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    Wednesday, November 16, 2005

    Communal Living - CoHousing

    Interested in an Intentional Community? Earthaven Ecovillage and Southern Dharma are a few communities in our area.

    The Practice Community at Southern Dharma (PCSD) is an intentional sangha or practice community developed adjacent to Southern Dharma Retreat Center (SDRC) where individuals with a spiritual practice can live, retreat, study and meditate with the support of others.

    The PCSD consists of ten sites or "holdings" that are divided into three clusters along the Dharma Path. Seven of the ten holdings are now owned. These holdings consist of five completed cabins, one pre-existing cabin, and one cabin under construction this Fall 2005.
    Link
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    Earthaven Ecovillage is an aspiring ecovillage in a mountain forest setting near Asheville, North Carolina. We are dedicated to caring for people and the Earth by learning, living, and demonstrating a holistic, sustainable culture.

    Since 1995, we have grown to 60 full members--from young children to a great-grandmother--and we expect to grow to 150 people. We are building homes in 14 neighborhoods and developing on-site businesses as part of our own village-scale economy.
    Link
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    Zendik (zendik.org) moved a few years ago to West Virginia, but there's also the Westwood Cohousing Community, and Zim Zam Intentional Community.

    3 comments:

    Raines said...

    Thanks for the cohousing references! You can find a national directory and info on particular communites at the Cohousing Association of the United States (Coho/US) site. The broader intentional communities movement is represented by the Fellowship for Intentional Community (FIC). The ownership model, financing, and other elements are a little more specifically defined with cohousing.. by embracing the market system, mortgages, and not having community gurus or philosophy, they tend to get built quicker, and the resale element provides greater freedom, relieving some of the let's-all-get-along pressures (although cohousing groups do get professional training and instruction on conflict resolution and group process)

    Raines Cohen
    boardmember
    Cohousing Association of the United States (Coho/US) and FIC
    member, Berkeley

    Matthieu said...

    Hi, we just published a documentary on the cohousing phenomenon. It won an award at the 34th Ekotopfilm festival 2007 and was designed to show what is cohousing "from within" as a complement to the existing books.
    The trailer can be watched at http://notsocrazy.net/video.html
    Enjoy!
    Matthieu
    Director of "Voices of Cohousing"

    Unknown said...

    Thanks so much for your information! ❤️ I currently looking for a Homebase in either one of these situations of community living. I’m a Artist/Painter and am looking for one for Artists. I need a living/working space large enough for both. If anyone knows of one please let me know it would be most appreciated And I will watch your Documentary and congratulations. I found another website that was very informative and she actually gives workshops on co/Housing and intentional living. It influenced me to really think about things that you normally wouldn’t with that lifestyle and was helpful with contemplation on what it is your looking for, a group in which is a right fit and so on.