Germantown Community Farm

2010-05-04T10:59:00.000-07:00

Feed the Radio Benefit Party May 15th
Hello friends!
Here it is once more...the burst of spring has got us strapping on our dancing shoes, clearing out the barn, and cooking up a storm for the big old spring hoedown we're calling the "Feed the Radio Benefit Party".
Please join us from 3pm on for an afternoon of activities, workshops, and radio fun!
Stay for a delicious dinner and silent auction, followed by an evening of lovely live music and a DJ dance party
This we are hosting the joint benefit for WGXC, our new local community radio station (getting so close to being on the air!), and to sponsor low income shares for Fog and Thistle CSA (formerly known as Germantown Community Farm CSA) Come have a great time and help us deliver homegrown radio and food to our community!
Suggested donation is $10-$25

Camping in the orchard is welcome. Bring tents, bedding, flashlights. Accomodations in the house and barn are limited; let us know if you need them.
Children are certainly welcome.
We will need volunteers to help before, during and after the event. We are also looking for silent auction items (examples: artwork, plants, childcare or gardening hours, furniture, building materials, instruments, gift baskets, kayaks, tools, jewelry, massages, bike repair, tatoos, etc. Be creative!).

If you can't make it, but still want to support the cause, donations are welcome. Just get in touch!

For more info check out www.wgxc.org
www.fogandthistlefarm.com
or email Kaya at kaya@wgxc.org

The farm is located at 4872 State Rt 9G, Germantown NY
Our phone number is 518-537-6139

DETOUR DETOUR DETOUR
By the way, there is now a wicked DETOUR to take to get to the farm if you are coming from the north. The bridge on 9G, just north of our house is completely shut down. it now takes an extra 6 or 7 minutes to get here. To get the farm follow these simple directions:
At road closed signs, take left onto county rt. 10. Take your first right onto Wire Rd. At stop sign, take right onto Dales Bridge Rd. At T, take right onto Hover Ave. At end, right on 9G. We're a couple houses in on the right. Please park across the street at the trucking garage. There will be parking attendants to assist you, but keep an eye out for the signs.

CSA Shares available for 2010

2010-04-20T06:33:00.000-07:00

The Vegetable CSA has a new name:
Fog and Thistle Farm
and two new farmers:
Nicolas Pandjiris and Eileen Wallding
but still the same place and the same great vegetables.
We still have some shares available for this season.
check out our new website for details:
www.fogandthistlefarm.com
also new this year we will have a mid week Hudson pick-up
Tuesday afternoons from 4-7
we will be downtown with piles of glistening vitamins (vegetables)
hope to see you soon...
it looks like a good season ahead!

SCHEDULE UPDATE for the Fall Party & Skillshare

2009-09-22T10:36:00.000-07:00

Saturday September 26th

8:00 - 9:00am BREAKFAST

9:30 - 11am WORKSHOPS

Whole Body Strength, with Trevor Roush

A cost-free, at home fitness regime with results.

Yoga, with Carol Szamatowicz

Mostly Standing Vinyasa poses revolving around the Warrior Pose Series. As yoga goes, this class will tend to be strength building. All levels are welcome; be prepared to tailor to your own skill level, as the Warrior Poses, when held, can tend to be the more vigorous-leaning yoga assanas. Two mats provided to newcomers. Since it is a mostly standing class, mats are optional, though often better for not slipping or sliding.

Flatfooting and Clogging, with Ryan Clover

Come learn Appalachian Clogging and Flatfooting dance. We'll cover the basic steps to get y'all dancing at the next square dance. There will also be room to share some more advanced technique.

11:30 - 1:00pm WORKSHOPS

WGXC: Go Live on the Web: Webstreaming and Podcasting, with Dharma Dailey

Come learn how to make live audio and video available on a web site. We’ll cover basic recording set ups, some simple tricks to get good sound, and a few of the easiest and most reliable software options iphone, Skype, and Twittercam. Use your new chops on your own website or join the WGXC Audio Army to help cover town meetings, concerts, and other local events.

Field Walk, with Ashley Loehr

A comprehensive guided tour of the Germantown Community Farm CSA fields.

Thai-Style Curry, with Traci Picard

We will make Thai-Style Curry, and then eat it.

Social Detox, with Ryan Clover

Challenging sexism is a necessary part of any social movement. This workshop will explore the role that men can play in deconstructing sexist behaviors and holding ourselves and each other accountable for sexist behavior

D.I.Y. Bike Mechanics, with Margaret DeBona

Learn some basic bike repairs like fixing a flat, adjusting your brakes, and changing your chain. Get ready to use tools and get greasy!

1:00 - 2:30pm LUNCH

2:30 - 4:00 WORKSHOPS

Anarchy Beekeeping, with Sam Comfort

Not to anthropomorphize, but many bees are upset these days! Learn how to construct simple hive boxes, catch wild honey bees, and keep them alive (and "happy") without chemicals. We willl inspect a few hives, pay homage to the queen bees, and celebrate the goldenrod honey flow.

Saplings and Scrap Into Super Structure, with Matt Bua

This workshop will begin with participates brainstorming and envisioning what the soon-to-be structure’s appearance and usages will be. Drawings and sketches will be quickly made using the Visionary Drawing Building Format (www.drawingbuilding.org). By utilizing improvised connecting and building techniques the collaborative process will yield something that may or may not resemble the earlier visions.

Tools for a Lifetime, with Charles Picard

A brief history of hand tools, and how to salvage, restore and maintain rusty old stuff.

Mask Making for Kids (and the Young at Heart), with Alex Malmude

Buttons! Yarn! Magic markers! Supplies will be on hand for mask-making revelry. Create a new character, or make a mask of your alter ego. Possibilities for your mask are limited only by your imagination (...and by the supplies we have on hand.) This workshop is open to kids and adults alike. Hopefully we'll be able to make extra masks for people to wear during the barn dance.

WGXC: Setting-up Sound for a Live Event, with Tom Roe

Learn how to set a PA (Public Address) and speaker system for a live event. We'll cover the basics of adjusting levels, running cables, and hooking up mics for great sound quality. We'll also cover how to hook up to a recorder and mixer for webstreaming. Become an indespensible asset to any party or show!

4:30 - 6:00 WORKSHOPS

WGXC: Interviewing and Oral Histories, with Suzanne

Everyone’s got a great story to tell. Interviewing and putting together an oral history project is a great way to discover them, and get them out into the world and onto the airwaves. Suzanne will cover how to conceive of an oral history project, how to interview well, and what to do with these stories once you’ve compiled them. Participants will get a chance to break off into groups of three for a short exercise.

Building a Media Buzz: Getting the Press to Spread the Word, with Melissa Weidman

Let's share stories, challenges and tips on how to get local news venues to cover your story, position, cause or event. We'll talk strategy and technique, and practice some in our session.

Mushrooms in the Permaculture Landscape, with Rafter

Even if you're an avid gardener - if you are only gardening plants, you're missing out! There is a whole other kingdom to explore - and eat. We can incorporate delicious, nutritious fungi in our veggie gardens, backyards, lawns, landscaping, balconies, windowboxes - even back rooms and closets. In this workshop, we'll explore the basics - and not-so-basics - of mushroom cultivation, and learn to look at mushroom crops through a holistic, permaculture lens, so we can find the niche in the landscape where they can peform useful ecological functions, even as they produce food and medicine for us.

Metal Tricks for the Jack of All Trades, with Lu Heintz

We will cover mechanical connections that can be executed with little or no heat, such as riveting and slotting. Tips on drilling, cutting, bending and unbending will be given. Tools will be discussed with consideration for those interested in building/developing a small shop. Bring your questions and your own tricks.

Utopia or Bust, with Henry

Imagining the world we want to live in and how to get there from here. Games, costume changes. You know, utopia.

6:30 DINNER

7:45 CONTRA DANCE IN THE BARN!

10:00 SABER COUP Rocks Out!

11:30 DJs & DANCING till Late!

Hope to see you here!

2009 Fall Skillshare and Party! We hope you're coming!

2009-09-12T12:09:00.000-07:00

Our Annual Fall Skillshare and Party is almost here! We hope you all can make it on September 26th for feasting and dancing, workshopping and romping. We will indeed be hosting a contra dance, a local rock band, and several DJs on into the night. We'll be fleshing out the schedule and worshop descriptions over the next couple weeks, so keep posted.

Practicalities:
Camping is welcome and limited accommodations are available in the barn and house (please let us know ahead of time!) Bring camping gear, a flashlight, and your own dish. Please try to carpool as parking is very limited. We are suggesting a donation of $5-$20 just to cover our costs, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds! Please let us know if you are interested in volunteering during the event. We need help with childcare, parking, cooking, clean-up and would love even just an hour committment ahead of time from a few people. Please contact us!

Schedule:
Saturday September 26th
8am: Breakfast in house
9:30-11am: workshops
11:30-1pm: workshops
1-2:30pm: lunch
2:30-4: workshops
4:30-6: workshops
6:30: dinner
7:45: contra dance!
10:oo: Saber Coup rocks out
11:30pm: DJs!

some of the workshops you may choose from (desriptions forthcoming):

DIY bicycle repair with Margaret DeBona
Tools for a Lifetime with Charles Picard
Anarchist Beekeeping with Sam Comfort
Webstreaming and Podcasting with WGXC staff
Mushrooms in the Permaculture Landscape with Rafter T. Sass
Saplings and Scrap into Super Structures with Matt Bua
Thai-style Curry with Traci Picard
Uncovering Your Inner Strength - Core Strengthening excercises with Trevor Roush
Setting Up Sound for a Live Event with WGXC staff
Writing a Great Press Release with Melissa Weidman
Yoga with Carol
The World of Metal with Luli Heintz
and many more!...

Radio For the People Party was a success!

2009-06-22T20:53:00.000-07:00

Thank you all for coming, participating, and kicking in! We managed to raise over $4500 for the two radio projects, making for a significant step forward for both projects. We also managed to have a really great time! We counted close to 250 people for dinner and around 350 throughout the day and night. The presentation and workshops were well attended and exciting. Our performers were incredible, Jolie Holland, Lady Moon, and Grandma Shakes. The three DJs kept the dance party going late into the night: DJ Bochay, DJ Inti, and DJ Andalalucha.

Radio For the People Party!

2009-04-30T16:02:00.000-07:00

SATURDAY MAY 9TH
1 PM -MIDNIGHT
Afternoon presentation and workshops,
dinner, music and dancing.
Independent media is a crucial tool for community self-reliance.
Come celebrate Spring by supporting community radio locally and afar!
Donation $ 5 – 25 sliding scale

This party is a benefit for two community radio projects:

WGXC is our new local community radio station for Columbia and Greene counties. WGXC will be a community-run media project, re-envisioning radio as an innovative platform for local participation. WGXC will begin live web streaming on the day of the benefit, and will be broadcasting live in 2010. WGXC is opening studios in Hudson, Catskill and Cairo. www.wgxc.org

MADRE TIERRA radio will be the station for an indigenous farmworkers coalition in Chiapas, Mexico. The radio at Madre Tierra will serve as conduit for community members to communicate with one another in a region where there is little means for communication and no independent media. Educational programs for children and adults, agricultural forums, language classes, and music shows are just a few of the many programs planned for the air.

*** Both of these radio projects are just getting launched and need support from you! We are still looking for donations for the Silent Auction as well as matching donors for the auction and the whole event. We are looking for matching donors that can pledge to match a specific portion of the event up to a certain amount or the whole event so that the money raised actually doubles for these radio projects! Silent Auction donation item ideas: Artwork, gift certificates to businesses, bike tools, homemade products, a weekend in a vacation home.……… The Silent Auction portion will be a benefit just for WGXC and donations are tax deductible ***

Event Schedule
12:00 - 1:00 Lunch
1:00 – 2:00 Community Radio Presentation
2:30 - 4:30 Workshops
Food Security Roundtable and
Making Community Radio
5:30 Dinner
food will be donated and prepared by chef Eamon Furlong
7:00 Silent Auction
7:30 Performances begin:
Grandma Shakes
Lady Moon (Ngonda Badila) and ensemble
10:00 DJ Dance Party
* child care will be provided throughout the day

*Making Community Radio: Tools for Participation*

with Kaya Weidman from WGXC and Germantown Community Farm, Maka Muňoz from Palabra Radio Project, and Cory Fischer-Hoffman from Prometheus Radio Project (and more!)
Come learn about what community radio is, how radio can be a tool for social change, community building, and creativity. We'll be talking about how to get involved with WGXC, our new local community radio station, as well as how to get involved in community radio if you live in a different area.
We'll brainstorm some ideas for programs people might want to make or hear on the radio before breaking into groups to make our own! We will learn some basics of how to record audio using handheld digital recorders and groups will come up with audio projects to work on during the event. Some of the groups may do some live interviews "on the air" that will be broadcasting on a microtransmitter at the farm to radios placed about the property. Some of the audio will be live streaming on wgxc.org. Recorded pieces will be uploaded for future use. The hope is to train a group of people to be roving documenters of the event and to become radio makers!

*Community Food Security Roundtable*

Come talk about how food and farmland can be available to everyone! Conversations about local food production and resource sharing have been emerging in the Hudson Valley and the Northeast organized by farmers, gardeners and friends. This workshop will be an opportunity for people to share experience and resources, to offer their ideas for collaboration, to hear about some of the developing local projects. Let’s build a cooperative network to work toward self-reliance for all!

MAY 9TH!!!!

2009-03-13T08:27:00.000-07:00

SPRING PARTY 2009
SAVE THE DATE!!

Event This Weekend, Sunday March 15

2009-03-13T08:17:00.000-07:00

NEOLIBERALISM AND SELF DETERMINATION

A public presentation by Simon Sedillo.

Sunday March 15 at 12 NOON
4872 State Rte. 9G Germantown NY

Come learn about Oaxaca, Mexico past & present, neoliberalism & militarism, as well as self-determination and community rights.

Simon Sedillo is a community rights defense organizer and film maker who has spent the last 6 years documenting, producing and teaching community based video documentation. He has worked with indigenous communities, immigrant communities, and with youth of color across the US and Mexico, supporting their work in documenting their histories and struggles.

Fall Party 2008.

2009-03-11T11:50:00.000-07:00

RIDE SHARES, FOOD SHARE, DIRECTIONS HERE

2008-09-18T19:17:00.001-07:00

Hey all,

We're getting excited to see you soon.

