(Forcing myself oot-- er, OUT--of Scots for clarity's sake)

I have been a caregiver to others most of my life. Caring for others is meaningful and often satifying, but it can be physically and emotionally draining, and the story of the "maiden aunt" who dies penniless in an attic after a lifetime of caregiving is, unfortunately, played out by hundreds of thousands of women every year, as it has been for centuries. Although I'm technically "young yet", I live in my own version of the proverbial garret, and the dream of independent means remains just that, a dream.

As a voracious reader of history, however, I've also discovered that "intentional communities", particularly those formed by & for older women, have also existed for centuries. My favourites are the Beguines, (12-14th centuries, Europe), who pooled their resources to acquire housing, started cottage industries to ensure self-support, and used any aditional profits to set up programs for the good of their local communities, like schools and hospitals. Evidence suggests they also had a right jolly time of it and lived long, happy, meaningful lives!

Here's my vision of a workable format, to be based somewhere in Maine once we find and buy land and wade through zoning ordinances and such:   

We create a cultural centre/folk school (MY dream, here, so of course it's all CELTIC!), on a campus that includes a large organic garden & Caretakers' Residence/Bed & Breakfast/Ceilidh Palace. (An artists' colony, i.e. handful of wee cottages out back, available to Celts & MudCatters, is also an option.) We can work together as needed, feed ourselves from the garden and a few well-chosen critters (Highland Cattle, milk-goats, chickens/turkey/quail, sheep, and/or pigs), and subsist on the income from our B&B, cultural programs (incl. classes & concerts), and any other cottage industries we invent.

We'll market the place as a "Cultural Tourism Destination" combining the best of Maine's agricultural/maritime traditions with the best of Maine's Celtic immigrant heritage: harps, bagpipes, fiddles, language classes, bardic lore, etc.

In the off-season, we'll host conferences, retreat groups, and the occasional wedding or family reunion. We'll keep each other company, take turns cooking & cleaning, and check up on each other as needed. From May to September, we'll have to work the crowds, but the less-social among us can retreat to the gardens or sequester themselves in the cottages, doing light administrative work or other important tasks and projects. Rents & other logistics of habitation will be based largely on the "co-housing" concept, with a nice local barter economy of skills, goods, and services.

Now, all we need is a handful of pro-bono legal & financial advisors, four or five major grants, and--oh yes--that convenient parcel of land!

--Cuilionn, (who adds that men can be a part of this too, if they're willing to contribute to the gardening, cooking, and cleaning as well as the education and entertainment!)