We had a Great Harvest Festival yesterday here at Heartwood. There was food, music, games, garden tours and harvesting. Plus and amazing Harvest moon!
Bevan always happiest in the garden.

We had or first EVER Farmer's Market here on the common house terrace last weekend. All the produce was grown down on the Farm and baked goods were donated and sold.  We sold more produce here at Heartwood than we have at the Bayfield market!  And it was a LOTmore fun.  Let's do it again.

It's hard to believe that it's been almost 10 years since we moved into Heartwood Cohousing and our dream of life in community became a reality.  In those 10 years Heartwood has developed into quite an amazing little village.  Our relationships have deepened immensely, the children are thriving, our ability to make wise decisions together and resolve conflicts continues to improve, the gardens and landscaping are flourishing, and I think it's safe to say that we've all grown individually as a result of living together in community.  We are living the dream.

I don't know if it's the times that we live in or the reputation that Heartwood has developed, but inquiries about Heartwood and visits by prospective members are at an all time high.  

If you're interested in realizing your dream of living in community, Heartwood's Phase 2 might be a great opportunity for you.  I'd suggest you check out our extensive website (www.heartwoodcohousing.com)where details on reserving a place in phase to can be found. And maybe schedule a visit if it's been a while since you've visited.  We've really grown and evolved.  I've also set up an email chat just for people interested in Phase 2.  To join, send a blank email to:  HWP2-subscribe@googlegroups.com.

If you have any questions, feel free to send me an email or call (970-884-2196).  Note that I will be at the national cohousing conference in Seattle from June 20 - 29 so if you try to get ahold of me during that time, it will take me a while to get back to you.  Unless of course, you're at the conference, in which case, please make a point of connecting with me there.

I'm looking forward to co-creating Heartwood Phase 2 with you.

Yours in Community,

Mac

-- 

Mac Thomson

Heartwood Cohousing

Southwest Colorado

http://www.heartwoodcohousing.com

Farmer's Almanac

 

We had a beautiful Mother's Day morning down in the garden

A couple of weekends ago.  

Lots of good food, laughter and celebration.

The gardens looked great and much has happened since we were down there.  

Heartwood Farms has been to the Farmer's Market in Durango twice.

The soil in many of the beds has been amended.

Beets, onions, onions and more onions have been planted.

Four kinds of lettuce are growing.

Also planted since then are green beans, peas, melons, tomatoes, cucumbers, spinach, brocoli, garlic scallions, cooking greens, radishes and 2 kinds of cabbage.

The upper garden is two thirds of the way planted.

Lettuce will be ready to harvest in 3 weeks.

The 450 strawberry plants that got planted are doing well.

The fruit trees are leafing out.

The crab apple trees are blooming.                                                           

There are 9 baby goats.  All girls except for Cassanova the only billy.

The bees are doing what bees do.

Birds are nesting in the bird houses.

The interns now have running water.

Pam has found us a handicap van with a lift to 

transport produce and people to the markets and

make deliveries for $100.  Thank you PAM!

Dixie has goat milk for sale in the store.

1 QT for $2.50

1/2 Gal for $4

1 Gal for $8

Please bring clean jars back to the store so she can reuse them.

There will also be some of Dixie's raw herb cheve made from milk from her goats and herbs from Heartwood!

They will be planting 8,000 potatoes over the next couple of days.  If you have a spare hour or two please show up at the garden Thursday or Friday and drop some potatoes in.  It's easy, some of the older kids could definatley do it.  

Things are moving right along at Heartwood Farms where all the trees are strong, the bees are good looking and the amount of potatoes that need to be planted in way above average!

2009 Heartwood Retreat

The retreat task force was comprised of seven people participating at different levels. The four core players were Anne, Beth, Lyn G. and Fran. Others who contributed were Maddy, Shannon & Jeroen. Their contributions were immensely valuable, each in their own way.

2009 Heartwood Retreat - Gong Show

Fun Gong show co-hosted by Al & Addy!! Great team hosting!! The photos will only give you a clue…..

2009 Heartwood Retreat - Dinner

The food was spectacular and nurturing prepared and served by Martha, Ted & the kids. Ending with a great Chuck-wagon dinner complete with wagon built by kids, Ted & Chester!! Yumm Yumm!!

2009 Heartwood Retreat - Saturday 4

We finished the day with Kinesthetic Modeling led by Beth. We used sacks of ‘holy scrap’ and built models first in small group and then as one large group. The project was done in silence and then debriefed. Most people felt most comfortable in the small groups and eventually found their place in the larger group. The debriefs were very informative.

2009 Heartwood Retreat - Saturday 3

Dynamic Continuum is a process choreographed and led by Anne to help us see where we are on the ‘continuum scale’. It’s similar to the horseshoe model we’ve used in the past where each person lines on the horseshoe one end being comfortable and the other end not comfortable with the concept presented, such as ‘conflict’. Anne’s movement based exercise allows room for the concept that all situations are dynamic and can change moment to moment. The middle of the circle is where we feel connected to the situation or each other…..and the outer edges of the circle is where we do not feel connected. Anne presented concepts such as you’re at a common meal, you’re at a common meal and you’ve had a hard day, you’re cooking a common meal. It was fun the see the visual of where people feel connected and where they do not.

2009 Heartwood Retreat - Lunch

We shared a nurturing and delicious lunch! Thanks Ted, Martha & the kid cook crew!!

2009 Heartwood Retreat - Saturday 2

Next Fran presented her ChoiceCards; a visual, auditory & kinesthetic representation of the language of compassion. It’s a way to bring to awareness of our choices and with every choice we can play with the distinctions of what unites and what separates. We can choose from a framework based separation, domination, life-alienating, power over/under & violence. Or a framework based on unity, life-enhancing, life-serving, power with, contributing to the well being of people and planet. ChoiceCards was developed and presented through her story of being mis-understood and her quest for integrity and to be understood.

2009 Heartwood Retreat - Saturday 1

Saturday March 7 opened with Beth presenting ‘Our Stories’. In order for our minds to compile the vast amount of information that comes our way we form ‘mental models’ based on images. Most of these mental models are formed by the time we are 6 or 7 years old. And we all have different mental models, kind of like ‘different languages’ even though we all speak English.

From these unique mental models we create stories. Some of these stories unite us and we acknowledged that these exist and are working well in our quest of collaboration and community living. And some of these stories separate us. These are the places we bump into each other, feed frustration, lack understanding and generally create conflict. We chose to look at the stories that separate us in small break-out groups and then shared the stories with the larger group. This is what separates us.

We discovered that what is underneath these stories is usually a deeper story like I’ll die, I’ll be kicked out from the tribe and left alone to die, I be disconnected with life yet remain among the living in the tribe. Frightening and scary stuff!!