After more years of hard work than we care to remember, our dreams of community became a reality in 2000 as families started moving into Heartwood Cohousing. It was the beginning of the new millennium. We shared then and we continue to share now a vision of a richer neighborhood life, one where neighbors know each other well; where they respect and support one another; where children grow up surrounded by a vibrant, loving extended family of cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents (metaphorically speaking); and where elders live rich, full, and purposeful lives. For the most part, that’s the neighborhood we’ve created.

​It’s a neighborhood designed for people to interact with each other. Cars are parked on the periphery. The neighborhood is really a pedestrian village. It’s a comfortable and safe place. We’ve created innumerable opportunities (but not obligations) to engage with each other — from drumming circles to yoga classes to common meals to kids’ theater to casual interactions on the pathway. Although participation is expected and is really the key to experiencing the richness of community life, none of these particular offerings are required. These and so many more are all optionally available. We are free to choose our own contributions to Heartwood. We have created a place where community is available right outside your front door, but privacy is equally available just inside that door, in the backyard, or walking on one of our forest trails. The balance between privacy and community is very important to us.

Zita on her way to the Friday evening potluck as an August sun shower graces the common house with a rainbow.

All this has not been without its struggles. It was a lot of work in the beginning to bring all of us together and to physically manifest this place. And now the reality of living in close community requires that each of us from time to time deals with interpersonal conflicts and deep personal introspection. We also have plenty of work to keep our little village going. But the richness of the friendships and the sharing have rewarded us well beyond the costs.

Women's circle gathers in the yurt. Community resources such as the yurt enhance our lives together.

Early on we had dreamt of a rural community of perhaps 80 acres with hopefully some trees and arable land. Where we find ourselves now living has far surpassed any of those early dreams. We live on 361 acres with the homes and most of the open space tucked into a valley so that we feel completely remote, yet we’re less than 5 minutes from the town of Bayfield (pop. approx. 2,500) and about 25 minutes from the town of Durango (pop. approx. 17,000). We have 65 acres of irrigated pastureland with good water rights and a spring-fed pond. There are a couple hundred acres of juniper, pinon pine, and sage and another 100 acres of ponderosa pine forest. All of this we share with deer, jackrabbits, dogs, horses, ravens, grasshoppers, weasels, bald eagles, llamas, cats, elk, mountain lions, robins, chickens, coyotes, bluebirds, and countless other critters. This land is a wondrous blessing.

If the development of Heartwood was our pregnancy and move-in our birth, we find ourselves now as a young child. We are still very much learning and growing as a community, and yet we have a sense of ourselves in this world. Every year we improve at using consensus to make our decisions together. We understand and support each other better. Our knowledge of our land increases and we become better stewards. We’re deep into an exploration of how to live in greater harmony with each other and this place.

Kids of all ages play together, support each other, and grow up together.