About this Site The purpose of this site is to encourage ongoing conversations among intentional communities across the Northwest, including planning and follow-up discussions for face-to-face gatherings and special events.
FIC Directory and Event Listings NICA is affiliated with the Fellowship of Intentional Communities (FIC) and manages a special section on the FIC Web site.
To add your community to the FIC directory or publish events to the FIC national calendar, register at the NICA section of the FIC Web site.
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 Click image to view on Amazon.com At long last, Songaia, An Unfolding Dream, a “community autobiography” drawn together by NICA past president Fred Lanphear, has been published and is now available for purchase on Amazon.com.
Here’s additional information:
About Songaia, An Unfolding Dream
On a gently sloping 11 acre stretch of land just north of Seattle a remarkable group of people has grown from a simple idea into a thriving cohousing community. Nurtured by an inspiring vision of possibility, a rich spirit life and a creative culture of cooperation, they are living their dream and re-defining what it means to co-habitate sustainably. Songaia: An Unfolding Dream walks us through the early years of planning and construction, the momentous move-in and the subsequent years of evolving together as a close-knit, multi-generational neighborhood. Weaving together personal stories from a number of community members, it recounts the challenges, victories and learnings that continue to shape the community today. Examining twenty years of living together, the book discusses personal relationships, sustainability, sacred space, health, aging and death, group process, social context and relating to neighbors and the broader community network. Written by a community pioneer and elder who spent more than half his life living and facilitating community around the world, this is an invaluable book for anyone interested in community and cohousing.
About Fred Lanphear
 Click image to view other writings by Fred on his Memorial Site Fred Lanphear, a passionate communitarian, spent the last 40 years of his life engaged in building community. It was his Great Work and he left an indelible mark on the growing communities movement. He began writing Songaia: An Unfolding Dream soon after he was diagnosed with ALS, knowing this would be the closing chapter to his life.
Where to Purchase
The book is now available for purchase on Amazon.com at Songaia: An Unfolding Dream.
Sharingwood Cohousing Community has graciously offered to host this year’s NICA Fall Gathering, with the theme, “Living in Community.”
DETAILS
- What: NICA Fall Gathering, focusing on “Living in Community”
- Date: Saturday, Nov 2, 2013
- Time: 10am to 5pm
- Where: Sharingwood Cohousing Community (22105 E Lost Lake Rd Snohomish, WA 98296, about 20 minutes east of Woodinville)
- Who: People interested in the intentional community lifestyle, both people from IC’s and those wanting to explore the many new directions of IC’s.
- Cost: Suggested donation of $10
- Food: Coffee, tea, and soup will be provided – please bring something to share for a potluck lunch
- More Information: Call Frances Parks, 206-390-5855
Join us as we explore some of the following questions:
- What is it like living in a community?
- What kinds of people do well in community?
- What are the qualities of a good communitarian?
- Why do community residents like living in community?
- What is the balance of privacy and community?
- What are the important annual events/celebrations in your community?
- What qualities are communities looking for in new members?
- How does a community transfer its vision, history, and culture to new members?
- If you live in a community, how did you discover it?
- If you live in a community, what was your entry process like?
MAP AND DIRECTIONS
For directions from your specific location, click on the marker and select “Directions to.”
Sharingwood is about 10 minutes past Woodinville, northeast of Seattle, about 30 minutes from Microsoft or 40 min from Seattle with no traffic. If there is heavy traffic it may take up to another 20 minutes.
From Seattle or Bellevue
- Take Hwy 520 or I-90 to I-405 (north)
- Go NORTH on I-405 (EVERETT)
- Take EXIT 23 to HIGHWAY 522 EAST bound towards MONROE (stay on right side of exit).
- Move to middle lane of HIGHWAY 522 and continue. After the highway become single lane, go straight through the first stoplight at Paradise Lake Road (hwy 524) past Texaco/Chevron.
- At the second stoplight, turn RIGHT onto ECHO LAKE ROAD. This is a mile past the “mile 18″ marker. There is a double yellow flashing sign just before this turn. This is half a mile past the “18 mile” marker.
- Stay on ECHO LAKE ROAD for 1.8 miles. Go past Echo Lake golf course, and past Rainbow Grocery General Store (on the left), and go about half a mile.
- Turn LEFT on LOST LAKE ROAD. There is yellow sign on the right-side before the turn, which you can see clearly at night. The actual turn is hard to see at night.
