Treehouse Village Ecohousing, Atlantic Canada’s first cohousing community, was mentioned this week in a Canadian Press feature on housing affordability in Canada. In the article, CP journalist Ian Bickis describes how European countries are addressing housing affordability, and contrasts their efforts with those of Canada. He notes that the situation is improving in Canada with initiatives to develop new types of housing, including cohousing. “Co-housing…

Treehouse residents meet the candidates! Left to right: Kathy Horton, Mike Conklin, Donette Getson, Allyson Rowley, Jane Morrell, Etienne Baqué, Meg Beliveau, Valentin Bourneuf, Emma Savage, Cheryl Fougere, Braden Newell, Sacha Baqué, Heather Yundt (all photos by Terry Lavender) By Allyson Rowley, Community Reporter Like the rest of the province, the Town of Bridgewater is in the midst of municipal elections that will culminate on…

By Terry Lavender, Treehouse Village Media & External Relations Coordinator “For inspiration, Nova Scotian planners and communities could look to the Treehouse Village Ecohousing project in Bridgewater.” That’s one of the conclusion of authors Jara de Hoog, Alice Cohen, & Andrew Biro in their recent report for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, “Challenging Nova Scotia’s Climate Change Plan to Do Better.” In the report,…

The Common House (Photo by Terry Lavender). A birthday dance party and a children’s summer camp are just two of the many activities that marked the opening of Treehouse Village Ecohousing’s 4000 square foot Common House earlier this summer. The Common House, which includes laundry facilities, two guest rooms, a dining hall, communal kitchen, children’s play room and lounge and workspace, was given conditional occupancy…

Treehouse Village Ecohousing’s Inaugural Open House By Terry Lavender On June 22, two days after the Summer Solstice, Treehouse Village Ecohousing (TVE) hosted its first open house to celebrate the completion of Atlantic Canada’s first cohousing community in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. More than 100 people attended this landmark event, including Bridgewater Deputy Mayor Cheryl Fougere, who conveyed greetings on behalf of Mayor David Mitchell and…

Treehouse Village reached another milestone on April 28, as the community’s newly registered condominium corporation held its first Annual General Meeting and chose the new condo board. Self-governed and co-developed by its residents, Treehouse Village is a welcome option for those seeking eco-friendly, community-oriented living. One of the first decisions the community made in 2018 was to select sociocracy for our decision-making processes. Sociocracy is…

By Allyson Rowley, Community Reporter From a wood carving workshop to dance parties in the Common House to a Wellness Weekend, Treehouse Village Ecohousing is alive with many fun, community-led activities this spring. Atlantic Canada’s first cohousing development, Treehouse Village is a vibrant, multi-generational community dedicated to living lightly on the earth. Treehouse kids are playing on the Common Green and we’re enjoying the lovely…

Come celebrate the Summer Solstice with us! SAVE THE DATE: Treehouse Village is hosting a Community Open House on Saturday, June 22, between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Atlantic Canada’s first cohousing development, Treehouse Village Ecohousing is now a vibrant, multi-generational community. Our residents range in age from four months to over 80. Construction is almost complete on our 4000-sq.ft. Common House (the heart of…

L to R: Phil Aylesworth, Sue Aylesworth, Therese Kirrane, Sunil Kittur. (Photo by Sharon de Souza.) By Treehouse Village Ecohousing Treehouse Village Ecohousing is so excited to welcome our two new households! Sue and Phil Aylesworth made the trek to Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, from Windsor, Ontario, in January. They jumped right into the community — Phil operated the Treehouse snow plow and he now manages…

Photos by Shirley Robb, Treehouse community member By Allyson Rowley, Community Reporter Treehouse Village Ecohousing, Atlantic Canada’s first cohousing development, is now a vibrant, multi-age community with construction substantially completed and all but one of our 30 condos pre-sold. Residents have moved into their energy-efficient homes and are working together to put the finishing touches on this unique, community-oriented cohousing development. “This is an amazing…