If you are driving here, have room in you vehicle, and are willing to give folks a ride, call us and let us know. We have a little ride board going on and some folks need a lift! If you're passing through Northhampton, NYC, or Poughkeepsie with space, let us know.

ALSO,
You heard we said POTLUCK, right? Please if you're able, bring a dish to share for any of the meals we'll be sharing, or, bring ingredients, veggies, bread, dessert, drinks, whatever you can add to the mix!

AND SOME DIRECTIONS

Act like you know! We are at 4872 State Route 9G, Germantown, NY 12526. We're sure you can find directions on the internet but here are some point of reference for finding us once you're on our road, which is a big fast state highway.

From the South

We're 2 miles north of the main lights in Germantown. At these lights, there are 3, count 'em 3, gas stations (Sunoco, Mobil, and Stewarts). Just before our fields, on the right, you'll see a sign for you pick grapes. this is the intersection of hover ave and 9G. We're the next house on the right, past the handpainted signs advertising our farmstand. Its a big white farmhouse with a fence in front, right on the road. Please park across the street from the house ON YOUR LEFT at Fink's trucking garage. You will see a flagged out area on the grass for parking. If you head down a big hill and cross over the Roloph Jansen Kill (its a river) you've gone too far.

From the North

We're 4 miles south of the Rip Van Winkle Bridge. You'll pass over the Roloph Jansen Kill (its a river) then past a sign welcoming you to Germantown and up a big hill. Soon after cresting the hill you'll see a small sign on your right for Mrs. Sew-N-Sew. Slow down. We're just past this on the left (you'll see the fields). Its a big white farmhouse with a fence in front, right on the road. PARKING IS ACROSS THE STREET ON YOUR RIGHT at Fink's trucking garage. You'll see a flagged area on the grass for parking. If you see our farmstand signs on your left, you've gone too far.

Call if you get lost- 518-537-6139
OK, friends. Until soon...

TENTATIVE WORKSHOP SCHEDULE- UPDATED!

2008-09-18T19:17:00.000-07:00

Fall Skill Share at Germantown Community Farm
September 20th and 21st

* more workshop descriptions to come…

SATURDAY

10:00-11:30

Bike Mechanics
with Silas Maddox
Get the basics of bike maintenance and repair from one who knows his bikes.

Field and Woods, Plant & Tree ID Walk
with Charles and Traci

We will identify and discuss useful plants focusing on woodland medicinals. A participatory commie talk for all ages and all levels of experience.

War Tax Resistance
with Mary Loehr

54% of every federal tax dollar you pay goes to war and killing. Come to this workshop to talk about/learn about other options. This workshop will be led by Mary Loehr who has not paid federal taxes in 26 years.

LUNCH

1:00-2:30
Blacksmithing
with Lu Heintz

Overview of a smithy (blacksmith's shop). Lu will show and talk about the tools and forge, getting metal hot, and demonstrate and explain basic forging techniques.

Gentrification
with Travis Klami

Whole Farm Planning Presentation
with Melissa & Garret

3:00-4:30

Hudson Valley Fair Food Alliance
This network doesn’t formally exist yet. To overcome the inequity in our local food system farmworkers, farmers, and consumers need to know each other and work in partnership. Let’s meet each other and talk about what this network could look like and how we can create communities of mutual support within the food production chain. Also, to keep the conversation tangible, there will be a few presentations on work that is already happening in this valley. This workshop will be in English and Spanish. Come find Ashley Loehr if you have any questions about this workshop.

Conversational French
(all levels)
with Anne Koplinka-Loehr

4:30 Drumming and Dancing by/with the Badilas

6:00 Dinner

Music and Contra Dance

DJ Dance

SUNDAY
10-11:30
Anarchy Beekeeping
with Sam Comfort
We will talk about less invasive methods of beekeeping than industry standard methods, local bee genetics and breeding as well as bee education.

Forestry Basics
with the Jolly Lumberjacks
(Squash and Dan)

Natural Paints and Stains
with Dylan
Come mix up and try out some different natural paints and stains using common materials you have right around you.

12:00-1:30

Community Radio info & idea share
with Dharma Dailey, Galen Joseph-Hunter, and Kaya Weidman

The Greene/Columbia community radio project will enable people in the
two upstate New York counties to teach each other skills in radio
production, community journalism, radio art, and other media-making.
It is a space to build a "community of communities" – bringing
together a range of discussions and creativities from across the two
counties. free103point9 will first create an internet radio station,
while developing the organization and partnerships for an FM station
we hope to soon be awarded, to broadcast local content across much of
Greene and Columbia counties. Eventually this project will broadcast
local town meetings, high school sports championships, as well as
local performances, lectures, workshops, and all sorts of radio art.
In this workshop we will brainstorm ideas together and present the project.

Wine and Fermentation
with Amy

Fermentation 101 with a fruit wine focus. Come brew and taste.

Social Detox
with Ryan Clover
Men have a responsibility to challenge sexism. Men often don't know where
to start with these issues. This is a space to identify and discuss men's
role in bringing down patriarchy and working for communities of
cooperation and mutual aid.

LUNCH

2:30-4
Tincture Making
with Traci

Hands on tincture-making workshop. Identify, collect herbs and make and taste tinctures. We will take a walk to the herb garden to harvest and then make tincture inside.

Clogging
with Ryan Clover

Marketing and Sales for Small Producers
with Don Lewis

Schedule Preview: Fall Party 2008

2008-09-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

SATURDAY 9/20

10-11:30 am

Clogging: with Ryan Clover

Bike Mechanics: with Silas Maddox

Woods Walk, plants and trees. (all-ages): with Tracy and Charles Picard

LUNCH 11:30 (POTLUCK)

1- 2:30 pm

Blacksmithing: with Lu Heintz

Gentrification: with Travis Klami

War Tax Resistance: with Mary Loehr

3- 4:30 pm

Whole Farm Planning: with Melissa and Garret

Hudson Valley Fair Food Alliance: Round Table Discussion

French! Speak it, (all levels): with Annie Koplinka-Loehr and the Badila family

4:30 Badila family performance

6:00 DINNER (POTLUCK)

7:30 Music and festivities
Emily Lacey, variety show
Contra Dance
more dancing

SUNDAY 9/21

10-11:30 am

BEES: with Sam Comfort

Forestry Basics: with the Jolly Lumberjacks

12- 1:30 pm

Wine Fermentation: with Amy Lawton

Men's anti-sexist organizing: with Ryan Clover

1:30 LUNCH (POTLUCK)

2:30-4:00 pm

Tincture making: with Tracy Picard

Community Radio info/idea-share: with Kaya Weidman

There is more to come, and we may have to re-schedule some things. Check here for updates. Looking forward to seeing you all!
REMINDER Please bring a bowl and a spoon for yer suppers, and all meals are potlucks. We will also be cooking so any ingredient contributions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Happy Summer 08 From Germantown Farm

2008-06-22T13:44:00.000-07:00

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Happy New Year From Gtown Farm!!

2008-01-13T17:01:00.000-08:00

A Winter story in pictures....
mad love, sascha and the downtime crew

Gtown Community Farm's Fall Gathering!!

2007-10-26T11:04:00.000-07:00

the calm before the storm before the calm...
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Gtown Community Farm's Fall Gathering Oct 13/14

2007-10-02T08:29:00.000-07:00

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Come celebrate harvest and community at Germantown Community Farm's Fall Gathering: October 13 th and 14th. Join us for skillshares, workshops, field work, and woods walks by day. A sampling of the expected delights: a wild edible plant walk, 2- and 4- cycle diesel engine basics, firewood 101, intro to welding, a tour of the csa garden, mushroom hunting in the forest, kid's crafts, digging potatoes and more…Also, feasting and contra dancing by night. We're asking interested people to pitch in with shared childcare if they are around for a chunk of the weekend. If you will be here
for only a short time, childcare will be available. Food contributions are definitely appreciated.
Folks are welcome to spend the night camping in our orchard. Bring bedding, tents, flashlights and anything you'd like to share. Please RSVP if you know that you need an inside sleeping space.
Again, we are at 4872 Route 9G in Germantown, NY 12526.
Come for a minute, a meal, a couple days. We'll pass the hat if you want to pitch in, but IT’S FREE. We're excited. See you there!

Workshop Schedule

Saturday
9-10:30
Automotive Electrical Basics w/ Christo Perry

11-12:30
- Theater of the Oppressed w/ Mike from Albany
- Introduction to Oxyacetylene Welding w/ Lu

2-3:30
Intro to Small Scale Firewood Harvesting w/ Squash

4-5:30
The Nature of Compost w. Bill Eagan

Hayrides......

Sunday
9-10:30
- Kids Crafts w/ Pamela Badila
- Garden Walk with Ben

11-12:30
Plant ID Walkshare w/ everyone who walks

2-3:30
- Wild Edibles Walk w/ Ben Schwartz
- 2-Cycle, 4-Cycle , Diesel: Basics in Engine Operative Theory and Maybe Maintenance with Ashley

4-5:30
- Work in the Woodson the Sugar Shack and Learn Good Stuff w/ Chris Weidman
- Icarus Project/Community Mental Health w/ Sascha and Madigan

Late Summer

2007-10-01T17:26:00.000-07:00

Summertime Harvest

2007-10-01T16:39:00.000-07:00

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Summertime at Gtown Farm

2007-07-17T08:49:00.000-07:00

everything grows and changes so quickly this time of year that as i post these photos in mid july, the luscious lettuce and snappy peas you see are a memory that's already been replaced by waves of chard and carrots and beets and squash, soon to be joined by tomatoes and potatoes and so much more. the mix of hard work and incredible weather is creating a bountiful harvest for us and our extended community. a lot of the real exciting action is going on in the kitchen these days as folks experiment with preserving pickles and kim chi and sarukraut, blanching kale and anything else that will get us through the winter. meanwhile, the daily multiple quart jars full of goat milk in our fridge are being processed into yogurt and cheese, we're saving and replanting our kale seed, we're harvesting berries and the apples are soon to come, and we're getting better and working out the kinks, together. i feel so lucky to be here helping to make this all happen. here's a peak into our world:

Hot Fun in the Summertime...

The Water Underground Tour 2007 Comes to Germantown Community Farm

2007-06-11T19:36:00.000-07:00

here was the invite

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/31/garden/31greywater.html

You are cordially invited to a work party/skillshare/presentation as our west coast friends come and help us fix our hurtin’ greywater system and share a bunch of stories and knowledge from their work as water activists.

This is part of their tour to promote their recently published book:
Dam Nation: Dispatches from the Water Underground by Soft Skull Press

Friday Night June 8th Potluck Dinner with...
* A slideshow featuring anti-dam struggles, ecological sanitation, and river restoration projects
* A discussion of local restoration work
• A showing of Demise of Dam Nation, a compilation of cinematic dam failures and catastrophes

From Boliva to South Africa, local single-issue water fights have exploded into demands for new water commons. The Water Underground Tour 2007 presents a water philosophy roadshow and resistance forum that will kindle this spirit in North America. A grassroots network of strategic and material exchange, which recognizes watersheds as social and ecological responsibility units, can decolonialize the concept of appropriate technology and demonstrate the potential of an international water culture.

Then the Next Morning....
Saturday June 9th we’ll have a
Work Party/Skillshare and Rebuild Our House Greywater System

Come join us at our home:
Germantown Community Farm
4872 state route 9G germantown, ny 12526
Please RSVP at gtowncommunityfarm@riseup.net or call 518-537-6139

It was a great weekend...

More Info on Dam Nation: Dispatches from the Water Underground

“The politics of water—as this brilliant anthology makes clear—are the politics of human survival.
Read this, and believe me, you'll never flush with the same equanimity again,” notes author Mike Davis

The Greywater Guerrillas began in 1999 as an amateur plumbing and
ecological design collective, founded by Cleo Woelfle-Erskine and Laura
Allen. Dozens of low-tech water-recycling installations, and years of
designing and touring, yielded the Guerrilla Greywater Girls' Guide to
Water, an 80 page DIY zine and introduction to water politics. The
Guerrillas designed the first small-scale urban greywater systems to
incorporate greywater diversion, biological sewage treatment via wetlands,
wildlife habitat creation, and backyard food forests. The Guerrillas
expanded their vision of radical water activism as they met and talked
with river restoration, ecological sanitation, anti-privatization, and
anti-dam movements around the globe. It was time for another book: one
that synthesized a radical history of water with DIY sustainable
technologies.

Dam Nation is a people's history of water—and the water grid. Tracing the
rise of mega-dams and their spread across five continents, the book also
chronicles the inevitable popular opposition to this philosophy of
appropriation and control. Blocking the neoliberal makeover of our world,
beleaguered commoners fight to reclaim the earth's arteries, lakes, and
seas. Their struggles, strategies, and successes form the backbone of
Dam Nation. The authors weave together a detailed accounting of the
fallout from a century of river blockages and diversions with mulitlayered
analysis of water movements around the world.. Dam Nation blows open the
scarcity myth to show how democratic management and local control of water
resources can provide water for everyone and make the rivers we've killed
live again.

Both radical history of water and DIY guide to sustainable technologies,
Dam Nation: Dispatches from the Water Underground combines an analysis of
water's history with the active fight for its future. Bringing together
hundreds of national and international projects, organizations, and
strategies, Dam Nation investigates political economy an d environmental
impact of water consumption. It also gives readers easy, cheap, and
thought-provoking ways to join the 'water underground' themselves. The
book illustrates:

* How corrupt water policy led to bloody battles during the settlement
of the American West
* How a Michigan town being drained by the Nestle Corporation is
fighting to block water privatization nationwide
* How to reuse household water to create lush gardens
* How to build a composting toilet and a pedal-powered washing machine
* How to cultivate a pond filled with edible plants and
mosquito-eating fish
* How residents jump started municipal eco-projects in such diverse
locales as Tijuana, Mexico City, Zimbabwe and Arcata, California
* How a 'protest village' in Thailand and a neighborhood association
in Louisiana both beat back dam and canal expansion with grassroots
organizing
* How a coalition of Native American tribes organized cross
culturally, leading Scottish shareholders to stand up for tribal
salmon rights
• And much more

About the authors:
Cleo Woelfle-Erskine is a Bay Area based writer, teacher, restorationist,
and agitator.In 1996, he left his native Los Angeles to study traditional
agriculture and water harvesting in the Rio Grande basin, then continued
permaculture pursuits in filled-in marshes edging the San Francisco Bay.
His books include Urban Wilds: Gardener's Stories of the Struggle for Land
and Justice (water/under/ground, 2001), the kids' book Sink or Swim: A
History of Sausal Creek (water/under/ground, 2004) and the infamous The
Guerrilla Graywater Girls' Guide to Water zine (with Laura Allen). His
water conservation projects have been featured in The Utne Reader and The
San Francisco Chronicle, and the New York Times.

