Fall is upon us and the autumn harvest makes us ponder…
How far have we come and how far we have to go? The Fall Equinox has made our days grow shorter. and we still have so much to do! Get that garlic in the ground. Get those rocks out of the ground. What are we going to do with all those rocks?!
Fortunately (for us) British artist and man-about-the-woods, Andy Goldsworthy, inspires us in every season but especially this one with the vibrant yellows and reds all around us. And, wow, does he know what to do with rocks!!
Often ephemeral & meditative, always inspirational. So we did a whole workshop on Andy’s handiwork with twigs, leaves, water…and rocks. We are ON it.
The next week we used goldenrod to dye different fabrics for future projects.
We do yoga and music and hike and sit around the lake.
Keep an eye on the Events page of our website [http://rockycorner.org/events/] for when we’re doing more fascinating walks, talks, learning and stretching our minds, bodies and souls…sometimes all at once! All are welcome.
Upcoming: Archery for Beginners, Evening Telescopes to Mars, permaculture, garlic planting – early November is the ideal time. Come join us and RSVP so we know to expect you.
There is promise in the air, promise of the brilliant foliage that blesses our land each year after the harvest. Our gardens are now nearly empty of their summer bounty, and the days are crisper with long shadows cast from a sun that has just passed over the Equator.
A small group gathers in a clearing behind the Community House to celebrate the change of season and the autumn harvest – the Fall Equinox. A table set in the center is piled with autumn crops: garlic, small brown onions, squashes in every variety and shape, gourds. Future residents of our budding community have stacked dry goods for a local food pantry. A circle begins to take shape around the table, quiet at first, as each engages in painting small smooth rocks. Timidly, a buzz rises – catching up, introductions for those new to the neighborhood, hopeful talk of moving in. There is hope in the abundance of a harvest!
We gathered as a community of family and friends to honor the changing season from summer to autumn, to recognize and give thanks for this time of harvest from the land and from our lives, and to give offerings from our own abundance to assist in the care of others. There is singing and drumming, poetry and dancing. And sharing. Speaking aloud what each is harvesting from this summer’s scorched pandemic storm: energy, adventure, community, hope. Hail and welcome! – Janis S.
“The goal of life is to make your heartbeat
match the beat of the universe,
to match your nature with Nature.”
~ John Joseph Campbell
Find out about our last homes for sale and when the next open house (socially distanced, of course) and online info sessions (no mask necessary) are scheduled on our website at http://rockycorner.org.
Unit 10 (above) and unit 20 (below) are offering Special Sale prices, both with custom upgrades and almost ready for move in. See our website for more details: http://rockycorner.org/new-homes-for-sale/. The last few are not built yet and await the finishing touches of their new owners.
A few homes (all sizes, market rate and affordable) are available for sale. If you are interested in finding out more, send an email to
welcome@rockycorner.com or call us at 203-903-COHO (-2646). We will have you attend a Zoom info session.
We are also happy to set up private tours of the land and homes, using masks and keeping 6 ft distance, of course.
If you think you qualify for an affordable home, we will help you with the application process through Neighborhood Housing Services in New Haven.
Data sheets for the different size homes are on our website at http://rockycorner.org/new-homes-for-sale/.
*Due to Covid-19 all state and local guidelines are being implemented.
Come see if we are the right commununity for you!
@RockyCorner
We are hosting frequent Open House Tours, Nature Walks, Hikes, Herbal Skill Sharing and Foraging events, plus an occasional outdoor Mat Yoga Class.
For a current schedule of Upcoming Events, please go to
http://rockycorner.org/events/
Let us know if you have questions
or would like to chat individually.
Please RSVP to welcome@rockycorner.org
for full details or call
203-903-COHO (-2646).
You can get more information on our website at
http://rockycorner.org
w in the pioneers that started Rocky Corner was contagious, and she thought “here is a group of people that found a way to do what seemed so far out, when I had only been thinking about it. And they even recycle rocks – my kind of folks.”
ns in our large outdoor area.
She yearned for a more quiet and peaceful environment and since her brother has been living in southern CT for twenty years, she is already familiar with the CT experience. When she discovered Rocky Corner Cohousing, she was immediately drawn to everything about it and, after multiple inquiries and visits, she decided to move forward and purchase one of the homes in the community.
