Community

Land Sharing

“The best way to predict the future, is to create it” Willy Brandt

This section is for anyone wanting to be involved with others in creating a network of affordable small land-sharing communities of about 4-10 people. Residents would have private living spaces (cabins, tiny homes, etc.) and a house or other structures on the property that may be shared in some ways. There could be many forms of ownership and characteristics (eg. mixture of owners and renters, pets or no pets, etc.). Residents would be financially responsible for their own incomes and for paying their (share of) expenses. There would be written agreements for the conditions of land sharing (conflict resolution, quiet times, visitors, etc.)

The staff that operate Breitenbush Hot Springs are a land-sharing community isolated in a national forest. Most workers have their own living spaces such as cabins or trailers and some share common kitchens and bathrooms. I lived in this manner at Breitenbush twice, in the early years in my 20’s when the community was small and more recently when it was much larger and I was in my 50’s. I enjoyed it both times but the smaller community was much more human scale and desirable in many ways.

This is my attempt to create intentional community “beyond Breitenbush”. No one, including myself, while living at Breitenbush, had the time and energy to promote community building in other places. My idea now is to create a directory of individuals and small communities, so people can find compatible others with the same interests.

People could move in and out of these small communities over time. And maybe have a primary community and secondary community they like to visit occasionally with appropriate agreements. For years I lived and worked at Breitenbush during the week and went to Portland on my weekends, which was great for me as I had a community in both places. Someone may want to do the opposite and work in a city and have a weekend home in the country.

Examples of land-sharing in a city, Portland, Oregon, are:
Going Places
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTF0psRWj2g
Simply Home
https://archive.curbed.com/2018/3/29/17164178/tiny-house-portland-oregon-simply-home
(in Aug. 2021 Portland made tiny homes and RVs legal residential properties)

If you want to live near like-minded others in a good mix of privacy and easy social contact please make a post here in a format like this (you will have to register on the website first to make a post):

the Topic:
where you have land to share or want to land share
the Body:
People: how many in your group (partners, children, pets, etc.), ages, occupations
Housing: if you have land what you can offer or if you are looking for land for land what you want (room in house, space for a tiny home or trailer, etc.), are you seeking or offering full- or part-time accommodations?
Activities: what you regularly do or primarily want to share in living with others
Contact: Name, email address or Facebook name for messaging, name of the community and website (if there is one)

Please attend zoom meetings every other Monday nights or contact me if this interests you. Your feedback is welcome and please share with others.

Zoom link to meetings 7:30pm on Feb. 20, March 6 and 20, etc.)
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89051478547?pwd=ZVNnK1NHbmhqSzNuR2hjQVEwTHlyUT09
Meeting ID: 890 5147 8547, Passcode: Sauna

John Holley
john@FriendsofBreitenbush.org
Breitenbush Hot Springs staff and community
member 1985-1988 and 2010-2020
BreitenbushBlog.com

I really relate to Eva zu Beck in this video and I think most people who like Breitenbush Hot Springs will:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bacAseSs9qg&t=138s

Other Links Related to Breitenbush

• Breitenbush Hot Springs: Breitenbush.com
• Breitenbush Fire Department: Breitenbushfire.org
• Breitenbush Blog: Breitenbushblog.com 
• Friends of the Breitenbush Cascades (Facebook Page)