July Oskar Cole learned to swim in the TVA lakes of Eastern Kentucky and
Tennessee, and to identify wild plants in the forests of the Cumberland
Plateau. He learned most of the rest in the deserts of the U.S. Southwest:
philosophy and astronomy in the Sangre de Cristo foothills, alternative
building and "charco" style greywater practices in the Rio Grande bosque,
and in the Basin and Range territory more things than can be listed. In
the San Francisco Bay Area, he keeps bees, designs and installs greywater
treatment wetlands, and sells books. He co-edited Dam Nation: Dispatches
from the Water Underground, and has also been published in ColorLines
magazine and the 2006 Best Gay Erotica anthology.

Outrageously Successful Spring Work Party 07

2007-05-24T11:26:00.000-07:00

So much graditude from our farm crew to everyone who made it out for the work and festivities at Gtown last weekend. By the time the sun came out on Sunday morning I think we were all so amazed and grateful to see the incredible amount of collective work that got accomplished.
Here’s the list we made at the house meeting last night of all the stuff that got done:

- 10 New Beds Dug, Prepped and Planted in the House Garden
- Tons of Stuff Got Weeded
- New Fence Put Up In House Garden
- 40 to 45 Cedar Posts Cut and Dragged From the Woods
- 25 Beds Spaded and Weeded In the CSA Field
- 6 100 Foot Beds of Potatoes Planted in the New Field
- Wall Got Build in the Goat Pen
- Big New Cedar Arbor in the Garden
- A Bunch of Large Brush Piles Burned
- Lots of Dancing Got Danced
- 6 Incredible Meals Cooked and Consumed (Lots of Dishes Washed)
- The Compost Toilet Got Dug Out

So mad thanks to our extended community near and far. We’d never be able to do it without you. We’re very much tied to each other.

Springtime Explosion in Sequence Scrolling Down

2007-05-07T20:17:00.000-07:00

Monday Morning Springtime Update From S. Scatter:
At the moment the ground appears to be erupting with multilayered carpets of green seedlings and grasses. The garlic mustard is already going to seed everywhere, the tiny purple flowers of the ground ivy are a majestic backdrop to the bright yellow dandelion blossoms dotting the landscape. We’re eating wild salads full of dandelion greens and violets and yarrow and crecey-cress and wild onion and bedstraw and chickweed and goldenrod and trout lilly and ales hoof and curley dock and garlic mustard (though it’s not quite as sweet once it goes to seed.) The cherry trees are in full blossom, the apples are just coming on. The seedling flats are blowing in the spring breeze outside the potting shed – lettuce and kale and chard and onions. The bunnies are already munching the lettuce in the field. The flea beetles are biting little holes in the collard seedlings we just put in the ground. Digging beds in the garden and the mockingbirds land in the old plum tree and fire off a couple dozen different calls, one after another. The sugar maple outside my window that we tapped for sap is leafing out now and shading the ground below. The lilacs bushes are filled with dark purple buds about to bloom. The greywater is starting to stink a little when the wind blows West. The sugar buckets and taps and lines are all washed out and sitting outside the barn waiting to be stored until next winter. The rainbow lacinato kale that survived in the house garden is sending up thick frilly dark green and purple arms with flower buds poised expectantly at the end of them. The new duck house and pen are almost finished in the swampy area by the compost toilet. Out in the CSA field there are beds full of peas and collards and lettuce and leeks and onions. There’s been a massive barn clean-up, the old apple storage room is totally open, and there’s a big pile of scrap metal waiting to go to the scrap yard. A new section of the house garden just got tilled up. There are two large newly tilled up sections by the road, on either side of our house, that are going to be filled with raspberries and flowers for market. 9G is abuzz with Monday morning traffic. The baby goats are adorable and literally frolicking amidst the flowers. And life goes on...

What: Two days of wild plant ID, harvest, and fermentation
When: April 29 & 30 (Sunday and Monday)
Who: Global teacher and wild herbalist Frank Cook
Where: Germantown Community Farm, in Germantown, NY
4872 State Route 9G, across and just south from Upstate Auto
How Much: cheap!

Day One: Sunday 1:00pm Gathering - 5:30
Frank will lead us on a walk around the farm, meadow, orchard, and forest, on what he calls a "plant inventory." The walk is open-ended, and we can take the discussion wherever we like. Frank's considerable experience working and teaching at the interface between the human world and the plant world means that he can guide discussion on: plants as allies, wild foods, medicine making, botany, plant spirit medicine, thrival living, and plants and healers of the world.
Cost for this workshop: $20-40 sliding scale.
Materials to bring:
notebook and pencil
camera if desired
snacks

Bring a dish and stay for the potluck dinner if you like!

RSVP to reserve a spot -
we're capping both workshops at 15 people.

Day Two: Monday 9:30am - 4:00pm
Frank will guide us through a complete process of making a wild medicinal mead. We'll go from selecting and harvesting wild plants for flavor and medicinal value, through choosing and preparing our infusion, to preparing our batch of mead and setting it to ferment! We'll learn and discuss the history of fermentation generally, and mead-making in particular, as food-preservation and medicine, and how that history is useful for us today. The results tend to be pretty magical, in flavor and vitality.

Cost for this workshop: $40-60 sliding scale
Materials to bring:
1-gal. glass jug (or a few)
notebook and pencil
potluck dish for lunch!

Come to both workshops!

Testimonial:
Let me just say that both Ben and I, here at the farm, have experienced multiple workshops of various kinds with Frank, and he is amazing. He connects a grounded scientific awareness of the botany and biochemistry of our present and historical relationship with wild plants, together with a fully engaged, global, and spiritual perspective. He is a sensitive and patient teacher, as willing to stop and explain the subtlety of a botanical distinction as he is to push us to expand our awareness of the dynamic ecological and planetary relationships that we are part of.

Frank travels the world, learning and teaching about plant allies. He lives entirely by the donations he gets from teaching. The chance to support the work that he is doing, and learn from his experience in the process, is a rare opportunity. I recommend that everyone who has the opportunity to attend - do so. I haven't ever been disappointed with a minute of the time I've spent learning about the plant world with Frank, and have been greatly enriched by it in the process.

RSVP to reserve a spot!
We're capping both workshops at 15 people.

Here is Frank's personal statement:

"Over the last thirteen years my passion for being a
repository of plant knowledge has grown steadily. I
have studied with Herbalists, Shamen, Vaidyas,
Sangomas, Green Witches, Doctors, Professors, Medicine
Men. . . ..around the world. They have initiated me
into many ways of walking with plants. More and more
there are opportunities to share what I have learned
at workshops, schools, conferences, and gatherings of
all types.

As an extensive traveler I have developed a
deep-rooted network of people whose lives are
consciously intermingled with plants, healing, and
ways to create a better world. I make a wide range
of foods and medicines to share with my family, friends
and community. I lead a simple life communicating,
teaching, reflecting, and spending a lot of time in
the forests and gardens delving deeper into the
mysteries of the plant kingdom and our place in the web of life."

Don't miss it!

-rafter

It’s springtime. We work hard right now.
There’s nothing satisfying like working outside under the sun with a crew of my friends.
The food tastes so much better when we’ve sweated for it.
When we know all the time and love and rain and soil and compost and digging and forking and planting and watering and weeding and pruning and harvesting and preserving that goes into it.
When we go out to milk the goats in the morning and we know their milk is going to feed the people in our community and that the hay they’re eating is from a neighboring farmer’s field and the grass they’re grazing is from under the cherry trees in our orchard and their manure is going to back into the compost to fertilize our vegetables. With all the things that feel wrong in the world, this feels right.

Early Spring at Germantown Community Farm 2007

2007-04-25T19:31:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it Snows in April

First Blogpost of the Season!
These are photos I've been snapping over the past month here at the farm in gtown, and a few at the sugar maple scene that was going on over at the Bob in pine plains. i'm so in love with all my farmmates, i still can't even believe we're really doing this most of the time. i never even let myself imagine what it would be like to actually work on a group land project with a bunch of people i admired and respected like i admire and respect these people. for whatever the hardships and compromises, we actually watch each other's backs and we celebrate each other's lives in the face of the death culture. when most people these days seem to be watching TV and existing in little boxes, we're building relationships with our neighbors and stewarding this land and carving a life for ourselves and a future for our extended community. i feel lucky and proud to call this place home.

as i write the chlorophyll rush of springtime is really just beginning, the light green leaves magically poking out of the apple tree branches in our orchards are harbingers of warm nights and lush summer foilage. the garden beds carpeted in waves of little green pioneer seedlings are harbingers that we're gonna have our work cut out for us all season. meanwhile the baby goats that were born last week are probably the cutest things in the whole entire universe, right here, in our very barn.
the images below capture the last edge of hudson valley wintertime transitioning into the growing season. they capture glimpses of the people i love working and playing and building a life with one other. enjoy this little peak into our world.

mad love from the rebel outpost on 9G, sascha scatter

The Ladies

Maple Sugaring at The Bob (our sister community in Pine Plains)

A year of photos!

2006-12-05T18:22:00.000-08:00

Our friend, Ida Benedetto, took these photos over the course of a year of visits. Notice the constantly changing faces and wall colors.
view all of them at:
http://www.photoshelter.com/gallery-show/G0000CFA4h9F_73M?start=75&pagtotal=97

from the upstairs barn

kaya gives a field tour

last winter

ivory and peaches, before the babies

Farm Retreat!

2006-11-21T14:43:00.000-08:00

(This post is still being edited, but here's the sneak preview)

On Oct 1st - 4th, we were blessed enough to be the guests of Blue Water Farms in New Hampshire for our 2006 farm retreat. For four days we left the farm (thanks to our farm sitters, Ashley, Ryan, and Murph) and discussed the short and long term future of what this project will be... and is becoming.

We started the work a week before we left. The retreat committee (Ashley L, Rafter, Erika, Alicia, and others as drop ins) posed a few questions to create the structure for the workshop schedule:
1. What is your overall vision for waht you'd like to see/ accomplish over the retreat?
2. What are the specifc topics you'd like to address?
a. What concerns do you have?
b. Where have you noticed not meeting up in conversation with others on the farm?
3. What methods or ground rules would you like to use in the discussions?
4. What are your personal needs and expectations living in this community?
5. Are there any specific projects or workshops you would like to faciliatate?
6. Any other questions you'd like to see asked and answered now?

We spent a lot of time reading, writing, thinking...

Here is a brief idea of what our schedule was like:

Sunday
1pm Arrive
3- 4:30 Ground Agreements for Discussion: Kaya and Alicia facilitated a discussion around nonviolent communication and conflict resolution. We each wrote a list of personal unresolved conflicts and discussed different techniques for effective communication. As a group we consensed on our principles to use in the following days:
*everyone gets a chance to speak
*trust what needs to get said will
*calling out, without interrupting, each other on participation
*be sensitive to the moods and experiences of the group
*look critically at judgement of each other and ourselves
*non- violent communication: use loving, caring, and non desctructive language
*apce to leave if one needs it, and being respectful to myself and others by acknowledging it
*voices heard and validated
*"i" statements
*facilitated discussions and method
*setting time limits and sticking to them
*honesty to myself and others: taking time, pauses, check ins, what are you scared to say?, notice temptation towards optimism, transparency

5-6:30 ENVISIONING #1: Ashley L. and Rafter started us off writing and thinking about how we might write about the farm 20 years from now! Mistakes, triumphs, and refections.

6:30 Delicious Dinner!

What is a Germantown Kitchen Cleanup Crew without a dance party?

MONDAY

9-10 Yoga with Alicia (when she wasn't sick)

10am BREAKFAST Bobby cooked us a delicious breakfast of French Toast, applesauce, yogurt. Yum!

11-1pm PRINCIPLES Courtney faclitated a workshop looking at our guiding principles as individuals and as a group. We each wrote about agreements we try to live by (ie honesty, compassion...) She read out the principles created at the farm retreat a year ago, and then had us brainstorm and discuss new year additions!

1-3 lunch (Can't remember what it was, but it was delicious)

3-4:30 BURNOUT Ben lead a discussion around avoiding burnout. We each wrote on what feels unsustainable in our personal life. We created lists of these causes and then brainstormed around solutions and techniques for prevention. We talked about how to support each other as community members in our struggle for individual sustainablilty.

5-6:30 More Envisioning Discussion

6:30 Dinner. Ashley and Alicia slipped away to surprise Ben with a homemade ginger chocolate raspberry cake! (Sorry to focus on such particulars but these are not forgotten!)

TUESDAY

8-9 YOGA

9 Breakfast

9:30- 11:30 ENVISIONING

Midway through the retreat, we realized we had the opportunity to expand the vision of our collective structure. Ashley, Alicia, and Rafter facilitated a discussion aroudn the different possibilites. There were so many options, we created diagragms, discussed each one, and eventually voted. We decided that the visions of our collective are best recognized under a broader structure. One that includes members who agree to our developing mission statement, and participate in one of the collectives numerous projects. The three most defined projects at this time are living together, working on the CSA farm, and developing an education program. Members can be involved in one or all. We hope this model will expand our community in the future.

11:30-2:30 Lunch

We took a long lunch and advantage of the beautiful day. We canoed out to an small island on the lake, to enjoy a picnic lunch and cold swimming.

2:30-4 ADVANCED DIRECTIVES: Sascha facilitated a discussion around mental health, our triggers and our emotional support needs. We each were able to read and share some of what we personally need from the community.

4:30-6 VISION STATEMENT STRUCTURE Rafter started us thinking about a vision statement. We discovered what values were most important to us by each writing out five post its with simple. We then organized these by category, and voted on the ones most important to us. It was an intricate and eye opening excercise. Here's some of what we came up with:

6 Dinner
There was some kind of yummy salad. Some delicious baken pears for desert with Creamy Cashew butter sauce!

And Rafter fork throwing.

7:30-9 ONE YEAR PLAN Month by month, we laid out all our objectives and projects. Actions like: wood chopping, canning, cleaning the chimneys, tree pruning, etc, all the way up to Sept 2007!

