A church at the center. Land for the generations.
For most of Christian history, ordinary people lived within walking distance of their church, their food, their work, and their family — including the graves of their grandparents and the homes of their grandchildren. We believe that life is still possible, and that North Idaho is the place to build it. Zadruga — the Serbian word for the traditional multi-generational family homestead — is a plan to gather 150–250 acres of good farmland around a central Orthodox church, and to settle it with families, students, elders, and guests who want to live the Faith together — not as an experiment, but as a village.
What we are building
- A Beautiful Church — A great timber church at the heart of the land — soaring wooden architecture inspired by the great halls of the North, built to last centuries.
- A School — An Orthodox school for the community’s children, and seminary-level courses for adults who want to go deep in the Faith.
- A Young Adult House — Twenty affordable rooms for young men and women in their most formative years — work, prayer, mentorship, and real community.
- A Working Farm — Meat, vegetables, and — in time — orchards and blueberries, grown on large parcels by the people who eat from them.
- Family Homesteads — About eighteen 10-acre parcels for Orthodox families, with flexible zoning for ADUs, multi-generational living, and future subdivision for children.
- A Cemetery — Because a real community keeps its people — in life and in death — close to the church.
Built so your grandchildren can stay
Most communities scatter. Children grow up and move away because land is unaffordable and life is elsewhere. We are designing against that from day one: parcels that can be subdivided down to 2 acres for children and grandchildren, county zoning that allows additional dwellings (including 900 and 1,100 sq ft ADUs), and affordable, harmonious log and timber architecture. The goal is simple to say and rare to achieve: a place where your family can still be worshiping, farming, and burying its dead in a hundred years.
Rooted in a real parish
Zadruga is not a start-up spirituality. The community is forming in association with Holy Apostles Orthodox Church in Sandpoint, Idaho (Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Western America), with the blessing and oversight that any serious Orthodox endeavor requires. The village will begin as an extension of a living parish — its services, its priest, its people.
Forming in association with Holy Apostles Orthodox Church, Sandpoint, Idaho — Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Western America.