[LCCH] throwin' out ideas
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Teri Zipf
May 3, 2010, 12:30:44 PM5/3/10
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Marganne,
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That's an idea/dream I've had for years. I would be interested, but I don't want to move from where I am now, and doubt there would be enough group interest in my location. I really hope you can get something together and will follow your progress.
Teri
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Marganne Meyer
May 5, 2010, 4:56:01 AM5/5/10
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At 9:30 AM -0700 5/3/10, Teri Zipf wrote:
>That's an idea/dream I've had for years. I would be interested, but
>I don't want to move from where I am now, and doubt there would be
>enough group interest in my location. I really hope you can get
>something together and will follow your progress.
Where do you live now. Why wouldn't people want to move to that area
>That's an idea/dream I've had for years. I would be interested, but
>I don't want to move from where I am now, and doubt there would be
>enough group interest in my location. I really hope you can get
>something together and will follow your progress.
to build a small house cohousing project?
Marganne
Teri Zipf
May 5, 2010, 1:49:17 PM5/5/10
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Marganne,
I live in Walla Walla, Washington. It's a great place, and is constantly attracting retirees and people who are into wine, but there have been two attempts at starting up cohousing and not enough interest either time, so that's why I don't think there would be enough interest. I'd be happy to be proved wrong! The winters are not horrible, but they could not be called warm unless you moved here directly from Minnesota. And the summers are not as hot as Sacramento, but they aren't as cool as Seattle, and if being near a big city is important to you, the closest city of any size is Spokane, and it is about 3 hours away.
Teri
On Wed, May 5, 2010 at 1:56 AM, Marganne Meyer <marg...@macnexus.org> wrote:
At 9:30 AM -0700 5/3/10, Teri Zipf wrote:
That's an idea/dream I've had for years. I would be interested, but I don't want to move from where I am now, and doubt there would be enough group interest in my location. I really hope you can get something together and will follow your progress.
Where do you live now. Why wouldn't people want to move to that area to build a small house cohousing project?
Marganne
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Lina Menard
May 5, 2010, 2:17:14 PM5/5/10
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Hi Teri (and other small house fans),
It's been interesting watching the conversations resume on the listserv.
Just wanted to chime in to say that I don't think that the second
attempt to start cohousing in Walla Walla is over yet. The first one 15
years ago went on for about 2 years and there just wasn't critical mass
here yet. Two years ago we spent a year formulating bylaws, articles of
incorporation, mission, vision, etc. Last year we invited others to join
us for info sessions. We loved the potlucks and had quite a few visitors
but we found that the meetings weren't attracting people at the rate we
wanted them to. So after 6 months of that we decided to put it on hold
until this fall when we'll have a 6 week class at the community college.
(This was after a conference call with the Executive Director of the
Cohousing Association who said that lots of cohousing start up groups
are doing study groups to share information and explore feasibility of
cohousing in their communities. We thought that was a neat idea and
decided to tailor it to our community by running it through our popular
extended learning program at the community college.
I've already got 8 people on the list who want to participate in the
class and I've had great conversations with several others (lots of
young families and retirees). I think we'll have a better sense next
fall whether cohousing is feasible here. If not, at least we'll have
more people educated about what it is. If so, there is a lot of
potential. We have two neat potential locations, one of our city
planners is excited about the possibility, there is a strong interest in
sustainability among the group (we're considering retrofit or straw bale
since we live in wheat country), and there is a commitment to keeping it
as affordable as possible, while recognizing that capital is necessary
and there's no point in pretending we can build or renovate houses for
nothing.
I've been crazy about cohousing for 15 years, the Not So Big House
concept for over a decade, I've gotten rather obsessed with Tiny Houses
the past couple of years. I've recently convinced two friends to build
tiny houses and let me help. I'm considering building one myself when I
head off to grad school for a couple years before coming home to Walla
Walla again. I was really excited when Teri suggested doing cohousing
with tiny houses last year. I think cohousing and small houses are both
great ways to live with a smaller ecological footprint, to engage more
fully with ones neighbors and nature, and to live more affordably, and I
think it makes perfect sense to combine the two. A few of the folks in
our group would like a bigger and more permanent home, but I love the
idea of having a lot or two that are for portable tiny houses. Perhaps
that will help with the question of where to locate such a community -
we could move from community to community all around the world. Sounds
good to a world traveler and couch surfer like me! I have this vision of
totally transforming the concept of a mobile home park - making them
clusters of little high-quality houses that suit the people who own them.
So if anyone is interested in little houses and living in community,
consider Walla Walla a potential home: www.cowalla.com. We love it here!
Lina
Teri Zipf wrote:
> Marganne,
>
> I live in Walla Walla,
> <http://www.motherearthnews.com/Nature-Community/Great-Places-Walla-Walla-Washington.aspx>
> <mailto:low-cost-community-housing%2Bunsu...@googlegroups.com>.
It's been interesting watching the conversations resume on the listserv.
Just wanted to chime in to say that I don't think that the second
attempt to start cohousing in Walla Walla is over yet. The first one 15
years ago went on for about 2 years and there just wasn't critical mass
here yet. Two years ago we spent a year formulating bylaws, articles of
incorporation, mission, vision, etc. Last year we invited others to join
us for info sessions. We loved the potlucks and had quite a few visitors
but we found that the meetings weren't attracting people at the rate we
wanted them to. So after 6 months of that we decided to put it on hold
until this fall when we'll have a 6 week class at the community college.