WEDNESDAY

8-9 Yoga

9 Breakfast

9:30- 11 ENVISIONING

Alicia facilitated a workshop around building a vision/ mission statement, including a statement of principles, long terms goals, and short term objectives. We answered a few major questions and came up with lots of answers. Here are just a few:

11:30-12:30 CONCRETE AGENDA

Bobby facilitated a workshop to creat a workshop where we created a time plan to discuss what we didn't have time to finish. We came up with concrete dates for topics like: finishing vision statement, writing advanced directives, and discussing our histories of oppression and priviledge.

LUNCH AND LODGE CLEANING!

June's Birthday

2006-11-21T14:09:00.000-08:00

In August, we had the pleasure of throwing June Munson, a dear friend of ours, a birthday party. We just got the pictures back now. We had hamburgers and yummy fresh greens, brownies and pie, and lots of laughter. Two dear friends of hers came, and we even had the pleasure of hearing a story.

Not only did June blow out all her candles... she hit a high C that blew us all away!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUNE!

Group photos!

2006-09-11T11:39:00.000-07:00

We finally got the group together for a photo (minus Alex and Rafter). More to come soon!
bobby, ben, sascha, alicia, kaya, courtney (inside truck), ashley l, ryan, ashley m, erika

This one is in honor of Ashley and Ryan. Love you guys.

August Flew By!

2006-08-29T07:40:00.000-07:00

The summer is almost over and we've been continuing with an incredible growing season. In addition to all our delicious veggies we've had apples, pears, and a variety of berries for our own good eats. We built a wash stand for CSA harvest, had a small work party at the beginning of the month, and a huge dinner of 65 people! We are now working on drafts for a Harvest Gathering and just beginning to move into fall activities: wood chopping and food preservation.

We'll be holding our community potlucks on the 2nd and 4th Sunday evening of the months. Stop on by. 518 537 6139

Our CSA wash stand

Long pole beans and beautiful purple ones too!

We've got lots of organic heirloom tomatoes.

Soon to be pickles... yummm...

Our healthy growing goats.

Our newly organized seed library, thanks Josh and Jenn!

Welcome Alex!

Good times and good friends.

Pictures of July

2006-07-22T20:10:00.000-07:00

Rain rain rain rain rain rain rain.

2006-06-28T10:19:00.000-07:00

Finally a day with some sun!

Big obvious signs are entertaining sometimes and work.

This week we converted our 350 Diesel Truck to run on vegetable grease!

Dirty work.

We've been hearing rave reviews of our Red Russian Chard

This solar cahrger, for our deer fence, is doing wonders. No deer problems as of yet.

Check out the flooding in our field!

Our eighty beds are hand dug and raised. This absolutely saved the day during all of this rain. Actually, with the flooding having no ill effects, things are going and growing very well indeed.

The chickens would like to enjoy the newly seeded bounty in the greenhouse.

Another cheesy photo with a rainbow in it.

Our First CSA Pickup Week!

2006-06-15T20:22:00.000-07:00

Our first CSA box!
Red Russian Kale
Georgia Collards
Bright Lights Rainbow Chard
Baby Lettuce Mix
Mustard Greens
Snow Peas
Beets
Peppermint
Arugala Flowers
Rubarb
and some people got Cherries!

Our Fields have Exploded with life.

Animal Life.

I don't know why these are sideways, oh well. Banty chicks are ridiculously cute though.

Thousands of Delicious Cherries!

Most of them nearly impossible to reach.

June 1st FARM MEETING

2006-06-15T20:18:00.000-07:00

Perennial garden
∑ Ben says bush hog in our orchard so we can plant blackberries and raspberries, sometime in July. We should think about opportunities about where the plants will come from.

Tax status
∑ We need to go the soil and water conservation and water office to get paperwork to establish agricultural assessment and have a soil assessment in order to change our tax status.

Deer fence check in
∑ On the farm walk through

Guest policy?
∑ Questions for someone for a week that we don’t know:
How long do you want to stay for? What do you want us to know about you? Why interests you. Experience with collective and farming?
∑ Case by case basis for week long guests.
∑ Putting guests on a calendar, including woofers
∑ Building a guest handbook to orient them
∑ Week long guest: we don’t know please answer questions, others can come on

Seeds
∑ Sascha spent a bunch of time working on the seed library and redusing the seeds to major families (roots, greens, etc). He wants to label all of them based on needs of what needs to be planted.
∑ Kaya proposes that the growers have a get together and pull out the seed packets that need to be planted at present. The rest of the information ( what variety, choices on priority) can be processed at the grower’s sub committee.
∑ Courtney is working on how to process knowledge of what is being and needs to be planted. Proposals for creating a document on this info (when to plant
∑ Alicia requests that on the calendar people cross off what has been done so we have an idea. Ashley L requests that folks write down when they are working on the shifts so she knows how to plan the activities for the week.

CSA
∑ Kaya checks in to let us know that people are spread out and not committing to full shares. Right now we have: Caroline Crumpacker family, Patrick – half share, once a week, Jim Mail- full share, sponsored share from Sascha’s mom, Greg Osaski- full share, Tortuga- full share, Brooke- half share for 2 years. Monique and nest- full share
∑ People are interested in New York City and we may have an opportunity to have boxes go down , either with Erika for the month of June, or Brooke, Sascha, Alicia’s friend Margot, Tortuga
∑ Bill Eagan needs to work and get picked up in Hudson. Alicia will be able to pick him up on Monday mornings.

Grub folks
∑ Are interested in starting a work trade with us, bringing a bus full of folks down on Saturdays and bringing fresh veggies home for grub. The group feels that we don’t need any more help, it is a lot of work for us to coordinate a lot of people. We need the financial support of people paying for our vegetables.

NAIS
∑ Ashley L has dropped the ball on her campaign and needs us to help out with getting to postcards out. Please send out the postcards.

Hue and Cry
∑ Wish list suggestions are on the board. Please write up what you think we need here.
∑ We need a calendar to go in the next issue.

Communication check in, questions? ---

Work Hours
∑ A proposal so we are not working in the middle of the day. 8am-12pm, 2-6pm for now, possibly a longer lunch break as we adjust to the working earlier.
Scythes
∑ Ashley M would like us to sharpen scythes. Kaya will do it and show Ashley how. Sascha’s cannot be sharpened because it nedds griding.

Free write

Farm Meeting June 8th

2006-06-08T07:43:00.000-07:00

AGENDA
Woofers and guests
Regular Volunteers
Work parties/Shows
CSA
Perennial Berry Garden
Truck Possibility
Planting Schedule
Workweek priorities and schedule

Perennial Berry Garden:

Ben wants to do one shift a week to work on berry garden near house garden. Is timing okay?
Discussion... People should follow things that invigorate them.
Unreachable bushes out back could be made accessible as well.

Woofers and guests:

Check in on our handful of Woofers coming next month that have already visited.
Update on Woofer coming this weekend, and woofers later in the season.

Work Party / Show

Discussion over whether or not we want so many events as in two in July. One rock show and work party and another Contra dance. Discussion over what kind of work we need and the negative aspects of recovering from work parties.
Events working group will make a drawn up proposal for this season's events dates, with details on clean up and structure.
Last work party went really well, we can step up the organization even better. Meal and clean up for guests sign up. Other sign ups.

Guests

Discussion.

Volunteers

Tuesdays and Saturdays as regular days to volunteer.

CSA

We have 14 shares. 4 of them are half shares. Pickups in Hudson, Pine Plains, NYC, and here at the farm. Hudson farmer's market will be happening. More work to be done coordinating.

Lailye wants to bottom line setting up the harvesting of the CSA shares while she's here.
We need heavy duty cardboard boxes and a stencil to go on it.

Truck Possibility

Discussion.

Planting Schedule

Discussion.

Positioning of stuff:

Seedling tables will go on east side of shed. Washing station on North side of barn. Ceramics pile next to humanure pile.

This Weeks Priorities:

Dump Runs
Metal Runs
Barn
Upstairs
Downstairs
Staking Tomatoes
Bed Preparation
Planting
CSA Prep
Truck

Work-Party Weekend Was Wonderful!

2006-05-14T14:33:00.000-07:00

About sixty adults and several children came to the Germantown Community Farm last weekend, May 5th through 7th, for two days of ground breaking farm work and one night of amazing music.

One of the most striking scenes must have been looking up, around noon, to see the CSA acre growing field full of people all working by hand with hoes, rakes, planting potatoes and lifting rocks.

Kids and adults were working under the scatteredly sunny sky and people were laughing and working with smiles on their faces.

A lot of beds in the field were made really fast that day.

Large, plentiful and delicious meals were prepared all weekend by our astoundingly talented seasonal resident.

Some friends of ours from the city almost completely finished the chicken tractor.

The upstairs of the barn was organized, cleaned, patched and planned in the first big leap forward as a healing space, art studio and chill out and guest room.

We had friends who live nearby working hard to fix water damage and old floorboards. We can almost keep the barn swallows out!

One visitor went through all of our bikes and preformed vital triage, by separating what could not be used, from what could be used and what was already usable, as well as fixing up a few bikes.

Bikes are very important, it's hard to deny, and I love that our bike space is so visible alongside the stage. Also, a solid small group of volunteers helped all day to organize the larger contents of the barn upstairs and downstairs, as well as clean up and organize the space for the Saturday night's music event. By evening the popcorn bar was set up, the stage lights were lookin good, the stage was cleared and ready, and there was plenty of room and cushions for people to crowd together for some really great music.

Tucker Dalton played the first set, with a heavy heart in the words of his songs and a soothing country voice to ease the soul.

“Rusty Belle” performed next. With multiple singers, accordion, guitar, and lots of handmade percussion instruments they created a very alluring and imaginative sound.

“Dearest” followed next. Sean as “Dearest” was like someone given very limited magic powers properly used only by water gnomes. With allusions to intimacy with ducks that makes you disturbingly jealous and a voice people kept commenting on, “Hey wow, that’s a really great voice he has”, with clapping and stomping at inappropriate times, and an unwarranted inclusion instilled upon us by drawing us into his lyrical adventure, we all enjoyed ourselves immensely. Though we felt dirty.

Jolie Holland was last. She’s spiffy. A hard farm worker and a great musician. I wish had had a video camera, I would like to watch that performance again. She was covering Leonard Cohen and Will Oldham and then playing unique songs of her own that she brought up from the past or had just recently created. What a voice! What a gal!

More wonderful things happened that weekend, but only people that were here will ever know about them!

We will be having more volunteer weekends and music events. Sometimes concurrently and often not. We are inviting people up every Saturday this summer for volunteering on our farm. It is a necessity to call ahead for these regular weekend work days though.

If you have something to offer in the way of events, shows and community misc. please contact us. We love musicians (Without big egos) and we seek to have our community and events space grow over the summer in a vibrant and healthy way.

If you have carpentry skills you’d like to offer, materials to donate, money to donate, or an interest in the other myriad aspects of the growing of our Community Supported Agriculture project, don’t wait! Contact us now!

gtowncommuntiyfarm@riseup.net

See You Soon!

Farm Meeting Notes May 11th (Summarized)

2006-05-13T19:58:00.000-07:00

{Attending: Sascha, Alicia, Erica, Bobby, Ben, Tyler, Courtney, Kaya, Ashley }

Agenda

- Roles, Revisiting Responsibilities:
- Last Weekend Work Party Check In{ How often do we want events? How Successful, Was it?}:
- Converting truck to vege-oil.
- Thank you cards:
- Season Calender { Reference}:
Working group members - Sascha, Ben, Kaya, and Courtney
- Committee needs to discuss:
- Grower delegation
- Timelines for planting/harvasting
- Brassica Garden
- Pump, Irrigation

- Non-Profit Possibilities:
- Grant accessible status.

- Scheduling:
- Calender Committee meeting
- Picnic
- Brassica Planting
- Basement
-Etc. :
- Volunteer work days on every Saturday.
- Bob Ryder wants to discuss fruit tree thinning & Pruning, needs to have us get in touch with him.

2006-05-04T21:12:00.000-07:00

WORK PARTY AND CONCERT AT THE GERMANTOWN COMMUNITY FARM!!

This weekend we will be having guests to help us settle into spring.

Hey friends-

If you like to dig your hands in the soil and plant seeds, hammer and
nail, create community spaces, AND listen to music, we have got the
weekend for you!

WHO: THE GERMANTOWN COMMUNITY FARM is having a work party and concert.
YOU are the volunteer and after a hard days work, JOLIE HOLLAND and other
guests will play a show in our barn!

WHAT:
We will be fixing holes in walls of our two story barn, cleaning
the barn out to create a community space for art, events, classes, dance,
yoga, and massage, and planting seeds and potatoes to help start our CSA
(Community Supported Agriculture) field.

WHEN:
May 5th-7th for work (Fri. - Sun.), come when you can, leave when you must
May 6th, Saturday night concert for those who have volunteered

What to bring:

Bring a tent or sleeping bag if you have one and plan to stay overnight.
We will be cooking for the weekend, but bringing food would be GREATLY
appreciated.

"The Germantown Community Farm is a budding organic farm, a node in a
network of rural activists, sharing our land and visions with
travelers, family, friends, and neighbors. We aim to foster a
cross-pollination between urban and rural living and create a physical
space and a forum for community sustainability. Our vision is one of
creating a new agriculture in the Hudson Valley, one that’s based on
diversity of culture and biology rather than corporate mono-cropping of
our minds and our fields. We strive for the cultural diversity of the
cities mixed with the biological diversity of our wild gardens and
forests and we’re committed to feeding and teaching a whole lot of
people and taking really good care of each other in the process."

Right now as a collective we are at a crucial time. Starting an organic
farm is huge, in both economics and time. We have 60 acres, a large
house and barn, a pond, a forest and a stream in the back. We are caring
for three grown goats and three baby goats, baby turkeys and chicks,
chickens, roosters, ducks, and geese, a large house garden, and ten acres
of neglected apple orchards. We are planting a field on the land to
start as a CSA farm, and cleaning out the barn for a healing space. We
have a deer fence to build, lots of planting to do in the ground as well as
our greenhouse. We’ve got our business license and we’re applying for the
ability to accept food stamps in exchange for vegetables. We’re starting a
local CSA for low-income families in collaboration with a community center
in the nearby town of Hudson (and actively trying to raise the money within
our social network to do so!) We are working hard and still smiling as we
follow our dreams!

We need the knowledge of our elders and the help of our peers. If you
can't come for our work party, consider signing up as one of our week
long guests over the spring or summer, or sending a donation.

