [at] gmail.com.
Thank for your help to further cohousing.


-----Original Message-----
From: Cohousing-L <cohousing-l-bounces+lewbowers155=gmail.com [at] 
cohousing.org>
On Behalf Of cohousing-l-request [at] cohousing.org
Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2026 3:16 AM
To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
Subject: Cohousing-L Digest, Vol 264, Issue 14

Send Cohousing-L mailing list submissions to
        cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org

To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
        https://lists.cohousing.org/mailman/listinfo/cohousing-l
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
        cohousing-l-request [at] cohousing.org

You can reach the person managing the list at
        cohousing-l-owner [at] cohousing.org

When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than
"Re: Contents of Cohousing-L digest..."


Today's Topics:

   1. Kitchen Inventory Inquiry (Ann Lehman)
   2. Re: Kitchen Inventory? (Ann Lehman)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2026 20:17:13 -0800
From: Ann Lehman <ann [at] zimmerman-lehman.com>
To: Cohousing-L <Cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org>
Cc: Laura Nelson <nelsonalpert [at] gmail.com>
Subject: [C-L]_ Kitchen Inventory Inquiry
Message-ID:
        <CAEJbfBRRyNewMmLxPNfG6MisSLdrONdikHix_Jn7QM6HikjQYw [at] 
mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

Berkeley Moshav is just under a year from completion.  Folks setting up our 
kitchen asked, "Do you keep an inventory of the items (not of food but pots, 
dishes, spatulas, plates, etc.) that are in your communal kitchen. If so, can 
you share it with us?

Please be sure to respond to Laura Nelson, cc'd.


*Ann Lehman*
*ann [at] zimmerman-lehman.com <ann [at] zimmerman-lehman.com>**510.755.5701 *

*S*



*ubscribe for Free ENews, ZimNotesserving nonprofits for 30-plus 
yearsannlehman.substack.com/subscribe
<https://annlehman.substack.com/subscribe>zimnotes.org/
<http://zimnotes.org/>*



*@zimnotes.bsky.social*


------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2026 20:28:49 -0800
From: Ann Lehman <ann [at] zimmerman-lehman.com>
To: Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Cc: Laura Nelson <lauranelsonlcsw [at] gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [C-L]_ Kitchen Inventory?
Message-ID:
        <CAEJbfBTOZwSP3Oi+Q+jtNHuNOB0dmqerFggH6eqojBfMXUy6og [at] 
mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

Berkeley Moshav is just under a year from completion.  Folks setting up our 
kitchen asked, "Do you keep an inventory of the items (not of food but pots, 
dishes, spatulas, plates, etc.) that are in your communal kitchen. If so, can 
you share it with us?

Please be sure to respond to Laura Nelson, cc'd.




*Ann Lehman*
*ann [at] zimmerman-lehman.com <ann [at] zimmerman-lehman.com>**510.755.5701 *

*S*



*ubscribe for Free ENews, ZimNotesserving nonprofits for 30-plus 
yearsannlehman.substack.com/subscribe
<https://annlehman.substack.com/subscribe>zimnotes.org/
<http://zimnotes.org/>*



*@zimnotes.bsky.social*


------------------------------

Subject: Digest Footer

_________________________________________________________________
Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at:
http://L.cohousing.org/info


------------------------------

End of Cohousing-L Digest, Vol 264, Issue 14
********************************************