Inspired Sustainability

Samuel Kaymen (kaymen@worldnet.att.net)
Wed, 31 Mar 1999 21:28:21 -0500

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May I recommend this web site for your heart and mind.

http://www.coopsports.com/cobbhill/#BriefHistory

Samuel
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Cobb Hill Cohousing, Hartland, VT

COBB HILL

March 1999

This is an introduction to Cobb Hill - a cohousing community, research institute, and organic farm -- all experiments in sustainable living being created in Hartland, VT. We hope you will find this information useful for learning who we are, where we’re going, how far we’ve come, and how you might participate.

This Web Site is Sponsored by Cooperative Sports On-line Magazine.

You will find here:

How to get Acquainted With Members

5. Land and Design Plan

Clustered Housing Site Plan
Common House Floor Plan (preliminary)
Photograph from High Pasture
Before and After from Upper Pasture
Photos: An autumn walk through the lower pastures
Individual House Floor Plans (Please note these are preliminary designs)

6. The Sustainability Institute

7. Projected Timeline

8. Levels of Participation

9. List of Members

Related Sites

There are several ways to get better acquainted with the project and with members: (top)

Make contact with a member (see section 9 for phone numbers, etc.) to introduce yourself and ask questions. All of us welcome these inquiries and value new ideas and information.
Join our lively email list-serv, through which we discuss everything from the agenda for the next meeting to timely concerns and issues. To subscribe to this list, contact Mike Yacavone at mike@xeniumcorp.com. You can listen as long as you like, and are welcome to introduce yourself and pitch in on the conversation whenever you wish.
Come to an introductory meeting, designed to give newcomers a chance to visit Cobb Hill, walk on the land, view design plans, meet some of the decision partners and have your initial questions answered. These meetings will be planned as interest and schedules dictate. To learn about the next introductory meeting, please call Beth Sawin at 802-436-1393 or email her (esawin@aol.com). See travel directions below.
Attend monthly community meetings, after you have attended an introductory meeting. We use these to get better acquainted, conduct business, educate ourselves about sustainable community, and make decisions. Sometimes we have presentations from architects, naturalists, planners, lawyers, etc. We take time on meeting days for conversation, outdoor exercise and potluck meals.

Meeting Dates for 1999 are: (top)

Sunday, January 10 Sunday, May 16 Sunday, September 19

Saturday, February 13 Saturday, June 12 Saturday, October 9

Sunday, March 14 Sunday, July 11 Sunday, November 14

Saturday, April 10 Saturday, August 14 Saturday, December 11

Meetings are usually 9:30 to 4 or 5, followed by a pot-luck at the Kirns’ home. In order to accommodate the number of people attending, we have started to meet in available public facilities in Hartland. Please contact a DP for this information in the week of the meeting.

Directions to the Rice-Sawin and Kirn houses:

Exit 9 off Interstate 91 at Hartland/Windsor exit; follow signs RT12/RT5 North towards Hartland
At village of Hartland 3 Corners, turn left onto Route 12 towards Woodstock
Take second right after sign for Skunk Hollow Tavern onto Mace Hill Road; Pass Hunt farm with two silos on your left.
For Rice-Sawin home take first left after Hunt farm onto Spencer Meadow Road; their home is #13 – a reddish-brown cape.
For Kirn home, continue on Mace Hill Road, which bends left at Y for about ½ mile to Kirn driveway on left

1. Brief History (top)

Discussion about co-housing, community, and sustainability had been happening for some time among a group of people that includes several current Cobb Hill members and friends. Active search for land began in February 1996, and continued for 18 months, although the Curtis and Hunt farm properties in Hartland were found on the very first land search outing. Seeing this land gave concreteness to the vision of a cohousing community. People met to talk, walk the land, and figure out how to go about turning a vision into a reality. The Sustainability Institute was registered as a corporation and received nonprofit status from the IRS in 1997. In December 1997, The Sustainability Institute purchased the two Hartland farms. In 1998 we formed a limited liability company (LLC), hired a design team, chose a building site, started planning "sustainable systems," and wrestled with challenging budgets. Most importantly, we have started to get to know one another and to build the social structures through which we can work together to create our dream.

