Author: Mark Owkes

Here’s a little about our family:  I’m married to Jed Huseby; we have two children, Ida May, 15, and Sorin, 11.  Jed and I each moved to Bozeman in the early 1990’s, but didn’t meet until 2000, at a Bozeman contra-dance.  I attended the first Bozeman Cohousing community event at the Lindley Center in April of 2019 and have been thinking about it ever since.  

We are interested in Bozeman Cohousing because our daughter has special needs, and as we think about what her future might look like, we know that one of the most important things she will need as she becomes an adult is a stable community of people who will be a part of her life for many years or even decades.  We anticipate that Ida May might thrive in this intentional community; perhaps with a roommate who provides some support.  I’ve been anxious about what her future would look like for many years, and when I first heard about cohousing, I finally felt like this could be a place where she could live and thrive. 

Ida May is an incredibly social person, who thrives when she feels she is part of a community.  She will be in 10th grade next year, and enjoys hiking with her family, hanging out with friends, dancing, riding her bike around town, anything octopus-related, arts and crafts, and connecting with others.  She has spent a lot of time participating in almost every activity offered by Eagle Mount.  She is an engaging teenager who wants to be as independent as possible, and Bozeman Cohousing seems like it would be an excellent fit for her.

I think Ida has a lot to offer this growing community.  She has an inquisitive mind, a playful spirit, and a love of people.  She has a way of bringing people together, and her exuberance at seeing someone she knows is contagious.  She delights in being with young children and animals.  I envision her reading books to kids while their parents prepare meals in the common house, helping neighbors plant flowers, delivering mail to a neighbor who is home-bound, and many other helpful gestures.  

Cohousing Builder chosen with expertise on sustainable communities

Bozeman Cohousing has some exciting news! We recently partnered with Cadius Partners, a local developer and builder. Cadius has extensive experience developing and building communities in Bozeman. Their knowledge of the City’s processes and construction costs along with their relationships with subcontractors and banks moves our neighborhood that much closer to being a reality.

Cadius Partners has created a number of beautiful communities in Bozeman that focus on high-quality materials and sustainability through community solar and agri-community. Below are images from their past projects.

What does this mean for Bozeman Cohousing?

To start construction, Bozeman Cohousing will need to secure a construction loan. Cadius Partners, as our developer, will help us secure this loan. Additionally, they will be the builder. Having our developer and builders involved almost a year before construction allows Cadius to be involved with and provide their expertise on many items including the design process, discussions with the city, and construction costs.

We are thrilled to be working with Cadius and are excited to have such a qualified developer and builder that understands the cohousing vision and will work to help us build our cohousing neighborhood.

Have you heard we’re planning to have an atrium in our community building? What an amazing, warm, sunny space to enjoy during our long winters. Many members are excited about growing tropical plants: lemon and pomegranate trees anyone? These photos are from the Farm Bureau building in Bozeman. Can you find the kids hiding? Go for a visit to get a sense of the atrium idea. During the design workshop last weekend, we brainstormed some other creative and unconventional ideas many of which probably won’t make it in but are still fun to dream about. Some of our ideas included a slide from the 2nd floor down into the first floor, a rock climbing wall, a decorative fountain that doubles as a children’s water play area, a circular coat room, a roof-top deck, a craft nook with a sewing machine that slides out of the cabinet ready-to-go, secret hiding places, a stage in the dining room for music performances, a giant ball pit, and a sunny window seat for reading. What crazy ideas do you have?

Guest architect Bryan Bowen from Caddis Collaborative in Boulder, CO led us through a two-day workshop to design the shared amenities we would like in our community building. One of the most important activities in a community building is regular shared meals. Typically, how this works is that each adult in the neighborhood cooks a community meal with the help of two co-chefs once a month. This provides meals about 5 days a week, but not every family attends every meal. When it’s your turn to cook on the chef team, you choose what you’re cooking and put it on the calendar. Each family signs up for whichever meals they would like to attend; this allows them to skip meals that don’t meet their dietary requirements or those when they have other plans or just want to eat in their private home. The chefs purchase enough ingredients for the number of people that signed up and the cost of the ingredients is divided by the number of people signed up. This service can be an invaluable help to families with young children, single parents, single adults, seniors, or anyone who doesn’t want to cook their own meal every single night. Since you’re only paying for the ingredients and only paying for meals you sign up for, the cost is equivalent or even cheaper than what you would cook as ingredients can often be purchased in bulk. If a community only holds a shared meal a couple of times a year, everyone shows up, but when community meals are held frequently, there are fewer and different people attending each meal, this means the chefs are only cooking for around 20 people and the community meals are smaller more intimate affairs. When you only have to cook a big meal once a month, you can put a little extra effort in or try something special which makes for higher quality than the standard weeknight dinner. This weekend members had the pleasure of sharing multiple meals throughout the workshop.