Community Gardens

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Dear Friends, ` March 17, 1999

Hello! This letter is the first response to the people who have signed up on the Community Garden sheets that have circulated at the Y2K Forum events in Santa Rosa. Also, some of you have signed up through the Sonoma Y2K web site and e-mail list. This letter is going out on the general e-mail list also.

So far, 47 people have registered, representing around 140 people in their respective households. We've formed a simple data base of the information (as an Excel spreadsheet), to help organize things.

We also want to let you know there is a task force that has volunteered to create a program for sponsoring community gardens and gardeners to qualify with Santa Rosa or other towns for help finding land, liability insurance, help through parks and rec, compost allocations, water, helping prepare land for planting, etc. This way each garden can determine what their most pressing needs are and request that kind of support.

The plan for this is just being drawn up. Healdsburg has already given their general endorsement to such projects (no support, yet). Building a seed bank of organic open pollinated seeds is also being discussed.

However, these plans aside, which may take awhile, Spring is around the corner, and It's time to find out where we can start gardening right now, and who is interested.

So, if you or someone you know has a specific plot of land to garden, and wants to form a cooperative team to do the gardening, let me know. Call, write or e-mail with information on location, availability of water, and how many people you feel the project can support.

To further energize this, we've arranged for a general meeting of the task force for Community Gardens on April 7th, at the Agricultural building in the county administration complex (355 Fiscal Drive). You're all invited to come! We'll endeavor to spell out the whole plan for you, and hopefully identify some immediate gardening sites, populate them with gardeners and start to put spade to soil.

We will draw people from the list who live closest to those who respond with gardening space, and put you in touch with one another. We also hope to have experienced gardeners available to educate and guide you as needed. We have a rototiller, gassed up and ready to till soil when it's dry. We also have access to simple icosahedron dome greenhouses (12 ft. across, which can be covered with clear plastic, or glazing), and know where we can buy top quality organic seeds in bulk, or individual seed packs.

We're suggesting a couple of simple formats to work together cooperatively:

1. Pool labor and resources such as tools, seeds, money, etc., and use a shift schedule to get the work done on a regular basis. Keep track of hours spent by each person (on an honor basis, each person keeps track of their own time spent), and divide up the harvest on a share basis. For instance, 50 hours out of 500 would net 10% of the food. The harvest might also be allocated according to need, being determined by the group as a whole through consensus.

2. Parcel out small pieces of a larger garden to individuals, families or whoever, and let them do what they wish within guidelines set by the group or administrator(s) (as you wish).

In either case, use a format of contributing a fixed amount of money each month, enough to pay bills and buy any common needs.

Each project will be unique, and these are only suggestions. The task force will come up with more detailed ideas, which we'll present to you on April 7th.

We look forward to hearing from you, and seeing you on April 7th. (If you can respond by e-mail please do so.)

In service,

Joseph Antaree jantaree@sonic.net 544-0468 229 Benton St., Santa Rosa, CA 95401

-- Joseph Antaree (jantaree@sonic.net), March 17, 1999


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