How to get here:

Our address:
The Germantown Community Farm
4872 State Route 9G
Germantown, NY 12526
518.537.6139

By Train or Train and Bus:

TAKING THE METRO NOTH TO POUGHKEEPSIE: The Metro North to Poughkeepsie is
$12.75 off peak one way if ticket bought at station, and %17 peak. There
is a cheap bus from Poughkeepsie to our area in at 5:45 am, 6:45 am and
4:45 p.m. and 5:15 p.m.. The bus is fifty cents and you can pick it up
seven blocks up hill from the Metro North station in Poughkeepsie at Main
and Market streets. Coordinate your Metro North trip by checking out their
schedule online at:

http://as0.mta.info/mnr/schedules/sched_form.cfm

The bus line is called the Dutchess County Loop Bus. There is a possibility
of a pickup in Poughkeepsie, call ahead, gas money would be necessary in
that case.

TAKING THE AMTRAK TO HUDSON: (www.amtrak.com), ten minutes from our Farm,
and we could probably pick you up if you call ahead: $29 to $44 depending
on time of day, and how far ahead you book online.

BY CAR FROM NYC:
Take FDR NORTH over the Willis Ave Bridge
Stay to the left and take signs toward the SAW MILL PARKWAY
Stay on Saw Mill until signs for the TACONIC PARKWAY NORTH
Take the Taconic (60 miles) and exit REDHOOK 199 take the 199 (Left from
the Taconic) West through Red Hook to 9G (Take a Right) North towards
Germantown follow 9G through the town of Germantown (one stop light and a
Stewart's gas station) about 2 miles to the right is Hover AVE. DO NOT turn
on Hover, but slow down. We are the second house to the right, across the
street from the blue and white warehouse, with the big weeping willow, park
in front of the wood fence if there's room (not across the street)

Please RSVP to give us a general idea of when you will get here and how
long you will stay, and what kind of riffraff you are. Call ahead about
bringing pets. Our Farm house: 518 537 6139

We look forward to seeing you soon!

-Alicia, Ashley M., Courtney, Bobby, Kaya, Ben,
Ashley L, Sascha, Tyler, and Erika

(Also: Clubby, Peaches, Ivory, Ibex, Perro, Sascha,
The Rebel Banty, Effie, Willow, The Furbies etc..)

---> If you wish to contact an events and volunteer coordinator call Sascha
Scatter at 917.733.9316 or Bobby Dangerously at 646.942.8156.

Farm Meeting May 4th

2006-05-04T21:10:00.000-07:00

Farm Meeting May 4th

Agenda:

Animals
Bill Eegan
Guests
Driveway
Roles and Responsibilities
Schedule
Calendar
Irrigation
Weekend

Roles and Responsibilities

Ash: We need them, I feel this more now. But how?

S: List of what roles there could be and are. Kaya took on finance.

Erica Animals.

Growers? Multiple people.

Bobby will make sure stuff gets made for animals, carpentry. Feed boxes, brooding boxes, fencing etc… for animals. Bobby tells Erica or others to make lists or just ask him. He is officially the builder for animals.

Kaya and Alicia want to be maintenance bottom liners.
Kaya talks about how that could work, and what it entails.

Sasha wants to take care of Garden tools, not carpentry tools.

Systems of organizing need to be done for the carpentry tools.

Bobby says he’d like to bottom line carpentry tools and Sascha and him will work on a system for all tools to be kept and kept track of.

Kaya: Calendar for growing.
Where should it go? Different bottom liners will put stuff on it. Putting weeding and planting on there. This needs a committee.

Ben and Ashley and Court and Kaya will do this.

Bottom liner for growing? Maybe break it down to Greenhouse person, waterer, weeder and pest control.

Grower bottomliners: Greenhouse. Plant Maintenance. Irrigation. Tools. Seeds.

Sascha: Garden tools and Seeds library and seed saving in the field.

Other roles?

Food and preservation: Tyler

Volunteer coordinating and events: Sascha, Alicia, and Bobby

Ashley: Property maintenance bottomliner.

CSA bottomliners: Bobby, Ashley and Kaya

Communication with Shifts: Communicating with other people on shift if you are doing something else, you will be late, and what to work on. The list of projects to work on by the board.

Calendar will help.

Animal shift starts the work shift late.

Shifts are still 9am to 1pm and 2pm to 4pm. When it gets hotter we will start shifts earlier.

Bill Eegan:

Wants a share for work trade. Kaya will call him. Questions are raised about how to go about responding to his request and requests in the future.

Customer relations people can set up how to communicate and set up guidelines for the CSA.

This weekend and guests:

This weekend we made point people.

Damon point person for carpentry. Bobby barn downstairs. Alicia barn upstairs. Sascha will be doing orientation for guests. Tyler will bottomline food prep and more food stuff. Kaya and Courtney will do field stuff.

Alica took secret pictures of all of us and will post the wall with little notes for volunteers about if you want to do this thing contact this picture. (!!!)

Dust masks.
Scrub brush.
Renting a sander?

Rafter has some wood, Sascha will call him.

Charles may check into the electric.

Air compressor from Bob.
Industrial trash bags.

Goats:

Need more greens. Rotating fences for goats to pasture and special collars for them to be pastured by tying them up.

Small fencing for goats.

Work on goat fence this weekend if possible.

Goats have lice, need lice killer of some kind.

Alicia will get stuff at tractor supply.

Ducks, turkeys, geese and chix:

Turning shed around and putting up little fence for baby ducks. Running fence through middle of whole duck area and seeding one side at a time.

Irrigation:

Drip from 350-gallon tank for CSA acre? Probably not. Ben bought new $60 pump, we talk about the many uses for it. House garden from our middle well. Rain tanks on our roof for our house garden as well.

Moving trash from driveway before weekend.

Ben might bottom line dump runs fro Saturday.

We need permit in Hudson from town clerk.

$500 dollars off taxes if we don’t have kids in school. “Star program”
Use that money to have classes here! Educational stuff.

Growing Calendar meeting: Tuesday???

Picnic on Monday at 6:30 at Poets walk. “A romantic landscape walk.”

House meetings always at Wednesday 6pm
Farm meetings always on Thursday mornings at 10am

Alica will go food shopping on Monday.

the HUE and CRY Spring 2006

2006-04-23T19:26:00.000-07:00

ALL SUBMISSIONS FOR THE HUE AND CRY ARE DUE ON MAY 1st
Please send your writing, drawings, and experiments to
Hue and Cry Crew
4872 rte. 9G
Germantown, NY
12526

baby goats!!

2006-04-14T09:16:00.000-07:00

Farm Meeting Notes April 12th

2006-04-12T09:16:00.000-07:00

Farm Meeting notes; April 12th
11 Am
On the Agenda:

Animals -
Water and irrigation
Fence (work party)*-
CSA membership
Guest policy
WWOOF
Extra dozer time*-
Crop planning *-
Green Apple collective-
Money check in*-
Shift check-n (how do we figure out what needs to get done)
Watering schedule
Next Week schedule-
Roles still! (two established, crop planning:Ashley and Ben, soil amendments: kAya)
Farmer proposals *-

TSL updates
We will have a meeting with Kaya, Linda, and Thalia on Monday

Animals,
Comprehensive plan meeting for the animals to be…
Saturday afternoon
We need a new fence
10$ each for feed
we need to build bins in the shed for feed

Green Apple Collective:
From 1st meeting summary it doesn’t sound like we shouldn’t count on them financially for 5 CSA shares. Lets call them to see if the financial aspect is viable. Sascha will call elliot after the meeting to see what their shaping commitment is. Kaya is proposing that maybe we could make some kind of commitment to us bringing food to the city sometimes, We do need to communicate with them directly. Maybe Erika can take some stuff to the green market and a green apple collective member can come pick it up from her. Conclusion…direct communication….

Farmer Proposals: ---

Fence work party:
Sascha will send out an email and take care of the outreach aspect
Hearty Roots: does double layer staggered electric, but they had hardly any deer pressure, so he is unsure that it would work for people with heavy deer pressure
Court still needs to check out nylon.
- not strong doesn’t last long
- but we only
Solar electric fencing???
Electric seems like a pain to run electricity all the way down there.
Short stock with high tensile?
And posts….
our cedar?
Court will call Farmer Dan’s fence friends.
Smaller fence working group to reconvene on Friday morning (breakfast) Courtney, Ashley x2 and Ben.

Financial update: ---

Extra Dozering….
If Ken gets all the dozering done in less time than we thought,
Where do we send him next.
First North Pasture (the few stumps)
Then Roadside stand area (south pasture)

Farmstand update
We need a permit for it (stand and parking lot) which is immensely difficult, we can have a farmstand the size of a piece of plywood without a permit,
Sascha says its worth trying for this year,
Maybe let people use ouor driveway and we can park in the other lot,
But this conversation will be tabled for now……
Maybe delegate the responsibility
Get a general feel for the groups desires and then Ashley M. and Ben, will make the planting and rotation schedule with weekly needs of planting (inside and out).
Do we have enough greenhouse space?
If we plan well enough and if we use the appropriate sized cells, we might be able to do it. And in the summer we can start things outside and in makeshift coldframes and PVC low tunnels. There are a lot of ways to save greenhouse space, sow them in flats,
So list will include what when and how
And we need to get 200 plug trays from Griffin
Maybe if fencing meeting meets and Ben and Ashley M. meet, thwn we can get a whole bunch of stuff .
North Field, dry farming tomatoes , potatoes
And hot peppers and sunflowers, but one concern is creating another location that needs
a daily harvest could be problematic.
But a proposal is…
Lets plant up the whole back field and see how much stuff we have and then see if we need the North field, if not we will cover crop it,

And Mulch materials……??????
And lightning tree offered some old round bales
There should be a soil amendment person as their role, ….KAYA!
And soon we will have hay from our own animals beds, and chicken poop too!

Crop Planning
What do we need to plant
What have we already planted
We need to relook at our scale
Bene and Ashley now have the power to come up with the planting schedule!

CSA
After meeting we can work out the final edits and then hand out the brochure madly to people.

Farm Meeting Notes April 5th

2006-04-05T09:15:00.000-07:00

Farm Meeting Wednesday April 5, 2006

Bulldozer Prep
Questions: Should we take out the roots of the multiflora rose? What kind of bulldozer is it? should we chainsaw the trees? Yes, we suspect we need to chainsaw trees. Bobby would rather cut them down with a bow saw. And we are going to cut down the three front trees that have been the subject of controversy.

Tractor Prep
Questions: How big the tractor is? What attachments does it have? Sascha and Ben volunteer to bottomline.

Deer Fence
Bobby’s been doing research. Called SkyView Fencing, asked about 8 foot stock fencing. Fencing in the largest area would cost $2800, smaller area would cost $2200. Courtney is going to go tomorrow to check out the double layer electric fencing that Hearty Roots used. Ashley volunteers to call Farmer Dan’s fencing company’s option.

Fowl Check-In
Our duck is dying. She can’t breathe very well – some kind of obstruction, whether she swallowed something or has a bad flu/cold. She’s not eating or drinking on her own, needs to be handfed soggy bread and hand-watered from the eye-dropper. Bobby volunteers to do this while Erica’s away at the farmer’s market.
The female turkey is brooding under the crappy old red truck. Erica’s been leaving her bread and water. We vote to keep a few turkeys to raise and eat for Thanksgiving, give the rest to Kevin.
The first chicks are due to hatch tomorrow!!! When they hatch, they have to be moved to the terrarium with a heat lamp on them, and they have to be hydrated via squirting a few times a day. Tonight we will work on setting up chick habitat. We should get some chick feed from Agway until we can get feed from Lightning Tree.
Banty roosters got adopted!
Guinea Hens? Some people want more. Sascha really doesn’t. They remind him of the old men from the muppet show. Ben thinks they would be a good thing to do about ticks. Ashley M. proposes chicken-tractoring the guinea hens. Courtney says they won’t chicken tractor cause they’re too nomadic. Get 8 of them? Have their home-base in with the banties.
Moscobi Ducks: Bobby wants to raise some moscobi ducks. A really tasty meat duck. You have to order them from somewhere. People would like to know a little more info about them. Do they overwinter?
Killing some ducks? Social dynamics are bad in the goose and duck pen. Erica proposes killing 2 particularly mean ducks. Tyler is into killing and butchering them. We’ll have them for seder?

Workparty Schedules
Last weekend of April, Bobby’s sister is coming.
April 22nd: Deer Fencing Workparty that involves venison barbecue and music in the barn? Venison barbecue is nixed, but the music idea is taken on. And we will celebrate birthdays then too! And Spring!
April 27th: Bobby’s sister is going to do a natural healing workshop. We will have some kind of small gathering around this.
May: Front field clearing/preparation. Making a farmstand. Sascha wants to organize it.

Deer Fence: Bobby will work on design. Courtney is going to research materials.

Hue and Cry: Submissions due May 1st

Sign for the Farm: bobby is willing to make stencils. Alicia is interested in working on this too.

Metal dumpster run needs to get scheduled. Junk runs in general.

Further Seeding
We need to seed more stuff both in the ground and in the greenhouse
Ben and Alicia made a log of everything that has already been seeded.
We need seed trays. Ashley M. volunteers to call Farmer Dan and ask where he gets his. Courtney will ask Hearty Roots where they get their seed trays. It might also be possible to get seed trays from Mike the greenhouse guy. We will also investigate the soil blocking possibilities.

Tools
We need tools!
There are good resources for ordering tools in the Elliott Coleman book.
Alicia did a tool inventory.
Courtney thinks we should get a grinding wheel for sharpening things.
Also – how do we divide up landscaping crew tools and farming tools? Maybe get different tools. Also, people who are going to go do a landscaping job should check in with that day’s farm shift to see if they need any tools to be left behind.
Tool Working Group: Ashleys, Sascha, Bobby
Goat Fence
We need to build. Will talk about with scheduling.
Website Skillshare
Sascha set up a simple website for us. Wants us to learn how to update it. Will write down log-ins, passwords, etc.

Getting more soil amendments
We have one load of manure, one load of potting soil, one load of finished compost
We need more finished compost, we need more manure, we need green sand and rock phosphate. Tomorrow Courtney will see the guy with the # for finished manure. The phone # for the manure place is right by the phone, Tempera Hill is the name of the farm.
Farm Truck
Ashley L. is wondering if she can take it to the Bob on Friday and bring it back on Monday. People say yes! It needs an oil change, and the door needs to get fixed. And make a copy of the key.

