The House

We are an easy-going intentional community house that started 10 years ago. Since September 2007, the house operates on a non-profit basis. Extra money is donated to charity each month. We take turns deciding on which charities to support. The vision is an environmental/spiritual house-community with a focus on selfless service.

Features

We are located on a quiet street just west of Ossington and south of Bloor (1 block from Ossington subway station). We have a large tree-shaded front porch, backyard garden, and comfortable common spaces. Our three-storey house has rads and a gas stove. There are seven bedrooms and two bathrooms. High speed internet is included in the pricing. There is a community computer available in the basement. We recently purchased an infrared cedar sauna for the house using our house fund money.

Environmental features include using Bullfrog power (sustainable electricity supplier), energy-efficient fridge, front load washing machine, clothes line for drying, low flush toilets, efficient fireplace insert where on cool nights we can burn scrap wood that would otherwise be trucked to landfill, a garden that provides greens, herbs, beans, peas, berries, grapes, and other edibles. We also have a low-on-the-food-chain vegetarian (vegan-friendly) kitchen with an emphasis on organics and locally-grown foods. There are large shade trees in the front and back and we have two kinds of ivy growing out our south-facing side wall.

In our kitchen, basic food ingredients are shared, but everyone has some space in the fridge and cupboards for personal beverages, breads, packaged cereal, snacks, and other convenience foods. When people feel like cooking they generally make some extra for others.

Often on Sundays there is a large community dinner. People in the house are encouraged to take turns preparing a delicious vegan meal for everyone including any invited guests. In exchange for preparing the meal, the cook receives $25 from the house fund.

We have monthly house meetings.

House members

Listed in order of how long they have lived here:

Steve – “About 10 years ago, I was able to buy this house with the help of my father. From the beginning, the house had a vision of environmental awareness, spiritual connection and exploring alternative ways of living. I did a world trip through Asia over 15 year ago. I had a life-changing experience at a Buddhist meditation retreat in Thailand. After a silent 10 day retreat I stayed longer and read a book about Gandhi. The combination gave me a strong desire to do service. Also during my trip I did a two week yoga retreat in India. Upon returning to Montreal to finish an architecture degree, I started an animal rights groups at McGill called META. After returning to Toronto, I was a core volunteer for Toronto Vegetarian Association for many years and am still very involved. I pretty much follow a vegan diet for many reasons, but the environment is one of the main ones. I like to do fix-up projects around the house, and to participate in events put on by a Toronto group that does soulful chanting to guitar music.”

Natalie is a longterm housemate who has lived here since 2000. She moved to Japan to teach English in March 2009, but is planning to return. Martine is subletting her room. Over the years, Nat has been very active with painting and helping with renovation plans.  She is also an excellent cook and loves preparing large meals without ever using recipes. She often spends the summers volunteering/cooking at yoga retreats and selling clothing.

Sairah took over Jasmine’s room  Jan. 1, 2009. Bio to come.

Joe is a Master’s candidate at U of T and an avid cyclist who bikes year round in Toronto and on trips that have included Italy and the Gaspe Penninsula. “After 15 years of running my own import business (or was it running me…?), I fired myself and  returned to U of T to work towards my Masters in Education. Both my academic and non-academic interests are varied and involve both service to self and others. I seek balance in life although a little imbalance tends to keep things exciting.”

John is involved with vegan and animal rights activism and helps out with the Toronto Animal Rights Society (www.animal-rights.ca) and their bi-weekly vegan potlucks. He is also into fixing up bikes, miso soup, road trips, karate, hiking, found art and other stuff.

Miriam moved in January 2, 2008. “I just graduated from Social Work at Ryerson. After finishing up courses, I did my final practicum with an NGO in the northern Philippines for five months. I worked with students in a dormitory, did some microcredit development work in two villages, spent time with local indigenous rights activists and danced a lot at different ceremonies. I returned to Toronto in October. I love to read, my favourite authors are Bell Hooks, Rohinton Mistry, Miroslav Volf and Henri Nouwen. I watch a lot of documentary films, I like to debate local Toronto issues, and have a keen interest in international politics and human rights issues. I’m just figuring out being vegetarian and changing my lifestyle/personal habits to be more earth friendly. I’ve been playing around with being vegetarian for about 2 years. In the last six months being vegetarian and having a more earth-conscious perspective has taken root in me, especially after returning from traveling and interacting with different people in my faith community, Freedomize.

Mike says he is not very good at writing about himself. “The activity seems to induce a somewhat debilitating omphaloskepsis, broken only by the compulsion to double-check the spelling of long words. When I am not agonizing over how to write about myself, I try to invent and implement creative ways of applying my talents (in probability theory, statistics, finance, risk management and strategy) in my consulting work, volunteer efforts and civic life. Some of the issues that I am concerned about include civil liberties, civic engagement, public health, public education, climate change, ecological responsibility, cultural diversity, electoral reform and democratic work practices. I enjoy organic and locally grown foods, yoga, pilates, cycling, travel, quirky personalities, surprises, my new MacBook and trying to become a better writer.”
Mike moved into the house in Oct 2008.

Past residents:

Diana, Basil, Meaghan, Derrick, Chantal. See our past residents page.

Currently the age range includes people in their twenties, thirties and forties.

Structure

Note the information below is subject to change based on decisions reached at house meetings.

