There are two weekly dinners; Mondays and Wednesdays. Mondays include some people from the neighboring community. Wednesdays are for residents only, though occasionally we make exceptions. These dinners provide an important forum for us to connect with each other. Oftentimes people linger after dinner to play games, play music, or just have conversations.
Cooking teams are often couples, but a single person can be a cooking team or a team can have up to three adults. More adults can be included, but then the team will have to cook twice as often. Teams cook roughly once every 4-6 weeks. When it is your team’s turn to cook, you prepare a meal with enough food for everyone.
We start each meal with a circle with announcements, then a description of what is for dinner, then a song or poem or dance, or moment of silence or whatever ritual someone wants to suggest. Then we wash hands and eat. When dinner is done everyone is asked to help with cleanup, even the kids.