Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: [mvcoho-ls] Fwd: Cohousing-L re community gardens

[Fred-List manager (fholson]

Jenny Bixby <jennybixby [at] sbcglobal.net>
is the author of the message below.  It was posted by Fred of
the Cohousing-L management team <cohousing-l-owner [at] cohousing.org>
due to a format issue (html only which the list does not accept).

--------------------  FORWARDED MESSAGE FOLLOWS --------------------
Hi, Joel. I'm writing from Mountain View Cohousing Community in
Mountain View, California. The community started in 2015, and my
husband and I joined in 2018. So, I don?;5A?t know all of the early
history, but I can get answers to specific questions. I'd be happy
to join a zoom call, but here are a few specifics.

We are a 19-unit community in an urbanish area, and most of us are 60+
years old. The gardens and orchards are an important focal point of
our community, so these were very carefully designed, as well as
plantings all around the community. We have 16 raised beds, ranging in
size from 33" x 8' to 41" X 12 feet, arranged in a 4 x 4 grid.
Three of the beds are for private use, at no charge. We also have
about 25 fruit trees on the property.

The other 13 beds are used to raise produce for the community meals
and community members. We have a team of 7 people who meet once or
twice a month to plan what we are doing. We also have others who help
with specific tasks, such as planting and caring for seedlings and
turning the compost. We have a budget from the community for buying
plants and supplies. We manage spending and try to stay within the
budget. We also have a gardener who comes once a month to do work that
is heavier that we don't get to.

We pick produce for our twice-weekly common meals, as requested by the
cooks. Other produce we pick and put in the common house for anyone to
take. We find that most people don't pick the produce, and some
produce we need to pick when ready (for example, broccoli). We find
that people use the produce more readily if we pick it, but for the
most part people are welcome to harvest anything that we've
designated as ready to harvest.

We have a shed for tools, other storage areas in the garage, at least
6 compost bins, and one Master Gardener. We have a lot of fun as a
team, each of us mostly doing the tasks that we enjoy. Our produce is
much appreciated by the community!

I'm happy to answer any specific questions, and would be happy to do
a zoom call.

Jenny Bixby

Sent from my iPad

>     Begin forwarded message:
>
>     > Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2024 10:33:06 -0500
>     > From: Joel Bartlett <altairecovillage [at] gmail.com>
>     > To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
>     > Cc: Maryanne Stubbs <mjstubbs00 [at] hotmail.com>
>     > Subject: [C-L]_ Community Gardens
>     > Message-ID:
>     >    <CAEL1oedJzqpyV=KnouPshgq=xKcFmbZJNNx-iTKwyhVp1E9TEQ [at] 
> mail.gmail.com>
>     > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>     >
>     > Dear Friends,
>     >
>     > We at Altair are looking at the different aspects of Cohousing Community
>     > Gardens. We are interested in connecting with you regarding your garden 
> and
>     > how you got started. Some questions are: What were your parameters and
>     > starting questions? Are you able to accommodate all interested 
> gardeners?
>     > Do you have individual plots for each gardener or do residents work
>     > together on a common plot? Raised beds or in ground plots? How do you go
>     > about maintenance? Would you be interested in a phone or Zoom call to 
> help
>     > us further?
>     >
>     > Yours, Joel
>     > www.altairecovillage.org
>     > 610-220-6172
>     >
>