2. Vision (top)

Cobb Hill is an intentional community of people who want to explore the challenge of living in ways that are materially sufficient, socially and ecologically responsible, humanly rewarding, and satisfying to the soul. As a rural community, one of our interests is sustainable land management -- organic farming, ecological forestry, minimization of waste. Another interest is the skills of community: sharing, responsibility, compassion, communication, consensus building, conflict resolution, appreciation of diversity, and love. We believe that these skills are critically necessary to bring the larger society to sustainability and sufficiency, and we want to practice them to the best of our ability.

The lifestyle of the community will be frugal in terms of quantity, rich in terms of quality. It will strive for a sane balance between privacy and communality, labor and leisure, freedom and order. Decisions will be made by consensus and, insofar as possible, according to what will be best for the community, for the land and for the world over the long term.

Cobb Hill members will earn their living variously from the land, through work for the Sustainability Institute, through teaching or workshops inspired by the land, through arts or crafts based on the land, and through outside jobs. We will not be a non-profit organization; we will pay taxes to the town of Hartland and participate in town affairs. We will work toward self-sufficiency of food, water, energy, building materials, and waste-processing.

We expect that members will have a commitment to sustainability and community, responsibility to others, openness to learning, fiscal responsibility, and a willingness to do one’s share of the work.

Each member household will own both a share in the commonly owned land and private equity in a living unit. Decisions about operating budgets, capital investments, resale, and land use will be made by the membership in a consensus process.

3. Purpose (top)

Community arises when individuals form a whole greater than the sum of its parts. Sustainability and community both require long-term thinking and a dedication to something larger than our narrowly defined selves. We have embarked on a journey toward sustainable living as a small community, because we feel that a small scale is necessary for learning and practicing the skills of cooperation and right livelihood.

This purpose statement lends guidance as we journey forward together. We intend to be guided by values and principles, rather than by expedience. This statement will always be under development, as our membership learns and evolves.

Our purpose is to learn, practice, and share the art of living sustainably, productively, joyfully, in ways that replenish ourselves, our communities, and the natural world, and that deepen our spiritual development and awareness.

We come to this venture with humility, acknowledging there is no single path to sustainability. We will pursue our path to the best of our ability, and refrain from judging those who explore other paths. We come willing to experiment, to tell the truth about our experiments, and to learn from our mistakes. We can't claim to follow the principles listed here perfectly. They point out the direction we want to take, not a place we have reached.

4. Principles (top)

UNITY

We will respect the beauty, sacredness, and interconnectedness of all life and the unity, power, and mystery of the universe. We will strive to reflect these truths in our lives, farm and community.

BEAUTY

In our physical structures and our work with the land we will strive to create the kind of beauty that comes from mindfulness, holism, and elegant simplicity.
We will work with native and sustainably harvested materials and energy sources, and with designs appropriate to a rural Vermont setting.
We will think on the scale of the whole landscape and the long term.
We recognize the beauty of loving relationships as well as the physical beauty of buildings and land.

COMMUNITY

We will found our actions on respect for ourselves, for each other, and for the biosphere.
We will find ways to work together that build on our diverse strengths.
We will identify and engage with our conflicts, while working toward solutions.
We will avoid isolation and indifference; participate fully; communicate honestly, patiently, and compassionately.
We will allow the many aspects of our personalities and talents to flourish, encouraging time spent in reflection, meditation, appreciating nature, and other creative pursuits.
We will take responsibility for our thoughts and actions, avoiding negative thinking and assumptions that lead us to create enemies. When tempted by distrust and fear, we will turn toward trust and love.
We will respect and support both individuals and families within the community.
We will ground ourselves in our own farm community and also participate in, learn from, and support the communities around us.

EQUITY

Our community will welcome people of all races, religions, ages, sexes, sexual orientations, and incomes.

We will not equate people’s worth with the dollar amount they can command in the market. We will assume that each person’s time, independence, obligations, and pleasures are neither more nor less important than each other person’s.

We aspire to right livelihood, practicing integrity in our dealings with people, nature, and money.

We will live simply, acknowledging that material simplicity often requires a commitment to complex solutions.

We will strive to satisfy our non-material needs non-materially.

SUSTAINABILITY

To the fullest extent possible, we will derive our physical and spiritual sustenance from the local land and people.

We will use natural resources -- such as soil, forest, and water -- with high efficiency, in ways that enhance their purity and productivity.

We will make decisions based on the long term well-being of the land and its human and non-human inhabitants.

We will work together to care for the land, the common buildings and the shared resources of the community.

We will experiment with techniques and technologies to find more sustainable ways of living. We will share our successes and failures honestly and actively engage with others working toward sustainability.

