Transition Whatcom

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Community Living

Transition Whatcom's Great Unleashing "Community Living Working Group" welcomes all to share ideas, inspiration and resources for Co-housing, Cooperative Living and Ecovillage development here.

Location: Bellingham
Members: 66
Latest Activity: Jul 8, 2016

" If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together."

- Al Gore

Discussion Forum

Wanted: Land For Rent, to park tiny house and garden

Started by Tiffany Marie Geaudreau Jul 8, 2016. 0 Replies

I'm helping my mother, Celeste, find a new place to live.  She sold her house in Spokane and is Moving to the Bellingham area and set up her tiny house in a Long-Term Rental situation.The Tiny House…Continue

Tags: rent, land, house, tiny

Rental Opportunity at Inspiration Farm

Started by Brian Kerkvliet. Last reply by Brian Kerkvliet May 2, 2015. 2 Replies

Newly remodeled beautiful 2 bedroom, 1 bath 1200 square foot home on 1 acre. On Laurel Rd. between Guide Meridian and Hannegan Rd. Bright and sunny, with good southern exposure. Nice pastoral views.…Continue

Cohousing Study Group 1 2014 - Aging Successfully

Started by Basha Osinski Aug 11, 2014. 0 Replies

Re: “Aging Successfully 2014,” October 6 – 10 We're on fire to get senior cohousing communities built at a faster pace.  Join us for Aging Successfully 2014 this October 6–10 in Nevada City,…Continue

Dedicated Family seeking community/place to build a structure

Started by Nicole Styles Oct 29, 2013. 0 Replies

The Styles Family is ready to live in a sustainable structure that we build ourselves, to be the change we wish to see in the world. But we have no land of our own and are seeking the right space to…Continue

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Comment by Chris Wolf on May 19, 2010 at 2:08pm
Therese VanAsschle (another TW member) just posted this on another discussion, it seemed relevant to us: "I have long advocated for community living and have had the resources to buy land (0.9 acre) and a large 1911 Craftsman home with that in mind. It's keeping and maintaining it that would benefit from additional people sharing space on the land. That said, I have also long grown, gleaned, bartered and scavenged for food. and do support my local farmers with what they have avaiable for purchase. Learning to live without other things, or find an acceptable substitute.

that said, I once again have living space available in my home (large refurbished upstairs with 2 bedrooms, a studio room, and bathroom with shower.) Also lots of gardening space still available on this land. We have 5 varieties of apples, plums, blueberries, rasberries, 2 hazelnuts, one old gnarly pear tree 9but she bears fruit) and lots of established raised bed gardens and more in the works to replace front lawn with a medicine wheel herb garden and other consumables. Also planning to put in a chicken coop this summer. So in the interest of community living, please share this with those you know looking for a community living situation who can pay $400 a month for rent & utilities and contribute on the land. Thanks, Treese"
Comment by Renata Beata Kowalczyk on May 16, 2010 at 1:16pm
I am teaching a class on the 27th but want to stay in conversation. Just today, I signed an agreement to sell my apt in NYC and ready to explore what's next for me, here in B'ham. Hence, I am going to the national Coho Conference in June to learn the nuts and bolts of creating a co-hosing community.
Comment by Chris Wolf on May 15, 2010 at 4:53pm
Hi friends, thanks for the great meeting this week. I am in some serious conversation with a few friends about creating a communal living situation... I have invited them to join this group so we can all put our thoughts together.

So, is our next meeting Thurs, May 27 at 5PM? Where? Let's be good about posting our meetings here so people can find them. Thanks!!
Comment by Rev. Meredith Ann Murray on May 12, 2010 at 4:37pm
Thanks, Robert, for letting us know about the plan to meet every other Thursday at 5 PM. So the next one is May 27. I wonder if ReSources would let us use their room? Or the CoOp Connections building or the meeting room at the Cordata CoOp?
Comment by Robert Plant on May 12, 2010 at 3:29pm
Items from the last meeting.
It was my understanding from the last meeting that the group would try to meet every other Thursday at 5 PM, so those with busy schedules can do some planning ahead. I am not sure if we have a set regular meeting place set?

