Map showing entrance from Yelm Highway to organic farm in Yelm, Washington.

MOTHER EARTH COLLECTIVE CO-HOUSING

  • Communities

About the Communities

  • Established
  • Ecological
  • Suburban

Founding year

  • 2010

What we do

Mother Earth collective co-housing eco-village is a community on 13 acres with 3 homes and several smaller dwellings. Members participate in community decision-making, potlucks, growing produce, raising animals and sharing information. There is a business that is open to the public also. (project in the making- needs revision here .)
Dancing Goats and Singing Chickens Organic Farm is a 13-acres farm, located near the Nisqually Indian reservation in Yelm, Washington. Its main focus is not on making money, but on educating the children using the PETTING ZOO as a focal point of teaching. With great amount of enthusiasm and passion, the volunteers in the community hold OPEN HOUSE educational events at the farm to share knowledge during workshops on greenhouse construction, solar panels, wind turbines, composting, Hugelculture, honey bees, rain water harvesting, Earthship homes, sustainable living, lowering our foot-print and responsible financial investments. High-school teenagers and college students are welcome to do internships where they will work and learn simultaneously. On your quest for happiness, please consider stopping by the FARM to find tranquility!

Our Mission

Respectful co-housing project.
We are seeking folks who are of gentle disposition, have a stable job and life of their own. No high-drama. Should be able to pay rent comfortably without stretching their resources.
You should like communal living, sharing meals, gatherings once a week or 14 days for fun and laughter.
You have total privacy in your place and can choose to engage how much you want.

  • Purpose
  • Ecological
  • Community type
  • Cohousing
  • Ecovillage
  • Intentional Neighborhoods
  • Sustainability practices
  • Renewable energy systems
  • Waste reduction / composting
  • Activities
  • Property management
  • Farming
  • Education
  • Experiences
  • Networking
  • Services Business
  • Others

Commemorative dates

  • January 1, 2010
  • Started planning
  • January 1, 2017
  • Started living together
  • 17 Total members
  • Open to new members
  • Open to visitors
Total
25

How to join

We are seeking folks who are of gentle disposition, have a stable job and life of their own. No high-drama. Should be able to pay rent comfortably without stretching their resources.
You should like communal living, sharing meals, gatherings once a week or 14 days for fun and laughter.
You have total privacy in your place and can choose to engage how much you want.
Love of gardening and animals (Goats, sheep, chickens, Honey bees,etc.) is preferable but not required.
While you are visiting, it is essential for you to check out if this is a good fit for you and your life-style as we are a working farm.

Basic expectations or agreements for members

Plz call FARMER AYUB at 360-489-2830.
Please see these 3 websites before calling:
1- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Co-operative_living_arrangements
2- http://www.cohousing.org/what_is_cohousing
3- http://directory.ic.org/records/cohousing.php

Primary decision-making authority

  • Small Leadership Group

A few people (not elected by the broader community) make the major decisions.

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

Who is not a good-fit for this place as an eco-village co-housing intentional community?
-Anyone who is noisy, boisterous and can’t conform to quiet time rules when neighbors are sleeping.
– If you like to wear your shoes inside the home. – If you secretly want to have a dog or a cat inside the home. (sorry, no pets allowed inside.)
– If you are still struggling with alcohol or drugs and need more time on the road to recovery.
– Hard to get along person or passive-aggressive, argumentative person who has never lived in a social community before.
You can map the address- (but please don’t show up without calling.)
14062, Yelm Hwy SE
Yelm, WA – 98597.

Economic model

  • Independent Finances

Members maintain separate personal finances with minimal sharing.

Economic scenarios for this community

  • 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

Labor: Yes (8 hrs/week)
Members with pre-existing debt: allowed
Shared household responsibilities

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

Common House, Garden(s), Greenhouse(s), Vehicle Share, Library, Workshop, Outbuilding(s), Outdoor Kitchen, Tractor & Farm Equipment, Stage or Auditorium, Fire pit, Swingsets & play areas, Gym or sports area, Internet

Frequency of communal meals

  • 1-3 times per month

Significant food acquisition practices

  • Locally sourced

Dietary type

  • Vegetarian Only

Dietary restriction

  • People can cook and eat what they want in their own residence

Community activities and engagement

  • Transition Town (post-petroleum and off-grid communities.)
  • School, Educational Institute or Experience
  • Volunteer, Internship, or Apprenticeship, or WWOOF’ing
  • Neighborhood, Community Housing, or Homeowner's Association
  • Ethical Business, Investment Group, or Alternative Currency
  • Organization, Resource, or Network
  • WWOOF'ing, Guest Farming
  • Festivals, Conferences, Events

Pet policy

  • No pets are allowed

Substance use culture

  • Substance use appears in public spaces but no pressure
  • Substance use occurs primarily at celebrations or ceremonies
  • Religions
  • Christian
  • Buddhist
  • Jewish
  • Muslim
  • Hindu
  • Quaker
  • Sufi
  • Native
  • Wiccan, Paganism, or Earth Religions
  • Unitarian Universalist

Gender composition

  • Roughly balanced (no group over 60%)

Age demographics

  • Family-focused (many children and parents)

Property status

  • Privately owned

Property owner

  • By several individuals through an LLC or a Tenancy In Common agreement

Setting

  • Suburban

Residential areas outside city centers but within metropolitan regions.

Community type

  • Cohousing

    Private homes with shared common facilities, designed for neighborly
    interaction while maintaining independence.

  • Ecovillage

    Integrated communities designed around ecological principles with sustainable living practices.

  • Intentional Neighborhoods

    Geographically close groups of independently-owned homes whose residents actively cultivate community relationships and shared values.

Sustainability approach

  • Renewable energy systems
  • Waste reduction / composting

Self-produced energy

  • Up to 33%

Energy sources used

  • Photovoltaic Solar

Self-produced food

  • Up to 33%

Local, organic, or fair trade food

  • Up to 33%

Food systems

  • Community garden
  • Greenhouse / aquaponics
  • Livestock / poultry

Waste management practices

  • Composting
  • Land area size
    13 acres

Guest Book

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

Location

  • Washington, United States

MOTHER EARTH COLLECTIVE CO-HOUSING

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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