The long New England winter has finally come to an end, mud season has arrived and the Khandroling Coop is beginning a new season.Our first order of business is to finish the greenhouse so we can get the veggie seeds an early start, followed by working the community garden plot, spreading manure, lime, and other exotic amendments supplied by Nari Mitchell.We have 3 new projects that will be starting this year:
Wild Blueberries, A small test plot on upper Khandroling, these are a small native berry highly prid for their flavor and anti-oxidant properties.
Raspberries, we plan on preparing a section of field to accept around 200 plants these will become part of the pick your own enterprise for future income for the Gar
Hops, we have found 1 hops vine growing wild in the old pasture, we assume it was planted during prohibition time to make home brew, to this we have added root stocks of 5 different varieties. Our very own brew meister Sean is heading up this project. Our objective is to supply local produce to small craft brewers in the area.
The intention of the Coop is to have a small organic farm producing very high value produce, which helps sustain the Gar financially. At present, the Coop has been self-financed with each member putting in their own money towards a given project. We have a long wish list of items we need to purchase, such as irrigation supplies, more berry plants, 20ft poles for the hop vines,ect ect. I wish I could say that if you give us a dollar that we will turn it into 2 dollars in 3 years, who knows, but what we can say is that if you give us a dollar it will go into buying another berry plant or some fertilizer, or something directly related to the sustainability of Khandroling into the future.For further information and updates about The Khandroling Coop visit their webstie www.khandrolingcoop.com
By Yuchen Namkhai and the Coop team
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