Category: Bozeman Cohousing

Bridger Foothills Fire forces evacuation of residents

The destruction and displacement caused by the Bridger Foothills fire has been front and center in our town over Labor Day weekend. As Bozeman community members were quickly offering lodging, water, food, and necessities for evacuees, Bozeman Cohousing members Garl Germann and Marci Young recognized our unique capabilities to help four-legged evacuees. The Bridger Canyon area is home to many ranches with horses and cows who needed to be evacuated. Because our site was previously owned by a large animal veterinarian and we have continued to keep grazing animals on the property (our Norwegian Dwarf Goats), we are able to bring other livestock onto our property. Garl and Marci posted several ads offering our space. Late Saturday night, Garl met Tom Fiddaman with his three horses: Daisy, Georgette, and Emmy.

The next day Mary Maj dropped off a stock tank to water the horses. Our fantastic neighbor to the property, Dorothy Dacar, offered her spigot, but couldn’t supply a hose long enough to reach the trough. Cohousing member Karen sent her daughters over with a 100-foot hose and the horses were happily watered 20 minutes later. And to make sure that it wasn’t only our four legged guests taken care of,  Kathleen Owkes coffeed the human evacuees. After three nights our guests, the horses, and their families were able to return to their own home.

While it was our desire to help our Bozeman community that we offered our pasture, we did get something out of it, too. I think the most excited people about the horses on the property were our kids. Tom and his family generously introduced each horse to kid members Aurora and Denali. The girls pet and gave haylike pellet treats to Daisy, Georgette, and Emmy. And then, I knew it was coming… The obvious next question from Aurora, “Can we have horses at cohousing?” I’ll leave another member to let her down easy on that one as my constant “No” hasn’t damaged her enthusiasm for the possibility. Or maybe I’ll let her pitch her proposal to the membership for why we should have horses. ;D

We are thankful to be part of a supportive and caring community and are proud to call Bozeman home. We are glad we could do our small part too by sheltering some horses and their humans that needed a temporary home. We were humbled when Tom told us: “The hospitality around here is excellent.”  We hope to always earn that designation from our community.

NBC MT wrote an article about all the helpers in Bozeman, including Bozeman Cohousing members:

https://nbcmontana.com/news/local/bozeman-community-helps-fire-evacuees-animals

Our hearts are with all the people who have lost and to those who fight, including the homeowners who have done what they can to protect their homes, the firefighters, smokejumpers, first responders, coordinators, hand crews, the Sheriff’s department and many others who are tirelessly working to protect our community.

The progression of a cohousing development is continually moving from the abstract to the concrete.  When Bozeman Cohousing first began in April of 2019, there were only two households, no land, and only a vague vision of what was to come.  As the project has progressed, we secured an amazing 5 acre property only 2 miles from downtown.  We have hired a cohousing consultant, architects, a civil engineer, and a developer.  The site plan has been designed so that we know where the homes and open spaces will be on the property.  We have finalized floor plans for a variety of different sizes and layouts of homes.  As you read this, our architects are now working on the 3D building designs and renderings, which will take the vision out of our heads and on to a piece of paper.  We plan to begin construction in just 9 short months.

Ground level flats are popular for aging in place

Along the way, many new families and individuals have joined to help shape this vision and turn it into a reality.  Over the past few weeks, the number of applicants applying for membership has increased dramatically.  We are starting to have shortages of specific floor plans.  Due to the high demand of 3 bedroom townhouses, we recently voted to switch some of our 2-bedroom townhouses to 3-bedroom townhouses.  We still have a limited number of both of these home types available, but they won’t last long.  Our other most popular home types are the ground level 2-bedroom and 3-bedroom flats, perfect for aging in place or families that want a smaller home but still have access to a private backyard. 

If you have been waiting for the right time to attend a webinar or come to a site tour to learn more about our project, don’t wait any longer.  We currently still have homes available, but they are starting to sell fast.  Haystack Heights cohousing in Spokane, WA recently began construction and set the precedent of having all 39 of their homes pre-sold.  With more people than ever looking for a stronger sense of community and support to help raise their young children or provide stability as they age in place, these homes won’t last long.  Email us today to learn about the homes we still have available.  

Building healthy communities in Montana

Since Bozeman was first homesteaded, the site of Bozeman Cohousing has been a small farm. A large animal veterinarian and his wife most recently owned this 5.3 acre property where they grazed cattle and horses. As Bozeman Cohousing moves towards development of an intentional community, the tradition of the land will continue to include goats, chickens and shared gardens. The wood from the old fences weathered by years of exposure, will, too. The architects plan to repurpose the materials as part of the common house in our new neighborhood. 

It takes extreme care and time to dismantle the boards so they can be repurposed by removing rusty nails and stripped bolts. Bozeman Cohousing members have been incredibly grateful for the help of teen volunteers who have come to Montana from around the country to learn about sustainable farming and ranching, permaculture, and Western life. Much of the learning includes the hands-on process of volunteer work, and the kids have pitched in to help at the cohousing property removing invasive weeds and carefully taking down old fences. They have also had the opportunity to hang out with the goats on site, watch a milking demonstration, and learn about the philosophies of cohousing.

The teenagers came to Gallatin Valley as part of the organization VISIONS Service Adventures, which normally runs teen programs around the world, but cancelled everything this summer due to the pandemic. VISIONS is now running a singular program here in southwestern Montana, where the home office is also based. They implemented COVID protocols, which means that kids sleep in their own individual tents at a farm outside of town, everyone was tested for the virus, the group was divided into pods, and masks were worn for the first two weeks.

Volunteer work has also taken on a new form for VISIONS, which always focused on construction and labor projects in under-resourced communities around the world. This year the teenagers must be socially distanced from the community, but they’ve nonetheless been able to help with outdoor Food Bank projects, the Learning Garden at Story Mill Park, farming and gardening, and the cohousing site. 

A Key Ingredient to Meaningful Social Interaction with Your Neighbors

When was the last time you scheduled a dinner out with friends, an afternoon walk, or a zoom call days or weeks in advance only to find that when the appointment came, you were just not in the mood? Or the reverse—have you declined an invitation and then had your schedule open up and wished you had some company? 

Social interaction was not meant to be so scheduled, prescribed and budgeted. Social interaction should happen spontaneously more often than not. We enjoy the most spontaneity with those people to whom we are closest. I never schedule a time to talk to my mom on the phone, I just call her, and if she doesn’t answer or she’s busy, I might call my sister or think of something else to do. My husband and I don’t schedule evenings ahead of time deciding which nights we’ll read after the kids go to bed and which nights we’ll sit and talk about our days or work on a project together. We decide that evening. Sure, we schedule a date night once a month, or more realistically once a year, but our casual regular interactions are unplanned.

And so it could be with more of our relationships if only we lived a bit differently. If your best friend lives down the street, you can pop by her house on your way out for a walk or drop something off and stay to chat for a while. We can see when a neighbor is outside working in their garden and go say hi. If the neighbors are out barbecuing it’s easy to holler an invitation over the fence. In cohousing communities across the country, neighbors gather for meals, bike rides, music, conversation and games, and usually without an appointment. 

Have you always wanted to live next to your best friends and be able to live more spontaneously with them? Now is your chance—call them up and tell them about Bozeman Cohousing!