The Commons on the Alameda is a 28 home clustered, co-housing compound in Santa Fe. With parking on the perimeter, a delightful pedestrian path connects a series of placitas. (editor note * with more space online, the GFT article 101 Reasons to live in Community has expanded..Enjoy!
28 unit Co-Housing, with shared grounds, laundry, common house
The Commons on the Alameda is a 28 home clustered, co-housing compound in Santa Fe. With parking on the perimeter, a delightful pedestrian path connects a series of placitas. (editor note * with more space online, the GFT article 101 Reasons to live in Community has expanded..Enjoy!
I wish so much for the transformation of St. Michaels Drive. As a planner I often think of the physical side and how important it is to get it right. Yet all too often the social side makes or breaks a community, a neighborhood, a place. Having the great good fortune to spend the last two decades planning, building and living in the Commons on the Alameda co-housing community, I get to experience the benefits of both a quality physical and social setting. What might that mean? Here are 144 answers from many of my 81 “commoners.”
- Water fountain that embraces our dinner circle and sustains birds
- Never having to leave home and take on the treacherous roads to get to the party on New Year’s Eve
- Borrowing five kayaks to take on a weekend adventure with one little e-mail
- Hopping on the bike trail to town or walking in the park just steps from my door
- Caring people around, ready to share sorrows, even when I haven’t reached out, and opportunities to share theirs
- Impromptu celebrations
- Hosting a give-and-take free-box, keeping clutter out of my house and the landfill, or offering surprises
- Talented people sharing their gifts of art on our common walls or to our ears in our parlor
- Regular exposure to a range of generations
- Beautiful landscaping without having to do it all myself
- Knowing all of my 80-some neighbors by name
- A five-year-old biking to the front door to let me know she wants to ride my horse
- A garden planted by a neighbor and watered by another in my front yard
- Impromptu lemonade or watermelon stands
- Fire circles that reveal our tribal nature
- Daily dog walks of my elderly dog by the elder men of the community
- Gifts in exchange for notary services
- A dozen chickens and their fresh eggs
- Neighbors who transform into colleagues to help support my professional endeavors
- Healers who share
- Neighbors who appreciate what I have to give
- E-mailing a request for an item and getting three responses in eight minutes
- Fixing a neighbor’s bike and getting a plate of warm brownies in return
- Enjoying a pot-luck dinner
- Putting together a poker game at a moment’s notice
- Getting an offer of a beer between the carport and the front door
- Enjoying a great organic dinner twice a week, courtesy of a thoughtful chef and three/four assistants
- Other people’s children all around, adding youthful joy – without responsibilities – to my life
- Photographing the changing seasons and changing children, an unconscious longitudinal study
- Running into neighbors at the store, the Lensic, farmers market, and if not, wondering where they are
- Getting a pesky computer issue resolved within minutes
- Melting irritation at something not getting done when it’s done faster than thought possible
- Drumming circle around the fire pit
- The Plaza, an oasis of green, of calming, of celebration, of home
- Ten generations represented, including three young women still active in their 90s
- Enjoying the Santa Fe River in our backyard
- Strolling through Frenchy’s Field, just beyond the river
- Biking on the new riverside bike trail
- Sound of horses at the nearby stables
- Being so at ease with my neighbors that I can walk in my terry robe to an invitation to soak in one hot tub or sauna on the other side of the compound
- Sharing the Commons with 100-plus friends during our annual fall celebration
- The opportunity to contribute, whether it is gardening, cooking or caring for a neighbor in need
- Neighbors becoming friends
- Bocce ball in the orchard after dinner
- Watching the kids grow up
- Squealing children playing in the sprinkler on the Plaza
- The little cuties in the childcare program
- Celebrating holidays together
- Diversity within common themes
- Very appreciative neighborly help with food and groceries when you are living alone and so sick you can’t get out of bed
- Being kept informed about the latest cutting-edge issues, political and ecological
- Access twice a week to the best culinary bargain in Santa Fe: for between $4 and $7, I get an all-organic meal and the chance to chat with my up-to-the-minute neighbors
- I get to pet a lot of dogs
- Without benefit of car, I cross the sidewalk to get the best hair cut in Santa Fe
- Free notary
- Swings for my visiting granddaughter at each placita
- When I need to find the best plumber, tree person, etc. in town, I have only to send out an e-mail to my neighbors
- In a medical emergency, the best physician in Santa Fe is a 2-minute walk away
- I go to the movies in the Common House without renting one or using my car
- Built-in companions greet my granddaughter and take her home to play
- When I run short of one egg for my gala event recipe, I borrow one from next door
- Hanging laundry out to dry where no one sees it
- Having a yummy community supper twice a week and reconnecting with folks I haven’t seen for a few days
- Mopping the kitchen floor after the supper, knowing that at least two other commoners have worked hard to do the dishes and put everything away
- Laughing together at Business Meetings
