Songaia Cohousing Community

Mission: The Songaia Neighborhood strives to collaboratively create a vibrant, rewarding, and sustainable community.

From www.ic.org/directory/songaia-cohousing-community/:

The Songaia Neighborhood is located about 20 miles north of Seattle, where our 17 homes are surrounded by a small forest, organic gardens, orchards, and a meadow. Our multi-generational community was established in 1993 and is still expanding; we currently have about 40 residents and are recruiting for the purchase and development of additional land. Songaia is well-known for our activism within the communities movement, and we welcome others who aspire to have a connected and sustainable lifestyle.

Our community life is active; we gather for five shared meals per week and celebrate, work, and pursue learning together. As a result of these many connections, we have grown to be a strong web of friends and neighbors. We have an ethical commitment to hearing all voices in our community and therefore use a consensus decision-making process and rotational leadership. In community processes, we aim to create a space that is a supportive environment for people of all ages, backgrounds, and interests.

The Songaia Neighborhood is actually composed of multiple intentional communities. Our original property is the Songaia Cohousing Association, but over the last few years we have expanded to include two additional communities; Life Song Commons and New Earth Song. That being said, for most practical purposes we function as a single unit. The Songaia Cohousing Association has 13 member-owned 1-to-3-bedroom duplex units (including several studio apartments) which are clustered around a common green space. New Earth Song is in the process of developing their half-acre with a single-family house into seven residential units. Life Song Commons is located on 1.3 acres with a large house and small cottage, and functions as a shared household. We are planning to grow our neighborhood, so if you might be interested in joining us please visit our website for more information.

Our desire for sustainability inspires us to share resources and skills whenever possible. Members and Associates (including non-residents) have access to our extensive facilities and land. The common house includes eating and meeting spaces, two guest rooms, laundry facilities, a playroom for our children and much more. Our barn has a greenhouse, food pantries, tool shop (woodworking, electrical, auto), ceramics room, and storage. The land includes a small forest, wetlands, several organic gardens, two orchards, a central lawn, and a meadow.

We also aim to connect with local, regional, and national communities. Because of our work to create self-sustaining food sources on our property, we have become involved in the local permaculture and organic agriculture movements. Our community is also devoted to education; we host a vibrant internship program that attracts volunteers through WWOOF, Bastyr University, and University of Washington Bothell. Songaia has provided land and support for the Rites of Passage Journeys, which runs programs that connect people to the wilderness and assist them in life transitions. Additionally, we are active participants in the regional and national intentional communities movement.

To learn more, please review our website where you can contact us to arrange a visit or ask questions about our plans for growth.

A service of the Data Commons Co-op. The project has been supported by Equal Exchange, the Cooperative Charitable Trust, the USDA, and many others - thank you! Tech volunteers over the years include: Benjamin Bradley with support from GAIA Host. Ben Mauer with support from Quilted. Paul Fitzpatrick. Ronin Tech Collective, Brattleboro Tech Collective, Sligo Computer Services. Jason Lemieux. Default map tiles courtesy of MapQuest. Default map data (c) OpenStreetMap contributors, CC-BY-SA.