Santa Rosa, California

Intentional Community

According to the Fellowship for Intentional Community (FIC), an Intentional Community is, “a group of people who live together or share common facilities and who regularly associate with each other on the basis of explicit common values.”

Intentional communities can be ecovillages, communes, cohousing, student coops, spiritual or religious or shared housing. Explicit organizational values include cooperation, sustainability, social justice, nonviolence, and non-coercion; and Group Resilience is achieved through shared decision-making, local economy, social enrichment, natural building and food security.

On July 24, Neo and I spent the night in the home of my cousin Penny and her husband Frankie at Monan’s Rill, the intentional community in Santa Rosa, California, where they are members. This was not my first visit to “the Rill,” but it was Neo’s. We enjoyed a wonderful home-cooked meal and wonderful conversation with Penny, Frankie and Cousin Bud. It would have been great to spend more time there to meet other members, learn about their shared values., and perhaps work in the garden. Perhaps next time.