- Continue on LOST LAKE ROAD for 1.9 miles. The road takes a sharp 10 m.p.h. hair-pin curve becoming W. LOST LAKE ROAD for another half mile. You’ll see the lake to your right if it’s daytime.
- The main road turns sharply to the left just past a 15mph yellow sign. At this point, turn RIGHT onto EAST LOST LAKE ROAD (which has a DEAD-END sign clearly visible) and follow it to the end of the road – half a mile.
- You’ll hit a speed bump. Slow down there. In a few yards you will enter the Sharingwood Community. The common house is on your left when you get to the first Y in the road.
Thanks to the 25 folks who joined members of the NICA Board at East West Bookshop on August 21 for a presentation and discussion with Diana Leaf Christian on “Three Aspects of a Healthy, Thriving Community.”
The three aspects are:
- Community Glue: taking time to do shared enjoyable activities that tend to generate feelings of gratitude and trust
- Good Process and Communication Skills: the ways members gather together specifically to get to know each other better, consider ideas, understand each others’ emotions or upsets, or discuss and resolve conflicts and the ways people talk with each other, both in groups and meetings and one on one
- Effective Project Management: the ways a community creates and maintains its legal entity(s); the ways it finances, purchases, and physically develops its property; organizes and tracks its internal community finances and member labor requirements; attracts, processes, and orients new members; and maintains the community’s documents, policies, and decisions
Effective community governance, according to Diana, is at the center of all three aspects of healthy community — and benefits and enhances all three.
She was also kind enough to provide a printed summary of her talk (excerpted above), which can be downloaded from the following link:
Download “Three Aspects of a Healthy, Thriving Community” 3AspectsHealthyThrivingComm.pdf – Downloaded 104 times – 63 kB
Diana is writing a series of articles in Communities Magazine on sociocracy and will be returning to British Columbia in February. Watch for future updates; we may be able to catch her on her way through again.
 Click on image to visit event site Ananda College and the Northwest Intentional Communities Association (NICA) are cosponsoring the Fall 2013 Cooperative Communities & Sustainability Conference, November 15-17, 2013, on the Ananda College campus.
Gain more knowledge for your community, join the networking fun, and learn the latest trends and directions for all types of communities.
Conference Highlights
- Keynote speaker Laird Schaub of Sandhill Farm community leading sessions on consensus & decision making in communities
- Eco-village design presentations & hands-on workshop
- Latest in co-housing, eco-villages, urban communities & spiritual communities
- Permaculture & sustainable agriculture, cob building demo & more
- Organic vegetarian meals available, optional yoga classes, fun events & more
To register or to reserve a display booth, contact: admissions@anandauniversity.org
For more detailed information on workshops and speakers, including accommodations, see the event page on the Ananda College Web site.
Map & Directions
 Diana Leafe Christian, author of Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities and Finding Community and current publisher of the Ecovillages.
newsletter will be presenting a talk on “Intentional Communities: Finding Community” at Seattle’s East West Bookshop, August 21, 2013.
For more information, see the East West Bookshop event announcement and Diana’s Web site.
The event is free and open to the public.
DETAILS
- Event: “Intentional Communities: Finding Community” a talk by Diana Leafe Christian
- Date: Wednesday, August 21, 2013
- Time: 7:00 to 8:30 pm
- Venue: East West Bookshop (6500 Roosevelt Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115)
- Cost: Free
MAP and DIRECTIONS
The Ananda Community of Lynnwood welcomes everyone to an Open House and Solstice celebration from 1pm to 7pm on Saturday, June 22, 2013.
There will be tours, presentations, and opportunities to ask questions about this thriving intentional spiritual community. There will be booths of various Ananda projects, food and entertainment, and tours of the community. The afternoon concludes with a Solstice Celebration gathering from 6 to 7 pm, featuring speakers from other Intentional communities, and a spaghetti dinner.
DETAILS:
- Event: Open House and Solstice Celebration
- Date: Saturday, June 22, 2013
- Time: 1 to 7 pm
- Venue: Ananda Community of Lynnwood (20715 Larch Way, Lynnwood WA 98036, (425) 778-4628)
- Cost: Free
MAP AND DIRECTIONS
 Click on image to visit Visions of Utopia Web site Geoff Kozeny travelled to hundreds of intentional communities, interviewing many residents about their community experience. The result was a remarkable DVD in which Geoff shares highlights of the history of IC’s (Intentional Communities), insights about what works, and in-depth profiles of 7 contemporary communities, including Ananda Village, Twin Oaks, Breitenbush Hot Springs, Earthaven Ecovillage, and more.
