Marble Rock Cooperative Centre for Rural Living and Education

Marble Rock Cooperative Centre for Rural Living and Education is a cooperative in rural eastern Ontario. We presently consist of 8 founding members and 2 children. Four of us live on the land: 130 acres of borderline agricultural land with lots of mixed forest, rock, and a large swamp, backing on a small river. We are about 10 minutes from Gananoque and 30 minutes from Kingston.

The land was initially purchased in 1981 by a group of 10 people, who incorporated and began developing an intentional community. However, work did not progress beyond the stage of incorporating and buying the land. Over the next 25 years, a number of different groups have formed and then dissolved, with always at least one constant member who has been involved since the time the land was bought.

We are now the strongest we have ever been. One permanent year-round dwelling has been built on the land as well as a workshop for small carpentry projects and a garden shed with a sleeping loft. We have developed a large organic vegetable and berry garden, which we worked cooperatively with about 10 folks last summer. We plan to expand this project in the summer of 2006. We have begun construction on a bunkhouse to facilitate more people being able to spend time here at least in the spring, summer and fall. We plan to build an outdoor kitchen and shower this summer, which will also make it easier for us to have long-term visitors.

While we have a number of exciting projects underway on the land, we are still very much in the forming stage, especially about things like cooperative land ownership (right now the land is owned by one individual) and working with the township to get zoning that will allow us to build multiple family dwellings. We have not finalized a workable ownership model, but are deep in rich and interesting discussions about this.

We initially came together through our shared commitment to social justice work, and that remains a focus of our community. Our long term goals are to:

• provide a rural educational and retreat centre for children, youth and adults;
• revitalize rural communities by developing alternative living models;
• provide skills and training in such areas as organic agricultural methods, energy-efficient construction techniques, renewable energy technologies, arts and crafts and strategies for social change.

We are open to new members, volunteers, visitors and inquiries from anyone interested in knowing more about what we do. Please feel free to contact us at info@marblerockcoop.com or visit our discussion boards