The Co-Creators Agreements In every organization there are rules, what you can and cannot do, and they seem to increase every year as someone comes up with something we never thought of. If only we could live with complete integrity, we would not need any of the Do's & Don'ts. Reading, contemplating and integrating The Co-Creators Agreements into your life is an empowering way of doing this. Please read.

 

• Look over the Wind Spirit website to see if you are a liked minded soul.
• Send us an email or letter telling us a little about yourself and include information listed below.
• How you heard about Wind Spirit
• How we can contact you, email, address or  phone number
• Your interests and skills
• Have you lived or spent time in community environments, (communities, shared housing etc)
• Any questions you have about our community
• Are you looking for a place to relax as opposed to working (see costs below)
• Proposed dates of how long you would like to stay (see more details below)
• Would you like to rent a dwelling.. Would you like a camping space.

Please be considerate of our time, if you are not fairly certain you are going to come here, all the emails and phone calls take a lot of our time........

Fees

• Daily or weekly visitors - contribution $10. to $25 per day sliding scale.
• Monthly visitors - $125.00 per month  This  includes satellite internet access, fruit and vegetables from the land as well as some community foods, use of sauna, showers, kitchen and hands on experience working with community members. Sitting in on meetings and experiencing our community. If you are a seasonal or longer visitor you can sit in on most workshops/retreats for a small donation.
• If you are looking for just a retreat and no work this can be arranged starting at $300. per month. You are still responsible for help cleaning in the kitchen, baths and composting toilets.  Contact us for more details.
• Dwelling availability -call or email
• There is a charge for heat in the winter, (summer the heat is free) if you use a space with a woodstove there is no charge other than you must do your share of wood harvesting.

Work Exchange (new work exchange policies starting in the fall 2008.) Work exchange is limited to 4 positions in any season.

• Work exchange is a minimum of 25 hours a week.
• Work exchange is for people low on funds and under 30, please do not apply if you can afford to pay monthly community dues.
• You cannot come here with no money, there are various personal expenses that come up, have access to $500. or more.
• All those doing work exchange must pay for their 1st month here ($125.00)
• If you are not a motivated worker do not apply for work exchange. If you have to be reminded several times to keep up your work exchange hours the work exchange program will be given to someone else.
• No work exchange shorter than a 3 month period.
• Any work exchange can be terminated with one months notice.

Good reasons to come here.

• You want to live in a community
• You are truly interested and want experience living in a community setting
• You realize there must be a fundamental change in the way people live (this is one option)
• You want to learn basic skills such as gardening, building, electrical, plumbing, solar ........
• You want to empower/help people working toward a more positive future

Good reasons not to come here.

• You are looking for a place to kill some time.
• You like it because it is inexpensive. I can afford that place.
• You want to get out of the cold weather.
• You think it looks cool and don't have anything better to do.
• You can get high everyday in a beautiful place. (This is not the place for you)

GENERAL INFORMATION FOR VISITING

• Visitors need to have permission from a community member to visit Windspirit.  This can involve having contact with us through e-mail, a letter, or a phone call before coming to visit.  Drop in visitors may not be welcome. 
• If a visitor is staying for less than a week then they do not need to go through an approval process.
   a) A stay of a week or longer requires all visitors  to go through an approval process. This process involves going to a weekly meeting and discussing with the community your intentions, what you have to offer the community, what we can offer you,  how long you plan to stay, and what needs you have. This is a chance for both parties to ask questions of each other and get to know each other better.
•  We have a varied amount of  community work projects each as needed, other days work is done individually or small groups.   Windspirit is not a commercial organic farm and we do not want our community to act as a work camp, but we also have many tasks that need doing.  We ask that people contribute to the work projects and also find other areas of the community that they can contribute to inspire one's self.
• Anyone who stays at the community and uses community spaces such as the kitchen, bathhouse, and community room, must be willing to take a turn in cleaning these spaces, this is not optional.  We ask that everyone take one day a week in cleaning these rooms.  Basic cleaning and doing dishes after using the community kitchen is a must! Overall we try to make the work fun and often work together.  We hope that work projects can help individuals learn new skills and our usually guided under a project manager.
• At least 15 hours of Community service per week is asked of visitors.  These hours can be part of work parties or individuals projects. See work trade information below.
• We can only let so many vehicle-less people come here, we are rural and transportation is necessary. It is not fair to put the burden on one or two people for all rides, food pickups etc.
• Visitors need to get permission from the community council to invite other visitors or their own personal guests.
• .Visitors may not use Windspirit Community's address as a permanent mailing address, registering their vehicle, or other uses without community council approval.
• We have good relations with our neighbors and ask that visitors not get involved in any conflict with them.  If there becomes a problem please let the community know immediately.
• Upon arrival you will meet with a designated person to: Please follow these instructions upon arrival.
  • Sign in
  • Pay your visitor fee.
  • Be assigned a tent space or rental.
  • Be given a tour.
  • Be given a Visitor Manual which you agree to read completely the first week and sign a statement that you agree to live by the community guidelines while here. We encourage everyone to also integrate The Co-Creators Agreements while here.