Now available: Treehouse Village’s bright and spacious top-floor home — the Maple!  This 1,006-sq.ft. condo offers two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a big kitchen, an open-concept living area, and plenty of room to work from home. You’ll enjoy a unique multi-age community, while sharing valuable common amenities and 16 acres of land with 29 other households. All this, located in Bridgewater — a thriving town on…

Atlantic Canada’s first cohousing community is generating a lot of interest in the media, both regionally and nationally. In recent months, Treehouse Village Ecohousing has been featured in Maclean’s Magazine, on CBC Television and Radio, the Halifax Examiner, and even the Weather Network website. The media outlets have been interested in our passive house construction, our sharing of common spaces and values and, of course,…

By Bastian Gruber, Treehouse Village community member It has been a big year of trade-offs and jumping in an adventure head first. Joining a co-housing community and moving to a small town were, what we thought, the biggest challenges. Shortly after we signed the TVE shareholders’ agreement, we felt the floor ripped beneath us with the announcement of the 35% price increase.  Not having any…

By Allyson Rowley, Community Reporter Heather Yundt and Etienne Baqué moved into their Oak in September with their twin six-year-old daughters. The family quickly enjoyed the benefits of living in Treehouse Village’s multi-generational, family friendly, 30-unit cohousing community. There even was a welcome ceremony for them when they moved in! Etienne, Mila, Heather and Margot being welcomed to the community. Photo by Shirley Robb A…

Treehouse Village woke up on December 4 to a blanket of snow covering our community. The residents lost no time in building snowpeople, sledding and tobogganing and otherwise enjoying the first snow accumulation of the year. Photos by Treehouse resident Sharon de Souza.

Recently we published a blog post about Treehouse Village’s solar power (“Here Comes the Sun”). The post piqued the curiosity of several people who wanted to learn more about our solar installation, so we asked our resident expert, Wayne Groszko, to provide some more details. Here’s what he had to say: The total capacity of all the solar power systems installed at Treehouse Village is…

Pictures of welcome: Treehouse Villagers are moving in At Treehouse Village, we’re fortunate to have a professional photographer in the community. Shirley Robb has been busy capturing a visual record of our welcome parades and other fun festivities, as more households begin to move into our 30-unit, multi-age, eco-friendly cohousing community in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. So far, we’ve welcomed Treehouse Villagers who hail from Bridgewater,…

Teri (far right) joins in a welcome ceremony for her new neighbours. Teri and her family moved to Treehouse Village to “live closer to nature, to community, to the things that we love.” (Photo by Treehouse Villager Shirley Robb.) I looked up at the blue sky and bright sun as I stopped to take in the smell of the fresh-cut grass on the soccer field….

A Rite of Passage is a ceremony or event marking an important stage in someone’s life. My partner, Matt, and I decided to go on a very special pilgrimage – to mark our own “rite of passage” as we transition to our new home at Treehouse Village.We decided to walk the 130 kilometers (80 miles) from the front door of our last apartment in Halifax…

Solar panels are on the rooftops of all our buildings at Treehouse Village. Our eco-friendly homes are almost ready! Photo by Treehouse Villager Emma Savage. Drone photo courtesy of Vince Casey. By Allyson Rowley, Community Reporter Have you heard of Treehouse Village Ecohousing? We’re the eco-friendly, multi-age housing development located on 15 acres of forested land in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia.  Now in the last stretch…

Treehouse Village Ecohousing, Atlantic Canada’s first cohousing community, has its first residents. The first family to move in was that of Clara Lovatt and Kathy Horton in late July. They were joined later the same day by the Stonhams – Caitlin, David, and their son Alfie. A few days later, Shirley Robb joined them at the cohousing development in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia.  Treehouse Village Ecohousing…

