Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Farming in community

[Rich Wilber (richwilber]

Emilie,

I love the idea of combining art with farming! My wife and I recently went on a 
trip to Cuba on a farm tour organized by Food First. One of the farms was La 
Coincidencia, where they also believed art should be an integral part of the 
farm. There were sculptures scattered throughout the farm, a ceramic workshop, 
and art workshops for people of all ages. We were also served a farm to table 
lunch, with every bit of the food coming from the farm.

You can see some pictures here (not mine, this was from a different group): 
https://www.uky.edu/Ag/Horticulture/Geneve/HortClub/Coincidencia%20farm.pdf

Question: The CSA fee covers all expenses of farming? I'm assuming this means 
any seeds, soil amendments, etc. What about infrastructure, tools, fencing, 
farm equipment? I'm assuming, perhaps incorrectly, that this isn't covered in 
the CSA fee. Is the plan to have the HOA purchase all of this? Would this be 
covered by a special fee?

This is one of the questions we are grappling with, how to handle the financial 
aspects of the farm. Leasing to a farm entity would remove the financial burden 
on the residents, and part of the lease can be paid in vegetables. On the other 
hand, having the farm managed by the residents would give everyone more of a 
stake in its success and make it more of an integral part of the community. 
There are legal aspects to be considered as well. This is why we were curious 
how other communities with farms set up the relationship between the farm and 
the community.

Rich Wilber
Rocky Corner Cohousing

> Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2019 07:35:04 -0700
> From: Emilie Parker <emilie.v.parker [at] gmail.com>
> 
> 
> Our plan is for HOA to own land and each member pay a monthly CSA fee
> covering all expenses of farming.  We have space in our common house for a
> farm intern to live.  The farm management, planning and purchasing will be
> done by our CSA committee.  Every member of the community will get a box of
> food weekly.  We have a local small-farm organic *farmer* as our
> consultant.  His business model is farm stand and CSA (Community Supported
> Agriculture).  We have 2 acres for farming and are building a barn to house
> farming greenhouse, storage, and root cellar, wood/metal workshops and art
> workshops.  We expect to break ground soon.
> Bohn Farm Cohousing Community of Art and Farming
> Longmont, Colorado
> www.bfcc.name
> -----------------
> Emilie Parker
> emilie.v.parker [at] gmail.com
> 240-350-8533 cell
> 
> 
> *Art is the funnel through which spirit is poured into life.*
> 
> *Joseph Campbell*