 Weekly Wednesday Treats for the Construction Crew Since June, Haystackers have been bringing treats to the construction crew on our site. Coordinated by Christie and Katherine, a link to sign up was posted, and right quick, 3-months were spoken for. Even out-of-towners have participated with funding treats. Some of the comments on the sign-up show that HH “community” feel, from providing chorizo breakfast burritos, to “homemade goodies by my mom” to a cohouser celebrating her own birthday with cupcakes for the crew because “building our future home is the best present I could ask for.” Nice! Thanks to the community, both locals and out-of-towners, who have so far signed up and provided yummy treats for our crew. The construction crew is very appreciative and so touched by our efforts to provide treats for them each week that we received a thank you card from them. Looks like the holiday months are the next months to snag—what would be the right treat for Election Day? Someone among us has just the right idea… Construction Excitement A path was just made from the commons to the garden. The first run was from east to west, but a Haystack formation was encountered, thus, we now have west to east. * Historians (Already) Needed We have a request for volunteer/s to consider being our Haystack Heights Historian/s. Christie had the fun idea that HH should have a historian to make some sort of chronological book of photos of our journey to this point and going forward. Until now, most of our photos have been digital and on Facebook or Slack. Membership discussed this and thought these photos should not be just in cyberspace, but they belong in a physical "paper" album for all to see. If anyone is interested in volunteering, please contact Christie or Katherine W. via Slack or email. Shop Report • Upstairs interior to be painted off-white for maximum brightness. • Exterior paint colors TBD to allow community input. If painted this year, it will need to be within the next two months in consideration of weather. • Naming of building, upstairs and downstairs TBD to allow community input. • Shop policy: Nearly complete, need some input regarding minimum ages and supervision requirements of minors. Railing on deck is nearly complete. Garden Report The last two years the deer seemed to have benefited most from the garden, but this year, the two-legged mammals are seeing lots of success. Despite deer damage our garden has been very productive this year and has grown more than we can possibly eat ourselves. Successes! *Lucious growth where green manure cover crops were planted late last summer. *Bumper crops of Santa Rosa plums, garlic, onions, apricots, poppies, zucchini, leeks and kale. On the ground we have 11 exploring baby quail with both parents watching, the mom scurrying on the ground the dad perched above nearby. In an urban area with many free-roaming cats, this also counts as a garden/sanctuary success! Thanks to the faithful core garden team who continue mulching for beauty and reduced maintenance!
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Beautiful Baby Runa Newest and youngest member of Haystack: Runa Ray, daughter of Casey and John in Chicago! She was born in March, during the initial month of Covid, so all the challenges of a newborn are likely amplified. Despite that, Mom says, “Runa is a smiley, mellow, hungry wee one who has completely stolen our hearts. Sam, older brother, is an enthusiastic diaper assistant with plenty of kisses for her each day (and perhaps the occasional whack as well—as all older brothers are wont to do). We look forward to meeting the whole family of four on their next visit to Spokane! This photo Casey sent in will show you why she’s a heart-stealer! Homelessness and Cohousing—a Needed Niche Our architect, Charles Durrett, did not rest up much during the first months of Covid. Instead, the time gave him the opportunity to write a book about a project he initiated and is understandably very passionate about: A Solution to Homelessness in Your Town: Valley View Senior Housing in Napa California. It’s a $2.99 e-book , that is full of inspiration and important facts about homelessness in the US. (The Amazon link seems to be temporarily down, but keep trying, it's worth it!) In his introductory letter for the project Chuck writes: These are interesting times. We humans are experiencing global hardships. There is an ancient Chinese saying, “Challenge is always accompanied by Opportunity.” Today, we can see the earth in the beginning stages of healing because people are awakening. We have realized that we need to share, to support each other, to stand up and fight challenges. And we have to do something about the 16,000 homeless people dying outside every year in the U.S. For example, a homeless person’s sleeping bag was confiscated by the police here in Nevada County because they didn’t approve of him sleeping under a bridge. Then the man, a native American, died that night of hypothermia. This is just one of too many sad stories. Today 40% of the nearly one million homeless people in America are African Americans, many are native Americans. ...This new community of 70 cottages averaging 500 SQ each was inspired by cohousing design, and by the desire to build community. It is the antithesis of warehousing people. It is the epitome of trying to set people up for mutual support. Read about this intriguing story of how a “project” went from single-building homeless shelter to a village solution. Read about how the virtues of the biggest asset of all, the people themselves, was not left on the table. Chuck would love our help in promoting his work to city councilors, city planners, and city/town developers. The book chronicles the development of the project—including Chuck’s brainstorm while sitting on the hillside site to imitate San Francisco’s Lombard Street to deal the incline. You’ll find the book wonderfully illustrated, clear enough for any layperson (and city councilwoman/man) and indeed a true piece of positive news in this challenging Covid era. Moving Dirt and Making it Pretty on Site 0 CommentsNo comments posted
*CIT reports that as our construction crew dug down under the SE corner of our lot, they first encountered a band of rocks, then dirt and then several feet of sandy sediment. We still have to build a pretty-good sized retaining wall, but it means there was a lake there and a beach!
