EatGreenDFW iReporter

Share Meals, Chores & More in an Intentional Community

Imagine that:

• You knew your neighbors.

• Your kids always had someone to play with; and always had a babysitter available.

• You lived more sustainably, with a smaller carbon footprint.

• You spent less on transportation and utilities.

• You could grow some of your own food.

• You shared some meals, laundry & work space, pool, chores, & maybe cars.

• You could age in place/ stay in your home as long as possible.

All these, and more, are possible in intentional community, a return to village life, in which residents design and manage their own community.

In DFW, there are at least three intentional communities in various stages of development.

Two of the projects use the cohousing model. Pioneered in Denmark, when women first entered the workforce, cohousing created an efficient environment for shared childcare, shopping, cooking, and chores. Six characteristics distinguish cohousing communities:

1. Future residents design the community.
2. Neighborhood design to encourage a strong sense of community.
The dwellings usually face each other across a courtyard, with cars parked on the periphery.
3. The private residences are supplemented with common spaces that typically include:
Kitchen, dining, playroom, laundry, library, exercise & crafts room, guest rooms-
Whatever the community chooses.
4. Residents manage their own community, and perform most the maintenance.
5. No person has authority over others, & most groups make decisions by consensus.
6. The community is not a source of income for members & there is NO shared economy.

Here in Dallas, two cohousing projects are under way:

White Rock Crossing will be a townhome community,  built from the ground up. They've purchased land, designed energy-efficient homes, and hope to break ground this year. About half the homes are presold.  The two-story homes with attached garage will be priced at about $166 per sq. ft, including common space.

Dallas Cohousing will retrofit an existing warehouse or office building. We are targeting Dallas properties with land enough for farming, walking distance from services like grocery stores and DART, and are looking for investor-residents. Our goal is to retrofit the building sustainably--for example, foam insulation, rain water harvesting, and solar-heated hot water-- and affordably. We hope units will be about $110 per sq. ft, including common space.

Also in the works is an rural ecovillage forming east of Dallas. This community is for people who want to grow their own food and live sustainably in a vegetarian community. Their vision is affordable, zero-energy homes with rain water harvesting, solar electricity, solar hot water, and other green features.

If you've been thinking about living more cooperatively and sustainably in the DFW, this could be the time!

Come visit us. Booth 63.Lake Cliff Park Zang and Colorado. 12 to.-5 pm.

Brian Cummings

It may have just gotten a little harder to snag a weekend table at Lucia in Oak Cliff. The Week magazine in its April 15 edition has joined a long list of publications that are heaping praise on David and Jennifer Uygur's Bishop Arts District hot spot.

Recently named "the best new resataurant in Texas" by The New York Times, Lucia's was called out in an article in the weekly news magazine entitled "Critics' Choice: Three Chefs who are raising the bar in Texas." The other two were The Inn at Dos Brisas in Washington and  Congress in Austin. The article notes that "Lucia creates its own cured meats, and no other Dallas restaurant can touch its house-made bread."  

Lucia's is at 408 W. 8th St. Call 214-948-4998 for a reservation, but you're probably looking well into the summer for a prime weekend spot. The best I could get early in March was an 8 p.m. spot on Thursday in late April. Can't wait.   

It's April in Texas and that means onions and carrots are in season.

Simple vegetables, but sometimes it's the simple things that bring the most pleasure.

During the week I believe cooking should be uncomplicated, yet appealing. Filling, and healthy.
For my junior high cooking class last week the name of the simplicity game was stir-fried rice.

It's a seven-ingredient tasty wonder.

A little soy sauce, sesame oil, green onion, egg, frozen peas and carrots, chicken, and, of course, rice.  Using a pasture-raised chicken breast, of course, from a local producer would be ideal for this dish.  One breast will provide the perfect amount of chicken.

Texmati brown rice was my choice for this stir fry; Texmati rice is a Texas product and I love supporting producers from the state even if Alvin, TX, where they're headquartered happens to be closer to Houston than the metroplex.

There were a couple of scrunched noses to the idea of a brown rice stir fry, but the reality is that white rice is really brown rice with the most nutritious parts scrubbed off to achieve that sparkling white color. Why bother wasting the time and nutrition, I said? Especially with stir-fried rice when the soy-sesame sauce mixture added to the rice, whether white or brown, gives it that beautiful brown color anyways. And brown rice, because it is only missing the outer husk, has a more interesting texture.

Surprisingly everyone loved the green onion garnish and squabbled a bit over getting more to put on their plates. Who could have predicted that?

Several said they were going to make this simple, beautiful, delicious, nutritious dish at home.

Mission accomplished.

Chicken Stir-Fried Rice

4 cups cold cooked white or brown rice
2 eggs beaten
1 bunch green onions, bias-sliced tops, thin-sliced greens
1 cup cooked chicken, cut into chunks
1/2 cup fresh diced carrots
1/2 cup fresh peas
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 teaspoons hot sesame oil
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided use

Prep vegetables
Bias slice the white parts of the onion.
Thinly slice the green parts
Measure out the peas and carrots

Prep sauce
Mix together soy sauce, hot sesame oil.  Set aside until needed.

Prep eggs and green onions
Bias cut the white end of the green onions.
Thinly slice the green end of the green onion for a garnish.
Whisk eggs in preparation for scrambling.

Stir-Fry
Heat wok over medium heat.
Add 1 tablespoon oil to the pan.  Allow oil to heat for a minute.
Add the green onions.  Saute for a minute.  Add the eggs and scramble.
Remove the eggs and green onions from the wok.  Set aside.
Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the wok.
Add the peas and carrots to the wok, stir-fry for a minute. 
Stir in the rice and stir fry until rice begins to crisp.
Add the cooked chicken to the wok.  Stir fry until chicken is heated through and rice is crispy.
Stir in the soy sauce mixture and continue to cook until the liquid has been absorbed.
Stir in the green onion and scrambled egg mixture.
Season with salt and pepper.
Serve with extra soy sauce on the side.

Natural Grocers sells nuts, flours and bulk candy in pre-packed sealed bags and keeps them refrigerated to keep them fresher. This is the display in the store at Coit and Campbell.