Community Life

To nurture our connections and to care for our land, we feel it is important to commit to some anchoring principles and practices. These are foundational aspects of our community life. Modern life can be very busy, and we all have numerous commitments. But we have found that maintaining a strong sense of community requires that we all participate fully.

Weekly Dinner Gathering

We gather every Tuesday evening for a meal prepared by a small team of us, rotating the cooking duites so that everyone has some weeks off.

During the meal we practice intentional conversation, or personal check-ins, maximizing the connection potential of our time together.

After the meal, we may extend our time with shared music-making, game-playing or movie-watching.

Weekly Work Day

We gather every Friday morning from 8:30 to 12:30 to care for the land together. We weed, prune, mulch, irrigate, plant, and harvest. We attend to the animals and the garden infrastructure. This is our time to beautify our homestead together.

We may also work together on our building infrastructure, erosion control, retaining walls, woodlot management, or group art projects.

Monthly Fire Circle

Once a month we gather on a weekend day or evening to mark the seasonal and lunar cycles. We sing, share our creative works, and reflect on our lives and current sources of meaning.

Other Activities

We may also use our communal dance space for movement or meditation practice. And we may plan camping trips together. Who knows what else!

Communal Gathering & Connection

Community is about sharing our lives together! We regularly come together for:

  • Shared Meals
  • Land-based Work Days
  • Board games
  • Music-making
  • Fire Circles
  • Deepening interpersonal relationships and heartfelt conversation
  • Group meetings to collaborate, reflect, and make group decisions.
  • Dietary Culture: We are an omnivore community. While individual dietary choices are respected, our shared meals and kitchen culture reflect that we enjoy eating meat.
  • Hot Tub and Sauna Time

 

 

Shared Care & Responsibilities

Maintaining a beautiful and functional homestead takes active, hands-on participation. We work together through regular communal chores, including:

  • Gardening & Landscaping: Nurturing our organic vegetable plots, fruit orchards, and California native plant habitats.

  • Compost & Soil Health: Tending to our rich compost systems to close the eco-loop.
  • Ecosystem Management: We live on a south facing slope between an oak grove and a redwood forest. Our retaining walls and pathways need regular maintenance and expansion. And the woods need brush clearing and fire prevention work. 

  • Building Maintenance: We share responsibility for maintaining our buildings, and repairing fixtures and appliances

  • Animal Care: Tending to our bees, goats and chickens.
  • Wildlife Management: Sometimes we need to address our neighboring species. There are bugs and rodents to manage

  • Spa & Amenities: Maintaining our shared spa and relaxation spaces.

  • Clutter-Free Spaces: Keeping shared indoor and outdoor areas clean, clear, and welcoming for everyone.

  • Waste Management: We are on a well and septic system and exclusively use green, non-toxic, eco-friendly products across the property. We must also tend to our weekly garbage disposal, recycling, and occasional dump runs.