Finally, since the world often tells us we must sacrifice one of the above values in order to achieve another, we need to affirm our belief that over the long term and in the widest context all values do reinforce each other.

SYNERGY

When physical, monetary, or time limitations seem to imply the need to compromise any of these values, we will use that apparent dilemma as an indicator that we need to look more deeply, to slow down and center ourselves, to find ways to simplify, share, or extend our time or space horizons, in order to discover the natural synergy that makes all values rise or fall together.

5. Land and Buildings (top)

Cobb Hill is located in the Upper Valley region of the Connecticut River valley, about a 20-minute drive south (on Interstate 91 or Route 5) of Hanover and Lebanon, N.H. and White River Junction, Vermont.

We have purchased two adjoining former dairy farms, each 120-140 acres, in Hartland Four Corners, one of the villages that comprise the town of Hartland, Vermont. The Hunt farm, with the farmhouse just half a block from the village, has barns and silos, 12 acres of prime farm land, high pastures with beautiful views, and a large regenerating forest. The Curtis farm, more remote from the village, has a house, barn, and outbuildings, another 10 acres of bottom land, more pastures, a mature forest (including a 1000-maple sugarbush), and a small stream and pond. Both farms are on east-facing slopes of a north-south valley. The Hunt house, built in the 1930s, is plain and solid; the Curtis house is an old, charming, Vermont cape.

The farms became ours on December 1, 1997. The Curtis house and 2 acres of land has been sold to a member family of our community, with repurchase rights. The Hunt house is now rented to another member family, while we design and build our new homes and common house. When this is accomplished, the Hunt house will become the Sustainability Institute office.

We have sufficient land for the construction of 20-22 housing units (tightly clustered) plus a common house -- and for serious farming and forestry, not only to provision ourselves, but also for some of us to make a living from the land. We will protect the open land with permanent conservation easements.

On our substantial acreage, we have chosen a building site which is close to the village neighborhood and low on a hillside, where water is abundant and soils are good. Though we value privacy and will design for it, we also want to be part of the larger community, open to people who want to work or visit with us. We imagine a farmstand, craft workshops, educational and recreational activities that will enable us to participate in life with the larger local and Upper Valley community.

It will take us 3 years to qualify the farms for organic certification. For the first two of those years, we will not try to farm in Hartland; we will just work organic matter into the fields, do soil tests, and bring the land into fitness. We are working out procedures for sugaring, grazing, and other land-management issues during these transition years.

We have chosen a team of professionals to help us site, design, engineer, and permit a 20 unit housing development. The chief architect is Jeff Schoellkopf of Warren VT; our energy systems consultant is Marc Rosenbaum of Plainfield NH. Decisions to date include:

A common house with kitchen and dining room, children’s play space, apartments for residents who will use the common kitchen and dining room, and guest rooms.
Homes will be clustered on the hillside near the common house to minimize land impact, to emphasize community, and to realize savings from community-level water, sewage, and heating systems.
Less road and car space and more shared outdoor space, such as courtyards or "town greens," where people can gather and children can play safely.
Design of homes and the common house with the best energy and water efficiencies and green materials we can afford. We will experiment with sustainability technologies (e.g. composting toilets and solar hot water) to the extent we can afford them and obtain permits for them.
High-quality, durable, beautiful construction. Thoughtful landscaping that respects the natural beauty of the hillside and woods.
Relatively small homes, counting on the common space as an extension of our homes for such activities as some common cooking and meals, laundry, children’s play space, guest quarters, library, indoor exercise (yoga, dance), crafts and carpentry, and big-item storage (canoes, bicycles, etc.)
Variation in home designs to accommodate families of various sizes and needs, with common features agreed upon by all, to allow economies of scale as well as a coherent appearance.

We are working out agreements to assure each family will have equity in its private house plus a share in the land and the common house. We have formed a limited liability company (LLC) to oversee design, permitting, and construction. All decision partners become members of the LLC when they buy into the community. When construction is finished, the LLC will sell the property to a homeowners association (also made up of all decision partners) and go out of existence.

The homeowners association will manage the common property and enforce governing rules decided upon by the community. We don’t know yet whether this will be a coop, a condominium, a community land trust, or some other legal form.

We will consider developing the farm as a number of separate small businesses, perhaps working toward a single cooperative business. We plan to establish our own mortgage fund.

5A Individual House Floor Plans

These were first posted on this page December 9, 1998.

