Close-Knit, Established Rural Community in Gorgeous SW Colorado Welcomes New Members

Heartwood Cohousing is located in the southern Rocky Mountains in southwest Colorado. We enjoy perhaps the best four season climate to be found anywhere in the country -- hot, but not too hot in the summer (no air conditioning needed) and snow for skiing in the winter. There's over 300 days of sunshine per year. And we've always got the option of changing the weather by traveling up into the mountains a few thousand feet to get cooler or down into the canyons to get warmer.

In the nearby mountains we enjoy camping, hiking, fishing, wildflowers, kayaking, birding, mountain biking, skiing, spectacular vistas, snowboarding, and snowshoeing. In the nearby red rock canyons we enjoy camping, hiking, exploring Ancestral Pueblo Ruins (like Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon), rock climbing, mountain biking, and white water rafting. We are blessed to live in such close connection with Nature, both on our land and on the vast public lands which surround us on all sides.

We are a rural community situated on 361 acres of irrigated pastureland and forest preserve. Many Heartwood members are involved in various types of small scale agriculture, from vegetable and herb gardening to raising llamas, horses, and egg laying hens. Some members of our community have recently started Heartwood Farms Co-op (http://heartwoodfarmscoop.com), which grows wonderful organic produce for Heartwood members and for sale to the larger community. The Cohousing Association recently awarded us a $2000 community improvement grant to build a root cellar.

Ours is a very quiet and safe community. Children run free outdoors from the time they learn to walk. Nobody locks their home here and most people leave their keys in their car. It's very refreshing compared to the fear which seems to have gripped so much of the world.

Some of the amenities that we share at Heartwood include:
• 361 acres of forest and irrigated pasture.
• 4000 square foot common house with commercial-size kitchen, dining room, guest rooms, rec-room, exercise room, and more.
• 800 square foot yurt.
• Children’s play structure, the S.S. Ponderosa.
• 800 square foot organic greenhouse and irrigated gardens.
• Tractor.
• Henhouse.
• Barn. (This is actually still on the drawing board, but hopefully soon.)
• 1000 square foot workshop.
• Hot tub.
• 3+ miles of trails with more being built every year.
• Tennis court.
• Basketball court.
• Play field.
• Skateboard park (2 quarter pipes).
• Community water wells, water system, and septic system.

We moved into our dream community back in 2000. Since then our relationships, characterized by caring, support, and respect, have continued to deepen. We come from all walks of life and from all over the country. We enjoy an extended family environment with lots of families with children of all ages and also many older singles and couples whose children have grown and left. Many of us work out of our homes, relying on high speed internet, phone, UPS, and FedEx to stay connected with the world.

We are strongly committed to fostering deep relationships within our community and it shows in the way we get along with each other and help each other out.

We are passionate about stewarding our environment. All of our homes are passive solar and very energy efficient. Many of them are strawbale or strawclay. We're very proud to have been recently selected by Natural Home magazine as one of the Top 10 Green Cohousing Communities in America (see http://www.naturalhomemagazine.com/People-and-Places/Natural-Home-Top-10...).

Occasionally homes come available for sale or rent here. Right now we have two strawbale timber frame homes for sale. If living is a close, safe community in beautiful southwest Colorado appeals to you, we invite you to check them out at http://www.heartwoodcohousing.com/HW/WA_-_SALE.html.

Please visit our website (http://www.heartwoodcohousing.com) for lots more community information and photos. And if you like what you see there, you're welcome to come visit us. We have two guest rooms in the common house.