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 Week one and two: preparing the site for the buildings to come. The machines are there, moving the dirt and starting to dig into the rock below. |  Maple Tree next to neighbor Ruth's house on the north end of the site wearing a yellow skirt that insures the maple being part of the community with just a bit of pruning. |
CIT and construction staff are holding regular (socially distanced) meetings with neighbors most impacted by the building to address their concerns. Left to right in photograph: Harold and Heather (neighbors directly east), Scott the project manager and John the project supervisor from Yost Gallagher, and Abbey on the CIT Team.
Other happenings:
*The sheetrock is loaded into the teen/music room above the shop, ready to install.
*Mark and Gregg procured palettes, and the construction crew marked the pavers that will be disrupted during construction. The goal is for Haystack Heights residents to load those pavers on the palettes. Contact Jim Dawson if you've got some time to help.
*You'll likely find some members of the Garden Team always about in the garden any time of day, but an organized WORK PARTY will be held this Thursday from 4 to 6pm. Help is very much needed and appreciated, and socializing (while distancing) is the added benefit. Did you know there's science linking happiness (dopamine) and digging in the dirt? Yup. So, between the happy biology from being with community and playing in the dirt, Thursday afternoon will be a party for your brain and body.
Other happenings:
*The sheetrock is loaded into the teen/music room above the shop, ready to install.
*Mark and Gregg procured palettes, and the construction crew marked the pavers that will be disrupted during construction. The goal is for Haystack Heights residents to load those pavers on the palettes. Contact Jim Dawson if you've got some time to help.
*You'll likely find some members of the Garden Team always about in the garden any time of day, but an organized WORK PARTY will be held this Thursday from 4 to 6pm. Help is very much needed and appreciated, and socializing (while distancing) is the added benefit. Did you know there's science linking happiness (dopamine) and digging in the dirt? Yup. So, between the happy biology from being with community and playing in the dirt, Thursday afternoon will be a party for your brain and body.
--On May 4th, in a very formal ceremony documented in this photograph, we closed on the loan! “With a stroke of the pen,” says founding member Jim Dawson, “we own the property outright and have a 10.2 million dollar line of credit to build the community!”
And Jim got to keep the pen! (A pen which some say should be immortalized in the Common House)
--We signed the construction contract with Yost Gallagher!
--We are ready to break ground next week!
--Many, many thanks to the CIT Team, UD&P, and Yost Gallagher for seeing us through to this big, big week.
--!!!!
A geotagged birthday photo gives away everything scammers need to know about your child. GETTY
Recently, I’d posted a blog featuring a small, multigenerational Haystack event—a potluck for some of the children to get to know one another. As I didn’t post first and last names, I assumed I’d protected the parents and children’s anonymity. But you’ll no longer find that post—it was deleted after a parent educated me on the issues surrounding the protection of children’s online presence.
As we gather for events before and after move in, there will be many temptations to post photos of our group having a good time, kids and all. But not so fast! The same member who contacted me is in the midst of drafting a policy for our group, but what follows is the missive he sent to me asking to delete the blog post. For many of us like myself with “kids” in their 20’s and 30’s, this is something we never had to wrestle with. Welcome a the Brave New Post Privacy World.
My wife and I have had the family policy of not posting photos of our son online since he was born, not even for family, so my request isn't particular to Haystack. For us, the lack of a name doesn't matter for at least three reasons. For one, face-recognition technology is so good these days that it just takes a couple photos of the same person for sites like Google of Facebook to identify people. Second, lack of a name doesn't keep any random person from copying the photo. (To demonstrate, I snipped the photo from our site and pasted it in another photo for you). Any person in the world can snap up that photo for their own uses with two clicks of a mouse. And third, the fact that no name is listed doesn't keep someone from learning who lives in Haystack in other ways and quickly figuring out who's in the photo. There is so much of our info online these days, even for those who are careful. All in all, the lack of a name isn't much of a barrier.
As for why we care, there's a whole slew of reasons we have decided to minimize our son’s digital footprint. There is a non-zero chance that others could use his image without our permission, either for innocent but also more nefarious purposes, like identify fraud. But it's also about us thinking about his future and empowering him to have control over his own online presence. He's not old enough to consent, so we're erring on the side of privacy until he can decide for himself. There are a bunch of articles that articulate the reasons why parents might follow this course, like here and here.
