Cultural, Agronomic, and Technological Community (C.A.T. Co.)

  • Communities

About the Communities

  • Forming
  • Home-sharing
  • Rural

Founding year

  • 2021

What we do

Welcome to C.A.T. Co. —a group where individuality is celebrated, and community thrives. We are currently working to acquire and old convent we intend to rehab. we’re a group of middle-class professionals in our 30’s who’ve come together to live, learn, and grow in harmony with each other and with nature.
Our Purpose:
We exist to support one another in times of need, to explore life’s joys, and to foster personal growth. Living close to nature, we embrace sustainable practices like foraging, gardening, and working with animals while balancing our love for life’s small luxuries. We’re here to empower each other, save money collectively, and create a fulfilling, joyful lifestyle.
What do I mean by save money collectively? Well we don’t want you to give us your pay check or anything like that. We haven’t decided on a monthly amount, but something in the low single hundreds each month is what we are thinking now. This money will be pooled together to handle property taxes/utilities/construction materials for shared spaces. That kind of stuff. We intend to have a small surplus saved up in there so we can continue to support people should somebody lose their job or something of that nature.
Leadership (or Lack Thereof)
Our leader, Donnie, is a self-proclaimed figurehead—here to take credit for the good times and perhaps serve as a scapegoat in the rare event of an angry mob. Donnie’s leadership style is more about being the friendly face of our community’s history than wielding authority. Decisions are collaborative, and every voice holds the same weight.
Spiritual Freedom
While Donnie identifies as a Pantheist with a leaning toward Fatalism, and others may embrace Buddhism, agnosticism, atheism, or something else entirely, there is no single belief system here. Our guiding principle is simple: Believe what you will, so long as it does no harm to others. Your spiritual or non-spiritual journey is yours to chart. Unfortunately, nobody as of yet has chosen to worship Donnie himself, but he can only hope.
Daily Life
Life is about balance—work, play, and everything in between. We have no rituals, but our version of communal bonding includes spirited tabletop game nights featuring Dungeons & Dragons or other card and board games. We aim to construct much of our infrastructure onsite to minimize our environmental footprint and preserve our old-growth forest.
Inclusivity
Our community is a haven for diversity, with many members identifying as LGBTQ+ and sharing a commitment to inclusivity and mutual respect. If you believe in “live and let live,” you’ll find yourself at home here.
Vision for the Future
We dream of expanding our community to include more families, especially those with children, to create a richer and more dynamic environment. Our members share a love for foraging, gardening, and creating—a blend of nature and nurture that defines who we are. We welcome those who want to contribute their unique skills, interests, and energy to help us build a supportive and thriving community.

Our Mission

Freedom of expression, living close to nature, saving money.

  • Purpose
  • Home-sharing
  • Community type
  • Cohousing
  • Activities
  • Property management

Commemorative dates

  • January 1, 2021
  • Started planning
  • January 1, 2023
  • Started living together
  • 20 Total members
  • Not open to new members
  • Open to visitors
Total
24

Basic expectations or agreements for members

Reach out, we are still in the planning/building phase, but we’d love to get to know you now before we are actually looking for residents.

Primary decision-making authority

  • All Community Members Together

The whole membership decides collectively.

Decision-making process

  • Modified Consensus

Generally seek agreement, but have backup methods when consensus isn’t reached.

Governance structure

  • Collaborative/Horizontal

Power and responsibility are shared relatively equally among members.

Conflict resolution approach

Largely, we are consensus rule. We need unanimous approval to add new members.

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: $400
Labor: Encouraged or suggested (4 hrs/week)
Members with pre-existing debt: allowed
The monthly “fee” will be as small as we can make it to keep the lights on and the internet speedy. Sorry, we haven’t figured out an amount yet, we are still forming after all.
We’d like to save funds as well for upgrades to the property. Things like construction materials for communal buildings, plants, livestock and stuff like that.

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

Common House, Garden(s), Internet

Frequency of communal meals

  • About once a week

Significant food acquisition practices

  • Wildcrafting / Foraging
  • Livestock / Animal Husbandry

Community activities and engagement

  • Neighborhood, Community Housing, or Homeowner's Association

Substance use culture

  • Substance use occurs primarily at celebrations or ceremonies
  • Substance use is prohibited in the community

Gender composition

  • Majority non-binary/gender diverse (over 30%)

Age demographics

  • Multi-generational (all ages well represented)

Property status

  • Privately owned

Property owner

  • By a Community Land Trust or some other kind of nonprofit

Setting

  • Rural

Countryside locations with significant distance from urban centers.

