>One thing: how do you balance out the money for food? What happens if there’s a surplus or deficit at the end of a month?

I’ve got absolutely no idea! I know that the system that has been in place since the farm was bought by the community members two years ago does work but only know the scantest details. Presume one can’t decided to shop for caviar and champers for 20 hungry people and then claim the money back. I’m helping to put together a handbook for the whole place so I’ll need to know more for that.

>Also, you hint that you might like to get a work schedule in place. How might that work?

I’m a keen observer of what is and isn’t in place at the moment and the good people who live here have been trying to work out the best way of running the place since they got here. Systems and ways of doing things are emerging but as yet there isn’t a mutually agreed vision/mission statement for the place so there is a big difference in opinion on what is needed to be done and how urgently things need to be done.

One idea I am involved in is getting the huge vegetable patch (actually 12 largish plots) from being directed by one overstretched person to being farmed/gardened by many indivduals. We’re thinking that a 8-12 year rotaion iwould be adhered to and then someone is either the guardian of a *plot* (so this year I do carrots, next I will have to do onions as that’s what the rotation tells me I need to plant after carrots etc) or because I particularly LOVE growing brassicas I follow the brassicas round whichever plot they may be in…

One thing: how do you balance out the money for food? What happens if there’s a surplus or deficit at the end of a month?

Also, you hint that you might like to get a work schedule in place. How might that work?