There will be three levels of belonging to the house:
1. Guests and very short term people (say three months or less)
2. Members
3. Core members

The members will decide all but the most serious issues, which are handled by the core group. However, the members consider all issues and make recommendations to the core group.

The core members deal with final approval of new members, asking members to leave (rare), large financial issues, etc. Residents that support the vision of the house and who want to get a little more involved, may apply to become core members, after living at the house for 6 months.

[Note: the above structure is loosely based on an existing community that was written up in Communities Magazine]

House fund – $34 of the rental amounts ($238/month) goes into a house fund. Members decide how to spend this money. Currently the fund is used for kitchen equipment, plants, decorating, our infrared sauna purchase, etc. Money from this fund must be spend on house-related things. The fund also pays $25 to residents for cleaning all the floors (done on a rotational basis, or by who ever feels like doing it). $25 is paid out to the person who volunteers to cook the Sunday community dinner.

Donation/subsidy fund – The house will generate extra money that can be donated to charity or used to provide financial support so people don’t need to work full time and can have more time to devote to service. Subsidies would be based on need and a commitment to doing extra service.

Costs – Rents are around $450/month and include everything (utilities, internet, and a basic land line for outgoing calls). See our pictures page for costs of each room. From the rent money a house fund and charity/subsidy fund are created. There is a $10 rebate for paying on time and by cheque.

There will be a slightly higher rental amount of $25 for the winter verses the summer to reflect the higher heating costs, and to reimburse people if the actual utility costs are less than projected.

Other considerations – no smoking on the property especially near windows, no meat in the kitchen or bbqued outside. Respect for fish and oceans. If you eat eggs, please only buy ones that are as free-range and organic as possible. The same goes for cow’s milk and other dairy products. Please avoid using products with strong chemical smells or concentrated scents. Most of us are not into having the sounds of television or commercial radio in the home.

For more information check out:

food-sharing-list3.pdf

House polices (also available as a pdf: house-policy_jul_2007.pdf)

occupency-agreement-web.pdf

These policies and agreements are based on nine years of community living.

Interested in living here?

Update April 2009: The house is currently full, but often sublets become available.

We always post notices on Craigslist in the month prior to an opening becoming available, but you may also request to be on our waiting list. Shared houses often have spaces opening up every several months.

An ideal candidate is someone who is currently active doing volunteer/charity work (or someone with time, skills and interest to help with renovations, as there is always projects to do). But an important consideration is someone keen on living in close community with others, and who fits well with the current mix of residents.

Please email us a bit about yourself to live[(at)]deliciousearth.com. For more about the individual rooms see Pictures. Note: Comments submitted to this website about wanting to live here are read by us, but not posted, unless requested.

Sorry, no cats. Some of us have allergies.

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A new vision as of September 2007

An environmental/spiritual house-community with a focus on selfless service.

Written by Steve in Aug. 2007

Probably for 99% of people, their main objective is focused around the self. Having a good time, achieving personal goals such as finding a decent job, an attractive partner, respect and honour, enough money to do everything they want to do, or even a spiritual practice or exercise program that is personally fulfilling. Essentially to satisfy one’s senses, mind, body, soul, etc.

Then there are a few people who are more interested in pursing a life of service – focusing on how they can help others, the Earth, animals, serving God, etc. A desire to do this has to come from within. I am hoping to find people for the house who are already on this path, or have had a taste and want to move in this direction.

I don’t know what will take shape – perhaps a supportive place for activists or a spiritually-focused place. People may be into environmental service, animal rights, spiritual activities, etc. Hopefully at the core, will develop service that comes from the heart.

Some people seem to get stuck in angry activism that can lead to burn-out. The service work that I envision is a more sustainable variety that is done out of compassion for people, the planet, animals, spirit, God.

What ever form the house takes will be unique due to the combination of a variety of individuals living together. The common thread holding it together will hopefully be a desire for service.

Practically it might involve people supporting each other, cooking for each other, and working to create a positive home environment, doing renovation projects in the house, leading a yoga session, volunteering outside the house, earning extra money to donate to charities, etc.

Regarding projects in the house, one possibility is writing, proofing, editing, creating for a blog I am interested in getting going: Delicious Earth. Currently I blog for www.veg.ca, and that is another good project that people are welcome to get involved with.

If this kind of house/life interests you, great! But I want to be clear that I am not the kind of person that is good at inspiring others. I am not much of a leader really. So what we need at least in the beginning is people who are already part-way on a path of service.

Currently, the house generates enough money to allow me to live here without paying anything except a share of the utilities, plus a profit that is has been saved for renovations and donated to charity over the years. Starting September (2007), I will start paying a rent like everyone else. This will free up extra money that we can add to our house fund and donation/subsidy fund.

Initially I will be the only core member, but during this transitional phase, I will be working with the group as much as possible, and seldom see myself going against the recommendations of the members.

Update (Nov 2007): In the first few months since September, some of us have worked together on a couple of renovations projects, we have established our Sunday night vegan dinners (see above), and we have contributed a few hundred dollars each month to charity. I have received a subsidy each month to offset most of the rent I pay so that instead of working outside of the house, I have been able to focus on renovation projects here as well as spending a lot of time on vegetarian activism. Individually, at least some of us help out with various charities or spiritual groups. But, the vision I had of everyone coming together to work in selfless service on creating a blog or other shared projects/activities has yet to come about.