My Favorite Photos from 2025

I’m usually taking photos everywhere I go, for myself, and to use for our community website or newsletter. I want to display a few of my favorites. You may have seen some of these in one of our publications. However many others are taken purely for my own enjoyment. So to follow are some of my favorites, and a little description of the stories behind them. Hope you enjoy!

Channele, one of our newest members, creates extraordinary textiles. Along with her weaving, I was particularly drawn to her hand braided rugs scattered throughout her home. Her eye for color creates gorgeous combinations, colors blending and playing off of each others. 

 

The night-blooming cereus is a type of cactus known for its spectacular, white flowers (about 10” wide) that open at dusk and wilt by dawn. Blooming for one night only, it has earned the nickname “Queen of the Night”. This plant was grown from a cutting my parents gave me years ago. Often they would throw rowdy night-blooming cereus parties for their friend to witness this grand opening!

Back in March, the community had a going away party for Choetso, a beloved member leaving for a Monastic Training Program in Oregon. Because her monasty traditionally wore burgundy, we all incorporated this color into our choice of clothes, table settings, and food preparation. Many of us even went so far as to paint our fingernails, which explains why we’re all showing off our hands! 

 

One of my favorite summertime pastime is sitting at surf’s edge, waiting for the tide to come in at Sunset Beach in North Carolina. There are many spectacular beaches within three to four hours of Elderberry. I believe Sunset Beach is the most magical place for me on hot summer days!

 

Donna and I spent a day at the Eno Festival, an annual folk and arts festival started in 1980 by the Eno River Association. As we were wandering through the many vendors and booths, we came upon a bubble machine. I loved seeing Donna surrounded by iridescent spheres, and catching her delighted smile!

 

 During this year’s St. Patricks Day Celebrations, Jeff and Anne posed for their photo, inspired by their t-shirt, “Kiss me I’m German”!

 

 One of our many community potluck dinners — so much delicious food to choose from! I’ve been know to eat so much that I take my desserts home for the next day. Oh yes, let me mention, we have another entire table just for desserts!

This past year, the Hive Committee took on the task of reconfiguring how we use different rooms and spaces in the Hive. One of the tasks was to find new tables and chairs that could be easily moved and reconfigured for different events. After much research, a small group of us took a road trip to explore a used chair warehouse about two hours away. Tom (along with Tiki) and I had to literally climb over chairs to investigate anything that looked interesting! 

Repair Cafes happen everywhere. We’re fortunate to have many skilled and talented folks here who offer their experience to help keep broken items out of land fills. I was amused about how many helpers were clustering around this one project!

This past summer several of us visited Blind Spot Animal Sanctuary, in Rougemont. For the past ten years, Alesja and Alex, along with a large team of volunteers, rescue, rehabilitate and care for animals who have been surrendered, abandoned or exploited. Alesja told heartfelt stories about so many of the animals living on this amazing sanctuary. I’ve always been fascinated by pigs, from stories of my dad would tell about growing up poor, and befriending the pig meant to feed the family. So I took some time to make friends with this very large pig!!!

Goodnight happens rain or shine! It’s an opportunity for everyone, including canines, to say hello, and catch up! You never know what topics might be discussed! 

I have a beautiful stretch of woods directly behind my home. I have spent much time tending this little piece of Elderberry. When I first moved in, there was construction debris, poison ivy, greenbriar, honeysuckle, as well as trash from the old homestead (long before we had the luxury of weekly trash pick up, country folks would simply create piles of trash in the woods near their homes). I have loved watching the seasons change, and the bird life that comes to my bird baths outside my window. It seem every home at Elderberry has some unique setting, and probably everyone might feel their location is the best!

 

Solstice is a yearly event, established years ago by Vonda and Cecil when they lived in their old farmhouse at Potluck Community Farm just across the field behind our homes. A cooking party, usually with an ethic theme, is prepared with several courses, designed to keep the revelers awake throughout the night to greet the sun. Luminaries are set out along the paths to welcome everyone! For years, this was my favorite party, when I could stay awake past midnight. Now I attend for a time, leave early to watch the huge bonfire, and head back home to bed at a “reasonable”hour!

Because, a poem by Rosemerry Trommer

So I can’t save the world—

can’t save even myself,

can’t wrap my arms around

every frightened child, can’t

foster peace among nations,

can’t bring love to all who

feel unlovable.

So I practice opening my heart

right here in this room and being gentle

with my insufficiency. I practice

walking down the street heart first.

And if it is insufficient to share love,

I will practice loving anyway.

I want to converse about truth,

about trust. I want to invite compassion

into every interaction.

One willing heart can’t stop a war.

One willing heart can’t feed all the hungry.

And sometimes, daunted by a task too big,

I tell myself what’s the use of trying?

But today, the invitation is clear:

to be ridiculously courageous in love.

To open the heart like a lilac in May,

knowing freeze is possible

and opening anyway.

To take love seriously.

To give love wildly.

To race up to the world

as if I were a puppy,

adoring and unjaded,

stumbling on my own exuberance.

To feel the shock of indifference,

of anger, of cruelty, of fear,

and stay open. To love as if it matters,

as if the world depends on it.

Because, by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

Working and Cohousing!

Nobody says “I want to live in cohousing so I can work!” 

And yet, work is a part of every cohousing community. You live together, you work together. But what I’ve learned from attending conferences and reading list-serves, is that the definition and the expectations/requirements of “work” are different at every community. And you should probably ask about this upfront.

