McKenzie column: Single mom seeks to start group house

Josie Lynn Wrenegade “Jojo” Junebug, a smidge older than 1, wanders with the curiosity of a toddler in a china shop, checking out other children, their toys, clothes and noses.

“When she’s around other families and children, she really thrives,” says Erica Joy Olsen, 34, watching Jojo make impromptu playdates in the kid-friendly section of C’Ville Coffee.

“I think a lot of parenting issues are caused because we are isolated as families and it’s even harder when you’re on your own,” Ms. Olsen says. “If you have others living with you, you can help each other out. That’s how I came up with the idea.”

Ms. Olsen’s idea is getting a passel of parents together in one house and sharing responsibilities. A common kitchen and common area to meet, greet and eat, private rooms for private lives and support for child rearing.

Think of it as an intentional community of parents and progeny or free-form parenting of free-range children.

“I’ve looked into joining other intentional communities, but there aren’t many that accept single-mothers because they don’t have a daycare program,” Ms. Olsen explains. “They’re also set up so that you stay for a certain period of time, then you have to leave for a certain period of time and apply to join. When you have children, you can’t move quickly and easily. We’ve bounced around a lot already.”

If you can’t join their community, Ms. Olsen is thinking, start your own.

“There are other single parents in this situation, some are in the middle of divorces, some have never been married and some just want to make major changes in their lives,” she says. “I think it would be best to start off with a house where we can help each other out and provide support for each other and then, when that’s working, we can move on to the next goal.”

For Ms. Olsen, the next goal is a rural, out of the mainstream, self-sufficient community with gardened groceries, milked goats, honey by bees, home schools, cottage industries and ecologically friendly housing units.

“I have a lot of skills that could come into play,” Ms. Olsen explains. “I’ve learned how to make living quarters out of primitive materials, natural medicines, growing food and live off the grid.”

A Baltimore-native who grew up in a family of strict Jehovah’s Witnesses, Ms. Olsen has spent much of her adult life out of the mainstream, following the winds of chance and change and returning to Central Virginia to recharge.

She’s worked gardens, taught survival courses, learned herbology and lived off the land in mud and debris huts that she built. She was living in Boulder, Colo., when she became pregnant and came back to her home base in Central Virginia.

“I’d go out for two or three years, off to Oregon or North Carolina or wherever, and come back and recharge and then go out again,” she says. “With Jojo, that’s not a lifestyle that I can continue. Having a child has also made me realize how hard it is to live out of the mainstream and still be able to work with the agencies that are set up to help people. The programs are set up to work with people in the mainstream. We had a home birth for Jojo so we don’t have the paperwork a hospital would do and that’s an issue.”

On the other hand, her somewhat nomadic life of freedom trained her well for what’s next in life, she believes.

“I have a lot of skills that we can use to create the community,” she says. “I want to check into it and talk to people who know more than me because I don’t want this to fall on its face. I want it to succeed.”

bmckenzie@dailyprogress.com | 978-7271