So what is Cohousing anyway?

Wife and I live in a Cohousing community. It is not a hippie commune. We do not grow marijuana. Women do not wear granny dresses and go barefoot. No, none of that.

It is an intentional community for seniors. Its intention is to know and help your neighbors. WE set on a seven acre campus that is wooded and with a nice creek running through it. Each cottage is owned by its occupants and is bought and sold as any real estate. The Cohousing community has a common house with commercial kitchen, dining room, living room, TV/media room, exercise room, office, work shop, and two guests’ rooms. Each home is in a fourplex and comes in different sizes. One bedroom and one bath, two bedrooms and one bath, two bed room one and a half bath, and a two bedroom and two full baths. All have its own kitchen with dishwasher, stove top and oven washer and dryer, plenty of closets and pantry, and you can choose either covered car port or a garage with door opener.

Each fourplex of homes faces another fourplex and is divided by a center walk way. All have various sizes of front door patios and back door patios. The intentional part of the Cohousing community is since in each Pod housing units are facing each other this configuration encourages getting to know your neighbors. And it works.

There are many Cohousing communities in most states and not all are designed the same. Some go up by several stories and others are spread out like ours. Most Cohousing complexes are on about two to four acres and are open to the outside. So going out the front door one is bound to meet and talk to a neighbor.

There is a common meal at least once a week. We have a coffee time each Monday morning, a happy hour late afternoon once a week, and a bring your own supper once a week. For the purpose of sharing ideas and complaints we have a monthly meeting of all neighbors and each decision is based on consensus.

I’ve never known this many people in one place. I like it. We support and help each other. WE do our own landscaping, gardening, and maintenance. Sorry, there is no Pickleball court.