On Saturday, July 13 from 4-6pm, NICA will present Part One of the DVD set. It is 94 minutes, and will be followed by a discussion on various issues related to this hopeful movement for a better way of life.
DETAILS
- Event: Visions of Utopia, Vol 1, screening and discussion
- Date: Saturday, July 13, 2013
- Time: 4:00 to 6:00 pm
- Venue: East West Bookshop (6500 Roosevelt Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115)
- Cost: Free
MAP and DIRECTIONS
In January, NICA Board Members Larry Rider and Nancy Lanphear made a trip to visit the following communities in Portland:
- Peninsula Park Cohousing
- Columbia Ecovillage
- Kailash Ecovillage
- Trillium Hollow Cohousing
- Cascadia Commons Cohousing
- Ananda Community of Portland
- Daybreak Cohousing
We also visited Woodard Lane Cohousing in Olympia, WA.
We were given tours of these communities and spent time talking with some community residents. It was good to hear stories of the activities and challenges of communities that we had not connected with for several years. Challenges included financial issues, participation in community activities, loss of former members, and connection with other communities.
We were pleased to find that PDX Coho, a group of most of these communities, has been meeting quarterly and exchanging information about nuts and bolts of community life. We also visited the Ananda College at Laurelwood, in Gaston, OR, where we will be helping with a course this fall on Intentional Communities and Sustainability.
Altogether it was a fulfilling and inspiring trip to see the current state of IC’s in the Portland area.
Among the many benefits of community living is sharing the joy of relationships. Join us at the Ananda Community Lynnwood for a day of exploring the world of intentional community. Our focus will be Relationships in Community, including workshop/discussions on
- Having more harmonious relationships
- Romantic relationships in community
- Leadership, authority, and influence
- Working out conflicts in community
And we will all make some new friends and share in our own community for the day.
BRIEF OUTLINE OF THE DAY:
10-12 Opening circle, introductions, reports, etc.
noon Potluck lunch – bring a dish to share
1pm Excerpts from the new movie Within Reach, a bike tour of 100 intentional communities
2-4 Workshop/discussions, led by members of several local communities
4-5 A Tour of the Ananda Community
All are welcome. We ask for a $10 donation to defray costs for the day
DETAILS
- Event: NICA Spring Gathering
- Date: Saturday April 13, 2013
- Time: 10am to 5pm
- Location: Ananda Community of Lynnwood (20715 Larch Way, Lynnwood WA, just off exit 181A on I-5)
- Requested donation: $10
MAP AND DIRECTIONS
WITHIN REACH explores one couple’s pedal-powered search for a place to call home. Mandy and Ryan gave up their jobs, cars and traditional houses to “bikepack” 6,500 miles for nearly 2 years around the USA seeking sustainable community.
Rather than looking in a traditional neighborhood, they begin to recognize that community is the secret ingredient to living sustainably on this planet. Along the way, they explored 100 Ecovillages, Cohousing Communities, Co-op Houses, Communes, Transition Towns and their own principles and commitment. In the end they return to the timeless truth that community is people; they are everywhere; and there is room for everyone.
Both their journey and their film have answered the question that they and many others are asking: How can we pass along a lush, beautiful, sustainable world to future generations? After circling the country and interviewing hundreds of Americans, they have found that by reaching within, sustainable community is Within Reach. In fact, it’s already here.
Larry Rider, Nancy Lanphear and others from NICA (Northwest Intentional Communities Ass’n) will lead a short discussion afterwards about the issues raised in the film. They will and also talk about the vibrant Intentional Communities here in the Seattle area, how to connect with a community near you, and other topics of local interest.
The cost is $10 which helps to defray the costs of producing this film.
EVENT DETAILS
- Event: Screening and discussion of film, Within Reach
- Date: Saturday, March 23, 2013
- Time: 3:00 to 5:00 pm
- Location: East West Bookshop (6500 Roosevelt Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115; 206-523-3726; events@eastwestbookshop.com)
- Cost: $10
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Fred Lanphear memorial site NICA invites you to visit the Fred Lanphear Memorial site. Fred was a cofounder of NICA and mentor to many in the communities movement. |
