Green Grove Cohousing · Forest Grove, Oregon
A year at Green Grove
Nine households, five acres, and a calendar with plenty to choose from. Everyone’s welcome at all of it; attendance is optional.
The calendar
What happens here
A potluck on the first Saturday of every month — on the croquet lawn in summer, in the Common House when it turns cold. Happy Hour weekly, out on the village green when the weather cooperates, and a game night once a month.
Winter Solstice is the big one: friends and extended family, a party in the Common House and a bonfire out by the garden. In January, Robert Burns Night: a traditional supper, singing and poetry, and a piper in full kilt. In fall, apples off these trees go through the cider press.
The rest is whatever people feel like putting on: pumpkin carving, karaoke, bluegrass jams, movie nights projected on the croquet lawn for the kids and whoever they’ve invited along.
The other 350 days
Day to day
Most of it isn’t an event — a walk round the loop, the deer out on the field. The most loved Slack channel:
“We have extra garlic that I had saved for planting but had too much. If you need any extra garlic, let me know.”
“Anyone have a meat roasting rack I can borrow? I need two for tomorrow. Or maybe there’s one hidden somewhere in the CH kitchen?”
When someone’s away, a neighbor feeds the cat. On your birthday, a banner appears on your porch before you’re up — there is a circle role whose job includes keeping track of when.
Five acres
The land
A main shared garden, an orchard of apples, pears and plums, blueberry and strawberry patches. A garden share covers the year’s seed, starts and compost; most households buy in, and a share entitles you to harvest from the main garden. Some people also keep a few pots or a small plot by their own house.
The hill behind the property looks out over Forest Grove to Mt. Hood. The deer are out on the field most days.
Bigger jobs happen as work parties — spring planting, putting the garden to bed in the fall.
How the eggs work. Any household that wants eggs gets them. The households that split the cost of feed are the “Chicken Club” — an opt-in cost share, not a closed group. The people who actually tend the birds earn workshare hours for it.
Getting around
The loop road
One way in, and the road goes nowhere else, so nobody drives through here who isn’t coming here. Packages are delivered to a secure bin in the shed, which keeps delivery trucks — the main source of traffic — off the loop. What’s left is low and slow, and kids ride and play on the road without anyone thinking about it. It’s the walking track too: a fifth of a mile around, five laps to a mile.
Two separate outdoor spaces: the croquet lawn beside the Common House takes croquet, whiffle ball, birthday parties, summer potlucks and the movie nights. The village green has the gazebo, the hammock, room to run a dog, and paved paths zig-zagging through it.
Thatcher Park is 0.6 miles away, about five minutes on a bike. Downtown Forest Grove is 2.75 miles, about fifteen. The first quarter mile from the entrance is on Thatcher Road before the sidewalk starts; after that it’s easy.
Come and see it
The house at 3926 Coho Circle is for sale at $595,000. Walk the loop, look at the garden, and ask whatever you want.