HEARTWOOD COHOUSING - FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
How do community meals work?
We have two main types of community meals: common meals and potlucks. For common meals, members volunteer to cook and clean up. Cooks post a menu and anyone planning to come to the meal signs up so the cooks know how many to cook for. Common meals cost $4 for adults and $2 for kids and are billed monthly along with HOA dues. Common meals happen every Tuesday and Wednesday evening. We are each expected to cook or clean up once per month so that works out to cooking or cleaning up about once per 8 - 10 meals that we eat. Pretty good deal.
Potlucks are your garden variety potluck affairs -- everyone brings a dish to share. They happen every Friday evening.
Participation in meals is completely optional. Some members come to almost all community meals and some come rarely. All meals tend to be organic and cater to special needs (vegetarian option, dairy-free option, etc). Much of the produce, especially during the summer, is grown right here in our greenhouse or pasture by the Heartwood Farms Co-operative. Visitors are welcome at any of our community meals, but they need to sign up and pay for common meals and bring a dish to potlucks.