We are in the early stages of organizing, and are reaching out to discover how many others are seeking to start an ecological community in the Southern Catskills area.
The type of vision that inspires us is one that is truly diverse, ecological, affordable, multi-generational—and of course grounded in kindness and compassion.
Our ideal is a sharing community for all ages living in real partnership. It is important to us that this is a place with economic opportunities for young people to live an ecologically sane life of purpose now. It’s also important to have a home for elders to live with the joys and security of a supportive community and the satisfaction of giving back to the next generations, and for all of us in-between the opportunity for becoming good ancestors if we can!
So, we are searching for a good-sized property that can provide room for more than just co-housing; there will be room for organic farming and other land-based enterprises which might include farm stays, education, small eco-manufacturing, and more.
We have years of experience living in communities and are excited to start one in the Southern Catskills. If this resonates with you, we’d love to hear from you.
Hi Christine! That sounds incredible and I am interested in an eco-village in the same area! I was also open to the Berkshires area. I’d love to be in touch to discuss more about your plans!
Your ideas sound really good to me, especially the focus on ecological responsibilty AND the hope to build a community that includes the whole aging spectrum, that’s a strong interest of mine.
I’m about move to western Massachusetts, not far from the Berkshires, to work toward a graduate degree in Ecological Landscape Design (I do historic garden restoration now), but I love the Catskills and I really don’t know where I’ll be headed in the long run.
I noticed you suggested a zoom call and I would like to be included in that if you don’t mind?
I think you can send a direct message to me through my profile so I can give you an email address (I’m still learning the workings of the forum) or you could just reply here, I usually check in every couple of days.
Hi Ted–
Great to hear from you. The topic historic garden restoration sounds really interesting. Would like to hear more about it.
Aside from continuing to look for the right property–and doing lots of Spring planting–we will also have a website up soon. Will definitely include you in our upcoming zoom call. Stay tuned!
Christine
I’m in the Catskills region as well. My vision is somewhat different, but would be open to collaboration. My project involves an anarchist, Christian, income sharing, monastic network of small communities around the region or the world.
I am Kevin, Christine’s life partner, and want to give an update. We have been continuing the full time search for land, even if we haven’t kept up with the full-time organizing! The truth is we’ve been moving to rush ahead with buying a homestead and farm, knowing it may well be challenging to buy first and then hope to attract folks later. We just haven’t had the time and bandwidth to do the necessary organizing, though we both know doing it with community is far preferable to going it alone…
Before we commit to buying our own place, we do want to connect with folks here, and at least get a zoom call together. If anyone feels like chatting in the meantime, my cell is 347 820 2947
If you two own the land without putting it into an LLC or something that others are part of it can be hard to attract folks, as many people want a share in things if they’re going to work hard. There are times this isn’t the case, but often it is.
Fully agree Riona! Democratic ownership is the only way to go…
We recently bought a big house on 8acs and are happy to share that, but we are happy to put it back on the market in order to be involved in a true community effort.
I’ve come to see that someone buying the land and then figuring out how to make it sharable actually makes a whole lot of sense, as buying land collaboratively with friends is risky and difficult, even when they’re close friends. I tried my hand at cofounding with a group and realized that my husband and I, as embarassing as this is, are going to be better at joining than founding. That way we can use our first-time homebuyers grant oppertunities to buy into something that already exists, as those can’t be used collaboratively with others to acquire land together.
I hope things are coming along and you’re finding others to connect up with you and figure out land fairness methods. 8 acres is a good size, and a lot of communities eventually turn the main house into the common house since its already interesting and pretty whereas houses added in later may be newer-looking and less unique. I’m just glad your dream is coming along!