Camp Project Institute

LLC CLT HOA NFP CPI

Here at the home of abbreviation we are mucking through a slurry or letters trying to decide the best way to legalize land ownership for our community. What finally spurred us on was the possibility of people we love joining the community. We wanted to be sure that everyone was individual protected, that the integrity of the community and land was protected, and that, if necessary, our prospective members could secure financing for renovation or construction of a new home. We have all taken on a bit of the research and are finally close to a decision. It seems that the CLT (Community Land Trust) model is the most appealing, but also more complicated and less familiar to lending institutions than a regular 'ol LLC (Limited Liability Corporation). Many other communities we contacted were very helpful in explaining why they chose a condo, or coop, or not-for-profit or the like. It seems many different models can be made to fit similar purposes. However, the one thing the CLT does that we all like is create affordable housing for the long term. As we get closer to choosing out three letter post-script, we are also finding that making a decision about our legal structure also means defining what we are about as a community.

Cabin Plumbing

The beginning of our plunder into plumbing- the DWV PVC.

Happy Campers

Project Instituters after Doug suggests we don't meet for a month.

June Update

By this time of the year, life is abundant and growth is spectacular. In the garden, the first blossoms of the season are on the tomato plants (on the vines of the ultra-early Glacier variety, anyway). The brassicas are all producing: the kale and collards are ready to eat, of course, but the first broccoli florets are rising up, the kohlrabi bulbs are swelling, and the heading cabbages are closing up. Squashes, cucumbers, melons, potatoes--all are growing faster than we can keep track. It's exciting. We do, however, appear to have two unsuccessful crops this year: eggplant (the baby plants have been turned into lace by flea beetles) and peppers (which look alive and fairly healthy but which have not grown in size since being transplanted--perhaps due to being planted in a bed that last year held potatoes, another nightshade). Still, the garden feels great--our direct connection to the mystery and sweetness of life.

Logo Decoded (sort of)

CPI Mushrooms

As the weather gets warmer, wild mushrooms start popping up all over the place. There a quite a few edible varieties. Black Trumpets grow near the stream at CPI. They are delicious. They should start fruiting sometime toward the end of June. Other favorites that grow around our property are Chicken of the Woods, Hen of the Woods, Distant Gilled Lactarius, Oyster Mushrooms, Puffballs, and Chanterelles. I'll post photos of some of these mushrooms as the summer wears on.

Chanterelles, like the one pictured above, have become a favorite at CPI because they go so well with our fresh eggs. Not only are they beautiful, they smell like apricots. There are four kinds of Chanterelle that grow here: the Common Chanterelle, the Smooth Chanterelle, the Cinnabar Chanterelle, and the Scaly Vase Chanterelle.

Camp Projects for March

Fellow Campers,

There are two main projects happening for the month of March:

1. Pavilion
2. Dump Staging Area

We have a total of five hours each committed not including
our meeting/work day of Saturday, March 17th.

We agreed to post our hours/accomplishments as we go for this month.

(So far I have a total of 15 minutes worked on this posting!) Woo hoo.
xo
Cristin

Carrie's Until-Next-Summer Dinner

We went out to dinner to say goodbye for now to Carrie A. We were all there plus Ayumi, something that doesn't happen often enough.
Maybe we'll get around to having an actual meeting one of these days.

It takes special people to make a community.

And cute ones too.

Black Walnuts

There were three majestically precarious black walnut trees hanging over the cabin. We had them cut down and milled on the property. It took five days to drag out and mill up all the trunks. It was a truly awesome event.

The Cabin

Here are a few photos of our progress on building our first house. Doug and I are doing as much of the work ourselves as we can. Mike has helped out a lot too.

The Cabin is roughly 500 square feet. It is build on the original cement foundation of a one room cabin filled with junk, a pool table, and plenty of animal shit.

The first work on the cabin was done at a birthday work party for me. We cleaned it out and pressure washed the inside. Since then the roof has come off, the walls have been replaced, new windown and doors have been framed in.

We'll keep posting new pics as the progress contintues.