Hayfork Cooperative

“Inhabiting the Hayfork Valley Area Cooperatively”

Hayfork Cooperative was established in February 2012 to cover essential aspects of inhabiting the Hayfork Valley and surrounding areas. This was done in the spirit of cooperating with one another, sharing our skills, knowledge, wisdom and caring so that we as individuals and community may flourish. Hayfork Cooperative welcomes all who want to help Hayfork and its inhabitants to truly flourish in a sustainable, restorative, and cooperative way. This is our purpose. We encourage you to share your knowledge and skills for the betterment of us all.

We meet monthly on the third Tuesday at 7 pm at Northern Delights
Coffeehouse on Main Street in Hayfork to offer different presentations by local people and occasionally, guests. Achieving and maintaining better health was our first topic with presentations by local practitioners of allopathic, herbal, and chiropractic medicine as well as yoga, Reike and massage. Our recognition of wholesome food as central to vibrant health was the focus of other presentations on starting and protecting crop plants; identifying and using wild edible and medicinal plants and mushrooms; fermenting food for storage and health; promoting organic gardening; and opposing the genetic engineering of agriculture. In hand with this is caring for the land with presentations on the biology of healthy garden soils, erosion control, landscape beautification, and documentaries on some marvelous results of large scale community ecosystem restoration efforts. Water issues affecting us were also addressed. Two older members inspired us with photos of their 500-mile pilgrimage over a beautiful foreign landscape and included the equipment they used. Other community members taught about solar cooking, beer brewing and alternative energy technologies. To see some details about these presentations go to Events then click on Past Events.

We are not organized on the corporate model, but instead we gather in the spirit of mutual cooperation and encouragement, of sharing our skills, and knowledge. Anyone may attend a meeting and participate. There are no memberships or dues. A mailing list of cooperators is maintained for the purpose of informing one another about activities of the Hayfork Cooperative and for coordination among us.

When a decision needs to be made those participating in a particular action/event being prepared for or a direction being taken make it. Decisions will be made by consensus. When an impasse is encountered a vote will be taken and the direction forward will be determined by what 2/3rds or more of the voters concur on.

In honor of Democracy in America and the laws of the people, we will only engage in activities that are legal. This can include working legally to change an existing law, or to establish a new law, as we have already done in Trinity County.

If our community is faced with a substantial threat we take action in light of the Precautionary Principle; that is, we do not wait for calamitous outcomes before acting but instead search to find and apply solutions early on. This wise approach was established in Trinity County when we were faced with massive forestry herbicide spraying and genetically engineered agriculture, as well as other problems.

So our central objective is to develop helpful attitudes and cooperative relationships in our community through the sharing and appreciation of important knowledge and skills we individuals have.

You are welcome to join us in this effort.