Farm House Presentation Overview

March 8, 2009, 12 noon.
Come hear the developers present an overview of the project, followed by a tour of the ecovillage and available units. Come prepared to take your shoes off in the units.
4647 NE Killingsworth St. Park in the parking lot, then walk north to the farm house, located 350 feet north of Killingsworth.

Look out- it's the LANDSCAPE TEAM!

Now that we're eating regular meals together in the farmhouse a couple of nights a week, after-dinner team meetings are getting rambunctious (well, the landscape team has always been rambunctious!) 

Here's the landscape team plotting their next project for us:

new mailboxes!

Now we can get our mail at Columbia Ecovillage!  For privacy, the numbers are all scrambled up, so we're having fun guessing whose mailbox is next to your own...

The storage house

This is some trick of Joe's wide-angle lens, making our storage house look like it needs to go on a diet. 

Join us at Roses Ice Cream Tuesday Night

Are you curious about Columbia Ecovillage? Ever wondered what it would mean to live in a cohousing community? Are you ready for a change in your life? Get all your questions answered and meet members and other interested folks at this social, February 24, 6-8 pm at 5011 NE 42nd. We still have a few units available.

Make sure to swing by our community website to learn more about our vision and values and membership pathway. To see the beautiful renovation which is nearing completion and the ecovillage land, and for information on remaining available homes, visit the developer's website.

Then come on down on Tuesday to meet our members in person. We'll have a slide show of the site and can answer any questions during the info social. This is a kid-friendly event :)

The Garden Work Party- Part of the Dream....

     One of the quotes from our spring "dreaming" workshop included the following: "Working together like a colony of ants" or some-such. I definitely felt the "antiness" on Saturday, when a large group of villagers came together to move earth and stone, plant, ply with brownies and ginger lemonade, and all in all have a good time in the process. Some of us dug heavy clay (where are the ceramics mavens when you need them!?),some planted trees, some toted wheelbarrows of soil, compost, and mulch, and some did a wonderful job of planning and directing us worker ants. Particularly as I was hauling clay in one direction, then compost back in the other direction, I experienced the collective work of creating our anthill home. 

   All worked cheerfully and well, and I offer a particular shout out to the gals, many in our "later decades", who kicked ass in the heavy lifting department.(Should I be more delicate, language-wise?) I am proud to be part of such a sisterhood...

I'm sorry that I don't have an accompanying picture, but someone else will, soon, I hope. I hear that rocks were placed this week as well, and I look forward to seeing the continually developing landscape of our home. Soon, many of us will be moving home at last. I am grateful for the joy of our friendship and common purpose.

Gratitude also to the Brownie Fairies and other folks who feed us in heart and body.

New owners Garth, Suzanne with Marlenne

Jef and Stacy in front of unit after getting keys

Deborah, Kathleen and Pam on Kathleen's balcony after move in

Our First Community Dinner, February 10, 2009

We have had many potlucks meals together before, but somehow this evening was different. It could have been the fact that Lori was cooking and all we had to do was show up and eat. Or that members had actually started to move into their units, making this project seem tantalisingly real. I had arrived early, at 4 pm to help Lori and her team. I made chili chutney for the first time.
People arrived at 5:30 and we said a blessing over the meal. Lori described all the dishes, an Indian meal, free of gluten, milk, soy, wheat, nuts, or apples. It was magnificant.

start the week off with Columbia Ecovillage!

Whether it's the end of a long weekend for you or the start of your work week, come celebrate President's Day (now that we have a president worth celebrating!) Monday February 16, at Columbia Ecovillage's weekly information social event, this week at the Chapel Pub at 430 N. Killingsworth St, from 6-8 pm.
We'll have our usual lively mix of ecovillage members and new faces interested in hearing more about the project and the few remaining units left on our 3.75 acre organic farm and cohousing site in NE Portland. If you're curious about cohousing and wondering about how you might join our community, come check it out! You might get a peek at some of the photos from our quarterly landscape work party, held amidst the snow, sleet, and finally sun of Saturday morning and afternoon.

Storage Building with new siding

Joan and Ev enjoying the sun

Community Planting the new swale (Ken in foreground)

New swale for storage building

Newly painted parking lot

Bike Shelter shell

What to do with your life - By Ken Weizer

After you’ve had your mid-life crisis, your first divorce, and you or a loved one has had a life-threatening illness – what do you do with your life?

Well, now may be the time to think outside of the box. Literally. To think outside of the box of your house, your relationships, and your life.

What if there was a place to live, where you were a part of a vibrant living organism called a community?

What if this community as filled with wonderful, unique, intelligent, successful, and interesting people. And what if, instead of passing by all these people in life, you actually got to live life with them? To share with them, break bread with them, create cutting edge projects with them?

What would it be like to be heard and seen for who you are, and yes, challenged and encouraged to grow and be what you always wanted to be?

Well, welcome to Columbia Ecovillage – a co-housing community that is hopeful enough to believe that a group of divergent personalities can live a better life together, and mature enough to know that each individual

has something essential and valuable to add to the group.

 

Interested in finding out more? Come to one of our information socials.

See WWW.COLUMBIAECOVILLAGE.NET or Contact Joe Leith,

JOE@COLUMBIAECOVILLAGE.NET

 

Sidewalk pouring between Buildings #4 and #5

Sidewalk work