Moving forward...

I know that you are all hanging on the edges of your seats wanting to know what the heck comes next for 'Marebare'.  And the truth is, I know exactly where I am going, but I am just not sure how the heck to get there.  SO, I have decided to use this blog as a 'tool in my toolbox' to help guide me along in my journey.

Where might I be going you might ask? 

Well, when I looked back at the past year, a few themes sprang back into my consciousness as they seemed to resurface in my writing again and again and again (and no, I am not going to talk about laundry, even though I am sure that I talked more about this dreaded household chore more than anything else this past year.  Just one of the many joys of being the parent of a young family!).  These themes are:

• Wanting to live as locally as possible
• Wanting to extend the growing season and grow as much of our own food as we can
• Wanting to decrease our dependence on car transportation
• Wanting to be a part of a community
• Wanting to live in a more communal way

About two months ago I discovered that the notion of living communally (without actually living on a commune) is actually a real thing.... you know, a 'movement'.  It is called 'cohousing' and the idea began in Denmark back in the 1970s and made its way over to North America throughout the 80's and 90's.  The basic premise is that the community is built in such a way as to encourage community interaction.  Everyone owns their own home but the property also features common areas such as: a main house (usually featuring a large kitchen for shared meals and space for recreation/activities), gardens, shops, etc.  Each cohousing community is different due to its location, style of residences, etc.  Currently there are just over a dozen cohousing communities across Canada.  If you are interested in this topic at all, here is a great resource: Canadian Cohousing Network.

So, after doing some of the suggested readings from the website and a whole lot of talking about it with our friends and family, we got to thinking... why don't we try to create our own cohousing community?  I know, I know... it sounds like a completely insane idea in so many ways, but looking at my list above makes me think that it just might be the solution that I(we) are looking for.  So there it is... I am out of commune-closet.  To help make this vision a reality, I have enlisted  a 'partner in commune' and she and I will be meeting regularly over the next months to share ideas and make a plan.  We are hoping (DREAMING) of having this project become a reality in five years or so.

Here's to BIG DREAMS!

Marebare