Neighbours-in-waiting

Spring is glorious: my rhubarb is growing, the blueberries are covered in buds, and our membership is growing. Ten households already live on site (the picture to the left is the view from inside the dining room of #4), and we have always been looking forward to when other involved members are able to make the move out to Yarrow (another three or four households).

At our Getting it Built workshop with Chuck, it felt as though our circle made a pretty major expansion: certain "newcomers" made such helpful contributions and spoke in such committed ways that we realized they aren't newcomers at all anymore. Each household paid $300 to attend Getting it Built, and this money counts towards their $1,000 co-op share as members of YES. I now think of these fantastic people as "neighbours in waiting," and they represent another seven households!

You may be wondering how many homes are still available. Well, Chuck's team went through the budget, and we've come to the conclusion that squeezing in four more homes (for a total of thirty households instead of twenty-six) will allow us to bring the price of each unit down to the right price. How many of those thirty homes are taken?

Current Residents

Three households are currently living in their permanent homes (two singles and one couple)

Four families with children are in the process of building their permanent homes (two families are temporarily in the old farmhouses and two families are temporarily in new units that will be sold to other households)

Four single people are either renting in a new unit as roommates or renting rooms upstairs in the old farmhouse. Two are here as carpenters on the project, another works in Chilliwack as a physiotherapist, and another has moved here to determine her long-term home in the ecovillage.

Neighbours-in-waiting

Three couples have grown children (there's an intergenerational thing going on though, with one of these couples being the parents/grandparents to one of the on-site households)

Two households will be for single women (one who is bringing her beautiful young granddaughter)

Two households are for families with children (one family is going to farm six acres and start a CSA!)

How many homes are left?

The list above seems to account for 15 - 18 households, so we seem to have about 12-15 left. I'm feeling excited about meeting some very committed-sounded newcomers who are coming out for the Common House workshop in April. We have people flying out from Edmonton (hi Vivian!) and driving out from Creston (hi Mike!) as well as people who live closer who seem to have been carefully doing their research.

If you've been following the blog and thinking of coming here "one day," I'd invite you to have your tour soon so that you can join us for that Common House workshop in April. If you're going to end up living with us, you might as well come have some input into the design of our shared space.

Contact welcome@yarrowecovillage.ca to register for the workshop (and request billeting if needed), request a tour, or ask other questions.