Happy second birthday to Going Places! We celebrated with a community retreat - staycation style - in the snow!
This weekend our Tiny Cohousing Community, Going Places, turned two. It’s crazy to think that we’ve been doing life together for two whole years, but here we are!
Two years ago in February we all settled into our little spaces at Going Places: Lori and Pie Head snuggled into The Lucky Penny. Kyra and Ryan nestled into The Perch (the top floor of our primary house). Isha, Raffi, and I cozied up in T42. And we all started working together to make The Commons (the first floor of our primary dwelling, which includes our living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom, and Req Room) into a space we could all use and enjoy.
In addition to getting all settled in the physical spaces, we also began working on the invisible structures (the social and financial systems) necessary for a great community to thrive. In practical terms, that means we developed a decision-making process, worked on our Community Living Agreements, and figured out plans for community dinners, meetings, and work parties.
A year ago we celebrated our community’s one year anniversary with a community retreat to Astoria, OR. We stayed in an Airbnb which allowed pets so all of us (including Lori’s dog Pie Head and our kitty Raffi) made the trek to the coast. We had a great time cooking meals together, going for beach walks, and exploring Astoria (which I’d never visited before). We also started hashing out our vision and values, which was challenging but also exciting.
This year we were planning to go to Tygh Valley on the other side of Mt Hood, but we got “snowed in” so we decided to make it a staycation instead. (For those of you who aren’t from the Pacific Northwest, we tend to call anything a “snowpocalypse” that involves snow sticking to the ground. It’s not unusual for school to be cancelled if there are rumors of snow. Partly it’s that it’s hilly around here. Partly is the novelty since we don’t get much snow. But mostly it’s that many of us just don’t know what to do with the stuff. People don’t know how to drive in snow. People don’t know how to shovel snow. People don’t know what the deal is with salt and sand and yak tracks. The city doesn’t have many plows, so the roads aren’t maintained, etc.)
This is what the weather forecast was saying on Friday when we made the call to do a staycation. For those of you who are not from around here, this is snowy for Portland!
In a lot of ways, being snowed in worked out even better because we have a brand new community mate named Rosemary and we got to hang out with her in our community for two days. Rosemary has claimed The Lucky Penny as her home sweet home for the foreseeable future. (Lori and Pie Head have moved on to new adventures and we wish them all the best!) I first met Rosemary when she took my Tiny House Design class at Portland Community College and we were in touch last fall regarding suggestions for tiny house appliances because she was going to rent a tiny house. She did indeed rented a tiny house and has loved the perspective it’s given her since she’s interested in designing and building her own tiny house someday. But when she saw our recent post about the Lucky Penny being available she got in touch because it’s a good fit for her in a lot of ways. She’s especially excited she’ll be closer to work and part of an intentional community. She’s lived in co-ops in the past and she’s eager to give ours a go. Meanwhile, we’re super excited about her, too!
Kyra made this beautiful card to welcome Rosemary to the community. From the top left, that’s the Perch, the Lucky Penny, T42 (with Raffi peeking out!), The Commons with our garden in the middle, and the fruit on the bottom row represent all the ones in our garden plan!
We kicked off the retreat with dinner at our local pizza place. (Shout out to Red Sauce Pizza and their tasty salads and ridiculous special pizza of the week with potatoes, leeks, and lemon cream sauce!) Isha and I are big fans of the Enneagram and we introduced our community mates to it while we were waiting for our order. It’s a great tool for personal growth and development, but an even better tool for interpersonal development. So fun to explore ways that we can engage with each other more lovingly (and effectively!)
Enneagram and pizza at our local, Red Sauce Pizza, to kick off our community retreat.
Then we all tucked in for the night, with Rosemary sleeping in the Lucky Penny for the first time. Aaaanddd… she woke up to 4 inches of snow on the ground! We figured if she can be cozy there during our coldest nights we’re all set. (I think Installing an HRV in the LP with my friend Jake recently was a good call! It helps provide continuous ventilation with fresh air while not exhausting the precious heat.)
Rosemary woke up for the first time in the Lucky Penny to 4 inches of snow! It was blue early morning light, but there she is on the porch!
Saturday morning after breakfast we had a little welcome for Rosemary and then launched into logistics, such as scheduling community dinners and meetings now that we have a new community mate. Then we had a tasty lunch and an afternoon adventure, walking through the snow and showing Rosemary various places in the neighborhood. We indulged Kyra’s fantasy of having a snowball fight, even though the snow was on the powdery side.
We all paired up and took turns cooking! This was Isha and Kyra’s breakfast masterpiece including squash fritters, roasted veggies, and fried eggs. Mmmm! Good eatin’ around here!
After warm drinks, popcorn, and a couple rounds of a get to know you game, Ryan and I made dinner and we explored the enneagram more. Then we all turned in for another solid night’s sleep in our snowy little world.
On Sunday morning we did some garden planning and after lunch we all switched gears into doing our own thing. There’s a lot we’ve done to our property over the past two years and we’re excited that this season we’re really digging in on the garden. (Sometimes the project list feels really long still, but, whenever I feel overwhelmed by it, I compare our current projects list to the list of hundreds of little projects we’ve completed and I feel pretty darn proud of us!) We have grand plans for more naturescaping with natives via the Backyard Habitat program and more edible landscaping. Stay tuned for updates on those projects in the months to come!
This is what a planning meeting often looks like around our community. All the laptops and mugs of tea as we compare calendars and make plans.