We're pleased to announce our first public presentation in Toronto. It's being held at 401 Richmond, Toronto's arts-and-culture hub, where cohousing enthusiast and city-builder Margie Zeidler has kindly made a meeting room available to us. Join us on Tuesday, Dec. 3 at 5:00pm in Studio 111, 401 Richmond Street West in Toronto. You can register here - bring a guest!

Those of us involved in cohousing already have a pretty good idea of its many benefits. But once and a while, we're reminded of what makes it so wonderful. Our consultant, Katie McCamant, lives in California at Nevada City Cohousing. Like so many others, she has been affected by the wildfires and power outages ravaging the state.

She has been telling us about all the difficulties they've experienced, but what really stands out is how everyone in her community looks out for each other. As Katie notes, "One thing is clearer than ever: when things get tough, it's great to live in a cohousing neighbourhood!".

It's true - cohousing really is all about community pulling together to help each other. Someone hearing about cohousing for the first time may think it's a little "out there", but as this article says, "what’s weird is being conditioned by society to not know your neighbours at all".

Closer to home, we're taking a good look at sites for our neighbourhood, and our thoughts are turning to how we'll finance our new homes. Thanks to the good folks from Alterna Savings and Credit Union, who stopped by to update us on our options.

But we're not always working. We do find time for fun and games too. One of KCC's founding couples, Al and Linda, have hosted their share of social events. They have many reasons for being so firmly committed to cohousing.

Pretty much every KCC member shares those reasons. We'd love to tell you more. Why not join us for our next Orientation Session, at 1:00pm on Sunday, Nov. 17 at Activity Haven, 180 Barnardo Avenue in Peterborough (enter through the back door).

You're invited to attend our monthly business meeting after the Orientation, starting at 3:00pm. And stick around for the potluck dinner at 5:00pm as our guest, right after the meeting.

For more information, contact us at info@kawarthacommons.ca (add us to your address book), or visit kawarthacommons.ca. We're also on Facebook.

See you there!

Cohousing softened me. It taught me how multidimensional people are. The same person who irritated me to no end in committee meetings was the first to open her home to me. I learned to trust in the goodness and generosity of each person. And I learned that when I can't see it in them, it says more about me than anyone else."
-Karen Gimnig, East Lake Commons resident and Associate Director, National Cohousing Association

You're Never Too Old to Play Games

Learning the finer points of Dixit, "a simple storytelling game with surprising depth". And cool pictures too.

No surprising depths here. Just trying to avoid getting euchred.

No, Kris and Pati aren't modelling our common house - they're playing Jenga. But the wine seems to be helping.

There's never a bad time to talk insulated concrete forms. Wine helps here too.

Our Members Speak - Al and Linda Slavin

Linda and I have lived south of Peterborough for 45 years. We raised our two children there, and it’s a beautiful place. We’ve been very happy here, but we’re both retired now and the property requires a lot of work.

We started looking seriously for alternatives after a friend suggested we should move before we’re forced into it and don’t have time to plan. That really got us thinking.

We’ve already had plenty of experience with shared living. We come from close families, and over the years we’ve shared our home with all sorts of people.

We’ve always tried to live lightly on the land too, something that’s even more urgent with climate change. Living downtown closer to friends would make that easier.

After attending a talk on cohousing given by another KCC founding member, architect Scott Donovan, we chatted with him about finding more people looking to share accommodation and community. We were delighted to learn that Scott had been nurturing a local group of people interested in cohousing for several years. When he arranged a potluck meeting at our house on Dec. 27, 2017, 29 people showed up!

As we spoke amongst ourselves, many common themes emerged: a desire to live more ecologically sensitively; determination to avoid being “warehoused” in seniors’ homes; a yearning to live in community with others who appreciated the arts and music; even a wish to relive the pleasures of living with extended families and lots of kids.

All of these goals resonated with ours. We knew that this would be a great community to live with.

There are other big pluses too. We expect that the project will follow “universal design” criteria to make it totally accessible. Living units will be modest in size, compensated for by an expansive “common house” with a dining room and kitchen for communal meals, and amenities such as laundry facilities, exercise room, workshop, crafts room, and guest accommodation.

All of this is designed to bring our fellow cohousers together in a vibrant, caring community. We can’t wait to start designing our new neighbourhood!