To Honor Intentional Community :: Communities Directory

Forming Formed: 2005 Established: 2005

This page last updated:12/12/2011

To Honor Intentional Community

Ione, Washington,

United States

(Latitude 48.688 & Longitude -117.388)

To Honor is an Intentional Community, currently under construction.

Four friends who share similar philosophies, ideals, and goals have come together to build in Northeast Washington State.

Here we intend to cluster modestly sized straw bale insulated dwellings in proximity to the larger common buildings. The utility grid was completed Fall 2009, and two homes are now under construction.

All structures will use Green construction methods, and the footprint will occupy only five acres of the 719.

Within the common buildings residents will share work, leisure, recreation and study space. We will demonstrate a collective compassion for others by operating a nonprofit respite retreat facility for those who work in end-of-life care.

It is our intention to honor family caregivers, nurse's aides, nurses, hospice, and social workers.

We are open to new residents currently.

To Honor intends to offer a no-cost respite to visiting end-of-life caregivers. The stay of three to five days will provide comfortable lodging, a healthy menu, opportunity to participate in various activities (optional) and serene surroundings all intended to restore the caregiver's vigor.

To Honor will take several more years to construct and we look forward to many volunteers to join in this effort.

Spring 2011 we'll continue work on plastering straw and perhaps hold workshops welcoming helping hands.

Status: Construction Underway

Website: http://www.tohonor.org

Contact:

Susan Swan Hobbs
PO Box 516
Ione, Washington 99139 United States
Phone: 509-442-3578 house-line (best), 509-680-8072

Community location is placed at the center of the zip/postal code, city/state, or city/country (not based on street addresses)

This page last updated:12/12/2011

Visitors Accepted

(With courtesy of pre-arrangement.)

Visitor Process: Email Susan (tohonor@potc.net) to coordinate a time that would find us onsite and available to greet visitors.

Statement of Housing Non-discrimination:

Our community does not provide land or housing and is therefore not subject to fair housing laws.

Population Members(adults and children): -2 (Two houses are under construction.) Non-member Residents: 0 Open to new members: Yes (Volunteers are welcome and it's a good way to get acquainted.)	Government Decision Making: By consensus (Primarily by consensus.) Identified Leader: No (Susan accepts the role of project manager, architectural committee poobah, and pie maker.) Leadership Core Group: Yes (The original members will be our core. That will expand as new residents establish themelves.)	Labor and Money Financial Style: Members have independent finances (Although the community is an experiment in flexibility, we imagine the costs associated with maintaining the community such as property taxes, landscaping, insurance, infrastructure & utilities maintenance and improvements, as well as annual expenses for garden seed, licenses for shared harvest of game, all will be applied based on per-person impact & benefit.) Open to Members with Pre-existing Debt: Yes (Few come to the table without some debt.) Labor Contribution: Expected (Everyone has something to offer. We'll try to match an individual's interests with needs within the community.) Join Fee: Yes (After a period of internship w/rented space or living quarters, when accepted that new member will build their own standardized structure using community helping hands and wood milled here. The structure will incrementally establish a non-transferable exclusive lifetime lease. This is non-transferrable and non-inheritable. It's an exclusive lifetime lease for the individual only and not ownership.) Regular Fees: Yes (Resident member's assigned share of utilities, taxation, maintenance, insurance, and contribution to future project fund savings, and an emergency utilities contingency pool.)
Land and Buildings Rural (We are the epitome of rural.) Area: 719.9 acres (291.3 hectares) (715 of the 719 acres will be in a conservation land trust.) Land Owned By: Individual community member(s) (It is co-owned by Matt & Susan Hobbs) Number of Residences: 3 (Two are under construction currently, but over the next twenty years, a maximum of six dwellings will exist here. Five small residences, one existing farmhouse. All new buildings will be constructed in 'green' building methods.) Cohousing: Yes (A rural version, with greater privacy/autonomy, but clustered in a small footprint well-off the riverfront.)	Food, etc. Percentage of Food Grown: 21-50% (We hope to do better at this, when helping hands are on-site.) Share Community Meals: 2-5 times/week (When Marc & Shannon come to work on their house, we eat all meals together.) Dietary Choice or Restrictions: Other (Savory but healthy eating, organic, with fabulous deserts.) Dietary Practice: Other (We like to eat, and we all enjoy cooking fresh foods.) Alcohol Use: Used occasionally (In moderation.) Tobacco Use: Seldom used (Only one of our group continues to use tobacco,)	Social Factors Common Spiritual Practices: No Answer (Any individual's choice to enlightenment is respected.) Which Spiritual Traditions(s): Other (A spiritual path of any kind/flavor is welcome.) Educational Style(s): Public schooled (No children at this time, but locally there are fine educational options. School system here exceeds the state average for children continuing education beyond H.S.)

Cohousing Details

Cohousing Status:

Building

Year Completed:

2014

(We'll be building for the next fiew years.)

Number of Units:

It will have a common house, a woodworking shop, a garage/classroom area, and several straw bale insulated residences.

Square Feet in Common House:

3000

(This is the planned s.f. at this time.)

Architect:

By consensus, the members are the architects.

Developer:

Matt & Susan are land stewards.

Commercial Lender:

We are self-funded.

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Become an Editor Current editor(s): tohonor

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