CSA/Marketing
Tortuga delayed their meeting by one week. They will be meeting on Monday. We need a deposit from them.
It seems like the bigger field area is going to get cleared, so we can maybe be a little more ambitious.
Ashley M. will print up another copy of the brochure so people can mark it up and we can make changes.

Graphics/Logo/Postcard
Will have a workshift for this this week.

Greenhouse #2
Someone right down the road would be willing to give us some space in his greenhouse.

Scheduling

Next house meeting: Mondays at noon
Next Farm meeting: Wednesday at 11:00 am

Farm Meeting Notes March 31st

2006-03-31T09:12:00.000-08:00

This is the farm meeting on March 31.
Present; Ashley M, Ashley L, Courtney, Sascha, Ben, Bobby, Erika, and Alicia

Agenda:

Goat fence
Greenhouse
Potting soil
Re-seeding
Goat Milk and milking
Manure
Tractor work
Work party schedules for april
CSA members payment stuff
TSL
Student Group
Barn Party (and cleaning for)
Scheduling and work shifts
Fencing

Goat Fence;
Ladies fence, that is. We need to make a new one. We should schedule a day to do it with the tractor.
Do we want to enlarge their fence?
Inner perimeter stock fencing and electrified grazing area, which will be enlarges. But the stock fenced area doesn’t need to get bigger, and could even get smaller. Put electric fence in areas that are already clear and maintain the electric fence line – mow, weed whack. We have to baby proof the inside perimeter fence. Maybe flip the stock fencing upside down
So we’ll create work days based around that. There shall be a little meeting the night before the work day to work out the details.
Some say that at least six people should work on it together.
Erika says we should put a fence line from the corner of the banty shed so that they have a fence, to keep away large predators.

Greenhouse;
There are holes in the plastic, because it got stapled above the wood brace.
Until it ripped it was working great!
Things are staying warm.
Whoever wakes up first in the morning, go turn the space heater off.
The potting soil mix we made sucks. Too much sand, no water, plants aren’t growing. We’ll buy potting soil at Macenroe’s tomorrow. We’re talking about buying some compost now. Turning the idea over. Sounds like maybe we ought to do that. So we’ll get one cubic yard of potting soil and one cubic yard of compost.
We will still continue the search for horse manure.

Reseeding;
Ashley M.’s proposal is that we dump everything we have and re-seed.
Okay, we say.
That will be a major priority this week.

Hoop house; ---

Goat Milk and Milking;
Now we’re milking once a day. We could potentially start milking at night.
What are we going to do with the milk?
More people need to get trained in milking.
If you are the last person to use the milking stuff, wash the milking utensils right away.
Ben can milk. Lots of people would like to learn. We’re also going to have another milking goat soon. Maybe there could be a couple people to a goat. Or, say, Ashley and Erika could be ‘primary milkers’ and others could fill in a couple times a week as needed.
Okay, no night milkings yet.
Court wants to make cheese a couple o tmies a week, and we’ll make yoghurt often and we like fresh milk, and we don’t have that much milk anyway right now, so that’s easy.

Tractor work;
Now we’re talking about what trees to keep or cut. The big ones by the road cast lots of shade and are very unhealthy. The two little ones ought to come out based on cutback in space that we will have tilled.
We’ll take a field walk tomorrow after lunch.

CSA Members payment stuff;
Ash has some edits to make of the pamphlet and then she feels we are ready to widely distribute that info.
As for city folk, they will get back to us by mid-week next week after they’ve met. Bobby will be at that meeting.
Ashley’s talking about scaling back.
So maybe just ten shares – five shares for tortuga and five sold locally. Linda at TSL wants to have a meeting. (She’s down with our proposal.)
Ash proposes that locally we do 10 shares. Plus 5 for Turtuga.

Fencing;
Who’s working on researching deer fencing?
Bobby will do it.
8 foot.

Farm meeting March 24th, 2006

2006-03-24T07:49:00.000-08:00

Farm meeting
Friday March 24, 2006
Present; Ashley M., Ben, Courtney, Sascha

Agenda;
Soil amendments
Scheduling
Work party this weekend
Seeds – watering, re-seeding brocolli, organizing
Greenhouse

Seeds;
Court will water the seeds for the weekend
Ben says “If we seed anything, put the seeds in the ‘started seeds’ manilla envelope, so that they are easier to find if we need to re-seed”.

Greenhouse;
What needs to be finished is we need to stretch mesh over the existing benches and additional benches need to be built in the front of the greenhouse and they need to have mesh put on them. Then we need to prep the frame for the plastic – wrap rusty nails that are sticking out so that it won’t rip the plastic. We need to attach plastic at the top with wood strip screwed into the shed. We need to add horizontal rafters to attach plastic to between vertical pieces of the frame.
How are we going to be heating it?
Ben has a little heater with a fan. Or space heaters.
We also have to run electricity into that shed – whether it be extension cord or adding a line coming from house’s power source. Look into that one.
The blower’s in the potting shed and it’s all wired up. We need to build a box for it.

Soil Amendments;
PH was 6.1, which is a little bit acidic.
What we need is
Jersery green sand, Rock phosphate, lime (we can get that from the cement company across the river – but we don’t actually need much lime). We need seasoned compost. Manure (try to get the number for the horse farm we got manure from a couple of years ago). For some crops we need kelp or fish emulsion or chicken manure.

Schedule;
Plowing – we have to finish clearing the field. Deal with the stumps out there – backhoe? We should call Ken. We’re talking about pushing our readiness back a week.
Wednesday four of us are going to work on clearing the field. Also, new moon planting will happen.
Three of us will keep clearing the field on Thursday.
Figure out the chainsaws ahead of time.
Tuesday is greenhouse day.
Wednesday is new moon planting. So, soak peas Tuesday afternoon.
Monday Ben is going to work on tracking down compost sources.
Saturday (tomorrow) is manure pickup and greenhouse building.
Sunday is goat fence building day.
House/Farm meeting Monday morning.
Friday Ben is going to go pick up soil amendments.

Weekend work party;
Tomorrow is greenhouse building day.
Sascha and Bobby will get people started on the greenhouse tomorrow morning.

Sunday is goat fence day. We need yellow brackets for electric fence – the ones you can nail into a cedar post. We need some electrical fence tape.
Oh man, we just looked up the weather for the weekend. It’s supposed to rain and snow. Darn.
Okay, if people want to come for a work party, we shall tell them to come on Sunday.

2006-03-23T10:51:00.000-08:00

Nestled among the tidal Hudson and the rising Catskills our small community is bustling with activity as we plan for the coming spring. Through brainstorming sessions, over potlucks, during meetings and at work on the land, we are borrowing and learning from the old while forming unique ideas and notions anew.
For a rural community to thrive in the 21st century, we need to work within traditional models of self-sufficiency while simultaneously cultivating local and regional relationships to share with one another the fruits of our labor. We want to create a physical space and a forum for community sustainability.

Our 60 acre collective farm in Germantown aims to connect with and support our local and broad community through projects based in sustainability and creativity. We have been a functioning collective for a bit less than a year and work in symbiosis with our sister community, the Bob, 20 miles away. We are examining the intersection between the cultivated and the wild, working to implement more simple and sustainable systems. We are building a greenhouse, pruning the orchard, and setting the cogs in motion for our farm project. A community space is developing, our barn and land being used for events, performances, classes, skill shares, workshops, art projects, community dinners and more. People from all over are learning about the project and coming to help out and help dream of what's to come.

some pretty photos (there are so many more...)

2006-03-22T17:37:00.000-08:00

2006-03-20T08:29:00.000-08:00

Planting Schedule
weeks of March 13th - 27th
start in house/greenhouse: onions, leeks, asian greens, kale, lettuce, chard, chives, tomatoes, peppers, tomatillos, eggplants

weeks of March 27th - April 10th (new moon march 29th)
first weekend in April: direct seeding weekend
direct seed: peas, kohlrabi, chard, mustard, radishes, favas

weeks of April 10th - April 23rd (4 - 6 weeks before last frost date)

start brussel sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower
sorrel
start 2nd plantings of lettuce, kohlrabi, chard
direct seed: root crops: beets, turnips
start in greenhouse: fennel, basil

week of April 24th - May 7th (new moon April 27th)

direct seed: carrots, potatoes!
second week: start summer squash

week of May 8th - May 22nd (May 20th frost date)

second week: start cucumbers,

week of May 22nd - June 3rd (new moon May 27th)
direct seed: dill, melons, edamame, cilantro

weeks of June 4th - June 18th
direct seed 2nd cuke (pickler) planting, beans

2006-03-19T20:29:00.000-08:00

Dear Tortuga and friends,
We have worked out some of the details of our estimated costs, crops, and desired contribution. Hopefully not too late, we are really excited about our many forms of collaboration, if any of you or potential Buyer's Co-op members would like to submit anything for our publications, submissions for the Spring issue are due on May 1st!

As for the food part of our urban-rural interchange, here is what we are thinking......
You can expect 20 weeks of produce (June 1st - November 1st)
We will be growing the following crops....

late spring/early summer:
seedlings for your gardens in the city!
asian greens, lettuce, chard, peas, kohlrabi, mustard greens, arugula, radishes, favas, fennel, beets, turnips, scallions

mid-late Summer Harvest
chives, onions, kale, collards, lettuce, brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage,
tomatoes, peppers, tomatillos, eggplants, carrots, potatoes, summer squash, cucumbers,
dill, edamame, cilantro, melons, beans, corn

Fall harvest
melons, leeks, onions, tomatoes, peppers, tomatillos, eggplants,
brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, lettuce, kohlrabi, chard,
kale, collards, beets, turnips, parsnips, carrots, potatoes, winter squash, pumpkins

We will give you about five shares worth of produce, to be divied up as the buyer's co-operative decides.
We would like for everyone involved in the buyer's co-op to make it up to the farm at least once during the season and that a collection of folks come from the city for a work day at least once a month.
In exchange for produce and your help with distribution, and fundraising a financial contribution of $2,000 would enable us to make it financially viable.
This is our revised expectation of expenses:

• $1,500 Farm truck maintenance (fuel, repairs, insurance, grease conversion)
• $1000 Fencing (Stock Fencing, Gates, Ratchets, Corner Posts, Wire)
• $800 Hardware, tool maintenance, misc
• $700 Irrigation and Aquaculture (pumps, hoses, drip line)
$600 Tractor maintenance
• $500 Seeds
• $500 Tools (pruners, hoes, harvesting knives, rakes, seeder, soil blockers, digging forks etc.)
• $500 Soil amendments (Rock Phosphate, Jersey Green Sand)
• $400 Small Tractor
• $325 Re-may, and other row cover materials
• $300 Chicken expenses (coops, feed, chicken tractor)
• $300 Gravel (Parking area, Roadside Stand, Greenhouse Floor)
• $300 Harrowing Tractor Rental
• $250 Greenhouse Plastic
• $200 Perennial Plant Starts
• $200 Trellising Materials
• $200 Carts and wheelbarrows (could easily be made from bike parts and salvaged materials)
• $200 Greenhouse Materials (Blower, Bench Construction, Rebar)
• $200 Sheds and processing stations
• $200 Roto-tiller rental
• $150 Soil (for seed starting)
• $100 Legal Advice and LLC
• $100 Scales and containers
• $100 Mulch Straw and Hay
• $35 Business license
• $30 Soil Test
Total: $9,590
Your $2,000 would go to the most immediately necessary things on the list (potting soil, Fencing, Tractor rental etc.)
Also. if anyone is interested in specialized work contributions (i.e. website design, garden cart building, plumbing, electrical, carpentry, legal advice, plastic surgery etc.) We are still figuring out the idea of a bread share, which would be something like a loaf of organic bread (made with locally grown ingredients, and freshly milled flour) each week for an additional cost (which is yet to be determined), but Don the baker is into it. We'll let you know when we find out the price. Let us know whether there are any questions that remain unanswered! Can't wait to see you all again! We'll send our latest farm update along soon.

We're like a seed bomb, dude.

2006-03-19T20:05:00.000-08:00

From the New York Times THursday Home and Garden Section.

March 9, 2006
Essay
Inviting Anarchy Into My Home

By LIZ SEYMOUR
Greensboro, N.C.

ON Aug. 1, 2002, I left behind the comfortably roomy semicircle marked "married-couple household" on the Census Bureau pie chart and slipped into an inconspicuous wedge labeled "two or more people, nonfamily." Having separated from my husband of 28 years the day before, I opened our three-bedroom 1927 Colonial Revival house to a group of men and women less than half my age. Overnight, the home I had lived in for 12 years became a seven-person anarchist collective, run by consensus and fueled by punk music, curse-studded conversation and food scavenged from Dumpsters.

Thoreau famously said that he had "traveled much in Concord." I would venture to say that I've traveled just as much, and maybe more, without ever leaving my house.

It happened like this: My husband and I had come to the end of the line, as married people sometimes do. We had helped each other into adulthood and careers (Bill is a high school English teacher; I'm a freelance writer). We had raised two daughters together, but with Isabell and Margaret grown and both of us entering our 50's, it was clear that our hopes and goals for the next couple of decades were diverging.

Bill longed for quiet and solitude; I wanted noise and movement. To complicate matters, I had become the court advocate for Justin, a 15-year-old runaway from a foster home who had been in and out of juvenile detention since he was 12. After a year of trying to find a workable home for him, I had concluded that the only recourse was to be his foster mother myself.

Now, faced with the prospect of becoming a 52-year-old single mother to a teenage boy and the challenge of supporting us both, I panicked. Trying to imagine how I could make it work, I found my mind turning to a collective house in Oregon where Isabell, my older daughter, had lived the summer before, and to a group of young anarchist artists and musicians in Greensboro whom I knew through both of my daughters.

After Isabell came home from college an anarchist herself, I began to put aside my preconceptions about these people — as disorderly, violent and destructive — and to see them as a community dedicated to replacing hierarchy with consensus and cooperation. (Isabell once described them as Quakers who swear a lot.) Over time I found myself drawn to their hopeful view that people know best what is best for them and to their determination, naïve or not, to build a better world right away. Anarchism, at least as practiced here, seemed to be more about building community gardens and making your own fun than about black bandannas and confrontations with the riot police (although it was about those things, too).

Amid the chaos of my own life I wondered if this approach to living might have something in it for me. Unconventional as it was, I figured it couldn't be any worse than struggling to pay the mortgage and being Justin's mother on my own.

