Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Community Garden Structure

[Lynn Nadeau / Maraiah (welcome]

RoseWind Cohousing, long-built in Port Townsend WA

Perennials: fruit trees -- apple, pear, plum---, raspberries, strawberries, 
rhubarb, artichokes, produce is for everyone. Orchards are maintained by a 
group of interested members. Maintenance of perennials is covered in the annual 
assessment budget.

Annuals: vegetable garden is run like an in-house CSA. Funded by monthly fee, 
most of which goes to paying our garden manager, a beloved neighbor with a lot 
of expertise. She directs the volunteers at our twice weekly garden work times, 
does lots of physical work, keeps track of the timing of plantings and 
harvestings.
Some crops come in all at once-- onions, garlic, winter squash-- and are 
distributed to participants proportionally; others are harvested as needed 
(greens, tomatoes, carrots, beets, cucumbers, peppers, green beans, basil, 
summer squash, etc). A list goes out each week, of what's ready to pick. Two 
shares of garden membership are paid by the assessment budget and allow cooks 
for community meals to harvest as needed. When there is surplus produce, it is 
offered to RoseWind members who are not garden-club participants, and then to 
the local food bank.

Several members also plant sunflowers, and dahlias, to brighten things up and 
provide flowers for bouquets.

A few members choose to tend personal patches in addition to, or instead of, 
the group project. Use of community garden space for this is applied for 
annually.

Our Grounds Committee takes care of equipment, fencing, landscape maintenance.

About 14 of our 23 households participate in the garden "club". With covid 
shut-down of most of our gatherings, the garden times are very well attended-- 
22 volunteers at a recent work time-- as people enjoy being able to socialize 
outdoors, distanced, and masked if near others. Last week children had a good 
time digging up potatoes-- a sort of treasure hunt!

Maraiah Lynn Nadeau
www.rosewind.org