Davis Neighbors Tear Down Their Fences to Build Extended Family

Robert Frost wrote “good fences make good neighbors,” but some neighbors in this agricultural university town beg to differ.

They took out their saws and crowbars the other day and, board by board, tore down the 60 or so feet of fence they saw as not only separating their four homes but also blocking out fellowship, fun and neighborly assistance.

“This is anathema to the guy who wants to define his territoriality,” Larry Fisher said as he helped his friends tear down their fences.

But, said Kevin Wolf, who owns one of the homes, “This allows for the modern-day convenience of privacy along with the need for an extended family.”

The neighbors plan to recycle the fence wood to build a chicken coop for the four households to share.

The common back yard already has a garden full of strawberries, raspberries, chard, miner’s lettuce, fruit trees, cilantro, parsley and garlic.

The rest of the yard is a giant playground to the three preschoolers living there and a spot to relax and socialize for the 14 adults. Two are married and “thirtysomething.” The rest are single and mostly in their 20s or 30s.

The four households--made up of both homeowners and renters--share a washing machine, a computer, a large bike rack and baby-sitting responsibilities. Eventually they want to buy a home together and make it a “common house” for the tiny community.

The common house--an idea taken from the newly published book “Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves,” by Kathryn McCamant and Charles Durrett of Berkeley--would serve as a place where the neighbors could share community dinners, baby-sitting or sociability when they don’t have a desire for privacy.

‘From the ‘60s’

“It’s a thing from the ‘60s, but it’s not a commune. We all still have our individual house,” Wolf says of the current arrangement. He and his wife, Linda Cloud, dreamed up the idea of sharing back yards in the community that is also home to UC Davis, about 15 miles west of Sacramento.

They bought their former neighbors’ home and rented out the one where they had been living to some friends. It has served as a cooperative household for 10 years, having been mainly occupied by university students who have sought companionship in addition to a rented room.

Jennifer Fury, who used to live in Wolf’s house, now lives in Oakland. But she said she misses the cooperative household she left behind. “I have roommates but it’s a real problem finding people who consider it more than just a stopping place.”

Cloud said that lack of privacy has never been a problem for her and her husband. They and their 7-month-old daughter live with two other adults.

“The main thing is just to have open communication,” she said. “You have to tell people that wanting to be alone is OK. They don’t have to feel gregarious all the time. You have to tell people when something’s bothering you.”

‘Have to Agree’

“The biggest thing with cooperative households,” Wolf said, “is that you have to agree to everything before you move in.”

He and his neighbors, for instance, have agreed that their life styles will be good for the environment. This was particularly important to Wolf and Cloud. Both work at Friends of the River, a Sacramento-based environmental group.

The four households recycle most of their waste. They use their orange rinds, coffee grounds, banana peels and egg shells to make compost to fertilize their garden. They don’t waste water. And, they take the wood that their carpenter and gardener friends are about to toss out and use it in their wood stoves to heat their homes, rarely using any electricity.