"How's your commune coming?"

It seems like every week we hear this question from someone who has heard we are creating a co-housing community. They chuckle, and we smile, and we generally leave it at that.

I'm sure my friends don't mean anything by it, but it has made me think. Even kidding comments are likely based on some idea held by the speaker, rightly or wrongly, that came to mind when they asked the question. If people who know us have a misimpression about what we're up to, I worry how the idea strikes others who don't know us.

So let's see if I can explain briefly the difference between a commune and an intentional co-housing community, at least as I see it. Many people use these terms interchangeably, however, it is probably more appropriate to use the term "commune" to describe a particular kind of intentional community whose members live "communally" in an economic sense--operating with a common treasury and sharing ownership of their property. Most intentional communities, including Raccoon Creek, are not communes.