Projects
Money Orchard Apple Harvest
Seasonal Garden Tours
Growing Olive Trees
Bulk Buying
Saturna's Saturday market
Fruit Tree Mapping
Projects
Click on a project title in the box at right to read about projects underway or completed.
Of course, there's no lack of ideas for new projects. All we need are a few keen people to get the some of the projects below rolling.
Some proposed projects . . .
Accessing organic product
Book list for library
Dinners (herring night, root vegetables)
Farm visits
Film nights
Mushroom identification hikes
Seed and plant swap
Selling local produce
Slow Food night
Who's growing what?
Selling local produce
Thanks to new Saturna resident Beverly Vreeswijk (recently of Thetis), who shared this idea for the selling local produce:
"One thing we did on Thetis that was simple and successful was a market for surplus grown-on-Thetis produce from mid-September to mid-October. Here's how it worked:
I manned the market one day a week from dawn to dusk and growers and buyers came by at all times of the day to drop off their produce and to buy produce. The money went either to the grower or to an island organization that the grower designated. The prices were probably too low, but very little did not get sold, and a lot of money was made for local non-profits, but the best result was that all that fresh, locally grown produce found homes with people who were very happy to have it. After the first week I had offers of people to spell me off so I could go home for a snack or a rest, and this helped, but I really enjoyed the whole process. I can surely understand why a grower with 10 lbs. of beets and 5 lbs. of apples doesn't want to spend the day or even a few hours manning a stall, yet I think having the market open all day was one of the necessary aspects of its success. Having one person willing to put in the time is what made it possible to get participation from all growers - even those who had no intention of selling produce when they planted their gardens, and didn't have much surplus. Another big plus was having use of the outdoor kitchen at our community hall. This is a very central location - right next to the school where parents are dropping off and picking up their kids, and on the grounds of the hall where people are coming for exercise groups, bridge, meetings and kids' play group. I chose Wednesdays because that is a day that the hall is in use from early morning until evening. I also offered to spend Tuesdays (the day before the market) helping with any harvesting tasks, and that got the participation of some who wouldn't have otherwise bothered."
Who’s growing what?
Please tell us what you're growing successfully in your garden. Have you any tips to share? Any questions someone out there might be able to answer for you?(To contact everyone using the 31 Square network, subscribe to the email list [go to the home page], then send your message to 31square@31square.com.)