So Justin and I entered a microeconomy in which it is possible to live not just comfortably, but well, on $500 a month. When we pooled our skills in our new household, we found that we had what we needed to design a Web page, paint a ceiling or install a car stereo. Sharing services and tools with people outside the house saved us thousands of dollars a year. If there is a historical model for the way we live, it is not the communes of the 60's or the utopian experiments of the 19th century, but the two-million-year prehistory of our hunting-and-gathering ancestors. Looked at through that lens, the life of our miniature tribe feels a lot like the way people were meant to live.

That account, of course, leaves out the terror I felt through the summer of 2002 as I prepared to open my house to anarchy. Also the occasional awful days and nights early in the experiment, like the evening that began with Justin's skateboard at the bottom of the stairs and that ended with shouting, slammed doors and the skateboard flying out a second-story window. Then there were the guests who wouldn't leave; the short-lived but horrifying rat invasion (brought on, I suspect, by boxes of food from Dumpsters on the back porch); and the friends who drifted out of my life, baffled by my new living arrangements.

I still own about two-thirds of the house, sharing the title with two young women in the collective, Mackie Hunter, a 25-year-old full-time political activist who had an insurance settlement to invest, and Stef Smith, a 26-year-old drummer with a never-to-be-used college fund. Their investment, and my refinancing of the house, allowed me to buy out Bill after we divorced two years ago, and gave them about a third share of the property. Since I do not want to profit from the collective as its landlady, I have decided that the portion of the equity that builds up from my housemates' monthly rent will not go to me if the house is sold or refinanced, but will serve to help keep the collective going. In essence I've converted my capital from the house to the household. Twenty years from now, when I'm in my mid-70's, I may regret giving up my equity in return for time and community, but I don't think so. I'd rather take my retirement now.

The ages in the house span 50 years, from Jodi Staley's 6-year-old daughter, Skye, to me. Justin, now 18, moved out more than a year ago to live with his girlfriend; he hopes to go to a music conservatory. (He turned out to be one of those children it takes a village to raise, and he not only thrived under the group's care but rebelled into surprisingly mainstream respectability.)

None of us work full time. We support ourselves by painting houses, typing legal depositions, teaching (as substitutes), subjecting ourselves to medical studies, cooking in restaurants and writing. The time I save allows me to help care for an elderly relative, cook for a free meal program, spend time with friends and work on a book.

On paper we look like paupers. The monthly cost of living in the house comes to $160 to $245 a person, based on the size of one's bedroom. That includes the mortgage, property taxes, household insurance, utilities (we have an unlimited long-distance plan) and wireless Internet. In addition we each put $30 a month into a house fund that pays for bulk food like rice, beans, olive oil and spices, and supplies like toilet paper, light bulbs and laundry detergent.

As for produce, a typical evening of hunting and gathering in various grocery store Dumpsters brings in plenty of food: cartons of apples, oranges, potatoes, bananas and red onions, slightly soft or spotty perhaps, but still fresh and edible.

Every Sunday it is someone's turn to fix dinner while the rest of us sweep and mop, with Al Green or the Pixies blasting from the kitchen stereo. Since the dining room has been turned into a bedroom (as have the downstairs study and a small upstairs room that was my office), we eat on the screened-in side porch or in the backyard under the crape myrtle tree when the weather is warm, or around the kitchen table or in the living room when it is cool.

On Tuesday night we hold the weekly house meeting. It is surprisingly helpful to know who has a headache, who just fell in love, who is sleepy. More than one set of roommates have blown apart over dishes piled up in the sink and wet towels left on the bathroom floor; then again, so have quite a few nuclear families. We talk things out.

Though our daily activities are a lot closer to the Waltons than to the Weather Underground, we keep "In Case of Police Raid" instructions posted by our front and back doors. It is a reminder that houses like ours in other towns do get raided.

In spite of the stigma attached to the word "anarchist" and the scrutiny openly anarchist households receive, the number of such houses is growing. Anarchists are no longer just in college towns and big cities; there are now thriving anarchist communities and houses like ours in places like Lake Worth, Fla.; Machias, Me.; and Springfield, Mo. The online directory maintained by the Fellowship for Intentional Community lists more than 1,000 collective houses, ecovillages and co-ops in the United States, compared with about 400 in the 1990 directory. Although not all of them identify themselves as anarchist, more than half make their decisions by consensus. Even that number is clearly low: none of the five collective houses I know of in Greensboro, for example, are listed in the directory.

It is a rare week when we do not have at least one guest in residence. One winter we had a Danish filmmaker living in the garage. On a rainy night last spring an entire old-time string band showed up on the doorstep. The musicians had been hopping freight trains around the country and gotten stranded; they played fiddle, banjo and musical saw in the living room and left the next day. Another guest walked from Maine to North Carolina, the first leg of a trip home to Oregon. He stayed for a week, mended some rips in his backpack, then walked off down the driveway due west.

I have friends who tell me they could not live the way I do. I believe them. The constant sound of footsteps on the stairs, the coffee cups in the sink, the mysterious things in the refrigerator that no one claims, the sheer intensity some days of so many personalities rubbing up against one another, is not for everyone. But then neither are more conventional living arrangements. For me, a household of friends — more loosely bound than a family but tied together by loyalty, affinity and shared space — satisfies a need for kinship and companionship that did not end when my family did.

The old house's former incarnation as a middle-class, nuclear-family household still rises up in my mind now and then. Someone will ask about an umbrella or a bottle of aspirin or a pair of needle nose pliers, and I'll picture so clearly the place where the object used to be that for a moment I'm there instead of here. It is not an unpleasant sensation, just a little strange.

For the most part, though, my memory keeps up a pretty sturdy firewall between the time I have come to think of as "before" and now. Where I live now is not utopia. What it is, though, is fun. It is fun to hear people laughing on the porch; it is fun to dance in the kitchen; it is fun to go out on a Wednesday evening Dumpster run. As messy as it is, to my mind it is a lot more interesting than utopia could ever be.

here was kaya's mom's response

March 11, 2006

To the Editor:

In reference to “Inviting Anarchy Into My Home” by Liz Seymour, Essay, House and Home Section; Thursday, March 9, 2006:

“Anarchy” is often considered a dirty word in the media, usually appearing in the same sentence with “chaos” and “destruction”. But like my fellow baby boomer Liz Seymour, I have discovered there is an impressive network of “self-styled” anarchists out there. These resourceful young people are dedicated to old-fashioned values such as building community and standing up for justice and personal responsibility. They carry forward our generation’s legacy of the civil rights, peace and environmental movements. Their biggest crime is refusing to participate in the energy-gobbling and soul-robbing consumer culture. They should be considered our brightest hope for survival into the future.

Melissa Roberts Weidman

Community Supported Agriculture

2006-03-18T17:25:00.000-08:00

CSA Brochure:
Community Supported Agriculture
What is a CSA?
A CSA is a model of farming that directly connects the farmer and consumer. By joining a CSA, a member pledges support to a farm operation by paying for a 'share' of the farm at the beginning of the season. Members receive fresh, local produce every week throughout the growing season.The farmer and the CSA members share the risks, and bounty of a growing season. We all depend on one another, CSA's recognize the interdependence of farmers and consumers. It is an oppurtunity for the members to connect with the land and the source of their food, and an oppurtuniy for the farmer to connect with their community!

About Germantown Community Farm
Germantown Community farm exists on 60 acres of farmland, orchard, and woodland. We are in the process of restoring our old orchard (someday CSA shares may include apples!), and expanding growing operations to give more people access to healthy food. This will be our first year offering CSA shares! By sharing our produce, skills and seeds locally, practicing sustenance farming, local marketing and the CSA model, we hope to move forward as a thriving community that serves the local and global community with food, education, connection and inspiration. our other projects?

How We Farm
People and Community Structure
We operate on a collective model, and use egalitarian and concensus-based decision making processes. We share responsibility. We have individual commitments and responsibilities some of which are fixed, some of which rotate. The only way our non-heirarchical structure functions is through consistent and thorough communication. Throughout the growing season, we will have weekly field walks so that everyone involved in the farming project can have a clear idea of how the crops are doing and we can work efficiently together.

Growing practices/philosophy
Diversity is strength. It creates healthy soil, healthy cultures, and healthy people. As stewards of our natural resources, our practices are sustainable and pesticide/herbicide free. We incorporating methods of organic soil improvement such as cover cropping, mulching, compost tea, and perennial polyculture borders. We find the tastiest and highest quality produce to be that which is grown with a reverence for the land. We are passionate about growing high quality heirloom varieties.

Why We Farm
As an alternative to agribusiness, small farms stimulate community growth.
A healthy relationship between people and the source of their food is essential to a conscious community and culture.
In the face of the escalating global seed crisis, genetic modification, and food privatization, the basic ability to be a part of what you eat is increasingly difficult. statistic here about agribusiness! when the average bite comes from X miles away and x seeds/farms are owned by x corporations.....
The process of growing food and learning about how to grow food enables people to develop the connections and understanding that is at the root of sustaining healthy communities. Germantown Community Farm aims to connect with and support our local and broad community through projects based in sustainability and creativity. For a rural community to thrive in the 21st century, we need to work within traditional models of self-sufficiency while simultaneously cultivating local and regional relationships to share with one another the fruits of our labor. We want to create a physical space and a forum for community sustainability.

Supporting a First Year Project
Becoming a member of our CSA means that as well as being a part of the process of growing vegetables, you will have the oppurtunity to be a part of our farms growing process! We will be looking to this years members for feedback and suggestions for subsequent years. The risks of a first year project are mostly in the vegetables, tomato blight, and flea beetles, but we are confident that our members will receive a full season of delicious produce.

Numbers, Dates, and Dollars
Our base price for shares this year will be $500
You can expect 20 weeks of produce June 1st- November 1st
Members can pick it up on _________ between _-_ or __________ between __-__
We require 15 hours of work for the season because we want to know and work with our members. This translates to 3 hours per month or 2 full days at some point during the season. Members can sign up for work days when they come to pick up their produce.

What's in a Share?
Crops:
late spring/early Summer:
asian greens, lettuce, chard, peas, kohlrabi, mustard, arugula, radishes, favas, fennel, beets, turnips, scallions

mid-late Summer Harvest
chives, onions, kale, collards, lettuce, brussel sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, tomatoes, peppers, tomatillos, eggplants, carrots, potatoes, summer squash, cucumbers, dill, edamame, cilantro, melons, beans, corn

Fall harvest
melons, leeks, onions, tomatoes, peppers, tomatillos, eggplants, brussel sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage
lettuce, kohlrabi, chard, kale, collards, beets, turnips, parsnips, carrots, potatoes, winter squash, pumpkins

Bread share: For $80 ?????? you can add a loaf of organic bread from Wild Hive Farm Bakery to your weekly box. (Locally milled and grown organic grain)

Becoming a Member
payment philosophy
our share
special shares

Seed Saving at Germantown Community Farm

2006-03-10T15:13:00.000-08:00

Heirlooms, Hybrids, Corporate Seed Monsters,
and Protecting Our Collective Agricultural Heritage

When people talk about “heirloom vegetables” just imagine them like an heirloom anything else: something so good they’ve been passed down from generation to generation, seeds saved and replanted, preserved and cherished. When people talk about “open-pollinated vegetables” they are talking about populations of adaptable plants whose seeds can be saved and replanted the following year. Up until pretty recently, most farmers and gardeners saved their own seeds and the plants they grew adapted to the local soil and weather and pests and diseases.

When people talk about “F1 Hybrids” they’re referring to the offspring of two distinct varieties of open-pollinated plants whose genetic base has been selected and reduced to be so narrow and sparse that when they’re crossed the resulting mix of genes in the new seeds creates a plant that’s incredibly productive and uniform for one season, but whose seeds are all confused and useless for farmers when planted the next season.

If I’ve lost you with the awkward scientific language, just remember this part: farmers who use hybrid seeds need to buy new seeds every year because they can’t save the one growing in their field. Hybrid technology changed the whole face of the seed industry because it turned seeds from a natural resource and part of the life cycle of the farm into a marketable commodity. Back in the 1970’s all the old regional seed companies in this country were bought out by global petrochemical companies who already owned the fertilizer, herbicide, and pesticide factories. If you think about it for a second it doesn’t make any sense for fertilizer and herbicide and pesticide companies to own the seeds we use: what incentive would they have to breed seeds to be healthy or resistant to pests and diseases? It’s a really bad idea.

But it just gets worse: in the 1990’s the petrochemical companies merged with the pharmaceutical corporations and now call themselves the Life Science Industry and spend enormous amounts of money trying to figure out how to suck the life of vegetables and sell them to us as expensive pills and how to genetically engineer their seeds to be dependent on their chemicals. (And they spend just as much money trying to figure out how to convince us that these are really good ideas that we can’t live without!)

Last year, 2005, Seminis, the largest vegetable seed company in the world, was bought by Monsanto Corporation for $1.4 billion. Monsanto is the leading proponent and practitioner of genetic engineering. Monsanto seeds and biotech traits account for 88% of the total acreage of genetically modified seed planted worldwide. The whole thing is such a big disaster it makes my head spin when I think about it too much. So growing open-pollinated and heirloom seeds, saving their seeds, and then teaching others how to do it is one way of retaining some degree of self-respect and autonomy from these corporate monsters.

While it has become way less common in this country as our agri-cultural roots disappear into the monoculture, farmers all over the world have been saving and trading their seeds for ten thousand years and most farmers in the world still have the skills to save their own seeds. Here in the United States there is a small but growing movement of farmers and gardeners who are actively saving their seeds, adapting them to their local environments, and working towards a vision of community controlled agriculture that is completely independent from the corporate seed barons. Here at the Germantown Farm a number of us have some experience saving seeds and we’re really excited about learning with each other and drawing upon the knowledge of our fellow seedsfolk here in the local area and around the country.

Here on our farm we feel privileged to be getting our seeds from the wonderful folks at FEDCO up in Maine, as well as our friends like Frank Morton from Wild Garden Seeds and the Kapuler Family from Peace Seeds out in Oregon. We’re honored to be participating in seed trials through NOFA-NY, and well as have neighbors like the biodynamic farmer folks at Turtle Tree Seeds. We feel blessed that there are existing national networks like the Seed Savers Exchange, and support organizations like the Organic Seed Alliance that are helping our movement to grow. We’re very inspired by the work of pioneers out on the West Coast like Dan Jason of Salt Spring Seeds, Susanne Ashworth who wrote Seed to Seed, Dr. Carol Deppe who wrote Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties, Raoul Robinson who wrote Return to Resistance: Breeding Crops For Reduced Pesticide Dependence, David Theodoropoulos from J. L. Hudson Seeds, George Stevens from Synergy Seeds, and the folks at the Bay Area Seed Interchange Library in Berkeley, California.

