Re: Questions re setting up a garden or orchard as a coop or club | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: Lynn Nadeau / Maraiah (welcomeolympus.net) | |
Date: Sat, 16 Nov 2013 14:29:43 -0800 (PST) |
RoseWind Cohousing, Port Townsend WA (long built). Our gardening is defined by the nature of the plantings. Perennials are fruit trees, berries, rhubarb, asparagus (both stalks...), artichokes, and bees. These "belong" to the whole community and are under the supervision of the Agriculture Committee. Annual budget funds go to things like fertilizer, mulch, and bee-keeping stuff. Plus a few new plants. Individuals or small teams manage subsets of this: bees, trees, berries. Occasionally some stuff gets orphaned and we just take care of it without a designated manager, usually with the labor and direction of our Garden Coop (see below). The orchard team, for example, might send around an email saying (a) the Wagner apples in the hill orchard are ready, tree is marked with blue ribbon, each household can take 8 (b) there aren't a lot of Melrose apples, so they will be brought to Monday dinner for distribution of 1-2 each (c) the other apples aren't ready to pick yet. Annuals are the vegetables, and some flowers. A couple of members have personal patches, where they raise stuff for themselves, at their own expense, within the common gardening areas. Most of the other active households, about 12 households, form a Garden Coop, or club. It's a de facto in-house CSA, with members paying a monthly fee, and most doing garden work as well. Cost is about $40 a month, for a 2-person household. The community Monday-night cooked meal program also has membership in the Garden Coop, so those cooks can harvest from the garden too. In season, the garden might provide a community meal with carrots, beets, onions, garlic, cabbage, kale, salad greens, potatoes, squash and more. In summer, tomatoes, basil, cucumbers, beans. Produce from the annual veggies in the Coop areas goes first to those who are on hand for the twice weekly garden work times (2-3 hour long), then to Coop members (who get an email saying pick beets from bed 28, parsnips from 13, let the cauliflower get bigger still, etc). When there is more than that, it is taken to the Common House foyer with a help-yourself sign. If not taken, often someone will run the rest up to the local Food Bank, which welcomes even small amounts of garden produce. Key to the success (for years now) of our vegetable garden is that we hire a delightful neighbor as our manager: very knowledgeable, and fun to hang out with. This is most of where our monthly membership money goes. She not only directs us in what to do when and where, but does a lot of physical work herself at the same time. Monday mornings and Thursday afternoons typically have from 4-12 people pitching in to help, usually about 8. I still dream of a truly community vegetable garden, funded by the whole community, worked by the Garden Coop which would become a committee. But what we're doing now works, and seems good enough for now. At least via surplus harvest, and via community meals, everyone here can benefit. My response to the original post is that short term projects like annual vegetables and chickens seem more suitable for the "club" approach. If interest or help wanes, they can be let go. Not the same as fruit trees or to some extent bees. Maraiah Lynn Nadeau www.rosewind.org having a lunch salad with fresh-picked spinach, carrot, beet, turnip, lettuces, and calendula petals..... and it's NOVEMBER!
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Re: Questions re setting up a garden or orchard as a coop or club Lynn Nadeau / Maraiah, November 16 2013
- Re: Questions re setting up a garden or orchard as a coop or club KJ, November 16 2013
- Re: Questions re setting up a garden or orchard as a coop or club Fred H Olson, November 21 2013
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