(This was after a conference call with the Executive Director of the
Cohousing Association who said that lots of cohousing start up groups
are doing study groups to share information and explore feasibility of
cohousing in their communities. We thought that was a neat idea and
decided to tailor it to our community by running it through our popular
extended learning program at the community college.
I've already got 8 people on the list who want to participate in the
class and I've had great conversations with several others (lots of
young families and retirees). I think we'll have a better sense next
fall whether cohousing is feasible here. If not, at least we'll have
more people educated about what it is. If so, there is a lot of
potential. We have two neat potential locations, one of our city
planners is excited about the possibility, there is a strong interest in
sustainability among the group (we're considering retrofit or straw bale
since we live in wheat country), and there is a commitment to keeping it
as affordable as possible, while recognizing that capital is necessary
and there's no point in pretending we can build or renovate houses for
nothing.
I've been crazy about cohousing for 15 years, the Not So Big House
concept for over a decade, I've gotten rather obsessed with Tiny Houses
the past couple of years. I've recently convinced two friends to build
tiny houses and let me help. I'm considering building one myself when I
head off to grad school for a couple years before coming home to Walla
Walla again. I was really excited when Teri suggested doing cohousing
with tiny houses last year. I think cohousing and small houses are both
great ways to live with a smaller ecological footprint, to engage more
fully with ones neighbors and nature, and to live more affordably, and I
think it makes perfect sense to combine the two. A few of the folks in
our group would like a bigger and more permanent home, but I love the
idea of having a lot or two that are for portable tiny houses. Perhaps
that will help with the question of where to locate such a community -
we could move from community to community all around the world. Sounds
good to a world traveler and couch surfer like me! I have this vision of
totally transforming the concept of a mobile home park - making them
clusters of little high-quality houses that suit the people who own them.
So if anyone is interested in little houses and living in community,
consider Walla Walla a potential home: www.cowalla.com. We love it here!
Lina
Teri Zipf wrote:
> Marganne,
>
> I live in Walla Walla,
> Washington. It's a great place, and is constantly attracting retirees
> <http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bpretire/2006/index.html> and
> people who are into wine, but there have been two attempts at starting
> up cohousing and not enough interest either time, so that's why I don't
> think there would be enough interest. I'd be happy to be proved wrong!
> The winters are not horrible, but they could not be called warm unless
> you moved here directly from Minnesota. And the summers are not as hot
> as Sacramento, but they aren't as cool as Seattle, and if being near a
> big city is important to you, the closest city of any size is Spokane,
> and it is about 3 hours away.
>
> Teri
>
>
>
> On Wed, May 5, 2010 at 1:56 AM, Marganne Meyer <marg...@macnexus.org
> <mailto:marg...@macnexus.org>> wrote:
>
> At 9:30 AM -0700 5/3/10, Teri Zipf wrote:
>
> That's an idea/dream I've had for years. I would be interested,
> but I don't want to move from where I am now, and doubt there
> would be enough group interest in my location. I really hope you
> can get something together and will follow your progress.
>
>
> Where do you live now. Why wouldn't people want to move to that area
> to build a small house cohousing project?
>
> Marganne
>
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
> Groups "Low Cost Community Housing" group.
> To post to this group, send email to
> low-cost-comm...@googlegroups.com
> <mailto:low-cost-comm...@googlegroups.com>.
> up cohousing and not enough interest either time, so that's why I don't
> think there would be enough interest. I'd be happy to be proved wrong!
> The winters are not horrible, but they could not be called warm unless
> you moved here directly from Minnesota. And the summers are not as hot
> as Sacramento, but they aren't as cool as Seattle, and if being near a
> big city is important to you, the closest city of any size is Spokane,
> and it is about 3 hours away.
>
> Teri
>
>
>
> On Wed, May 5, 2010 at 1:56 AM, Marganne Meyer <marg...@macnexus.org
> <mailto:marg...@macnexus.org>> wrote:
>
> At 9:30 AM -0700 5/3/10, Teri Zipf wrote:
>
> That's an idea/dream I've had for years. I would be interested,
> but I don't want to move from where I am now, and doubt there
> would be enough group interest in my location. I really hope you
> can get something together and will follow your progress.
>
>
> Where do you live now. Why wouldn't people want to move to that area
> to build a small house cohousing project?
>
> Marganne
>
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
> Groups "Low Cost Community Housing" group.
> To post to this group, send email to
> low-cost-comm...@googlegroups.com
> <mailto:low-cost-community-housing%2Bunsu...@googlegroups.com>.
Teri Zipf
May 6, 2010, 12:46:29 PM5/6/10
to low-cost-comm...@googlegroups.com
Hi Lina!!!
Thanks for the update on the cohousing group, and I apologize for not providing--or having--the full scoop on our local cohousing progress. Maybe through this group we'll be able to recruit more members. I would think there will be a lot of interest in your class. To the other members of this group, Lina is super-knowledgeable about cohousing. She's done a lot research, outreach, and organizing, and has attended conferences and I think you were a presenter at a big one, weren't you? And we share the small/tiny house fervor.
I'd love to get something affordable going in this area and I'm glad to hear you're still committed to that, even though you'll be gone for a while :(
Teri
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