This year, we are beginning a major transformation, one which will, by 2028 or sooner, have resulted in a complete changeover of the “ownership” of the three properties — all of which I personally happen to own, much to my dismay! This business of being a “property owner” is not my cup of tea. Rather, at the time I began this process, to ignite a retrofit suburban permaculture community project, I didn’t know what I was doing; I just knew it was necessary. That we simply must learn to both grow our own food no matter where we live, and that we simply must learn to reconnect with our neighbors, no matter where we live. Since I live in the Green Acres neighborhood (ca 460 homes, mostly student rentals), adjacent to Indiana University, of Bloomington, Indiana, I began here, at home.
Of course. Everything real begins at home, inside the self. With a vision fueled by desire. At least that’s been my experience.
So here we are, more than 20 years after I arrived in this town, to live in the boring suburban house that my husband, who had arrived months earlier, had purchased for what we expected to be a temporary stay (three years, for him to go to law school). Then he died, after his first semester; Jeff died.
So there I was, at 60, stuck in a the midwest, and in a suburban house, both of which I loathed. I saw myself as a creature of the mountains in Jackson Hole! One who lives in a yurt!
Fast forward 21 years; I’m now 81 and looking forward to the next stage of my life, which will involve much less responsibility for what goes on in my outside world. This sweet little permaculture experiment with the motto “growing community from the ground up” that I and others have been nurturing for many many years; this experiment that has gone through lots of permutations, depending upon who has lived here with me at the time (first one house, then two, then three, each with three occupants; I can recall at least 45 people rotating, here for several weeks or months, to one year, two, three, five, ten years!); this experiment that has had its powerful confrontations with “the shadow:” internally, with neighbors, and with the city. Many stories about these remarkably intensive encounters that, so far, have all resolved not just dramatically but, by and large, peacefully, while stressing everyone involved to the max!
So here we are. In August 2023, due to rising property taxes and insurance, I decided to rent the third house for a year at market rates, to a wonderful young couple who agreed to rent just the inside of the house; we assumed that the rest of us would be gardening the outside as usual; plus there’s the chickens!
But then, it turned out that we didn’t garden the outside that house as usual; instead, life (actually, “near death”) intervened when, on August 16, my son Colin Cudmore, inventor of the Garden Tower who lives in the second house with Marita and Joseph, almost died of a massive aortic dissection that left him paralyzed from the waist down.
As you might imagine, my attention has been drawn elsewhere.
Then, one month ago, I realized that I needed to recommit to the original vision of Green Acres Permaculture Village, and found myself a few days later announcing to the two people who live here with me that unless they could get fully aboard with the gardening/community vision of this place, they would need to live elsewhere. They both chose to leave. The young one is already gone; the other one, dear Adam, is looking for a place.
I have invited two young people who have voluntarily joined us in garden work parties for the past year to join me in this house when their leases run out in August.
Oh, and just over three weeks ago now, I fell on the ice and broke my left wrist. Which put me out of commission. Joseph has to work at IU full time for awhile, and that leaves Marita only, who has not only been spending many mornings each week with Colin, but stepped up to the plate to plant and repot most of the seeds and seedlings by herself.
Meanwhile, Adam has agreed to water the seedlings in the small greenhouse attached to this house. Marita and Joseph make sure that the others are cared for.
We didn’t manage to clean the greenhouse before starting this year, though we did get the tools oiled and sharpened.
Now here’s the exciting news: A new person, Elisha and her partner Dave are going to move into the third house in August and rent for a year, with plans to buy that property and join us in our common adventure. Elisha has been coming to our Community Dinners for three years, and always says community is what she wants, that I am her model. ((What? I always think, befuddled.) But then she proved it when we both realized that she could join us here rather than keep trying to drum up community on the property they bought on the outskirts of town. Instead, sell it, and move here. Bingo!
Elisha is deeply familiar with all aspects of gardening and will be our new garden manager. Dave is hands on, knows how to fix and build stuff. Plus, they have a truck, lots of farming stuff, tools, etc. etc.
Furthermore, they are friends with another couple who are just as interested in creating community, and, along with Elisha’s parents, they will be joining us this coming Thursday Community Dinner (Equinox!). This couple may be interested in buying this house, in a year or two. Which would be perfect timing for me, since I would rather live alone soon, but in something small and nearby. Possibly even in a structure built in back of the third house.
And one more moving part: son Colin, who hopes to be back home by summer (he’s had to postpone several times, due to recovery process slower than he had hoped). Home, for him, for now, is the second house, with Marita and Joseph, which we are about to renovate to accommodate a handicapped person.
So, yes, huge changes in the offing. Surf, Ann! Surf!
Here are a few more photos from yesterday’s work party.
