Frequently Asked Questions--Canaan
Welcome!
The Quaker Intentional Village Project is a venture of Quakers and others who are interested in creating and living in a new kind of community. QIVP is a non-profit organization, but the member communities are separate entities and do not share that non-profit status.
The first QIVP member community is in Canaan, New York, between Albany and the Berkshires of Massachusetts. We are currently improving our 135 acres of land and its buildings, working on the organizational and legal structure we'll need to make the community happen, and hoping to connect with like-minded people (Quaker and otherwise) who are interested in joining us as either eventual residents (members) or friends and supporters.
NEWS:
Originally we had hoped to build a co-housing style community, keeping our houses close together and preserving the vast majority of our land as open space. Because this is not allowed in our local zoning regulations, in 2005 we submitted a request for a five-lot subdivison to our town Planning Board, which was approved. Within the constraints of this subdivision, each of the families currently involved in QIV-C can build their energy- and resource-efficient homes.
In the summer of 2003 we cut and raised the timber frame for the farmhouse we are rebuilding on our land. The main roof went on before winter. In the fall of 2004 we completed, with the help of many friends and neighbors, the clay and woodchip walls. In 2005 we plastered the walls, finished the lower roofs, and began work on the interior, which has taken us a long time. As of mid-2007 it is almost finished.
As of mid-2009 the farmhouse is finished and home to one family and many community get-togethers and meetings. Two new houses have been built and three more are underway. Four families live on the land and soon it will be seven, with room for a few more households. QIV-C is now made up of thirteen adults and twelve children, whose birthdates range from 1988 to 2008.
Open Houses: We have no formal Open House events scheduled at this time, but please contact us (info below) if you are interested in our project and would like to visit.
About our
land and our progress
(including pictures)
Statement of Purpose
We believe community can be a means to advance the following five objectives:
1. To increase the mindfulness, spiritual focus and God-centeredness of our lives by finding and living near others who share these goals and thus will reinforce, on a daily basis, our desire to live in worship.
2. To strengthen our family life both by creating a "village" setting in which to raise our and others' children, and by caring for our elders. This includes an emphasis on leaving behind cultural obstacles that interfere with providing the time and energy that healthy family life requires.
3. To examine carefully our participation in the national/international consumer economy and begin to build the critical mass necessary for viable business networks and sources of goods and services more appropriate to our Quaker testimonies.
4. To focus on a lifestyle that is environmentally sound and that attempts to give back to our planet as much as is taken from it.
5. To include a good measure of joy, fun, outreach, and service in our lives as we strive to meet the first four objectives.
We believe that our communities' success in achieving these five objectives will be aided by memberships diverse in race, age, ethnicity, sexual preference, and economic situations, and therefore it is our aim to gather communities whose members are diverse in these ways as well as others.
If you have questions about QIV-C or would like to join us, please e-mail qiv-c@qivp .org or call Dee Duckworth at 518-392-0530.
Contact: qiv-c@qivp.org
Quaker Intentional
Village - Canaan
235 Bradley's Crossing Rd.
East Chatham, NY
12060
Copyright © 2006 QIVP/QIV-C