I am now an elder — with the good and the bad that go along with that. Thoughts of changing my mode of living have been lurking for some time. With the horrid winter of 2014, the lurking grew urgent: I am no longer able or willing to continue living alone on my property, I thought. Nor do I want someone to move in with me. Nor am I willing to burden any of my loving family.

So I set about to explore what other options are available out there these days for elders like me.

After much research, I found nothing even close to where I would want to consider spending the last decade or two of my life. Snowbound, I got myself into full gear, imagining how I would love to live for the rest of my life. It’s been a lot of fun (among the admitted bouts of fear and logjams).

And along the way I began to develop a list of what I see as the basics for the kind of thriving elder community where I would like to live.

To begin with, I want to live alone, although with good company in a close-knit community. In my vision, each elder would each have his or her own private cottage, not too small. There might be 20 or so cozy cottages, surrounded by lush gardens and edible landscaping. Each elder will be free to retreat to her own cottage, at any time for any length of time, and meals would be delivered upon request.

There would be three larger adjacent community buildings with the most marvelous facilities we can imagine, for all residents to share. The facilities would include a fitness center with a warm swimming pool and even warmer jacuzzi, deep bathtubs doubling as massage tables, and hammocks and lounge chairs. Fitness machines would be hooked into generators to produce electricity as we work out. There would be a spacious art center for singing, dancing, yoga, theatre, music, movies and art exhibits. A comfy open great room would be equipped with a big open kitchen, long dining tables, cozy living room with good e-tech and media equipment, and card tables for puzzles and games. Solar warmth and light would stream in through vibrant indoor gardens, producing clean, fresh air and food. Two delicious, nutritious buffet meals would be served daily in accordance with the tastes, wishes and needs of the residents.

Much of the food, including eggs, chicken, turkey and pork, would be produced year-round right on the on-site organic farm, with energy self-sufficient greenhouses. All the staff would live on site, each in their own apartment or cottage. Elders could choose to cook or garden as much as they want — or not at all. There would be wide, smooth walkways meandering everywhere for rolling or strolling among beds of fragrant flowers, fruit trees, berry bushes, grapevines — edible landscaping everywhere.

Elders would pay no up-front entry fee; instead, they would pay a monthly fee, which will be kept below today’s norm for similar facilities and service. Services would include 24-hour caregiving, but not specialized medical care.

Everything would operate with solar and other green energy resources, including electricity, transportation, heating, food production, wastewater management — using near-zero fossil fuels, and causing near-zero CO2, nitrogen or other harm to our water, soil, air or atmosphere.

Maintaining lower-than-average monthly fees will be possible because of low energy costs and on-site food production, as well as all staff having their own apartments on site.

How can such dreaming become reality, you may ask.

A property is now on the market that I believe would be perfectly suited for this proposal. It is in West Tisbury on 12.5 acres, with a beautiful old Greek Revival five-bedroom house and a new Title 5 septic system. Nearly half the land is open fertile flat farmland — a great location for 20 cottages, three community buildings and a half-acre-acre year-round farm. In short, perfect for this elder community of our dreams.

The asking price is $1.7 million. I am actively seeking investors to help buy the property for this purpose.

If this idea rings a bell with any readers, or you have more ideas, please get in touch with me, at 508-693-3341, 774-563-0898 (by text) or email me at solviva@vineyard.net.

Anna Edey owns Solviva Farm in West Tisbury, where she began one of the earliest experiments in sustainable living and farming on the Vineyard more than 30 years ago.