The March Hare: Summer 2006 Issue 49

Co-ops • Starting Something • The Way We Eat • Ironweed Maturing • Getting There • Crossword

Ironweed Maturing

by Ted Sterling

It was the winter of 2004 when Tamar, Sara and I started our discussions about forming Ironweed Co-op (IW, as it is often referred to in shorthand). The desire to form a vegetarian food cooperative drew us together at first, as all existing food co-ops at the time were vegan.

By spring of 2004 we were starting to garden as a cooperative, expanding the garden space Tamar had already been working on her own. In May of that year we also broke ground on the kitchen which would serve as home base for our eating cooperative. At the same time, we were beginning a steady accumulation of business possibilities and ideas for cooperative ventures that made it feel as though we were working toward Ironweed's transformation into a second sub-community at DR. Every new idea brought with it a number of new topics to add to our list of long- term agenda items for discussion. Two years later, we've dispatched some of those topics and accumulated many more.

One of the most important ways we've grown together is in our emotional and behavioral interactions. In Ironweed our common interests did most of the work to bring us together, but it has been steady and rewarding work since then learning to recognize each other's needs and capabilities, and finding the best ways to communicate about and accomplish all the tasks on our collective plate. This seems to be the essence of subcommunity, and I've come to thrive on it.

Meanwhile, our kitchen and garden have come a long way. IW garden grows more thickly each season, full of fruit and leaf that bring IW much-needed income. The kitchen is finally to a point where the end is in sight. The frame raising went smoothly, with our two work exchangers and many Rabbits on hand to make it light work. We successfully finished the roof in the fall of 2004 just as winter weather set in (we had to brush some slushy snow off before laying on the roofing). In May 2005 we put up the strawbale sections of wall on film with the help of Johari and Vito, the two subjects of the 30 Days show that was filmed here. The cob sections of wall started up later in the season and continued apace along with window, door, and loft framing and other detail work with some help from the three DR interns until we quit for the year in early November.

Looking at our third season of work on the building, we felt a little weary of the project but wanted more Welcoming home our newest member than ever to push through to the finish. We've emphasized volunteer and visitor labor when possible, so that the building has become an educational resource along the way. We've run a number of cob workshops during visitor sessions, and many hands make quick, if not light, work in cob building.

One of those visitors from late last season, an experienced furniture builder and artist named Tony, signed on with us as a work exchanger for three months this year, and the collaboration has been fantastic. We have now closed up the east gable end and are nearing the end of the substantive cob work that remains. I'm not making any promises, but it looks and feels to me like a realistic goal to finally start eating in our kitchen this winter.

Never ones to admit we were already doing too much, we took on yet another new project this year. In the past two years, we'd bought or otherwise acquired upwards of 100 rootstock for various fruit and nut trees. Many of those were living ÒtemporarilyÓ in some of our garden beds, and becoming increasing at home there. We'd hoped to start an orchard last year, but by this spring we had little choice unless we wanted some permanent fruit hedges in the garden, and so did all the work to lay out and plan where all the trees would go. Before we stopped transplanting we'd already put in about 50 trees, along with rows of asparagus and assorted cover crops.

In future years we look forward to building our chicken palace (for our once and future chickens) and grazing our (yet to be acquired) sheep, goats and alpacas in the orchard. At this point we figure we've about ten years worth of planned building projects and business ventures to keep us busy!

One final note for now relates to our plans for people growth. We've done a pretty good job so far at working as a team, but it has become increasingly clear that we need and want to grow as a sub-community; so our next major project, then, is to work out the details of our association so we can incorporate new core members into Ironweed. What roles do we want Ironweed to fill in our lives? Do we want something akin to family, providing each other lots of emotional support? And might we be open to income sharing? Or do we want a looser association, where we share the income and labor of multiple ventures, but each of us chooses which ones we care to participate in and which ones we don't? What kinds of mutual assistance do we want to provide each other? How do we work out the financial and equity issues in regard to new members?

All of these questions have lurked about the edges from the start, but now it is time to do the research, talk it all through, and settle some of these points. Meanwhile, there's no surer way to grow than from within; as of this writing Sara and I have welcomed our first child Aurelia Mae Sterling into our home with Tamar's support (not to mention other supporters both here and away). Born June 30 at 11:59pm, at 7lb 7oz she's our first Ironweed member by birth. All of these visions and changes have we three Ironweeders busy with thoughts and excitement for the future.

Co-ops • Starting Something • The Way We Eat • Ironweed Maturing • Getting There • Crossword