Dancing Waters Permaculture Co-op

Mission: To live cooperatively in healthy, respectful relationship with each other and in reverent, sustainable partnership with the land

From www.ic.org/directory/dancing-waters-permaculture-co-op/:

Dancing Waters Permaculture Co-op is on 130 acres of beautiful hills and hollows in southwest Wisconsin. We are 6 adult permanent members, 2 trial members and currently no children owning land and buildings in common. Primary focuses include annual and perennial communal gardening, building, and learning how to live in harmony long term with each other and with the land. We use the ideas of Permaculture in our gardens, fields, orchard, woodlots, and relationships. We grapple with the practical challenges of implementing sustainable practices.

Decisions are made by consensus. We gather weekly for a potluck and/or meeting. There are often additional common meals each week, especially during harvest season in our bustling summer kitchen. Housing units are clustered so we cross paths often as we go about our daily lives, sharing food, work, childcare, song, and spirit on an informal basis. We feel like an extended family. Individuals follow a variety of spiritual paths and diets. Some individuals make their incomes at home while some have jobs off the land. Income is not shared. Each adult buys a share paid over a period of time, as well as paying a monthly fee for group expenses. We are surrounded by an extensive alternative community, including food co-ops, community centers and great libraries, good public and alternative schools, alternative healing community including a progressive hospital, many small non-profit organizations, farmer’s markets, CSA’s, and the headquarters of USA's largest producer-owned organic produce pool (Organic Valley).

We are in the process of visioning our future. The possibilities include attracting more young people, educating about community, increasing alternative energy use, improving infrastructure to support aging in our community and continuing to improve group processes. We are open to helping other groups get started by providing advice and copies of our legal documents and policies.

We have been blessed with a stable membership and will have openings for summer internship and potential new members.

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.