Historic brick building with green accents and lush trees in front.

Water Birch Co-op

  • Communities

About the Communities

  • Disbanded
  • French
  • Home-sharing
  • Urban

Founding year

  • 2021

What we do

We are disbanding.

Our Mission

To share community, meals, living space, food, and garden. To attend to personal and interpersonal growth.

  • Purpose
  • Home-sharing
  • Languages
  • French
  • Community type
  • Coliving
  • Sustainability practices
  • Renewable energy systems
  • Waste reduction / composting
  • Ecosystem
  • Grassland/Savanna

Commemorative dates

  • January 1, 2021
  • Started planning
  • January 1, 2022
  • Started living together
  • 4 Total members
  • Open to new members
  • Open to visitors
Total
6

How to join

We have an application form. The community reads applications, discusses prospective members, talks to them, meets them, does background checks, and decides as a group. We give 3-6 month leases to begin. At the end of their first year, the community together will decide whether to have the prospective member join permanently.

Basic expectations or agreements for members

We currently have an unoccupied room with a bed. Please call or email if you would like to visit.

Primary decision-making authority

  • All Community Members Together

The whole membership decides collectively.

Decision-making process

  • Consent-Based (Sociocracy)

Decisions proceed unless someone has a reasoned objection.

Governance structure

  • Sociocratic/Circle-Based

Organized in circles or domains with distributed authority.

Conflict resolution approach

We are a Co-op, with house meetings and group decision-making. We are currently discussing the idea of Sociocracy as a governing method.

Economic model

  • Independent Finances

Members maintain separate personal finances with minimal sharing.

Economic scenarios for this community

  • Members need to pay fees, dues, or similar to live there on a per month or per year basis
  • There is a labor obligation
  • Members typically need to have their own job or other personal source of income to cover their expenses while living in the community?

Additional economic information

Regular fees: $1030
Labor: Yes (4 hrs/week)
Members with pre-existing debt: allowed
We require members be capable of paying their deposit, rent, utilities, and shared food costs. We verify income as part of the application process.

Vehicle accessibility

  • It would be easy / doable to live in this community without a car

Shared resources and amenities that are accessible to everyone in the community

Common House, Garden(s), Workshop, Large Scale Kitchen, Internet

Frequency of communal meals

  • About once a week

Significant food acquisition practices

  • Growing our own
  • Locally sourced

Dietary type

  • Others

Dietary restriction

  • Only when cooking common kitchens/spaces. People can eat what they want anywhere

Local connectedness

  • We try to engage with our local community

Friendliness of people and local government

  • It’s a mix

Pet policy

  • Pets are allowed, with special approval or according to policy

We limit the number of dogs to two.  Cats stay in private suites.  

Substance use culture

  • Substance use appears in public spaces but no pressure

Practiced relationship models

  • Monogamy
  • Polyamory / Open relationships / Ethical Non-Monogamy (ENM)
  • Celibacy

Member support features

  • Physical labor expectations tailored to members’ short or long-term physical challenges

DEI and anti-oppression training

  • Yes, some individuals

DEI, anti-oppression

Internal and external practices

  • Participates in protests and marches
  • Engages with local politics
  • Volunteers for organizations fighting for social justice

DEI, anti-oppression

Level of LGBTQIA+ inclusion

  • Very inclusive - significant LGBTQIA+ representation

Gender composition

  • Majority cis (over 60%)

Age demographics

  • Primarily mature adults (over 40)

Racial / ethnic demographics

  • Some diversity (2-3 different backgrounds)

Socioeconomic and wealth composition

  • Very diverse (mix of working class, middle class, and wealthy members)

Diversity representation

  • Neurodiverse (ex. autism, ADHD, sensory processing etc.)
  • Chronic illness
  • Mental health conditions
  • Sensory differences (ex. blind, deaf, hard of hearing, etc. )
  • Learning disabilities (dyslexia, down's syndrome)

Property status

  • Privately owned

Property owner

  • By a single individual, couple, or Family Trust

Ecosystem

  • Grassland/Savanna

Open landscapes with predominantly grass vegetation
Subtypes include tropical, temperate, and desert grasslands
Examples: African Savannas, North American Prairies

Setting

  • Urban

Within city limits with access to urban amenities and infrastructure.

