Fields of red and gold flowers form walls that open up to green, rolling hills stretching for 151 acres. A pond reflects the sun setting on land with no violence, no guns, no drugs and no men.
The Susan B. Anthony Memorial UnRest Home Womyn’s Land Trust, or SuBAMUH, is an all-women’s intentional community located 10 miles northeast of Ohio University.
The women residents have chosen to share the land, said Jan Griesinger, co-founder.
“It’s especially (important) for lesbians who don’t always feel safe in couples of women,” Griesinger said.
Griesinger bought the land at an auction in 1979 with her partner, Mary Morgan, and established SuBAMUH with three main purposes: to provide a safe and economical space for women to live for a short time or permanently, to provide feminist education programs and to create a safe rest and recreation space for “fatigued feminist freedom fighters,” she said.
There are seven women living at SuBAMUH, including two permanent residents, three renters and two members who are interested in committing to live there. No men allowed
The only men that are allowed on the land are maintenance men and family members for brief stays. Most of the women living on the land are lesbians, and land is not rented to women with boyfriends who visit frequently.
Two of the women of SuBAMUH have a three-year-old boy. When he turns six, he is no longer allowed on the land.
These women-only spaces are throughout the country and around the world. There are at least 87 of so-called “lesbian lands” in the United States alone. Three exist in Ohio, including SuBAMUH, according to the Association of Lesbian Intentional Communities Web site, www.alicinfo.org.
Women’s only space is created every time women spend time together without men, although it might be temporary, said The Rev. KC DaiKai WarEagle, an ordained Soto Zen priest, and one-year resident of SuBAMUH.
“What (SuBAMUH) is, is an extension of that,” WarEagle said. “It’s not to be separatist. It’s just to give you time to reflect, a time to be on your own, a time to be able to relax, and then you come back into society.”This land is our land
SuBAMUH is a land trust, meaning the land will not be divided, sold or mortgaged, Griesinger said. While women can live on the land, they do not own it. But they own the equity on the dwelling they build.
SuBAMUH is governed by a board of nine women, only three of which reside on the land, Griesinger said.
All women living on the land are required to do 8 to 10 hours of work per month, from maintaining trails and buildings to greeting guests. Women must live at SuBAMUH for one year before they can become permanent residents. Permanent residents must pay a $3000 development fee that can be paid in installments of $50.
The women share commodities like a washer and dryer and long distance telephone service to keep costs of living down.
Most of SuBAMUH’s funding comes from program and rental fees, as well as donations from individual members — women who do not live at SuBAMUH but make financial contributions.
Women can visit SuBAMUH to hike on the trails or swim in the pond for $4 a day. They can also camp there for $7 to $12 per night. Renting space on the land is $60 a month.Learning from each other
When Jordan Vincent interned at SuBAMUH for her Women and Work class last spring, she expected to be doing office work. Instead she did a variety of different tasks, from mowing grass and gardening to cutting down trees with an axe.
“My favorite part was learning how to use a chain saw. Learning skills that most women don’t know is very empowering,” Vincent said, a fourth-year political science major at OU.
As part of its feminist education mission, SuBAMUH offers programs about topics such as self-defense, practical skills, carpentry and intergenerational dialog.
This summer, WarEagle taught a five-day class on Buddhism. She said that women teaching other women is encouraging.
“As women there’s a lot of things we’re told we can’t do,” she said. “Your generation is a lot better off than my generation. My generation women couldn’t even open the hood of a car.”
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