Weapons
a) No visitors, interns, or guests are allowed to carry firearms or other dangerous offensive weapons (crossbows, swords etc.) while here Discuss this with us before coming

Addictions and Psychological Problems !
Windspirit Community expresses as much compassion as possible for individuals who have psychological problems. We can only take visitors and community members who are emotionally coherent, reachable, honest about healing themselves and what issues they need to resolve, and those who can participate within the community in a healthy way.

Dealing with Habitual Guideline Offenders
Theft and violence will not be tolerated! Dealing with habitual guideline offenders is on a case-by-case basis. Periods of probation may be imposed. Repeated cases of defiant disrespect of the bylaws or general codes, guest, or visitor will be expelled from the community.

Community Consumption Guidelines
a) We are primarily a vegetarian community! Other diets can be accommodated but there is no cooking of fish, beef or fowl in the community kitchen. If you need to eat lots of animals this is probably not the place for you.
b) Tobacco smoking is permitted at the community. No smoking in the community buildings or while walking the paths. Please be conscious of the effects of second hand smoke and how annoying it can be to nonsmokers.
c) Alcohol use in ceremonies, parties or in the privacy of one's personal space is allowed. Excessive use is not acceptable. If you have a problem with addiction then please let community members know and we can support you in abstaining.

Pets and Animals
a) We are not overly enthused to have lots of dogs here, they usually wreck havoc with the local wildlife. Dogs that continually bark are not welcome!  Dogs who are aggressive toward other dogs must be restrained. We have a lot of wildlife here and do not want dogs that will continually chase after, rabbits, deer, skunks, etc or cats.
b) Short term visitors and guest must keep their dogs by their sides at all time. Please clean up after your dog.

Parking
a)  Please do not park out on the road except for loading/unloading of passengers or supplies.
c)  We encourage the use of shared vehicles to do our part in cutting down on pollution.
d)  Visitors or guests are not permitted to bring towed/broken down vehicles to the land.

Items you should bring with you (Sorry if some of this seems repetitive)

1. Your own bedding, towels, toiletry items
2. Summer and winter clothing. Be prepared for hot and cold weather.
3. A 20 degree sleeping bag and bed pad.
4. An extra blanket for warmer nights.
5. Light rain gear, not a big issue in the desert.
6. A water bottle or two.
7. A good attitude.
8. A good solid flashlight with extra batteries, we prefer rechargeable batteries and have a community charger.
9. Solid shoes and sandals!
10.A sun hat or sun glasses if needed. Sun screen if you are light skinned - we do have aloe on the land
11.We have laundry facilities on the land, see bio list.
12. Biocompatible shampoo and soap - Dr. Bonners soap and Aubrey's shampoo are the best.
13. Please bring enough money for you to be comfortable with your own spending habits.
14. You will need to supply some to most of your own food, depending on the time of the year and population of the community.
15. You may be asked to bring your own tent if all guest spaces are filled! Car camping is acceptable as well.

Optional stuff - A car will give you more freedom and less dependence on others for rides. Camping gear to take some camping trips, work gloves, you can mail or bring your own computer if you want to have better computer access, any medicines or vitamins that you usually take, art supplies or musical instruments, books or music, special foods, stamps and envelopes.

If you have more questions about the community or any thing else then please feel free to call or send us an e-mail and we will try to get back with you as soon as possible. Sometimes it may take a few days to get back with you if you call, e-mail is a better way to reach us.