Re: The Village

[Guest guest]

My husband and I have been thinking about doing some sort of

community for a while now. We recently checked out a forming

cohousing group here in Seattle, but they didn't have much of

a 'vision statement,' so we decided not to participate. Tom has been

studying alternative agriculture and I of course am obsessed with

starting a grass-based dairy. We both want to provide healthy food

to a local community in a sustainable way. We would definitely be

interested in partnering with other people. I think it would be

great to have a whole set of friends to work with!

Washington State is gorgeous and mild in climate, although the

Seattle metro area is getting more developed (crowded) all the time.

There is a lot of former farmland for sale...we are saving for some

property but haven't found anything big enough/suitable for a dairy

in our price range yet. We have thought about going to Vermont or

somewhere else over on that coast, but we aren't too familiar with

the area. There seems to be a lot more knowledge about rotational

grazing and dairies over that way.

Sara

[Guest guest]

Hey vermont now thats a good idea, and you would have your own personal tour guide with tonio. Hey tonio I have always wanted to come to vermont you could show me around too. Isn't it real cold up there though? I loved the movie baby boom with diane keton it was set in vermont.

Smiling

Brittanys_l_moore_2001 wrote:

My husband and I have been thinking about doing some sort of community for a while now. We recently checked out a forming cohousing group here in Seattle, but they didn't have much of a 'vision statement,' so we decided not to participate. Tom has been studying alternative agriculture and I of course am obsessed with starting a grass-based dairy. We both want to provide healthy food to a local community in a sustainable way. We would definitely be interested in partnering with other people. I think it would be great to have a whole set of friends to work with!Washington State is gorgeous and mild in climate, although the Seattle metro area is getting more developed (crowded) all the time. There is a lot of former farmland for sale...we are saving for some property but haven't found anything big enough/suitable for a dairy in

our price range yet. We have thought about going to Vermont or somewhere else over on that coast, but we aren't too familiar with the area. There seems to be a lot more knowledge about rotational grazing and dairies over that way. SaraPLEASE BE KIND AND TRIM YOUR POSTS WHEN REPLYING!Visit our Raw Dairy Files for a wealth of information!http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RawDairy/files/

[Guest guest]

Vermont has many wonderful things going for it, but it does have very long viciously cold winters. It is a small state and land is still relatively cheap compared to some parts of the country though it is going up a lot thiese days. Heating bills and winter sun deprivation is something to consider. I believe Vermont still has the highest suicide rate in the nation, which I believe is blamed on depression caused by the short days of winter combined with rural isolation.

However, community participation would help dramatically if people knew how to have fun together in a caring and supportive way. I have lived in close communities before, and I miss them. Both of my experienced communities dissolved because of people growing up, forming personal nuclear families and/or doing their own thing on their own.

This group seems more mature, on some levels, and many sound like they would be bringing their own respective nuclear families into the community rather than the other way around.

A fair warning - I've seen many relationships come apart due to close community contact and the resulting excelerated personal change.

However, for visiting, all of Vermont is quite beautiful. No need at all for a tour guide, for which I'd probably be fairly useless.

~Tonio

Hey vermont now thats a good idea, and you would have your own personal tour guide with tonio. Hey tonio I have always wanted to come to vermont you could show me around too. Isn't it real cold up there though? I loved the movie baby boom with diane keton it was set in vermont.

Smiling

Brittany

[Guest guest]

I haven't chimed in up to this point, but I'd like to mention that

although land prices are a bit high here in Oregon, it is a wonderful

place to live. Oregon seems to *support* free thinkers - almost to

the point where I have to roll my somewhat conservative eyes now and

then. But raw milk sales are legal here and are purchased from the

farmer as long as there are 3 or less milking cows/9 or less milking

goats. This would of course mean that the village would need to be

set up as individual families within a village rather than as several

families sharing *one farm*.

The four things that I have to contribute to the ongoing conversation

are:

1. Oregon (at least Southern Oregon) has 4 very distinct seasons -

and NONE of them are extreme. The people here *celebrate* the 4

seasons. Our Spring season starts in early March, while it is still a

bit showery, with the trees blossoming and really goes through June.

Our Summer heat really *starts* about the 3rd week of July, when we

will get over 100 degree highs off and on for about 6 weeks (I think

our average is 7 to 10 days of 100 degrees or over), but the lows in

the mornings are 55-65 degrees and at noon we are only about 75.

Also our summers aren't humid. We don't have hurricanes or major

monsoons come through. Our Autumn months are colorful (but probably

not like Vermont!)Our winters here in the Medford area are wet, but

not icy, although we may get from 1 to 4 inches of snow within the

entire winter months. We do get down in the 20's at night for part of

the winter. Here in Medford, we stop watering and mowing the lawn by

about Nov 1st, but the lawn stays green all throughout the winter.

We get approx 20 inches of rain per year, most of it falling between

Nov and March. So we have a very long growing season here. Some

areas of Oregon do get 100 inches of rain (along the coast) and get

plenty of snow, but not here in the Rogue Valley.

2. This area really supports organic growers. Our local Grower's

Market has about a half dozen *certified* organic farmers with

produce stands (including my own source of RawDairy) and many more

that are organic, but not certified. This means that a community

village farm would have a local market to sell goods to. This same

Grower's market sets up in several nearby towns each week, from April

1st to Thanksgiving.

3. The population is the county is about 150,000 give or take. This

area is large enough to have lots of *things* to do, both culturally

and rurally, but small enough to not be citified. There is snow

skiing in the winter nearby, lots of fishing, hiking and outdoorsy

things. There is even a Matsutaki mushroom season in the

Autumn/Winter that can produce extra income. But we are still

cultural with the world famous Shakespearian theater in Ashland, and

the weekly outdoor Britt Music Festival in the summer months. This

area is about halfway between Sacramento to the south and Portland to

the north and is called the *hub* of southern Oregon. It is also

very family oriented and has a strong home school support system (a

good friend of mine just finished homeschooling her 2 kids here).

There is a diverse assortment of churches to attend, including some

new age stuff in Ashland, if you are into that, as well as lots

evangelical churches, including the Applegate Christian Fellowship,

that holds services outdoors in the late Spring thru Autumn months in

their amphitheater that holds something like 3,000 people (if you

google it you can see the ampitherater on their website).

4. I agree with Tonio, that the relationship situation could be a

touchy one. Although we are semi like minded, we seem to be rather

vocal in our opinions and have many differences in our belief

systems, political leanings, etc. How that would play into an NT

Village I don't know. Also, it would need to be flexible enough to

allow those of us who need more income to work outside the village.

And for those who have physical limitations to be able to contribute

to the village doing other things than the hard labor-type chores.

Anyway, those are some of my thoughts to this discussion

Rhonda

Oh, and we don't have any sales tax here in Oregon! If the sticker

says $19.95 and you hand the clerk a $20 bill, you get a nickel in

change. The downside is personal income taxes - ouch! I guess the

state has to have money one way or the other...

> Vermont has many wonderful things going for it, but it does have

very long viciously cold winters. It is a small state and land is

still relatively cheap compared to some parts of the country though

it is going up a lot thiese days. Heating bills and winter sun

deprivation is something to consider. I believe Vermont still has the

highest suicide rate in the nation, which I believe is blamed on

depression caused by the short days of winter combined with rural

isolation.

> A fair warning - I've seen many relationships come apart due to

close community contact and the resulting excelerated personal change.

> ~Tonio