Each time I speak to someone I have known a long time, but I haven’t seen in an age… probably since before the boring to speak of hiatus we all took from our current predicament… each time, I am aware I am weaving imaginings that come from somewhere deep inside that I can almost taste.
I share notions of what a Hearth may be, what we would acknowledge of the work that takes place in every Hearth and how, in our worker cooperative, we shall be paying all that do the work of the home, unlike so much of the rest of the capitalistic world. Unless you are richer than most (or quite time poor), if that is the case, then yes, the work does get paid for and someone else does it.
So, here we are with our Hearths built from the work of our coop, we create a “staff quarters” arrangement. All food and lodgings are expensed as part of our business. All laundry and cleaning, cooking and growing, maybe all that caring work; self, children, partners, elders… recognised as part of the expenses of living in this working world that need to be recognised and rewarded effectively. Not just a fluffy pair of slippers on Mother’s Day, or a Bunnings gift card for Father’s Day.
Can we imagine all the work of our lives being valued? We know we can’t keep going on this way where some humans are putting in 9 hours at work, 3 hours of commuting, and then another 4 hours at minimum in all the chores of a home, held often by a single capable adult… that leaves barely 8 hours for sleeping.
So, imagine if you will, a world where your work is just around the corner, not far at all, maybe even just down stairs if we have a big old warehouse that we’ve reclaimed. Your “home” is your large room, maybe an ensuite. There is a big kitchen we all share, lounges and dining spaces all over. Little alcoves as well as a big long space we can all fit. We collaborate on the ways we want to eat, making room for all the different ways to nourish ourselves and each other. Maybe one of us truly loves baking, another a master chef at fermenting.
There are rosters, tools to make sure we all pitch in. Breaking into our work schedules to take a turn in the garden can be grand for the work we are doing, get us some distance, ground in the soil. Maybe we outsource the cleaning? A necessary expense. We explore what it could look like for there to be a joy in our homes that we hold together, not a long list of chores we need to do alone, because if we don’t? Who will? Sharing the loads, of laundry, of dishes. We change the whole agreement when we choose to live together, no longer separated out into these boxes where we ALL have to have a vacuum cleaner we use for 1 hour a week.
Some of our Hearths may have children, some may not. I would hope we have many generations in each Hearth, with our elder care being as respected as our child care, hopefully considered together, for much is gained by both when we hold them at the same table, taking turns in who feeds who and what book can be read next?
Maybe some of our Hearths are 6 houses that have adjoining back yards we tear down and remodel this suburban nightmare to have much more room to build a different world within. Maybe we buy the 6 blocks and build something quite different from the plans that have been drawn up for us to all fall in line with some pretty dodgy agenda’s.
These are all homes we buy together, we earned together. Secure housing being a fairly important part of having enough. That and a clean food supply. Places where we find that balance of having a room of one’s own to be our own person, as well as a bustling home there feels like there is always someone to have a cuppa tea with.
Can you imagine a Hearth?