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?
2 comments:
updates part II:
Hey all. Here are a few things that have come up after a dc meeting and a trip to the farm with cville folks.
February Meeting - We'll be meeting in Charlottesville February 15-17, 2008. Email Chris at cdadok@umich.edu for any funding requests. Please let him know how much your ticket is, how much you're able to pay, and how much you need him to pay.
We'll have a good local charlottesville contingent, so it should be an exciting weekend!
Suggestions that have come up so far for the weekend include:
1.establishing a board of advisors for the project and any other defined roles in the project
2. getting a good update on where the farm is at, farming-wise, and where it'll go with the Quality Community Council.
Farming Update: I took Karen and Todd from the QCC and Arnoldo from the Virginia Justice Center out to the farm to check it out and start outlining where me might plot the first beds. We decided on the front section, as it has the most ideal conditions (slight SW slope). We're moving forward with preparing the land as soon as possible, and planting cover crops as well. Once it's warmer, it'd be a good idea to put some simple structures up to store tools and possibly be a place to stay temporarily for any farming enthusiasts. Eric has suggested putting up a compost toilet, too.
Update from ad hoc DC meeting: Diane, Pedro, Adrian, and I met up in DC Thursday night. briefly, we talked about:
- funding from responsible wealth circuit. Adrian is going to try to tap some folks in seattle next weekend (including bill gates sr.)
-not using too much funding upfront if we hit a goldmine early, but use it as projects arise organically.
-diane is going to change the listserv function, because u need a gmail account to get emails. We should still use the blog to store and organize information, etc. Some of you might get double emails until diane fixes us up, as i'll be posting these kinds of emails to the blog for record.
-building community-based solidarity with sister communities in areas that are fighting empire (s. america?)
-eric is researching land trust issues.
- amanda is researching organizational structures and decision making processes.
- i'm getting more nitty gritty info on the farm and outlining our 50 acres
-diane and I might be going to minneapolis in february for the nat'l pop ed conference- any one else interested? feb 3-8 minnesota pop ed week.
So, send me any suggestions for the february meeting's agenda as they arise. I'll be posting some more pictures of the farm on the blog. (projectivy.blogspot.com )
miss ya.
-Virginia
202 674 0900
Dear all,
Below are DC meeting note additions and some important details:
Some of the discussions about the change of date had to do with the time
that would be needed to start planning for the farming use of the land and
to give the meeting enough time to let the farming component of the project
have enough time to get started if everything is in agreement at the
meeting.
The idea is to be able to sit down with the folks from the QCC and all other
active members of the collective to figure what the role of QCC is to be in
the project. The general vibe at the meeting was that we all wanted them (or
the group that would be doing the farming initiative) to be members of the
project as full political partners in the mission of the whole project, not
just land leasers or homesteaders (for lack of a better word)...We felt this
is a very important discussion best had in person between us all when we all
meet to decide where we go form here with this and our other relationships.
We talked of the regional, national and even international solidarity aspect
that some of us envision for the farm aspect. Farm to Farm sister city
projects with Latin American autonomous community farms etc... Something to
discuss with QCC.
We discussed existing access to farming equipment including a hay bail maker
thingy already on the land and a tractor...we could lease or borrow these.
Unclear, but a good thing either way. Hay bails could be a great resource
for building our first structures! Free!!!
We talked about funds...Important to not raise funds without
intentionality...a concern we all agreed with. Also the importance of being
as pro-active as possible so funding wont hold us back or undermine the
timely progress of the project. Threw around the idea of finding some good
individual donors ( a la Responsible Wealth) to avoid foundation world
headaches...also develop relationships with folks like Habitat for Humanity
to have them send us their non-used materials, etc.
We talked about the need to be aware of then need to have something more
than just primitive housing structures that keep the elderly, physically
challenged, and young children in mind as we envision this.
We talked about continuing to explore the options for a land trust type of
structure in order to facilitate a sense of collective ownership. Virginia
talked a bout the whole 50 acres she owns as part of it. Suggestions were
made that it might not need to be all 50 acres but maybe just the ones that
would be in direct use.
(I think) We talked about a more clear definition of the core group so we
can better define our decision making processes, or something like it...
Virginia and Diane bought yummy papusas and beer...
I have some updates from a meeting with Larry Yates, from VOP now, but also
with a 40 year old activist history with VA intentional communities,
communities in resistance, organizers, and rebel rousers of all sorts.
Notes coming up soon.
Solidaridad,
adrian
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