At Cotyledon, we strive to practice equitable physical and emotional labor, and consensus-based decision making. Pooling the products of our labor, including monetary income, salvaged food, clothing, and more, helps insulate us from the corrosive and isolating effects of capitalism.
After organizing together since 2015, November of 2017 brought the official beginning of Cotyledon. Based in Astoria, Queens, a borough of New York City, we are currently a small group in a 4 bedroom home with a mid-term plan to grow and move into a larger home, staying close to Western Queens. Considering ourselves organizers, to greater or lesser degrees, we frequently host meetings and social gatherings within our home and the extended communities. We participate both individually and as a group at various urban farms and food justice groups throughout Western Queens. We also enjoy long walks with one another, reading and quiet time at home, venturing into the city for fun events, and creative pursuits in general. We are queer friendly, age diverse, and welcome POC and all genders.
We currently have folks working within the New York City composting system; an organization advocating safe transportation alternatives; and designing and building outdoor spaces. We also support a large community farm nearby and help out occasionally with a urban farm business around the corner. We host monthly events including “Idealist Day” designed to connect people with their passion for social change, as well as a “Communes and Communities” Meetup group. We participate in other events to organize intentional communities in NYC and occasionally consult with people trying to build communities.
Overall, the members of Cotyledon believe fixing our food system is a powerful way of rebuilding community while fostering connections to the Earth, air and water that sustains us. We are collaborating with other groups towards just, local, urban food systems and we intend to create a worker owned co-operative (or three) to support our communards. While our fledgling commune is still assessing opportunities and challenges, our strongest options include: a micro-hauling composting service for commercial clients; an educators co-op focused on ecological education, activist training and healing/sacred arts practice; and a co-op of woman builders focusing on landscape construction.
If you want to know more, get invitations to our public events or possibly visit, start a dialog with us over email. Let us know a bit about you and what about our urban commune interests you?