Make your way down the driveway of 117 Olander Drive and you’ll immediately gaze upon VHC’s 4,000 square foot Common House, the meeting point of our community. Our Common House boasts our industrial-size kitchen, great room, and living room, as well as a children’s playroom, workout room, and two guest rooms that our members can reserve for their visitors. We gather here to get our mail, eat community meals, hold monthly community meetings, and enjoy other events (music! presentations! holiday parties!) together.
Outside the Common House is a patio and green space where, in the warmer months, we enjoy meals outside and lawn games like Can Jam. We also participate in community work days monthly, which involve tasks like cleaning the Common House and beautifying our outdoor spaces.
Continue on towards the woods and you will stumble upon our community garden and community compost. All members are invited to assist with garden work and enjoy pick-your-own squash, kale, garlic, onion, tomato, potato, eggplant, pepper, and more!
We self-govern using a process called sociocracy, which is a form of modified consensus. In addition to physical work, all members also participate in circles, or committees, which allow us to make policies and decisions that affect the community. Think of it like an HOA board, but instead of electing a board to make decisions and hire employees for assistance with the space, we’re all the decision makers and space handlers!
We’re situated in Northampton, MA along the beautiful Mill River and behind the Smith campus athletic fields. Members frequently make the 1-mile walk or bike ride to downtown Northampton as well as take hikes in the beautiful Northampton Dog Park right behind our community.
Get to know our community by the numbers.
Number of households: 28
Members: 51
Adults: 47
Kids: 5
Largest household: 3 people
Part time housemates: 5
Former members still involved: 4
Month with the most birthdays: June, July, and October each have 7
Dogs: 8
Cats: 10
Number of circles (committees): 20
Monthly meals: 3
Guests hosted in 2 Common House Guest Rooms: 86
Units with solar panels: 14
Number of electric vehicles: 6
Varieties of vegetables in community garden: 14
Pounds of tomatoes harvested Summer ’23: 80