Who knew? Not me. I read the suggested articles, rather wide-eyed about the facts: in late 2018, the UK Children’s Commissioner released a report called “Who Knows About Me?” illuminating the ways in which we collect and share children’s data and how that might put them at risk in the future. The report estimates that by the age of 13, parents have posted roughly 1300 photos and videos of their children online (and that might be a conservative estimate). “This dual role of parent and publisher raises a host of questions about privacy, consent, and the parent-child relationship more broadly,” says another excellent article in The Atlantic in 2016 entitled, “The Perils of Sharenting.” That article begins, “Babies, like cats, are everywhere on the web.” (Likely there are as many funny videos and photos of babies as there are of cats.)
Other arenas in our society that interface with children are also beginning to wrestle with this complicated issue of digital privacy—school team photos? Yearbooks? A journalist covering some incident at a school?
Back to the situation for us in cohousing: although we will eventually have a community policy on this issue, be sure that if you happen to snap a photo during one of our gregarious gatherings that includes children, please ask that child’s parent for permission if you plan to post it on social media.
Recently, I’d posted a blog featuring a small, multigenerational Haystack event—a potluck for some of the children to get to know one another. As I didn’t post first and last names, I assumed I’d protected the parents and children’s anonymity. But you’ll no longer find that post—it was deleted after a parent educated me on the issues surrounding the protection of children’s online presence.
As we gather for events before and after move in, there will be many temptations to post photos of our group having a good time, kids and all. But not so fast! The same member who contacted me is in the midst of drafting a policy for our group, but what follows is the missive he sent to me asking to delete the blog post. For many of us like myself with “kids” in their 20’s and 30’s, this is something we never had to wrestle with. Welcome a the Brave New Post Privacy World.
My wife and I have had the family policy of not posting photos of our son online since he was born, not even for family, so my request isn't particular to Haystack. For us, the lack of a name doesn't matter for at least three reasons. For one, face-recognition technology is so good these days that it just takes a couple photos of the same person for sites like Google of Facebook to identify people. Second, lack of a name doesn't keep any random person from copying the photo. (To demonstrate, I snipped the photo from our site and pasted it in another photo for you). Any person in the world can snap up that photo for their own uses with two clicks of a mouse. And third, the fact that no name is listed doesn't keep someone from learning who lives in Haystack in other ways and quickly figuring out who's in the photo. There is so much of our info online these days, even for those who are careful. All in all, the lack of a name isn't much of a barrier.
As for why we care, there's a whole slew of reasons we have decided to minimize our son’s digital footprint. There is a non-zero chance that others could use his image without our permission, either for innocent but also more nefarious purposes, like identify fraud. But it's also about us thinking about his future and empowering him to have control over his own online presence. He's not old enough to consent, so we're erring on the side of privacy until he can decide for himself. There are a bunch of articles that articulate the reasons why parents might follow this course, like here and here.
Who knew? Not me. I read the suggested articles, rather wide-eyed about the facts: in late 2018, the UK Children’s Commissioner released a report called “Who Knows About Me?” illuminating the ways in which we collect and share children’s data and how that might put them at risk in the future. The report estimates that by the age of 13, parents have posted roughly 1300 photos and videos of their children online (and that might be a conservative estimate). “This dual role of parent and publisher raises a host of questions about privacy, consent, and the parent-child relationship more broadly,” says another excellent article in The Atlantic in 2016 entitled, “The Perils of Sharenting.” That article begins, “Babies, like cats, are everywhere on the web.” (Likely there are as many funny videos and photos of babies as there are of cats.)
Other arenas in our society that interface with children are also beginning to wrestle with this complicated issue of digital privacy—school team photos? Yearbooks? A journalist covering some incident at a school?
Back to the situation for us in cohousing: although we will eventually have a community policy on this issue, be sure that if you happen to snap a photo during one of our gregarious gatherings that includes children, please ask that child’s parent for permission if you plan to post it on social media.
Taking care of one another in good times and in challenging times is what cohousing is all about. Enter Pat with an offer to make a covid mask for everyone in cohousing who requests one. Wait, did I read that Slack correctly? Everyone? Yes. With a promise to hang the finished products on members’ doorknobs or send them across the country for our members who have yet to move here. In Pat’s first foray, she completed 35 masks out of 65 orders (then asked for a little downtime for her hands before sewing the rest). Enter Martha, who picked up all the masks destined for our out-of-town members and mailed them. Enter Joyce, who picked up many of the local masks to mail or deliver. Enter Martha again who helped to cut more fabric for the remaining orders and Joyce, who volunteered to help Pat sew them. Some members also made their own masks and a few for others—thank you Cindy, Gale and Nancy.
