Twin Cities Cohousing Network News
Here's the latest TCCN newsletter. Please consider joining the Network
so the newsletter can continue to be published and cohousing promoted in
the Twin Cities! Memberships are $30 per year and I can give or mail
you a brochure which has a membership form in it.
Twin Cities Cohousing Network
Update
The Twin Cities Cohousing Network (TCCN) has slowed down as of
late and has our voicemail and mailing addresses. At the TCCN meeting
in December, we talked about the future of the Network and what kinds of
activities we will be doing in the future. People where somewhat
divided about whether or not we should still provide minimal services or
mothball the organization. It was concluded that we should keep the
network going on a minimal basis, providing a newsletter and maintaining
a mailing address and a voicemail number.
FINANCES
We are low on funds currently and only have enough to do a
newsletter one more time. In order to keep on providing a newsletter
and keep our voicemail active, we need people to renew. PLEASE JOIN THE
NETWORK OR RENEW TODAY. See the sign-up form in this newsletter.
NEW ADDRESS
The network let its post office box lapse so we have decided to
use the Monterey address as our permanent mailing address. So in the
future, all renewals and correspondence should be directed to:
TCCN
2925 Monterey AV South
St. Louis Park, MN 55416
NEW VOICEMAIL
Our voicemail number has changed also, it is now 321-2901. The
old service was expensive and unreliable so have switched to a new
provider (hence the new phone number). Call this number for updates on
network happenings.
WORK PARTIES
At our last meeting we also decided to start series of work
parties where we go around to cohousing sites (or potential cohousing
sites) and help with what ever tasks need to be done. The first such
event too place when members of the Network helped Eric Hart with the
strawbale construction display he is building at the ReUse Center in
Minneapolis. Another event took place at the home Fred Olson is
renovating on New Year's day. A good number of people turned out for
this event and had a very nice meal before starting work cleaning up the
house, getting it ready for new tenants. Another event has been
scheduled for February.
Dorothea Moga has taken on the task of organizing people for
these events (thanks Dorothea!) so give her a call at 922-5494 if you
want to help.
Hay River Community co-op
Update
A lot has happened in the Hay River Community Co-op (HRCC, also
known as Riverside) during the past nine months. Many of our members
planted gardens on our land last spring and all were gratified with the
results. Michael and Basira grew over 300 winter squash and have been
enjoying eating and selling them. Over the spring and summer three
families from our community moved from the Twin Cities to Wisconsin.
Steven is living in the old farmhouse on our community land and
has turned the living room into an alternative school. With students
ages 6 to 10 it reminds one of the old one room school house. Chicken
and guinea hen care, gardening, walks and explorations, fields and woods
are all included in his curriculum.
Leda moved into a house in Wheeler (about two miles from our
land) which she had bought with several other people. She is in the
process of renovating the house and starting a rose business.
Michael and Basira are renting a house about two miles north of
Wheeler and have fields in front and woods behind. All of us are still
commuting to the Twin Cities for work, though we look forward to the day
when that won't be necessary. We are all glad to be out here.
Charlie and Shelley just moved too. They sold their house and
bought a four plex on the west side of St. Paul. Ann is busy with her
job and does lots of traveling. Chuck is home seeking new employment
and Christine is working full time. Lots of changes. Those of us out
here in Wisconsin are getting acquainted with the area and are
especially appreciative of the well established home schooling network
and co-op and are discovering lots of people choosing alternative
lifestyles. It's a wonderful area.
We are excited to be taking our site plan to the Tainter Town
Board this month. Our plan includes 23 sites for building homes, a
community center, parking area, roads, pedestrian greenway, and
gardens. After their approval, the plan goes to the zoning board for
approval and then we're ready to starting building! So, the next nine
months promise to be an exciting time for us.