Many families are moving to Bridgewater, and when Arlene, Wendy and Cedar (their 13 yr. old Labradoodle) pulled up stakes in Victoria, there were 9⅔ (Katy & Michael; Rick-not yet) households living there. Their arrival on December 18, 2022, made the community ⅓ present, even though none are yet living in their Treehouse homes. Getting to the starting line…weaving the plans together Arlene and Wendy…

Atlantic Canada’s first cohousing community slated for completion in early 2023 A “seed of an idea” planted more than four years ago has come to fruition. Atlantic Canada’s first cohousing community – Treehouse Village Ecohousing – announced today that all units are pre-sold. The development is well underway at its location in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, with construction slated for completion in early 2023. The 30-unit,…

Pourquoi? Warum? Por qué? Waarom? Why are so many folks flocking to purchase a home at Treehouse Village Ecohousing in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia? One of the exciting things about our community is all the languages our members speak — French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch (so far!). But no matter the language, we all speak “cohousing”. We can’t wait to share meals in the Common…

In a post that I wrote about informal childcare arrangements in a cohousing village over a year ago, I reflected on the ways that living at Treehouse might ease my load as a parent. I hoped for spontaneous activities that my toddler could participate in, as well as regularly scheduled time slots where he was being cared for by others, that I could rely on…

Signs of spring are popping at 54 Pearl Street, including some accelerated progress on the building of Treehouse Village! Despite the challenges of our winter weather, we have been making steady progress with constructing our community.  At this point, in early April, work is happening on the workshop, the common house, and three of the four residential buildings (buildings 1, 3, and 4).  Workshop &…

I’m one of the many Canadians who have decided in the last year or so to escape urban life for healthier, greener pastures. I plan to work remotely and enjoy that elusive thing called a better quality of life. So, I’ve bought a condo at Treehouse Village and I’ll be moving to a town called Bridgewater. I didn’t know much about Bridgewater before I joined…

It was the windows and the work-from-home potential that drew Megan Beliveau and Matt van Bommel to the Maple. “We considered each type of unit at one point or another and we finally chose a Maple unit because we liked that it was on the second floor,” says Megan. “We also liked that there would be so many windows being on the end of the…

A home for their children to grow into. A home office. Enough room so that the grandparents can visit. Being able to step outside into nature. These are just some of the factors that drew the Parry and Bjork families to Treehouse Village’s most spacious home, the Oak. The 1,264 square feet Oak includes three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a spacious kitchen, and an open-concept living…

With the extreme weather we are seeing, the resiliency of Treehouse Village is at the forefront of my thoughts. When Scott and I first decided to move to Nova Scotia, location was top of mind. We wanted to make sure that we were not on a flood plain. We also wanted to ensure that we were not too close to the ocean, so rising sea…

By Katherine Harman and Kathy Horton Since July 2020, we have opened our Zoom Full Circle Gatherings and Meetings with “Treehouse Village is being built on the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq peoples. We are grateful to be building on this land. We will live in peace and seek means of reconciliation.” We then requested that those not currently in Mi’kmaki type the…

Treehouse Village Ecohousing celebrates start of construction What: Official Groundbreaking Celebration for Treehouse Village EcohousingWhen: Saturday, August 21, 10:00 a.m. ADTWhere: 54 Pearl Street, Bridgewater, Nova Scotia Bridgewater, NS—Atlantic Canada’s first cohousing community will mark the start of construction on Saturday, August 21, with activities including planting of a fruit tree by the community’s children, refreshments, music, speeches, and other festivities.Treehouse Village Ecohousing will be…

Are you interested in a more sustainable way of living on the planet? Have you heard of Passive House? Treehouse Village Ecohousing hosted a webinar on April 18 to share why we’re building our 30 homes to the high energy-efficient standards of Passive House. Treehouse Village is a multi-age cohousing community now in development on 15 acres of land in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. We’re dedicated…

The word has been “out” for quite some time, but it’s now “out” in a different way. Treehouse Village has posted our available homes on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), which you can see on both Realtor.ca and Viewpoint.ca, with more details at Innovative Real Estate LTD. This is very exciting, as it will greatly extend our reach.  Is selling homes really what it’s all…

