Re: Questions re setting up a garden or orchard as a co-op or club
From: Sharon Villines (sharonsharonvillines.com)
Date: Wed, 6 Nov 2013 14:31:25 -0800 (PST)
On Nov 6, 2013, at 2:07 PM, John Beutler <jabeutler [at] comcast.net> wrote:

> Our orchard was less explicitly organized, with some trees funded by the 
> community and some bought by individuals. We have had poor production of 
> fruit and difficulty keeping pests and fungi down.

Some of our residents have wanted fruit trees but when they investigated, they 
found that they needed spacing of 25 feet in order to produce. I know apple 
orchards don't plant trees that far apart but they also prune much more 
aggressively than most people would. So we couldn't plant them because we don't 
have that much space.

BUT we had a volunteer squash plant that one gardener wanted to take out 
because it was outside the growing bed. Another said let's see what happens. It 
grew and grew and grew, like Jack's beanstalk only horizontally. 

It produced 16 huge squash. Butternut squashes at least 18" long, measured 
curled over, and very round. Sixteen!

The gardeners put them on the counter in the CH and asked people to cook them 
for a community dinner. We had one of the best dinners we've had in 13 years. 
People dug out recipes from everywhere and did a fabulous job. The meal was not 
boring at all. Two soups -- one arriving half way through the meal -- salads, 
steamed with other vegetables, candied, "pumpkin" pies, pumpkin cheesecake. 
Fabulous stuff. Amazing casseroles.

One wonderful casserole with corn and cream was huge. I said, Eleanor, that's a 
huge casserole. She said well they gave me this huge squash. What could I do? I 
had to cook it and it came out like this. I'm sorry if we can't eat it all.

It was wonderful and it was gone before the second soup arrived.

Sharon
----
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org





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