Genesee Gardens Co-Housing

Friends and Neighbors at Genesee Gardens Co-Housing!

After three announcements of ‘group

picture time!’ and two individual searches for people who had mysteriously disappeared, everyone managed to look completely ridiculous once the final photo was taken. It was perfect. Some people were still moving when the shutter clicked, their faces now permanently blurry and distorted. Others had their tongues sticking out or were singing into rainbow maracas while sporting santa hats. In the left corner, I could be found wearing my bright red Christmas sweater and drinking out of a glass bottle that looked suspiciously like it contained alcohol, but was really just filled with water.

Before the picture had been taken, the members of our Genesee Gardens Cohousing community had squished onto couches, chairs, and even the floor of our common house after they placed a wrapped gift on the table. Our annual White Elephant Holiday party had begun. The Fun Committee then passed around a hat filled with scraps of paper labeled one through forty which dictated who was first to unwrap a random present from the table.

Three hours later and after all the gifts had been opened, ‘stolen’, traded, or coveted, the winner of the Ugly Sweater Contest was awarded. (This particular year, we also happened to have an unchallenged winner of the Victorian Era Outfit Contest. She looked absolutely stunning in her vintage tea time dress and hat.) This marked the end of our activities as a whole and the beginning of smaller groups that would branch out into songs around the piano or board games in the next room; but first we had to herd everyone into the frame for the group picture.

Fitting forty people around a couch designed to fit four is a bit of a challenge but we manage just fine. Three rows in the back and two in the front, plus a few leaning over the sides and everyone in our community can be seen in both the ‘normal’ picture and our traditional ‘silly’ picture. The silly ones are always my favorite - they capture the energy of

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the group better than any other.

It is really the people in cohousing that make it such a cool place to live. Yes, the community gardens, weekly potlucks, and shared resources are great, but they wouldn’t be the same without the people around them. We have about 8 families plus a similar number of individuals who all live within our cohousing boundaries and reside within their own households. Our common spaces include two outdoor community gardens, a bike garage, a tool shed, and the downstairs of our Common House. But those are not the only things shared amongst our members.

I have often walked across the street to receive homework help from the college math professor whose parents speak little English but make our gardens look beautiful. Every fourth Saturday of the month, I can tiptoe barefoot across the pebbled paths that lead from my back door to the Common House and play complicated board games until midnight while eating homemade chocolate dipped pretzels. If I’m just sitting on my back deck overlooking the garden, I can wave to five different cohousing homes and usually at least one will wave back and start up a conversation about whatever they know is going on in my life (college applications and a trip to Europe at the moment). In cohousing, I have never once talked to someone about the weather or other such mundane topics of conversation; we know each other so well there is never a need to resort to small talk to fill the empty space.

If I’m not able to talk to the other cohousing members during the day or our weekly Friday night potlucks, I know I will be able to catch up with them during our semi-annual cohousing retreats. We have one every summer and winter for about two-and-a-half days where we spend time playing games, talking, and making (and eating) food together. The main chunk of the time is dedicated to checkins where everyone gathers in a circle and talks about themselves and how their lives are going individually. This gives everyone a chance to relax for a bit and listen to how their family and friends are feeling at the moment and then makes for great conversations afterwards.

To be honest, the kids don’t usually sit still and listen for that long; we tend to get our check-ins done first and then run away to the back rooms of wherever we happen to be staying at and entertain ourselves. All the kids are a part of a group called the Fun Committee (I happen to be the Countess of this committee) and we are in charge of planning the ‘fun’ for each cohousing event. In the summer, we create group games and competitions with homemade prizes. In the winter, we organize

How Genesee Gardens planted itself next to Rivendell

In December 2002, the process of developing a traditional cohousing community in the city of Lansing had fallen apart. There were approximately 30 families, each who had planned on buying an individual home and sharing 1/30th of a common house, to make a village. However, the prices were too high and the values of the same property too low, so many were backing out of the deal. Months later, in the Spring of 2003, a few people were still meeting around kitchen tables looking for an alternative, cheaper way to build a cohousing community. They stumbled upon a ‘retrofit cohousing model’ that involved buying houses in an existing neighborhood and retrofitting the backyards to create green, people spaces where the garages normally were.

A search for the right neighborhood to locate in Lansing began in earnest that Spring and quickly narrowed in to the Downtown area, where there was a density of housing, good public infrastructure, and a housing coop called Rivendell, that had been in existence for over 30 years. None of those cohousing pioneers were connected to the cooperative movement (other than being part of the East Lansing Food Coop), but they understood that there might be some residual social capital in the neighborhood after 30 years of investment, and that seemed like a good place to put their financial capital. And they bought 5 homes down the block. -- MC Rothhorn

Wind Through the Pines

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the talent show and nag the adults until we have a few more sign-up.

We always put together a Kids Act for the talent show (magic tricks, a skit, riddles, etc.) and create props, costumes, and lines for each kid. They always treat it like it’s a huge secret we must keep from the adults and they go to great lengths to hide everything before we perform it for them. It usually runs smoothly considering the creation of the set is valued over rehearsal time.

Before the end of our retreat, we stake out the largest room in the building and set up chairs to create a layered effect. Everyone is ushered into the room using everything from utensils being knocked against glass to people standing on benches and projecting their voice throughout the hallways - ‘group picture time!’. The kids like to position themselves in front for maximum silliness after the first picture is taken. After that one, all bets are off. Props might be taken out, babies might be lifted into the air and pretended to be eaten, eyes will be crossed and someone will definitely wind up with bunny ears. It is perfect.

Whenever someone asks me what cohousing is, I tell them it’s an intentional community with shared resources and really awesome people who all live in the same neighborhood. It might not be the best way to describe it but it is a different experience for everyone. I have grown up here nearly my whole life and am just now starting to realize things about it that I didn’t know before. The only thing I can say for sure is that I love living here. I love being a part of a community right outside my backdoor that might as well be an extended branch of my family.

-- Kata Rothhorn

22 Ah...What’s a “Co-op?”

Do you have friends who are sending their kids to Michigan State? Do them a favor! Tell them about the co-ops! Housing co-ops are one way to avoid loan debt while in college, not to mention a great way to become a part of a strong, progressive community and an opportunity to learn how to work with others to control your life!