pictures of the farm

Arnoldo, Karen, and Todd check out Companion Farm for the first time-!

february meeting and other updates

Hey y'all.

It's probably a good idea to go ahead and pick a weekend for another
gathering to talk about the farm.

Eric suggested the weekend of Feb. 26th. On the other hand, Feb 19th
is a 3-day weekend, which might work better for folks coming from
farther away? Send the list or me your thoughts and I can try to
synthesize them. You can always call me, too- 202 674 0900

Some ideas I and others have had for early action items for the farm
that we could talk about in February (or leading up to february):

Spring garden planting?
Spring or summer natural building workshop on farm?
Local groups' projects on farm
Synthesis of regional/national networking since Oct. '07
thoughts on project and a 501 (c) - non-profit status.

UPDATES:

1. I've been talking with a bunch of y'all about starting early on
with planting as early as spring, and getting other groups involved.
Arnoldo (community organizer with the virginia justice center) and I
visited an organic herb farm in Harrisonburg, VA to check out their
greenhouses to get ideas for winter crops.

2. A few of us have talked about going ahead and putting up a
structure next year, too- either a shed to keep building materials, or
hosting a natural building workshop that would leave us a structure
after the workshop.

3. Diane and I are working with Francisco to organize a long distance
trip for January to a center we're really interested in. So far, we're
talking about Texas, and visiting Colectivo Flatlander
(colectivoflatlander.org) and a farm run by indigenous women out
there, too. Other ideas for a long distance trips? We're also planing
another regional trip for this month. Not sure where yet- ideas?

4. I'm keeping an excel spreadsheet of any organizations/centers/farms
we have visited or want to. you can send me any information of places
you visit or want to, and i'll keep it organized.

5. Charlottesville-based outreach is going well. Folks around here are
interested already in the Feb. meeting. Catholic workers, community
orgs, local churchfolk, etc.

6. I need to figure out with my dad which 50 acres of the farm is the
best for this project's purposes. if anyone has ideas of how to
determine that, land-wise, please let me know. Right now I'm going by
the access road, the pond, seemingly good farming land?

[The Ivy Project] It's a go on the farm!

Hey everyone.

Quick note before I get to bed-

I met with my dad today to talk about the proposal I'd sent out to the group.  Unnecessary details aside, here's the deal with the land:

It's technically under three owners- dad, my brother, and myself. There's nothing in the way of our doing whatever I want with my 3rd (50 acres). Free and clear. So, we can unofficially, for now, divide off 50 acres and proceed. 

He suggested using the back 50 acres by the creek and woods, because of access to it by the side road. The road we used to park the cars isn't technically our entrance to the farm. We could think about buying up a teeny bit of land around that access road in back to ensure it's always open to us, or looking into the neighbor's road we used to drive into the farm last month. Anyway. Details.


night night

va