Community type

  • Coliving

    Shared living spaces with private bedrooms/bathrooms and communal
    kitchens, dining, and social areas.

Community type

  • Others

Sustainability approach

  • Renewable energy systems
  • Waste reduction / composting

Community type

  • Others

Some or all of the buildings are...

  • Renovation of existing building

Self-produced energy

  • Up to 33%

Energy sources used

  • Photovoltaic Solar
  • Community Solar Garden Shares

Self-produced food

  • Up to 33%

Food production methods

Home Garden

Local, organic, or fair trade food

  • Up to 33%

Food systems

  • Community garden

Source of water

  • Public water supply

Wastewater management

  • Public sewage

Water conservation practices

  • Efficient irrigation (drip, timed, or moisture-based systems)

Waste management practices

  • Composting
  • Public waste collection
  • Recycling program
  • Land area size
    0.16 acres
  • Land allocated for food production
    0.02 acres
  • Land used for biodiversity enhancement
    0.04 acres
  • Land used for tree planting
    0.02 acres

Guest Book

Written reviews are available for plus members. Click here to upgrade.

Location

  • Colorado, United States

Water Birch Co-op

Needs and Offers

Connecting people and communities through an intentional online marketplace

  • Promoted
  • Events
2 days ago

Healing Love Healing Money: Trust As The Foundation For A New Culture

Money, love and power are among the hardest things any community works with, and many of us carry the same fears into both: not having enough, losing what we have, and the sense that if someone else gets money or love, we won’t. Healing Love, Healing Money: Trust as the Foundation for a New Culture is taught by two intentional communities. Karen McAllister and Duncan Cryle are from Clear Sky Meditation and Retreat Center, a Buddhist-lineage community in the BC Rockies. Monika Alleweldt and Benjamin von Mendelssohn from Tamera Healing Biotope, a community of about 160 people in southern Portugal that has spent decades studying love, trust and relationship. Clear Sky has spent years working on its relationship with money, and our two communities found surprising parallels in the fears beneath both. Over four sessions we explore the roots of fear around money and belonging, love, possession and power, trust as infrastructure (community as a container for healing), and ethical livelihood. We use short meditations, body-based practices, reflection and small-group conversation. You do not need to be in a romantic relationship or live in community. When: October 27, Nov 3, 10, 17. All four sessions: 12–2pm Vancouver, 1–3pm Alberta, 7–9pm UK and Portugal, 8–10pm Central Europe. Note: US and some Canadian provinces change clocks on November 1, so the US west coast is 12–2pm on October 27, then 11am–1pm for the remaining sessions, and Eastern is 3–5pm on October 27, then 2–4pm for the rest. Cost: sliding scale Details and registration: https://www.clearskycenter.org/event/healing-love-healing-money-online/  
October 27, 2026 13:00 – November 17, 2026 15:00
  • Promoted
Need
  • Promoted
Offer
  • Real Estate For Sale
3 weeks ago

Beautiful 3+ Bed, 2.5 Bath Townhome in Established West Emerald CoHousing, Seattle

