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Formed: 2003 Established: 2003
Cedar Moon
Portland, Oregon,
United States
 Cedar Moon is a community dedicated to becoming part of the change in the world.
As co-stewards with Tryon Life Community Farm (a non-profit sustainability education and demonstration center -- see www.tryonfarm.org) of seven beautiful half-wooded acres surrounded by a 650 acre forest, all inside Portland on a bus line half an hour by bicycle from downtown, we are blessed with the opportunity for the work of our lives in relation with each other and the earth to be shared with thousands of visitors. As we learn the skills and practices of growing respect, responsibility, and joy, they resonate out through our communities.
We were born in fire. Our evolution on this land between 2004 and 2006 was galvanized by the campaign to prevent the land we occupy from being bulldozed for a high-impact housing development. We have faced the stresses, conflicts, and tensions this high-pressure environment caused, as well as the "standard" ones all communities face, and have developed a clear focus on community process to deal with them.
It is a lot of work to live here. Members pay the equivalent of market-rate rent, and are additionally expected to contribute at least 5 hours to the community and 10 hours to TLC Farm every week (many do much more). We have weekly meetings, alternating between business "meetings of the minds" and relation-building "meetings of the hearts". We share evening meals and rotate cooking, cleaning, and maintenance chores. We encourage low-impact density, and so have relatively little individual space (though a great deal of shared, communal space).
And yet the rewards are tremendous. We live deeply interwoven with all our relations. We encourage each other to discover our evolving niches in the ecology of change. We reduce our ecological footprint, learn the resonance between autonomy and cooperation, grow into wisdom and compassion, and jam rhythms and harmonies and sutras into the long, warm evenings.
Members are encouraged to use alternate forms of transportation (we have a car co-op in the initial stages), minimize energy use (no central heating), and eat local organic unrefined food. Our regular community ceremonies (from circles around dinner to high holidays) reflect our eclectic backgrounds, but are generally earth-based and heart-felt.
If your soul yearns to work closely with others in an integrated lifestyle catalyzing the emergence of a new world in the shell of the old, contact us!
  Status: Growing strong
Contact:
Cedar Moon
11640 SW Boones Ferry Rd
Portland, Oregon 97219 United States
Phone: 503-244-1776
Email This Community!
Links:
Cedar Moon
Former/Other Names: TLC Farm, The Farm
Last Updated:10/4/2007
 
Visitors Accepted
 (Of all kinds!)
Visitor Process: Please note the distinction between TLC Farm (the non-profit education center) and Cedar Moon. To visit the demonstration projects and/or schedule a tour of the land, see www.tryonfarm.org for drop-in and contact information. If you'd like to consider joining Cedar Moon or living here temporarily, please contact us directly and tell us why you're interested, how long you'd like to stay, and when.
Network Affiliations:
Northwest Intentional Communities Association
Population
Adult Members:
17
(We also have several seasonal interns, and are looking to grow)
Child Members:
5
(ages 2 to 7; 2 kids are half time)
Open to new adults:
Yes
Open to new children:
Yes
Gender Balance:
40% M 60% F
Open to which gender(s):
All genders welcome
Ethnic Diversity:
10% identify as 'people of color'
(Some others are of mixed heritage, but we are largely a community of the culturally white, trying to learn what it might mean to re-inscribe the indigenous wisdom of our many ancestors into the stormy uncertainty of the present.)
Age Focus:
No Focus
(We are primarily in our twenties and thirties, but are eager to increase the fullness of interaction with elders.)
Age Restrictions:
No
Government
Decision Making:
By consensus
(Full consensus on all decisions except one: if half of the community asks a member to leave, they must do so.)
Identified Leader:
No
Leadership Core Group:
No
Labor and Money
Financial Style:
Members have independent finances
(This is under increasing discussion.)
Open to Members with Pre-existing Debt:
Yes
Labor Contribution:
Expected
(20 hr/mo to the community, 40 hr/mo to the non-profit)
Join Fee:
No
(There is a standard refundable security deposit)
Regular Fees:
Yes
(Members contribute a variable amount for room space, depending on size and amenities of private space; this ranges from about $200 to about $350 per person, all of which goes to mortgage and maintenance payments. Members also split utilities (~$50/mo) and food costs (~$100/mo).)
Land and Buildings
Other
(Inside the city, surrounded by a forest, a working farm.)
Area:
7 acres (2.8 hectares)
(Co-stewarded with TLC Farm)
Land Owned By:
Independent land trust (not controlled by the community)
(Oregon Sustainable Agriculture Land Trust (OSALT): www.osalt.org)
Number of Residences:
2
(Two large houses, plus outbuildings and temporary structures, and room for more.)
Cohousing:
No
Food, etc.
Percentage of Food Grown:
6-20%
(Intend to expand rapidly over next few years)
Share Community Meals:
Nearly all dinners
Dietary Choice or Restrictions:
Diet is up to each individual
(All commonly purchased and prepared food is vegetarian, organic, and relatively local, and we attempt to accommodate individual allergies or special diets; however, there are no restrictions on supplementary diets.)
Dietary Practice:
Primarily vegetarian
(A significant number of omnivores, and some vegans, as well as strong interest in raw foods.)
Alcohol Use:
Seldom used
Tobacco Use:
Seldom used
(Never in houses.)
Social Factors
Open to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and/or Transgender members:
Yes
(Strong commitment to being queer-friendly!)
Restrictions on Romantic Relationships (between consenting adults):
No
(There is a community interest in ensuring that relationships are healthy and respectful.)
Shared Spiritual Path:
No
(We have community ceremonies, but various individuals follow their own paths day to day. At the same time, a spiritual connection with the earth in general, and this land in particular, is encouraged.)
Which Spiritual Path(s):
Native American
:: Buddhist
:: Paganism/Earth Religions
:: Eastern
:: Jewish
:: Ecumenical (includes "all religions")
:: Eclectic (integrates pieces from many religions)
:: Other
 
 


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Comment from mynameiscurtis on 11/7/2007 (Reader Rating: 8)
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I lived at Cedar Moon as a sublet in Oct. 2007.

The community is very young but has already been surprisingly successful at its mission. If you have the opportunity be sure to ask for the oral history of how the farm was saved. As a very short and unexciting version: Just three years ago the small group of about 15 residents managed to prevent the land from being turned into twenty-three country homes--this involved very difficult court battles with the current land owners and the developers that owned an option to buy the land, rallying the local Portland community via grass-roots organizing, cash-less local political lobbying & an amazing media campaign all while raising $1.6 Million from some three-thousand individual donors (they seriously made such an good case for their existence that they got a little bit of money from near-every conceivable source) and one nice bank - done within a one-hundred-day countdown to their forced eviction.

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