I’ve lived a lot of places in my adult life. I confess that I was born in the US, so most of the places I lived were there, but I moved to Nova Scotia in 2006 and very quickly felt more at home than I had felt in any of the five states I had lived in over a period of 20-odd years. Why? One…

My name is Caitlin, and I struggle to ask for help.  As a result of this single-minded independence, I have avoided formal childcare arrangements for the entire two years I’ve been a parent. It doesn’t matter how burnt-out I am, or how many work deadlines have piled up, I’ll never call a friend and ask them to watch my son, even for a few hours. …

I’ve been with Treehouse Village since the get-go, and there aren’t many questions about it that surprise me anymore. “Is it for introverts?”, “Is it a cult?”, “Do you share bathrooms?”. I don’t mind answering even the strangest questions, as I appreciate curiosity. While cohousing has been successful in other parts of the world, including North America, the idea is new to Atlantic Canada. Many…

Last Friday, rather than having fun with just the adults at Treehouse Village, we decided to try and have some online fun that involved some of our community kids. Our event planning team put on their thinking caps and came up with a community craft night, where we would all sit together over video conferencing and do a craft together. This then became our Friday…

Treehouse Village parents weigh in When I decided to write a blog post to share my family’s thought process on moving to a cohousing community, I thought it would be interesting to hear from other families who are part of this project. I asked some TVE members with kids, “What was the clincher for you in deciding TVE was where you wanted to raise your…

✓ Design workshop series completed. We are now in the Design Development stage, where those designs will be refined and costed. ✓ Early 3D rendering of the design received (see above). ✓ Project Manager hired. ✓ Geotechnical survey completed. ✓ Town of Bridgewater held a Public Participation Meeting as part of our Development Agreement process. ✓ 18 members signed up for Intro to Sociocracy training…

On December 7-8 we did our final design workshop. At the workshop we approved the schematic design, the architects will shift into the design development phase, where we will refine the plans add more detail. Construction drawings will follow and we’ll be building before you know it! Treehouse Village is already a hive of activity. Our members are busy hiring a project manager, researching construction…

This weekend we held the fourth and final design workshop with our architects. They presented us with a set of schematic drawings for our village including: Site LayoutCommon HousePrivate Units As a community we consented to the schematic design for the Village. This design aligns with our vision and our values. Next we move into the design development phase where engineering consultants are brought on,…

We’re so happy to share that we have secured the land for our future community. It’s an incredible 15 acre parcel of forested land including many old growth trees, bordered by the Centennial Trail (a multi-use active transportation trail) and centrally located in town. The land has an excellent walkability score and is zoned “comprehensive residential” permitting cohousing design by entering into a development agreement.

The weekend began with a great reveal of the initial design of our common house based upon the input provided at the previous design workshop. In this workshop, we spent the weekend talking through the various features of our private homes.

Our Sept 14-15 workshop was all about designing the common house. In cohousing, the common house is the heart of the community, and an extension of each family’s home. It is a place where you can practice your hobbies, share food and fun, and be yourself around trusted neighbours.

We had so much fun letting our creative juices flow at our first Design Workshop! On day #1 we spent time envisioning and prioritizing the kinds of elements we want to include on the site… woodworking shop, gardens, children’s play spaces, and so on. We then took our ideas and walked the site, imagining what could be where.  On day #2, we were given scale…

Today we welcome on board our architecture team: two firms that combine specializations in cohousing, green building, as well as knowledge of the local industry and vernacular. RHAD and Caddis Collaborative are now tasked with designing our community, bringing our dreams closer to reality. The first step of the design phase will begin this fall. As a community we will participate in four design workshops,…

The first design workshop us all about the Site Plan: identifying what kinds of activities we want to do on the site, and mapping out where they will go. The common house, the homes, the gardens, the play spaces, parking, the treehouse, and so on.