As I write, the land I live on with 31 other adults and 11 kids is bursting with fecundity.

The first wild greens: miner’s lettuce, nettles and dandelion have all set seed as a riot of poppies, pea blossoms and tiny sets of apples in the orchard portend a summer of deliciously slow collective tasks.

Long, warm days where circles move outdoors, as does the laundry to dry, all to the music of children playing, plotting, negotiating and disagreeing.

These are the sights and sounds of the childhood we wished for our children.

And, within each of our homes is what can’t be seen from our magnificent commons: my partner and I are still tired and stressed. A child is feeling excluded from group play. All the community kids go to school and your homeschooler is bored and lonely. A member with a history of anger issues yelled at a child and some want him to leave.

These are the peaks and valleys we traverse when endeavoring to raise children collectively.

Amy, Jessica and I are delighted to be exploring this territory with you in the upcoming Raising Children in Community course.

Find out why, despite the messiness and perpetual discomfort of it all, we each continue to choose community as the container within which to raise our children.