Water Birch Co-op

  • Community
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About the Community

What we do

We are seeking community around shared housing and meals in a large, urban house in downtown Denver. Open-minded, open-hearted, compassionate, self-aware. The house has 11 bedrooms.

The community is a self governing Co-op. The Co-op makes decisions cooperatively for how the house will function, so some things will change as we decide how to make the house work best for the diverse people living here. The starting intentions include:

• Communication with compassion.

• Shared space and life.

• Shared meals.

• Shared staple foods which are Organic.

• Group decision making.

• Safe, inclusive space: queer and trans friendly, anti-racist, non-violent, and feminist.

• The purchase of the house by the co-op in about five years.

• The expansion of the co-op, possibly to include other housing types (like separate apartments).

• Weekly meetings.

• We expect there will be a buy-in fee when the co-op becomes formal. We expect it might be between $500 and $1000 and will be refundable when moving out of the house.

• Quiet hours are from 10:00pm to 8:00am.

We are looking for community members who:

• Want to live in a community not just have a place to sleep and eat.

• Want to live in a beautiful, clean, and organized house and are willing to help make and keep it that way.

• Are curious, compassionate, flexible, and open to living with others who will undoubtedly have different ideas about many things.

• Are interested in pioneering a new co-op. There will be work involved to get there.

• Are responsible and communicative.

• Embrace enthusiastically that living in community requires introspection and personal growth.

• Are not joining as a way to run away from something.

The house belongs to one of the members. The intention is that the co-op will buy the house in about five years at which point the current owner hopes to buy another building nearby to enlarge the community. We would like to include others in our community in the form of dinners that include our neighbors and friends. We have a community potluck every other month and some neighbors garden with us.

Our Vision

To share community, meals, living space, food, and garden. To attend to personal and interpersonal growth.

Our Mission

To share community, meals, living space, food, and garden. To attend to personal and interpersonal growth.

  • 10 Total members
  • Open to new members
  • Open to visitors
  • Open to volunteers
Total
10

How to join

We have an application form. The community reads applications, discusses prospective members, talks to them, meets them, does background checks, and decides as a group. We give 3-6 month leases to begin. At the end of their first year, the community together will decide whether to have the prospective member join permanently.

Basic expectations or agreements for members

We currently have an unoccupied room with a bed. Please call or email if you would like to visit.

Primary decision-making authority

  • All Community Members Together

The whole membership decides collectively.

Governance structure

  • Sociocratic/Circle-Based

Organized in circles or domains with distributed authority.

Economic model

  • Independent Finances

Members maintain separate personal finances with minimal sharing.

Economic scenarios for this community

  • Members need to pay fees, dues, or similar to live there on a per month or per year basis
  • There is a labor obligation
  • Members typically need to have their own job or other personal source of income to cover their expenses while living in the community?

Additional economic information

Monthly fees/dues: $1030
Labor required: 4 hours/week
Members with pre-existing debt: Yes
We require members be capable of paying their deposit, rent, utilities, and shared food costs.  We verify income as part of the application process.

Shared resources and amenities that are accessible to everyone in the community

Common House, Garden(s), Workshop, Large Scale Kitchen, Internet

Frequency of communal meals

  • 2-5 times per week

Substance use culture

  • Substance use occurs primarily at celebrations or ceremonies

Property status

  • Privately owned

Property owner

  • By a single individual, couple, or Family Trust

Setting

  • Urban

Within city limits with access to urban amenities and infrastructure.

Self-produced energy

  • Up to 33%

Energy sources used

  • Photovoltaic Solar

Self-produced food

  • Up to 33%
  • Land area size
    0.16 acres

Reviews

Location

  • Colorado, United States

Water Birch Co-op

Promoted Needs and Offers

Need
  • Communities with Openings
6 months ago

Join us in the mountains of Western North Carolina

Coweeta Heritage Center/Talking Rock Farm is located in the mountains of Western North Carolina. Coweeta is located in a beautiful and diverse temperate rain forest. It feels very remote here yet we are just 12 miles from Franklin, NC. Winters can be mild. Coweeta is blessed with springs and a stream, pristine forests, and abundant wildlife. Power is provided by a hydro-electric system which is not connected to the grid. An organic garden and trout pond provide healthy food that is also shared with the local community. Hiking, kayaking, and other outdoor activities are just out the back door. Coweeta is looking for others who would like to join together to form an Intentional Community embracing the principles of Voluntary Simplicity. Simply put (no pun intended): We wish “to live simply so that others may simply live.” It is a recognition that nature provides us with valuable services and resources that we can use to enrich our lives. Utilizing local resources, appropriate technology, and working cooperatively, we can discover creative ways to meet our needs as “directly and simply as possible.”. An example of this, in the tradition of many Indigenous People”, is to gather, and use wildcrafted foods as part of our diet. There is great joy in going to nature’s grocery for our sustenance. Voluntary Simplicity is based on the recognition that “very little is needed to live well” and that “abundance is a state of mind.” Living lower on the economic ladder allows us more time and freedom to pursue other life goals: community and social engagement, family time, artistic or intellectual projects, more fulfilling employment, political participation, sustainable living, spiritual exploration, and more. According to the Voluntary Collective, “The grounding assumption of Voluntary Simplicity is that all human beings have the potential to live meaningful, free, happy and infinitely diverse lives while consuming no more than an equitable share of (the world’s) resources.” We affirm the need for a work/life balance, the right to a healthy environment and healthy food, and healthy community relationships supporting a diverse population. It is our responsibility as engineers of a new generation to make the changes that we want to see happen and pass this on to the next generations. We can’t wait for someone else to do this important work. Voluntary Simplicity is a quiet revolution that can change the world. As one person said, “we must be poets of our own lives and of a new generation.” We hope you will join us here at Coweeta or elsewhere on our journey to a healthier and more sustainable future! Temporary housing is available in a 27 foot trailer trailer with attached deck next to a creek while we build additional housing. Your basic living expenses (shelter, basic food items, power and water) are met through our market garden or other fundraising projects that you will participate in. You are expected to contribute a given amount of your time and energy to help grow our community and meet our financial obligations. Possible future plans include establishing a retreat center for healing our earth and each other. Work includes organic gardening, construction projects and other community building activities. Come join Coweeta and learn how to live lightly on the land and enjoy the Earth’s bounty! For more information, visit www.coweetaheritagecenter.com Contact [email protected] for a visit or more info.  Paul
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