A rare home is available at West Emerald Cohousing, an established all-ages intentional community in West Seattle. For those considering a move to the Pacific Northwest—or hoping to join a mature community rather than one still in the forming stages—West Emerald offers decades of community life, beautiful gardens, shared resources and a peaceful setting within the city in a convenient location since 1999. This unit has a unique floor plan that is ideal for co-buying, co-living, or for one household. The home itself offers a flexible 3+ bedroom, 2.5 bath layout: Garden-level room with a separate exterior entrance and half bath—ideal for a home office, studio, guest space or client-facing business Main-level bedroom and full bath, laundry, making one-level living possible Open great room with large windows overlooking gardens filled with birdsong Well-designed kitchen with generous storage and pantry Two additional light-filled spacious bedrooms and a full bath upstairs Thoughtfully maintained and updated Located at the end of a common pathway for added privacy and garden views, Just feet from parking, which is out of view West Emerald community amenities include: Common House with gathering and activity spaces Community meals and events Mature gardens and shared outdoor spaces Workshop/maker spaces and bike barn Exercise room EV charging opportunity Excellent Metro access to Downtown Seattle just minutes away Nestled into a dell, it’s Seattle’s best-kept secret South Seattle College and lifelong learning, NW Wine Academy, the Seattle Chinese Garden are nearby, with easy access to Alki Beach, Lincoln Park, magnet schools, ferries, and the shops and restaurants of the West Seattle Junction. 6000 17th Ave SW, Seattle, WA Is a wonderful opportunity to have your own comfortable, private home while becoming part of a vibrant and well-established Seattle all-ages cohousing community. For more information contact the friendly Realtor at 206-579-9066, or at ki**********@**********te.com who will be happy to meet you there or do a facetime tour.
  • Promoted
Offer
  • Communities with Openings
4 months ago

Do you feel called to help co-create a small, newly forming eco-spiritual community?

Old structures are crumbling. New ways of living are calling. We are answering that call. Wild Grace is an eco-spiritual community located in the Sierra foothills 30 minutes from Grass Valley, California. We recently completed new homes for those who feel called to our vision. Currently there are four of us living on this sacred 80 acres of land although we are a hub for an expanded neighborhood community. Many join us weekly for potlucks, expressive dance, Qi Gong, monthly musical gatherings, and seasonal celebrations in our temple, as well as tending to our orchard. We are excited to welcome others to join us on the land who are dedicating their lives to spiritual growth and ready to live in a more focused and intimate heart-centered lifestyle. Might that be you or someone you know? The fundamentals are simple. Spirit. We listen personally and collectively together most mornings, usually starting with a musical offering, a prayer, or a short reading, followed by about 40 minutes of what we call “sacred silence.” Heart Circles. About once a week we gather to share and listen. We are informed by authentic and compassionate communication practices. Nature. The land itself—an 80-acre oasis of field and forest perched above the wild and scenic South Yuba River—calls for our stewardship in the gardens, orchard, greenhouses, and general care. In turn, nature feeds us abundantly, both literally and spiritually. Interbeing. We join with others to share inspiration and connection as we host monthly gatherings of song, story and prayer that draws from the larger community in addition to other events we share with our closer neighbors. As we attend to these fundamentals, Grace flows to and through us—often in “Wild” or unexpected ways. Grace catalyzes through us, but is not something we possess. Because we all are connected, we feel that Grace actively transforms n
Offer
Offer
  • Professional Services
3 weeks ago

Community Planning, Facilitation & Coaching for Intentional Communities

Through Radicle Collective, I support intentional communities and the people within them as they navigate the practical and relational work of building life together. My work can include visioning and community planning, facilitated conversations and retreats, decision-making and governance design, conflict transformation, establishing group agreements, culture-building, and individual or group coaching. I work with communities at many stages – whether it’s a few people exploring whether to live together, a fledgling community developing its foundations, or an established community in transition or conflict. I draw from training in psychology, coaching, urban and regional planning, facilitation, Nonviolent Communication, permaculture, and related practices to approach community as a living system – one shaped by individual needs, relationships, shared structures, place, and the connections between them. Rather than bringing a single model for how community should work, I help groups understand what is happening across those different layers, surface what matters, work honestly with difference, and create structures and practices that support connection, agency, belonging, and the values that brought them together in the first place. I’m based in Berlin and available to work online or in person, depending on location and scope. I offer sliding-scale pricing and am open to creative forms of exchange where appropriate. If your community is forming, stuck, changing, or simply wants some skilled outside support for an important conversation, I’d be glad to explore what might be useful. You can learn more about my work and get in touch at radiclecollective.com.
Offer

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