Cohousing-L Mailing List: Gardens

[R.N. Johnson (cohoranda]

At New Brighton Cohousing, we have a community garden. 3 to 6 of us have been 
on the garden committee that makes the decisions about what to plant and do 
most of the work. We hold “garden parties “ every few weeks and invite 
interested community members who are not part of the regular crew to join in 
the work and the yummy snacks.We have 11 fruit trees, 5 raised beds, as well as 
some area where we grow things that gophers are less enthusiastic about eating. 
The people cooking common dinner have first dibs on anything harvested. A 
couple of times a year the community work party happens in the garden so we get 
extra help. We do our best to set up tasks for different levels of physical 
ability and strength. The younger kids at the cohousing often come in and help 
us on Saturday or Sunday mornings.We have a budget that is part of the greater 
new Brighton cohousing budget, and the garden committee also spends its own 
money at times. Even some of the folk who are really not interested in the 
garden have noticed that it is a great attaction for potential co-housers.Randa 
Johnson