- Having a monthly rhythm of preparing the Business Meetings (with the Board), having them, and evaluating them (with the Process Committee)
- Receiving hand-picked posies and a card from the children when I’m not feeling so well
- Hearing the voices of the children at play in front of our house and in the back, in the orchard
- Celebrating birthdays each month when the birthday people can tell two truths and a lie and we can guess which is which
- Celebrating important moments in the lives of fellow commoners – a weddings, anniversaries, departure of the youngest for college
- Hearing piano-practicing by children and adults alike
- Dancing together
- Knowing our dog will be well taken care of when we’re away
- Trusting my neighbors
- Being influenced by two- and three-year-olds, ninety-plus-year-olds, and all ages in between
- Examining long-held biases because someone else sees things differently than I do
- Can put my friends up in the guest rooms; convenient as my house is small
- Planning together to maintain our common areas
- Sharing rides to community events and trips toAlbuquerque
- Struggling to change the bylaws so we can have clotheslines and rain barrels
- Watching the children as they gather for rides to school
- Stopping in to talk with the small ones in the Kids Coop
- Impromptu dinners outside in the placita
- Working together on work day
- Watching the children grow up
- Having delicious meals provided by neighbors during a prolonged illness, along with lots of other support
- Feeling excited about coming home after a trip
- Lying in the hammock under the sycamore trees
- Feeling a sense of safety and security that comes from knowing that the neighbors will help in time of need
- The pleasure that comes from knowing that I can be of help
- Being able to serve the medical needs of my neighbors
- Watching us grow and evolve as a community over the past 19 years
- Learning how to resolve conflicts and work through problems together
- Having an extended family close by, from whom we get support, friendship, sharing
- Living in a community whose values are centered around ecological principles
- Living among friends, true friends, more than “just a neighbor”
- Witnessing babies born at home, growing up, then going off to college
- We have a history with our community, as well as our own family
- We like being the mentors, and have never regretted our decision to move into co-housing
- Getting a call to help out with whatever isn’t working
- Monthly birthday celebrations with cakes for each dietary preference, made by a commoner
- Each of the kids knows our names and feels comfortable dropping in for a visit
- Phoebe is my neighbor, it is fun (from one six-year-old to another)
- Going to play with friends is fun
- 20 kids in The Commons are my best friends
- Feeding the chickens and gathering eggs
- Swinging
- The plaza is very furry, my friend Julian and I roll on the grass, then we go in to eat snacks
- The Commons is great to live here, I love it
- Because I can play all day with my friends!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Where you here expressions of gratitude all the time
- As you walk out your front door, a three-year-old runs across the plaza to grab your leg and look up saying, “I love you”
- An 80-year-old who wants a hug because someone had hurt her feelings
- Laughing with friends so hard and so long that at 10 pm a neighbor has to come and request quiet
- Sharing two meals every week and benefiting with never knowing who will be sharing conversation at the dinner table
- Having meals, parties, work days, meetings, and spontaneous conversations within two minutes of walking
- Discovering four giggly kids packed into a box when you thought the squiggly noises were from a trapped squirrel – and they are delighted that you are you and not someone else
- Sparing the landfill and car trips with e-mail give-aways and e-mail requests for a needed item
- Private terrace with friendly neighbors beyond
- Gardening together or alone
- Feeding the community compost that later feeds us
- Waking to the sounds of chickens and horses and sometimes children
- Folding laundry in the community laundry room while chatting with a neighbor friend
- A phone and e-mail list of everyone in the community in case of an emergency
- Being able to help each other out
- Intriguing chats with any of our easy-to-engage-with elders
- Enjoying OPKs and OPPs–other peoples’ kids and pets
- Enjoying the many freedoms of a pedestrian village
- Bartering services
- Receiving unexpected warm embraces
- Giving warm embraces
- A safe desert oasis
- Festivities
- Common visions
- Humoring differences among us
- An opportunity to offer my/our gifts and to see my/our growth edges such as ample chances to practice the five agreements
- Home hopping for tea
- Meals shared
- To live in a different place but still be in the community,
- Taking turns with dog-sitting
- Sharing our homes when we go away
- Finding surprise presents at my door or in my cubby
- Delivering little gifts to touch someone’s heart
- Quiet breathing in and out, a tea kettle whistles, a child cries, the leaves rustle in the trees, a neighbor going to work, another to milk the goats, life continues and breathes, awareness of rhythms – your own and those around you, children laughing, swinging in the hammock, coming to borrow an egg for breakfast or an early morning playtime, recognizing a neighbor’s laugh, singing to the plants. Does it help them grow better? Probably. Shared meals, farm shares, dog care and childcare, feeling supported and loved and held in a stretchy glistening web of life that contains uncounted possibilities.