At Elderberry work actually starts with the Membership Process itself. It requires participation in at least one of our work days (which we have twice a month for 3 hours each). That’s because we want prospective members to know what we mean by “work” here. And we want them to know that we expect participation in our “work”.

The first Cohousing National Conference I attended I sat in awe as someone explained the impressive system their community had developed to keep track of every member’s work hours. They would credit or dock members’ money for hours worked or not worked. Wow!... We don’t do that at Elderberry.  

At Elderberry we do our best to make the point that we’re all in this together, and every work contribution each person makes benefits the community and… helps keep our assessments down.  

We also want folks to realize that it can actually be fun to work together.

I will never forget my first time at the annual work day at Bella Vista, our forest overlook. The jobs offered were “running a bush hog, driving the tractor, or chain-sawing”. Turns out there was another option — picking up rocks! You say, you’ve never done any of those things? Here’s your chance to add one to your skillset… or just pick up rocks.

Don’t get me wrong. You don’t have to be Superman or woman to work here. Not everybody has the strength, the endurance or dexterity to do every job. But they can work on committees; they can bring snack to the other workers; they can research where to buy mulch; they can even write a blog!

Because Elderberry is rural and because we have a tradition from our very beginning of developing the buildings and properties ourselves, we tend to like to work outdoors together — on the landscaping, in the gardens, on our trails,

and even on local roads where we pick up trash!

Like all cohousing communities, we also have work indoors. There are regular maintenance jobs in the “Hive”* from vacuuming to washing windows to cleaning the bathrooms (sorry about mentioning that last one!) *The “Hive” is our Common House, which comes from one of our values of “Living in a beehive of activity.”

And speaking of a Beehive of activity, we have our own SWARM! It developed because our original Work Coordinating Committee was too dull. If you ask every single person at Elderberry what SWARM stands for, no one would remember, but I’m told reliably that it’s an acronym for Smart Work Assignment Resource Management. It’s a carefully organized stack of jobs organized by frequency. If you’re going to do a specific job, you take the card and put it back in the “Done” box when you’re finished. Not very high-tech, but effective. (FYI, SWARM does not keep records of who works or how much they work.)

By the way, saying “I’ve never done this before” doesn’t buy you anything. A big part of work here is learning to do new things. “Try it, you’ll like it!” may not always work, but at least you’ve learned a bunch of things.

Another way that Elderberry teaches folks is through our Repair Café.  

This was started by our Living Rightly on Earth group to encourage repairing rather than replacing items.  It has become a place where the folks who know how to do something teach the folks who don’t – like sharpening tools, repairing a lamp, tightening the rungs on a stool!

Elderberry’s Woodshop and machine shop (known as the Forge) are another example. The folks with skills will help others learn to use this equipment or maybe just find the screw or pliers they need.

So, I’ve learned some things while working and living here at Elderberry over these past 8 years:

+ It is a lot of fun working with other people.  

+ If you’re a Zen weeder or you’re fussy about the way the silverware drawer is arranged or there’s only room for one on the riding lawn mower, it’s also okay to work by yourself. 

+ If you’re the kind of person who gets uptight if someone doesn’t do their “fair share”, give it up.  Unless it warrants a community intervention, your irritation will only make you unhappy and probably won’t affect the person you think is slacking.  

Which brings me to—

+ Work because you want to help the community. Use your skills to make life better for everyone. Feel good about that! 

And that brings me to—

+ Whether you’ve done some jobs all your life or you never ever thought you would be doing this, you can learn something new. Really! And that is definitely good!

Elderberry Arts & Crafts Show and Sale: September 23, 2 - 4 pm

Saturday, September 23, 2 - 4 pm

Elderberry Cohousing Community

60 Elderberry Lane, Rougemont

Rain or shine – at our log cabin and common house.

Come enjoy a rare chance to see and buy local art and crafts made by members of Elderberry Cohousing and friends! 

These will include barn quilts, pottery, jewelry, potted native plants, original printed cards, painted rocks, crocheted handbags, semi-precious stones, wood carvings, and wall art of tiny paper quilts, crocheted hangings, and resin art canvases. 

Please bring CASH or CHECKS if you wish to purchase something.

Some of the craftspeople displaying art:

Mike: Barn quilts and 

framed cut paper quilts

Richard: Native potted plants 

from Elderberry’s nursery

Meredith: Resin art and painted stones 

Mary: Eclectic surprises 

(maybe print & sewing projects) 

for barter

Kate: Hand built pottery and 

polymer clay jewelry

Jamie: Crochet art

Wyatt Davis: 

Native American stone pipes, 

stone pendants, carved walking sticks and 

canes, and wood-burned artwork on
keepsake and jewelry boxes

Vonda: 

Spinning wheel and weaving demonstration

Margery:  

Original printed cards with images 

of her collages, 

handmade gift certificates
for massages, and small framed collages.

Becky and Ken: 

Native American artifacts,
bone knives and hand-cured leather,
including hides and furs

Lorie: 

Variously cut semi-precious stones

Maggie: 

Home-canned items (figs, pickles), 

plants, vintage jewelry

Dale:

Kombucha to share and
some jars of scoby to give away

There will also be tours of Elderberry. And folks will be demonstrating their work and happily talking about the crafts and art they enjoy!  

Please join us!