I would like to say that mine is a household where celery never goes limp in the crisper. That whenever bread gets stale and milk sours, I miraculously combine them into a delicious bread pudding. Hah. While I may have great aspirations to using every last scrap of food, the plain truth is that in... Read More

There are many right answers to how to design a cohousing meal program and some will depend on the size of the community as well as the demographics. We are a 9 household community with 17 adults and 11 children. We have 2 vegans, about 5 vegetarians and the rest are omnivores with some strong... Read More

First, I have to say I love it here! I was not at all sure I would. Two-and-a-half years of lots of meetings and large potlucks, with little time for one-on-one relating, had made me wonder if I was making a big mistake. Plus, I was giving up a to-die-for view of the river for... Read More

Loneliness doesn’t always stem from being alone. For architect Grace Kim, loneliness is a function of how socially connected we feel to the people around us — and it’s often the result of the homes we live in. She shares an age-old antidote to isolation: cohousing, a way of living where people choose to share... Read More

This year at the 2017 National Cohousing Conference, attendees will be treated to two delicious meals prepared with a focus on Nashville’s seasonal, local bounty. Executive Chef Kevin Randolph’s mother’s home-style Southern cooking inspired all eight of her children to dedicate their livelihoods to a variety of facets related to the culinary arts. Chef Kevin... Read More

Part 2: Common Meal Systems, What’s Typical? – 2016 Interview A continuation of my interview with Joani Blank. I had the privilege of interviewing her by phone a few months before her passing. For part one, visit Part 1: Common Meal Practice Run Though common meal systems share similarities from one community to the next,... Read More

Part 1: Common Meal Practice Run – 2016 Interview “My illness is messing with my brain, making things fuzzy. But this kind of stuff, I can’t forget it.” The cohousing world lost a pioneer and community mentor in the Summer of 2016, Joani Blank of Swan’s Market Cohousing in Oakland, CA. A fierce advocate for... Read More

Off my usual topic of governance but this was a response to a question from a new community that I thought might be helpful to all new communities, and some settled ones. What should we buy of the kitchen? On small appliances: At 14 years we still have donations and have just started buying more... Read

“It is a strategy I think a community could use to jump start their program, and then talk about how to reduce the centralization after a year or more of successful meals. Since we have quite slowly added new households it is quite clear that our successful meals program is what has helped get more... Read More