Pat ended her offer to the community this way: “Please post a picture of you wearing your mask on a Covid slack channel and on social media to encourage others to wear masks. That’s the only payment I want. Please don’t send me any money for materials or postage as this is my gift to our community.”
Contemplating Pat’s offer to the community, and the way others quickly stepped into help, should give us all the warm fuzzies of gratitude. I think for many of us who’ve not lived in community before, we can anticipate many, many wonderful and heartfelt gestures like the mask brigade provided.
Taking care of one another in good times and in challenging times is what cohousing is all about. Enter Pat with an offer to make a covid mask for everyone in cohousing who requests one. Wait, did I read that Slack correctly? Everyone? Yes. With a promise to hang the finished products on members’ doorknobs or send them across the country for our members who have yet to move here. In Pat’s first foray, she completed 35 masks out of 65 orders (then asked for a little downtime for her hands before sewing the rest). Enter Martha, who picked up all the masks destined for our out-of-town members and mailed them. Enter Joyce, who picked up many of the local masks to mail or deliver. Enter Martha again who helped to cut more fabric for the remaining orders and Joyce, who volunteered to help Pat sew them. Some members also made their own masks and a few for others—thank you Cindy, Gale and Nancy.
Pat ended her offer to the community this way: “Please post a picture of you wearing your mask on a Covid slack channel and on social media to encourage others to wear masks. That’s the only payment I want. Please don’t send me any money for materials or postage as this is my gift to our community.”
Contemplating Pat’s offer to the community, and the way others quickly stepped into help, should give us all the warm fuzzies of gratitude. I think for many of us who’ve not lived in community before, we can anticipate many, many wonderful and heartfelt gestures like the mask brigade provided.
Social distancing can be an isolating experience, but Haystack Heights community members have used this time to slow down and connect with one other. On March 29, Haystack Heights started hosting COCOA’s (Chats for Cohousing in the Covid Age). Three times per week, members have the opportunity to login into Zoom and share a cup of cocoa, coffee, or in the evening hours, wine, with their future neighbors. The tone and topics of the meetings have varied widely, but the most entertaining news to come to light was that our members’ most regrettable past fashion choices included dashiki's, high water pants, wing tips, afros, hot pants, and “mini, mini” skirts. Stay tuned for more of these important updates coming from our members’ gatherings.
While we aren’t meeting face-to-face these days, Haystack Heights Cohousers continue to work and play actively behind the scenes! Your blogger, Sarah, is in Ecuador where she and Doug are “stuck” for the time being—no rides home yet. Nonetheless, she’s able to report on many of the highlights and goings-on of our intrepid and caring community through delightful spying on various Slack channels. These are some of the gems she's seen:
*Zoom Farkle Night! Instigated by Mic and Mark. The first of more to come…
*We’ve continued to connect with, and sign on, more provisional associates for our waiting list.
*We’ve expanded our Slack channels, adding covid information and supporting each other (and even folks outside of our LLC) for errands and more.
*Slack channels have been very busy with frequent postings from sharing onion sets to chicks!
*We’ve converted our monthly LLC and regular team meetings from face-to-face to Zoom.
*Jeremy headed up a bike-sharing survey, with a special category for kids’ bikes.
*The Process Team tested out Zoom vis-a-vis small break out groups. Apparently, funny hats were part of the test?
*Garden projects are gaining momentum: a tree pruning workshop, pruning the climbing roses, getting ready to plant and even talk of a future root cellar.
*Joyce headed up a pet inventory and survey of concerns for non-pet owners that the Pet Polity team will be discussing in our April meeting.
*Shop news: The heat is up and running! And more: the wallboard is up! The chain link fence in the construction area has been removed.
*A newly formed open-to-everyone communication skills group studying NVC—Nonviolent Communication using Marshall Rosenberg’s groundbreaking book on communication skills.
*We’ve added new Zoom meetings such as Haystack Heights Antidote to Social Distancing: COCOA (Chats for Cohousing in the Covid Age) several times a week. 15 people participated in the very first one!
*And this just in: Pat, now with angle wings, is offering to make EVERYONE in the community a personalized mask! Not infinite choices, but certainly enough to match your mood: stripes (honey do these make my face look big?); fancy floral; Save the Planet; Peace Out; Aww?; Apple for the teacher; Picasso's version of an apple; sexy chambray!
*Jump onto Slack if you've got more ideas on staying safely connected!
Haystack members: Doug, Mark and Sarah. The young fellow 2nd from the left is Keith, Mark's son. The splotch on Mark's face is some chocolate that Mark really, really enjoyed after skate-skiing 20 kilometers. Pretty darn good for his first day skate skiing this year! Sarah and Doug rented a house for the month of February in Mazama and invited some skiing cohousers as well as other friends. Not much snow in February, but no Spokanite will ever complain if its just sun, sun, sun every day!
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