The fast-changing climate caused Lori to think seriously about joining a cohousing community where she can have her own garden and also benefit from the communal garden. She looks forward to living in a divers, multi-generational community that offers a balance between independence and interdependence. In Rocky Corner, she found like-minded individuals and families that are devoted to preserving, protecting, nurturing and regenerating the natural environment. In the not too distant future, we may even set up our own food coop at Rocky Corner, but until we do, there is always the Park Slope Food Coop only a short distance away.
Kyla and Kevin found out about Rocky Corner through Kyla’s parents, who thought it would be a great fit for them. So they came for the ride and decided that THIS is what they’ve been looking for.
Born in Manhattan, first generation American on my mother’s side, the youngest of three, with two older brothers, we moved cross country at age three to Tucson AZ followed by Knoxville TN, then on to San Antonio TX and eventually to East Paterson NJ—where I lived until age 19. Moving to NYC, I completed my undergrad degree at St. John’s University with a major in Art Ed but as timing would have it, NYC schools closed most of their music and art programs citywide that year. I applied to McGraw-Hill and was hired as a commercial artist trainee for one of their magazines. Eventually I moved on to freelance work, staying in NYC for a few more years. A short stint in San Miguel, Mexico, to study fine arts, and then an offer to start selling real estate in central CT (don’t ask) led me to a 45-year career in the real estate field.
Shanee: I was born in Boston, MA. My family moved to the suburb of Newton when I was a toddler. Worcester, MA, where I went to college, was an important influence in my life, as was a six-month internship at an ecumenical anti-apartheid center in South Africa in the mid-1980s. I became a clinical psychologist in my mid-30s and worked in several locations in the US (DC, Denver, Boston, and primarily NYC), both in the public sector (schools, clinics, etc.) and private practice. I also worked internationally in contexts of ethnic and political violence, including over 2.5 years as the psychologist for the UN-backed war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone and two years as psychologist/trainer with Center for Victims of Torture (an NGO), first in the refugee camps of Guinea (serving mostly Liberians) and later in a clinic in Jordan (mainly with Iraqis). I am a registered poetry therapist and mentor/supervisor in poetry therapy, and hold a MFA in creative writing from The New School. I have taught at several universities but have not felt drawn toward a mainstream academic career path. In recent years I have reinvented myself as a late-blooming literary scholar: writing (hopefully) original interpretations of classic novels and submitting these for publication in scholarly journals (with some success). I was living and working in Sierra Leone when I met my daughter Yana, who was 7 at that time. I first became her guardian and then legally adopted her. I have been raising her in the US since she was 11, while at the same time doing our best to maintain a soulful connection to her homeland and birth family. After living in a cramped apartment in New York City’s East Village, we moved to a small town in rural western Maine in 2016. Yana entered her first year at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT and I combined teaching and practicing psychology with becoming a student again, immersing myself deeply in English and American literature, and earning a BA in English at the University of Maine (just completed). I love the Great American Songbook (listening, as well as singing), theater (mostly as an audience member, but I have also acted in several community theater productions with the Sandy River Players here in Maine), reading (primarily contemporary poetry and classic novels), and travel (worldwide). I’m excited to move to Rocky Corner because of the warm, friendly, and caring future-neighbors; the proximity to nature; the chance to spend time with new friends without having to drive anywhere; our beautiful newly-built house; and the chance to be less than 2 hours from NYC and only 15 min from New Haven while also having the simple pleasures, peacefulness, and human connections of a small rural town which we’ve learned to cherish in Maine.
and a future cohouser. She first was attracted to cohousing about 25 years ago knowing it would be a safe neighborhood for her gay family that included her partner, Brenda and their daughter, Alani. Today, she is still looking for an accepting community, but more importantly, she wants a way of life that is ecologically sustainable.
The 12 years I have been associated with the Rocky Corner project have been years of tremendous growth for myself. It’s amazing to me that I could grow so much during my 6th decade of life. I am more comfortable with myself, with my ability to be a leader, an active doer. I have learned to respect and listen to others as we have forged ahead with this tremendous new neighborhood that I am so proud of.
I’m deep into reading a biography by Linda Lear titled Rachel Carson, Witness for Nature. Carson’s most acclaimed book prior to Silent Spring was The Sea Around Us which I must admit I have never read. According to the biography, the night in 1952 when she accepted the Burroughs Medal for The Sea Around Us she said,