Self-produced energy

  • Up to 33%

Self-produced food

  • Up to 33%

Local, organic, or fair trade food

  • 33 - 66%

Food systems

  • Community garden
  • Land area size
    25 acres

Guest Book

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Location

  • Illinois, United States

Cultural, Agronomic, and Technological Community (C.A.T. Co.)

Needs and Offers

Offer
  • Communities with Openings
1 month ago

Rooms in Beautiful Location in downtown East Austin

Mountain Laurel House has upcoming room openings on August 1 and September 1 to share our house in central East Austin close to downtown. Rent is $925 per month with $75 to cover your share of the utilities and maintenance. You provide your own food. We enjoy sharing a meal at the dining table at least once a month for fun, to check in on our lives, and talk about housekeeping together. To apply, email do*************@***il.com with subject line Room at Mountain Laurel House. Request the brief application questions and we’ll provide more info and answer your questions. Mountain Laurel House is in a great location! It’s on a green cul de sac, with a wooded lot to the southwest and a green open space to the west. It’s close to the East 11th & Rosewood dining and entertainment district and right across from the Carver Library and a bus stop. We’re in walking distance to downtown Austin, the State Capitol, Huston-Tillotson University and a short bike or bus ride to the University of Texas; and, south or east of here, Lady Bird Lake and Boggy Creek hike and bike trails, park lands, swimming pools, pickleball and basketball courts. I kayak on Town Lake aka Lady Bird Lake or swim just across downtown at Deep Eddy or Barton Springs fresh-water, spring-fed swimming pools. We enjoy sharing a meal at the dining table at least once a month for fun, to check in on our lives, and plan housekeeping together. HEB is a short 5 minute drive east on 7th St. and Whole Foods is about a ten minute walk from here on 5th St. Amenities in the house include a dishwasher, utility room with a clothes washer-dryer and an optional clothesline, high-speed internet, a big dining room table for meals or activities, and a large screen TV for movie nights. The yard has beautiful native wildlife habitat gardens, veggie and herb pots, a large Cedar Elm, two Live Oaks, a fruit-bearing Fig, a Champenelle grape vine, and a Chili pequin. The cul de sac is a large park-like
  • Promoted
Offer
Offer
  • Marketplace
6 years ago

Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves Books for Sale

Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves, Charles Durrett and Kathryn McCamant introduce Cohousing with stories and pictures of both Danish and American communities. Beautiful photographs and line drawings illustrate the warmly written account of how these communities came to be. Specific information on legal and financial aspects of working with developers, group process, and design issues make this book informative as well as inspiring. This is the book which brought Cohousing to North America. This book is the much prized second edition which has become a rarer and somewhat of a collectors item. Its community case studies were not included in the more recent publication. It preceded Creating Cohousing which is widely available. I acquired 25 cases from a local distributor who closed down. If you would like three or more copies for yourself, to share with your friends or to market your group, please let me know. I would love for them to be made useful and find great homes. Books are paperback (hard copy was not an option at the time from the publisher) all brand new, in Oakland (CA) so could be picked in Oakland or mailed to you. I would very much like to recuperate what I paid which is $10 per book. So, If you would like three or more shipped, I will add the postage, packing and handling fees. I have sold several cases (18 books per case) for $150 per case ($8 per book). I have a little wiggle room on the pricing. Please let me know if you are interested. Use the Send Message button on this page.
Need
  • Communities with Openings
3 years ago

Twin Oaks, an established, income-sharing, village-scale community is seeking new members

Twin Oaks is looking for new members! Founded in 1967, Twin Oaks is an egalitarian, income-sharing community made currently 70 adults and 15 kids, living on 500 forested acres in central Virginia. Twin Oaks has strong social justice values including feminism, racial justice, and queer culture. We host a Queer Gathering and Women’s Gathering each summer, and we have a number of working groups around racial justice issues in general and in an intentional community context. Please visit our website twinoaks.org for more information and directions on how to apply for a Visitor Period. A Visitor Period is the first step towards becoming a member. We can offer: your choice of full-time work in our income-sharing community businesses (heirloom seeds, hammocks, and others) and/or domestic work areas from organic gardening to milking cows and cheese-making to office work to technical jobs and more! an individual room in shared housing; each member has their own personal bedroom and shares a kitchen, living room and bathroom with others in their house. Each residence has its own culture and range of ages. all meals are provided in our communal dining hall and/or in smaller kitchens for individual eating. We generally accommodate all special diets. (gluten-free, vegan, no garlic, etc.) income-sharing includes health-care and monthly stipend for extra We are looking for: people with various life skills and/or a willingness to learn people who share our values of social justice, sustainability and living closely with a diversity of people people with a generally responsible and pro-active approach to community living experience or interest in non-hierarchical, shared decision-making BIPOC, women and non-binary people especially encouraged The first step towards becoming a member is to participate in one of

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