We are open to new members; families, couples, and singles who
would like to share in this process of creating an intentional community
with us. We are interested in living in harmony with each other and the
earth, alternative affordable housing, eventually being off the
electrical grid, homeschooling, organic gardening, developing cottage
industries, and working, playing, and sharing life together.
If you would like more information please contact Basira at
(715) 632-2461 or Leda at (715) 632-2529 in Wisconsin or Charlie Borden
at 222-2551 in the Twin Cities. We have monthly land weekend meetings
and would welcome your visit and questions.
COOPERATIVE BLOCK COHOUSING OPPORTUNITY IN ST. PAUL
David Liset is currently organizing a cooperative block
cohousing site on the block he lives on in St. Paul. David has control
of 7 units of housing on the block. He says that there are several
single family houses for sale on the block and that the block has much
potential for urban retrofit cohousing. The block has no alley which
makes it easier to convert and is near Charles Avenue and Rice Street.
Contact David at 228-0356 for more information.
HOMEWOOD COHOUSING
by Fred Olson
THE VISION
The embryonic Homewood Cohousing Community is in the Homewood
neighborhood of Minneapolis, MN. Homewood is a low and moderate income,
racially integrated neighborhood about 2 miles north west of downtown
that has mostly owner occupied single family houses built in the 20's
and 30's. Fred H. Olson and Becca (Elizabeth) Brackett are the
initiators of the community whose focus area is the 1200-1255 Russell
Ave. North and east side of 1200-1255 Sheridan Ave. North. We invite
others to share the vision.
We envision a cohousing community evolving over a long period of
time as a "retrofit" cohousing community in existing housing. Member
households will include those that move to the area because they share
the vision and current residents of the focus area who choose to join.
The former will happen as houses become available.
As our membership grows and permits, we expect the community to
share such activities as a supper coop, child care exchange, friendships
and frequent interaction among members, gardens, common space including
dining areas and workshops for such things as woodwork, home repair,
automotive repair and computer / Internet access.
UPDATE
The last few months - since August when we got possession of the
second house (1240 Russell) - we have been busy working on "1240". We
are not done yet but are getting close. It was in pretty good condition
although we under estimated how long this would take. We did most of
the work ourselves. The new windows, refinished oak floors and
repainted trim on the front of the house (and innumerable other things)
have improved it a lot. The main task immediately ahead is to find
occupants for "1240". We've been thinking that this may not be cohousing
people initially. A number of friends and relatives of neighbors as
well as people from the neighborhood have expressed interest in a
non-cohousing rental of the house if we cant find cohousing oriented
occupants. Work on 1240 has kept us busy enough that we have not done
too much recruiting and organizing to build support for the community.
We have had a few potluck suppers. There is a young woman - Linnea -
interested in cohousing and living at 1240 for a year or so. She is the
daughter a neighbor, a college student and an organizer. She is looking
for roommates. There are several other people with some cohousing
interest and some interest in 1240, though no families.
The house across the alley (1216 Sheridan) is no longer a
possibility for acquisition. Our city council member (council chair
Jackie Cherryhomes) will be moving in there after it is renovated.
Jackie has some interest in cohousing and borrowed two of my cohousing
books for several weeks. On the other hand she is very busy and not
inclined to socialize when she gets home.
A very nice 6 unit apartment building across and up the alley
(2419 Plymouth at the corner of Sheridan) has been for sale since last
fall. We discussed buying it as part of the cohousing community but it
seems like more of a project than we are ready for at this time. Fred is
shoveling the sidewalks and a few other chores for the current owner
while he spends 3 months in Arizona. He has owned it for the last 30
years. We saw this as a way of becoming more familiar with the building
and maybe forming a relationship with the current owner that could
evolve into a partnership or something. Now it appears that the
building will be bought by a neighbor who is sympathetic to cohousing.
His intent is for his mother to live there and he expects she will be
interested in cohousing! We hope to learn of vacancies as they arise
there so we can try to recruit cohousing oriented tenants - tho the
turnover rate has been quite low. There is also a double bungalow just
south of the apartment building (1238-40 Sheridan) that is for sale.
