It's early and honest. Right now we're gathering people, not money — claiming a share costs nothing and reserves nothing legally yet. When the time comes to actually buy land, money goes into a lawyer's trust account, not anyone's pocket, and only when the deal is firm. If it falls through, deposits come back.
Nowhere yet — no money changes hands on this site. Later, your buy-in goes toward the land and the build, held by the co-op and the trust, with the books open to members. Nobody draws a salary off your buy-in.
Your own log home on ~3 acres the co-op allocates you, a real stake in the commons, and a place that's yours to come back to. See How it works.
Not a market windfall — and that's the point. When you leave you get back what you put in plus a small inflation bump (your "capped value"), never the open-market price. If your cabin would fetch $150k, you don't get $150k — you get roughly what you put in, and the next planter pays that same low price, not $150k. That's what keeps it affordable forever. The cap is only on your home and your co-op share — your business, income, savings and tools are uncapped and yours. In a line: you can't get rich off it, and you can't get wiped out of it. Full story: the buy-in math →
You can leave — your capped value is paid back per the co-op's rules, and your cell can pass to an approved family member (it's inheritable). The land stays in the trust either way; the commons doesn't get carved up.
The real answer isn't "wait for a spot to open" — it's we grow. Because the deal is rare, we expect a line-up, and that line-up isn't people waiting for someone to die: it's the capital and the mandate to buy the next parcel. The Salmo land is Phase 1; the waiting list and new buy-ins fund the neighbouring land, cohort by cohort, debt-free. A commons like this grows by multiplying, not by turning over — and if hundreds want in, we owe it to them to make more room, not pull up the ladder behind us.
Your home is actually better protected here than if you owned it outright — the land can't be force-sold, and your share and occupancy are capped and member-only, so there's little for a hostile creditor to take. A separation is handled by a fair, agreed buy-back instead of a fire-sale (though family law sets limits we're honest about). The full plain-English explanation is here: Protected for good → (One thing it is not: a way to dodge debts you already owe.)
We do — the members, one member one vote, through the co-op. The trust's only job is to hold the land and keep it un-sellable. No outside owner, no boss.
No. It's secular, voluntary, and you can walk away any time. No leader, no doctrine, no buying-in to anyone's beliefs — just planters who want land of their own and are tired of renting their lives.
A lot you co-own can be sold, mortgaged, or fought over. A trust locks the land in permanently — no bank can foreclose it and no future owner can flip it. It's the difference between a place for a few years and a place for generations.
No. Two ways in: sweat equity (earn your share by building and replanting) and 0% sponsorship (someone fronts your buy-in at zero interest). Details →
The Kootenays, BC — the parcel we're looking at. Timing depends on the crew coming together; that's what this page is for. Get in early and you help shape it.
Every page has its own conversation. This is the talk about what's on this page — post if you've claimed a founding share, read along either way. 0 posts here.
No posts yet — be the first to break ground.
Silvanus