Cohousing-L Mailing List: a gardening and produce-handling question

[CYNTHIA DETTMAN (cyndettman]

Sometimes our land and gardens here at Columbia Ecovillage in Portland Oregon 
offer more fruit and vegetables than we can handle, and we don't always have a 
clear, coordinated system for harvest, consumption, storage and preservation or 
donation.  We have almost 4 acres of land heavily planted with fruit and a 
large community vegetable garden as well.  Summer is a busy time and folks are 
often traveling, rather than staying home to harvest, cook and preserve.  As a 
result,  food sometimes rots and has to be composted.  What systems are other 
folks using to plan, harvest, preserve and handle produce so that nutrition is 
maximized and waste minimized?  What job descriptions do you use for folks who 
coordinate these systems?  If meals and gardens are under different teams or 
leadership, how do they coordinate efforts?    If you have made decisions to 
limit or remove plants or trees as a result of over-abundance of produce, how 
did you do that?  Do cooks attempt to "order" specific quantities and types of 
vegetables for community consumption (I'm looking for ideas right now from our 
university extension service on how to do that)?  What have you learned about 
what works and doesn't work in general related to community produce and meals?

Cynthia Dettman, Meals Leader503 754 0972