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

[Joel Bartlett (altairecovillage]

Fred,

We've had a tremendous response to our question about Community Gardens, to
such an extent that it might make a good "series" of Zoom sessions, with
different communities presenting their different solutions.  No less than
four communities offered to Zoom with us - and two folks requested being
included in the information exchange.  We'll see if we have the band width
to pull this together, or we might just "publish" all the responses in one
document (I've already done this, and it's up to page 8 with ten
communities' inputs).  Thanks so much for this service!

Yours, Joel
Altair EcoVillage

On Fri, Jan 26, 2024 at 8:42 AM Fred-List manager <fholson [at] cohousing.org>
wrote:

> 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
> >     >
> >
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