This is a nice building which has some potential.
INVITATION TO SHARE THE VISION
Because of the long term evolutionary nature of retrofit cohousing and
consequent lack of the usual core group of future residents, development
of Homewood Cohousing will be facilitated by a cluster of non-resident
supporters who share the vision but don't live there. Supporters will
participate in policy discussions,lend credence to the vision, help
spread the vision and thus help locate potential members and possibly
participate in such community activities as the supper club
occasionally. If you support the establishment of Homewood Cohousing,
contact Fred by email at fholson at cohousing.org
or (612)588-9532 or at 1221 Russell Av N, Minneapolis, MN 55411.
Supporters will receive the community newsletter (by Internet initially).
web page is at: http://MN.cohousing.org/homewood
Monterey Cohousing
submitted by Dorothea Moga
Somewhere along in our second year of cohousing at Monterey
Cohousing Community one of our residents, Michelle Schutt, fostered an
evening of sharing. She invited other residents to sign up for a 15
mintue slot during an hour and a half's time of a Saturday evening.
It was a well received community event which has been repeated
numerous times since. At the most recent sharing, resident Carol Perry
read the following folk tale, written by her (and Mike Dole's) 7 year
old daughter, Brianna. It is offered here in the context of acquainting
others interested in cohousing with some of the pleasures of cohousing
community life and people.
"A very long time ago the earth didnot go round. There once was
a creek that we now call Minnehaha Creek. But at that time it did not
have water in it. It has sunshine in the day time and at night time it
had moon light.
Now every winter it had snow in it. Every summer children threw
pebbles in it. One spring when the snow was melting it found that the
pebbles had taken up the bottom! So, it became the water. The sun and
the moon were pretty angry because they had always thought of that creek
as their very own. So they made a plan to pull the pebbles out of the
creek. When they pulled the earth started going round and they have
kept pulling since so the earth goes round. The end."
Monterey's seven new townhouses were completed last summer and
residents completed the landscaping last summer also. There still is
one new townhouse unit available. Call their voicemail number
(930-7554) for more details.
New Vegan Cohousing Group Forming
by Eric Hart
A group of 5 people met in early January to start planning a
vegan cohousing community. Pam started things off by posting a message
on the cohousing electronic mailing list expressing her interest in
starting a vegan cohousing community in the Twin Cities. From that
posting she got two interested people and knew of two additional people.
So far there are mostly single people in the group so they are
concentrating on finding a small sized apartment building (around 8
units) to convert to cohousing. The focus of this community is on a
vegan lifestyle, although the only hard and fast rules regarding this
will be all vegan common meals. Most of the people in the group have a
strong environmental ethic as well. So far we all are vegan/vegetarians
and are bicyclists.
The group is very much in the formative stages with much of the
work of forming a cohousing community left to be done. If you want to
get involved with this group and do your part to get it started, call
Eric Hart at 722-3260 or email him at erichart@mtn.org
Contacts and Resources
TCCN Voice Mail
Check the Twin Cities Cohousing Network voice mail, 321-2901, for
current events
Monterey Cohousing Community:
930-7554 (voice mail)
Hay River Community
Co-op (Riverside): Charlie Borden, 222-2551 (Twin Cities Contact); or
Basira Weber, (715) 632-2461(Wisconsin contact).
Twin Cities Cohousing Network Board of Directors
The Twin Cities Cohousing Network Board of Directors consists of : Eric
Hart (722-3260); Rick Peterson (436-6442); and Pat Craft (642-9158).
Cohousing-L is an electronic mailing list discussion of cohousing
related topics. Contact Fred Olson at 612-588-9532 or
fholson at cohousing.org for more information..
Credits
This newsletter edited by Eric Hart. Assistance with mailing and
printing was provided by Susan Anderson and members of the Monterey
Cohousing Community.