Also, I have contacted the Bellingham Co-housing group about having a working/knowledge sharing party. They are very open to opening their community to people who are looking to learn from them. They currently have no projects that they need helping hands for, but when we have a specific idea on what we would like to do, we should involve their community.
Comment by Rev. Meredith Ann Murray on May 12, 2010 at 10:57am
Wow - thanks, Bruce, but I need more than one day's notice for my schedule. Can we schedule these things at least 10 days in advance? I hope to make it to one! Blessings, Meredith
Comment by Bruce Horowitz on May 11, 2010 at 4:05pm
Next Meeting: this Thursday, May 13, 5 pm at the Old Foundry, corner of Maple and Cornwall.
Comment by Rev. Meredith Ann Murray on May 3, 2010 at 1:32pm
Great ideas, Daimon! I like your line of thinking - skills that include interpersonal relationships and communication are as important as physical skills.... and some are stronger and more able-bodied than others. Thanks for your input!
Comment by Daimon Sweeney on April 30, 2010 at 7:47pm
Thanks for the notes, Cindi.

I wasn't able to make it this time. When/where is the next meeting?

The evolving list of skills is very useful. Developing that skill set is probably the most critical element of a successful community, in my experience. Sometimes people assume they can live as they usually do except with a bunch of people around, and it doesn't work. There is something else going on in communities and it takes a different kind of awareness to make it work well.

Another aspect of the skill set is what are the minimum skills needed to be accepted as a participant in a community, if any? Is there an entry level? Admission criteria, so to speak?

That would be up to each community but worth considering. Personally I would like to see a level of communication and conflict management skill and awareness, along with demonstrated willingness and ability to work through issues rather than clam up and go to the reptile brain when something doesn't go as desired.

To the list of skills I would add decision-making. Consensus is one form of decision-making but maybe not the ideal in all situations. The general topic of decision-making would include consensus as one way and identify others with their best uses.

To conflict management I would add conflict prevention as a related topic, meaning ways of communicating that tend to make conflict less likely. That is not suppression but handling issues collaboratively before they turn into conflict, for instance, or turning potential conflicts into collaborative explorations of the best alternatives. Then with conflict management I would include ways to make conflict as productive as possible when it happens. NVC is one method but again, not the only one.

The networking of those who are living in communities with those who want to opens both sides up to learning and raises the general level of community understanding about living together in ego-systems (great word). Such ongoing learning seems like a key to fostering more and more successful community-living. Integrating that across the county-wide ego-system and beyond, if it can be done, would be a very useful accomplishment.
Comment by Cindi Landreth on April 29, 2010 at 9:55pm
Hi Community Folk
Short but sweet notes from the meeting we had today:
Let's start with a bit of humor -
We identified our secret mission: promoting functional 'ego-systems'

Agenda items:
We revisited the sketch of a mission but didn't work on it anymore. Bruce has volunteered to wordsmith it from this point.

1. We talked about the ways in which we might want to network those living in community with those wanting to live in community and how might we share information between us. We came up with several ideas - the one we decided to act on was to contact a few existing communities and see if they would like to host a few guests and share their experiences and knowledge. We would also, then, offer some energy for a project they are working on (many hands make light work). We identified 6 communities and 2 consortium of communities that we will contact.

2. We talked about what is the skill set for living in community. We decided this would likely be an ongoing list. We got it started in the last 5 minutes or so - here are a few:
1. Non-violent communication
2. Organizational models - Acorn/8 Shields Model; Holocracy
3. Consensus Process
4. Conflict Resolution
5. Physical skill sets - a community would do well having diverse skills
6. Taking responsibility
7. Accountability
8. Being present
9. An understanding of Permaculture
10. Ability to collaborate
11. Willingness to process

3. We identified and wanted to share a resource that people might not know about: Diana Leafe Christian has two books out - Finding Your Community and Creating Community. She lives at Earthaven Ecovillage and has a newsletter that some of you might like to receive.

Next meeting agenda items:
1. What sort of 'highly visible' projects might we consider taking on?
2. Come up with questions we would like to discuss with communities when we visit them. (see item 1 above)

If someone else who attended would like to add to this, please feel free.
 

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