6. Sustainability Institute (top)

The Sustainability Institute is a nonprofit think/do tank devoted to analysis, planning, and communication that furthers sustainable, equitable, and sufficient societies in all parts of the world. Its central strength is top-quality systems thinking, supplemented with dynamic modeling and excellent numerical analysis. The Institute will assemble expertise in sustainable management of resources, especially water, land, forests, energy, people and synergistic systems.

The Institute is working on the "big picture." Cobb Hill will work on the practical implementation of that picture in one particular place. The Institute and community will constantly inform each other. For more information write to: Sustainability Institute, PO Box 174, Hartland Four Corners, VT 05049.

7. Projected Timeline (top)

Fall 1998 -- Site design, hydrology, well-drilling, engineering design.
Winter 1998-99 -- Act 250 (Vermont’s land use law) permitting, water supply permitting, sewage discharge permitting.
Winter 1998-99 -- Detailed design for common house and individual homes. Secure construction loan, select construction company.
Late Spring-Fall 1999 -- Construction. Set up mortgage fund. Finalize legal documents for homeowners association. Finalize land easements.
Late 1999/Early 2000 -- LLC sells property to homeowners association. MOVE IN!!

8. Levels of participation (top)

Decision Partners (DPs)

Decision partners have become members of Cobb Hill and of the LLC. Each current DP household has made a $20,000 commitment to the LLC to fund design and permitting costs. A similar commitment is expected from each new DP household. This payment is fully at risk.

Individual or families who wish to become decision partners will take the following steps, as have present decision partners:

Consult with a current decision partner to explore interest in Cobb Hill membership. Identify that family to become your contact/mentor/sponsor and to help you schedule next steps. We encourage interested people to participate actively in community and committee meetings and tasks as a way to get to know other members and to become known to members.

Meet with members of the Finance Committee to talk over the financial obligations of participation. We are eager to accommodate a variety of financial situations, while ensuring the financial health of the community.

Through your contact family, schedule a "clearness" meeting with the decision partners. Clearness meetings are inspired by the Quaker tradition; they involve quiet conversation and silence as a way for all to explore interest, concerns, opportunities, questions and, finally, the wisdom of taking this step into full commitment.

Consulting Partners (CPs)

Consulting partners are those who are interested in Cobb Hill though not ready to commit to membership. They participate actively in monthly meetings and are involved in committees and other work. They have significant influence on decisions.

Consulting partners are asked to contribute $250/year/household, which will be included in their contribution to Cobb Hill common costs if they decide to commit, but is otherwise non-refundable.

Interested People

Anyone who is interested is invited to get to know the Cobb Hill community by following the email conversations, coming to an introductory meeting, and thereafter attending community meetings. There is no charge for this participation.

Investors

We welcome dialogue with persons who may be able and willing to invest substantial funds in the Cobb Hill pooled mortgage fund, which will be developed at a reasonable rate of interest.

