When I lived in England, I quickly learned that upon entering a home, I would be offered a cup of tea. It took me longer to appreciate the fullness of the ritual. My British peers rather enjoyed schooling an uncouth American, and one day they explained that the custom required me to accept the offer.... Read More

This story was written in 2003 and first published in David Wann’s book Reinventing Community: Stories from the Walkways of Cohousing. We are republishing it here with permission because it is such a great example of how cohousing communities nurture and support beyond the community itself. We’ve been living with foster children in our house... Read More

Not all topics are created equal. In the context of cooperative culture, some topics are much tougher to get at than others. Here are half a dozen that I encounter regularly. These are by no means all, but they’re representative. If your group consistently handles any two of these well, you’re way ahead of the... Read More

Today I’m blowing on the coals of an exchange I had right before Thanksgiving with my friend, who offered the reflections below on my blog of Nov 20, 2016 Defining Cooperative Culture. As I am taking a few days off work, I thought I would comment on your latest very interesting blog. I think you... Re

Back in 1974, when a group of four of us started Sandhill Farm, I started down a path that ultimately added up to my dedicating my life to building community. While that commitment has never wavered (the need for community today as more urgent than ever), I’ve frequently adjusted the lens through which I see... Read More

South Mountain is the northern extension of the Blue Ridge mountain range in Pennsylvania. Nestled in the picturesque foothills of South Mountain just west of the historic borough of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania is the cohousing community of Hundredfold Farm. Situated at nearly 1200 feet up a winding gravel road on approximately 75 acres, the community members,... Read More

I lived in Salina, Kansas for 31 years. Every time I left the house I ran into someone I knew, and often, knew well. Newly arrived in Burlington, I knew only my daughters and a couple of their friends. The first time I was out and saw someone I had met recently, I went over... Read More

My neighbour just pointed us to this interview with a social scientist whose new book “How we live now” includes discussion of cohousing. It starts off with a picture of our community, Mosaic Commons (pic by Tim Pierce, article by Jessica Gross) http://blog.longreads.com/2015/08/27/breaking-the-mold/ – Breaking the Mold: Social scientist Bella DePaulo’s research reveals a broad

“The disappearance of these once-central relationships—between people who are familiar but not close, or friendly but not intimate—lies at the root of America’s economic woes and political gridlock.” – The Vanishing Neighbor, Marc Dunkelman CITYLAB (from The Atlantic) released a fascinating article Aug 19th: Why Won’t You Be My Neighbor? based on recent neighborhood-level data...