9. List of Members - Decision Partners (top)

Judith and Phil Bush RR1, Box 338 Sharon, Vt. 05065 802-763-7160 philip.bush@dartmouth.edu jbush@together.net	Judith was until recently a social worker at Casey Family Services. She left this long-time job in January 1998 to find ways to combine old and current interests in new ventures. Phil is finance director at NH - Dartmouth Psychiatric Research Center; grew up on a small farm; is "a guitarist/gardener who talks to cats and likes math."
Peter and Ann Forbes Route 1, Box 24 Canaan, NH 03741 603-523-9049 Ann.Forbes@dartmouth.edu Peter.Forbes@tpl.org Willoughby, born April 1998	Peter is New England coordinator for Trust for Public Land and a photographer. Ann is an anthropologist writing about land/community relationships in Nepal, and an adjunct professor in the Environmental Studies Program at Dartmouth. Both are involved in the Center for the Good Life project arising from the legacy of Helen and Scott Nearing
Edie Farwell and Jay Mead 638 17th Ave. San Francisco CA 94121 H 415-668-9014 W 415-561-6100 X 120 (Edie) efarwell@apc.org Cedar (4) and Silas (born Jan 1998)	Edie administers the Association for Progressive Communication, a worldwide network of environmental and other progressive organizations, seeking to communicate and work together. Jay is an artist, art teacher, carpenter, and practitioner of street theater and puppetry. Also a core member of Live Power CSA and Argonne Community Garden. Both are Dartmouth grads.
Ellen Furnari and Jan Passion 129 Shady Nook Lane St. George VT 05495-8034 802-482-2023 FurnariE@aol.com JanPassion@aol.com Serena and Rachelle - ages 15 & 19	Ellen is currently consulting on various sustainability and philanthropic projects. She was formerly the director of the Ben & Jerry's Foundation and the Center For a New American Dream, as well as a psychotherapist. Jan, recently back from a six month spiritual retreat is a psychotherapist in private practice. He has dreams of someday working in areas of global conflict. He enjoys sailing, yoga, raquet ball and volunteering on the local rescue squad. Jan and Ellen are members of Servas International and host refugees awaiting sanctuary in Canada.
Marie and Art Kirn RR1, Box 271 Hartland VT 05048 HT 802-436-1036 WT (Marie) 802-295-2604 marie.kirn@hitchcock.org	Marie is director of Hospice VNH, a visiting nurse program that serves 71 towns in the Upper Valley. Art has retired from consulting and business to pursue his interest in the arts. Along with Dana Meadows, the Kirns are the opera buffs of the community.
Stephen Leslie and Kerry Gawalt PO Box 58 Plainfield NH 03781 603-675-2230	Horse farmers, have farmed in NY state, Montana, and Idaho, now run a market garden in Plainfield NH. Stephen has interests in yoga, art, and writing in addition to farming. Kerry grew up at Hawthorne Valley farm in NY State. They are now living at Foundation Farm (Dana's place) with 2 Norwegian Fjord horses, 1 dog, 2 cats.
Donella H. (Dana) Meadows PO Box 58 95 Daniels Road Plainfield NH 03781 HT 603-675-2230 HF 603-675-6305 WT 603-646-1233 WF 603-646-1682 d.meadows@dartmouth.edu	Farmed organically and communally for 25 years in Upper Valley (sheep, chickens, ducks, geese, fruit, veggies, flowers). Teaches part-time at Dartmouth Writes environmental newspaper column Organizes international environmental network (the Balaton Group)
Phil Rice and Beth Sawin 13 Spencer Meadow Hartland, Vermont HT 802-436-1393 philiprice@aol.com esawin@aol.com Jenna, 17 months old.	Both biologists; Phil recently led a research team at a biotech firm, Beth completed her PhD at MIT. Both now work for the Sustainability Institute on commodity modeling and environmental education. Avid gardeners, working for FI, (FI=financial independence, as defined in the book Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin)
Don Seville 421 Walden Street Cambridge MA 02138 HT 617-864-2779 WT 617-876-3697 fax 617-658-2010 dseville@aol.com	Master's in system dynamics from MIT. Own consulting practice. Especially good at designing user-interfaces and management games. Working for the Sustainability Institute on community growth modeling and forest product industry modeling.

Decision Partners-in-Waiting (going through the process of becoming DPs) (top)

Delia Clark and Tim Traver PO Box 45 Taftsville VT 05073 HT 802-457-4886/2075 Tim at VINS 802-457-2779 deliapc@aol.com Kal 14, Mollie 10, Toben 8	Delia coordinates the Valley 2000& Beyond Project and teaches community planning at Antioch College Tim is director of the Vermont Institute of Natural Science
Peter Kawecki and Jane Olds PO Box 181 Hartland Four Corners VT 05049 802-436-1039 petek@valley.net 5 children, ages 7-18. Clara, Sam, David, Teresa, Leon (in ascending order)	Peter teaches part-time at Vermont Technical College. Jane is a self-employed physical therapist. The family is currently living in the Hunt farmhouse.
Sophie and Matt Starr 668 Coventry Road Berkeley, CA 94707 510-525-7364 allstarrs4@aol.com Lucas (12/25/93) and Casey (4/98)	Sophie is a self employed landscaper, pre school volunteer teacher, and fulltime mom. Interests include interior design, flowers, gardening, backpacking, kayaking, and yoga. Matt is an elementary school teacher, now teaching third grade, finishing up his masters thesis on progressive literacy models. He enjoys outdoor sports, vegetable gardening, yoga, writing, and being a dad. Travel is a family passion. They recently returned from a year of life overseas, spent mostly in Indonesia and Asia, in time to rest up for the birth of Baby Casey.

(top)

Related Sites

Sustainable Living Network, an informal affiliation of people in the United States and around the world
who seek to deepen their understanding and practice of sustainable living.

This page has been visited (the hit count) times since 11/19/98.

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Previous message: Beth Lischeron: "Re: Should Our Meat Be Irradiated?"

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