On our farm in the Hudson Valley of New York we’re planning to build a healthy library of seeds, teach seed saving workshops to people in our community, and spend the coming years stewarding heirloom treasures, adapting new varieties, and sharing the magic of our harvests with friends and strangers alike. This is truly our collective heritage and we understand how important it is that we do this work together.

Farm Update Feb 27th

2006-02-27T10:50:00.000-08:00

Germantown Community Farm Update Monday February 27, 2006 (From Ashley McNamara)

Hello everyone!

Today was another exciting day in the progress of our little farm project. After a weekend of pruning fruit trees, clearing brush, and feasting with housemates, friends, and neighbors, we woke up this morning to cold clear sunshine and decided over breakfast whose names were going to go on our DBA (Doing Business As) form. Then Kaya, Courtney, Sascha, and I (Ashley Mc.) went down to the county clerk's office in Hudson and filed the paperwork to officially register as the Germantown Community Farm! Bobby, Erica, and Ashley L. stayed home to feed the animals, jumpstart trucks, and take care of the house.

The last few weeks have been pretty amazing around the farm. We've got a lot going on:

* We finished the "Hue and Cry" and the "Germanator," the new zine/newsletters of our community.
* We've received $2600 in donations towards the start-up costs of our first year CSA project!
* In the barns, we've built a milking stand, fixed the goat's roof, chicken-wired the ceiling, built stall doors, and otherwise cleaned up our goat sheds and chicken coops to make our animals' lives comfier and to prepare for the arrival of our baby goats. We're averaging 12 eggs a day from our healthy hens, who've been glad to see some of our excessive rooster population depart.
* We've hosted pruning workshops with a different teacher every weekend in February. Friends from far and near have helped us prune and clear a massive chunk of our old apple and cherry orchards, as well as clearing brush and old trees from the roadside and our future vegetable field.
* We've secured a little Bolens tractor, pruning equipment, and other tools and supplies.
* We've gotten the results back on our soil test from the local cooperative extension, and have established a relationship with a small farm advisor who's helping us plan our season and figure out business/tax details.
* We put up a frame for an early-spring greenhouse and ordered plastic from a local distributor.
* We've completed an extensive seed order and received a huge donation of organic seeds from friends on the West Coast.
* We've painted and organized our kitchen.
* We've fixed multiple leaky pipes and repaired our shower.
* We've established a cleaning schedule for the house that's actually working.

And it seems like we're all still managing to sleep and get fed...

Initial Tortuga Questions February 2006

2006-02-02T15:12:00.000-08:00

Feb 2nd, 2006
Dear Germantown Friends,
We love you guys and your project totally rocks! We are so excited about all the projects you are doing and would love to be an important part of your CSA project. We are also committed to making a good and solid Urban-Rural connection.
So this is what we are willing to commit to if you want us to:
ÿ We are willing to be a drop-off point for NYC for your CSA. We have room to store it (in our garage out back) and the will to organize drop offs in midtown, Brooklyn and be the drop off in Queens. We are also willing to help separate and organize drop off with other collectives.
ÿ We are willing to use the Skiff (our van) to drop off and pay for the gas involved.
ÿ We are willing to solicit collectives/groups in the city to join the CSA
ÿ We are willing to act as a liaison between the CSA participants (people getting food from you) and the Farm.
ÿ We are willing to help manage the payments, work-exchanges, etc.
ÿ Willing to work with Swarm Press to duplicate any literature/zines for the food shares about what is going on the Farm.
ÿ Housing for those coming to the city for CSA and Green market stuff in the city.
We do have a few questions for you guys
? How much will each share be?
? When will the CSA season start?
? Will there be a work-share piece to this?
? Would you like participants to come and help out with farm work?
? What kind of food?
? How can we do a sliding scale for folks who can’t afford it? We suggest that the participant circle try to self-organize a sliding-scale (subsidizing) shares of other participants.
? Will there be a web-site?
? Should we have some kind of meeting? Maybe four times a year (split between the city and the Farm)
? Ideally, how many shares will you have available?
? How often do you think you are going to have food available? ( i.e. weekly) ? How long do you think the CSA season will be?
? Can we get the great fresh bread as part of the share too?(Alternatively you could have participants pay extra for the bread)

Growing Together at the Roots With My Friends

2006-01-20T10:52:00.000-08:00

Growing Together at the Roots With My Friends by sascha

It's Monday morning in Germantown, NY. Woke up to my housemate Kaya asking me to help move the farm truck. I stumbled out of bed, pulling on my soil stained pants, big snow boots, someone's jacket cause there’s a pile of them by the door and we're always just wearing each other's clothes these days. There were half a dozen folks outside already there at the bottom of the hill by the barn, blowing steam out of their mouths and noses, getting ready to push the 1994 Ford F-350 orange diesel truck out of the mud. Kaya put it into gear and revved the engine-- wheels spinning, mud everywhere. We piled a bunch of heavy metal from the scrap pile in the back, old carpet underneath the tires, she still wouldn’t budge. Finally Erika hooked up her truck to the front and we pulled it out triumphantly, up the hill and out onto the road. Came back inside and Bobby and Patrick started making french toast and omelets in the kitchen with dumpstered veggies from the health food store in Hudson, bread from Erika's dad's bakery, and eggs from our chickens. Right now I can hear Ashley working on the goat feeding schedule and people milling about working on their various projects, our stealthy cats darting in and out of the doors, a flurry of activity all over the house. I feel so lucky on mornings like this, the taste of maple syrup in my mouth, sun shining on my face. This isn’t any kind of life that you see on TV shows or read about in glossy magazines, but I can’t imagine what I’d rather be doing than living in a house with a bunch of my friends and working outside with each other on our collective farm.

In This House That I Call Home
Since the early Fall I’ve been living on an old farm two hours north of New York City with a bunch of sweet and wonderful people. And we’re all bound together by our passion for food: planting it, tending to it, cooking it, eating it, sharing it, talking about it, reveling in the wonder of it. We’re about to put up a greenhouse, grow a whole lot of seedlings from amazing seeds, and in the early spring we’re going to till up an acre behind our pond and grow a whole lot of really good, healthy food. We have two beautiful, pregnant goats who are going to give birth sometime at the end of this month and we’ve been getting everything that needs to be ready for the new babies. We’re having barn and field work parties and tree-pruning workshops every weekend in February to reclaim what we can of the 10 acres of neglected apple orchards on the property. But really, amidst all of it, the most important thing we’re doing these days is learning how to trust each other, learning how to support each other, and learning how to work together and watch each other’s backs in a world where real trust and friendship seems harder and harder to come by.

I can’t even believe we’re really doing it sometimes. I moved into this house back in August when I was losing my mind being a city boy living in a dark room down the street from the Brooklyn/Queens Expressway and working in midtown Manhattan. I had a few sad looking tomato plants growing in pots on my windowsill and I could barely relate to my housemates. Suddenly, four months later I’m in this intense relationship with a whole pack of people, most of whom I didn’t even know four months ago and we’re living our collective dreams together, making it up as we go like it was all meant to be or something.

Communities Grow Like Forests
It just feels natural. It’s like how the those permaculture people talk about levels of succession in the forest: how after a clear-cut the first thing to grow in the woods are the pioneer species, the tough spiny sprawling plants with deep roots that create the habitat for the next layer of plants to arrive and the climate for all the right microorganisms and the mycelium to take over the soil. Then all those plants and species attract the bugs which bring the birds that come and bring with them the seeds of shrubs and bushes that grow from far away. The shrubs and bushes hold the soil and create the space for the next wave of succession, everything grows and intertwines, and eventually the climate is right and large trees to grow again once more into a healthy forest ecosystem. It’s a spontaneous process but there is a greater order to it.

There’s a similar process of succession and growth taking place in our community right now except it’s all about the people and our relationships to each other and the physical environment. Not so long ago this place was a neglected old farm. Our friend Asa bought it with the dream of hosting a community like ours. It’s not clear what’s going to happen in the long run, but we know it’s not going to get taken away from us anytime soon– we can put our love and sweat into it and it won’t just disappear into some strangers greedy hands. Which opens up a lot of possibilities.

This land has had its share of problems and rocky times since our friend bought it five years ago. Although he poured so much of his heart and hands into working on it, irresponsible college kid tenants, neglected frozen pipes, holes in the barn roof, and a decent dose of drunken circus chaos made it questionable whether this place would actually ever be a place for healthy and vibrant community. But little by little the right series of pioneers and successions arrived: a small crew of people with vision and drive, a cast of quirky characters with crazy dreams, some old biodiesel vehicles, a pond to swim in, a bunch of work parties, a 5 gallon bucket of smelly compost tea, a handful of folks with carpentry skills, a lost sheep fiasco, a broken stair and a bag of quick drying cement, some rowdy anarchists, a slapped together outhouse, an impressive house greywater system, a bed of very healthy brussel sprouts and a ton of cherry tomatoes, a pile of old travel zines, some bee boxes, a couple of bottles of homebrewed wine, three large pigs, friends visiting friends visiting friends from the city, you can paint the picture for yourself.

We Spend a Lot of Time By the Woodstove in the Kitchen
You can see succession dramatically at work when the furnace gets fixed and suddenly the house is habitable for winter when it wasn’t clear that it was going to be. People gather around fire and heat. The people who’ve ended up sticking around for the winter have turned out to be really committed to turning this place into a functioning, awesome community: figuring out cleaning systems, hashing out guest policies, making real time for group emotional process, working out our collective money and financial situations, trying to figure out our general decision making process, and trying to figure out exactly just who we think we are in this world. Meanwhile we’re making sure all the people are getting fed and the animals are getting fed, we’re trying to build better relationships with our neighbors, grappling with our sketchy reliance on oil and talking about energy sustainability, dealing with whatever other dramas we have in our lives…it’s a lot of work and not very easy. We bicker about food and dishes. Sometimes we argue about larger life questions and don’t always end up in happy agreement. We try not to step on each other’s toes too much but we inevitably end up sometimes doing it anyway. We all come from different places, different backgrounds, and have different relationships to food and work and money.
Living in community with people different than us is not something we’re taught how to do well growing up in this society. But amidst it all we’re braving it, taking risks, and getting close to each other. Winter helps. We cook a lot of hot food. We spend a lot of time by the wood stove in the kitchen. We stay up late telling stories about all the trauma and drama from our childhoods . We’re a community of folks who don’t fit so well in the normal world, and that’s probably why we’re so passionate about creating something new.

It’s All About the Friends
Jay showed up the other week and was teaching us how to ice fish out of the pond, Tiger was baking apple crisp and playing fiddle all over the house. Tucker came over a couple weeks after I moved in here and helped me build a platform for my bed. Jolie came over and played guitar and sang freshly written songs. Alecia gave amazing backrubs and cooked good food. Lailye taught yoga classes. Rene and Moose painted the big upstairs bedroom. The entire Beehive Collective camped out in our living room for a week making art and strategizing the revolution. Our friends in New York City from the More Gardens! Coalilition, the Curious George Brigade, and the Bluestocking Collective have all come up to work on projects with us and eat lots of food.

We all know that once the warm weather hits we’re going to have friends visiting from all over the place and we’re going to be working out in the fields together, daily yoga classes in the living room, cooking huge meals with fresh produce, teaching classing and hosting skillshares, having dance parties in the barn. There’s nothing more exciting than working and playing together with a bunch of your favorite people.

Learning From Our Elders
We’re bunch of kids but we’re not afraid to ask for help from the older folks. We couldn’t do it without them. On Thanksgiving our house was packed full of friends and relatives -- five different people’s families showed up. A lot of them were meeting each other for the first time, swapping stories about their kids, everyone so impressed by how well things have been coming together. Bobby’s mom came down from New Hampshire and taught everyone circle dancing. Courtney’s mom spent hours in the kitchen with us baking pies. My mom and her boyfriend came and brought me a down comforter to keep warm in the middle of winter. Ashley’s parents and sister’s were around and super helpful and great.

The intentional community family connections run deep around here. Kaya and Dylan were raised as tiny ones on a big commune in Tennessee. They have lots of thoughts about what worked and didn’t work. And so do their parents. Kaya’s dad showed up the other week with a GPS tool and a chainsaw and the two of them spent the day mapping the entire farm property and cut down a bunch of the dead apple trees for our firewood. Their dad actually visited a few times over the season and had us outside working together -- felling, bucking, hauling, splitting, and stacking – getting our wood pile ready for the winter and giving us lots of hard earned advice. Then there’s a 77 year old local woman named June Munson who’s been teaching crocheting and telling good stories to some of the folks around here. It feels really good to be around young folks who have lots of respect for older folks. It just makes sense in a way and makes me feel like we might actually have a chance at sticking around.

Really Just the Beginning
So I’m not sure why I’m telling you all of this except for the fact that I’m really happy about it. I’m so excited to be working on such an amazing collective vision. There are these totally magical moments when we’re all working together outside or in the barn or in the kitchen. These moments when we’re having large group discussions and meals and people are really present with one another. These moments when we’re all dancing together at a show that we’ve all worked so hard to make happen and the music sounds so sweet and everyone looks so alive. These are moments when everyone realizes how important this all is and we’re all looking at each other with wonder and appreciation. It’s really a sight to behold. No matter how this all turns out in the end it’s going to be worth it. We’re building the path that we’re walking on, making friendships that are going to last our lifetimes.

These days I wouldn’t trade anything in the world for standing by the Hudson River in the middle of winter with my friends, just down the road from our crazy house, the sun setting over the Catskill Mountains and reflecting pink and orange and red and yellow in the chunks of ice floating in the water, watching this amazing group of people I call my community taking care of each other and playing around in the snow. It makes me feel lucky and proud, humbled and free to just be myself and know I have a crew that really has my back and will look out for me if I go through hard times. And we have packs of friends doing stuff like this all over the country: from the Albany Free School folks just North of us to Short Mountain Sanctuary in Tennessee to the Rhizome Collective in Austin to the Linnaea Farm up in British Columbia to the Victory Gardens crew in Maine. We’re all just getting wiser and more interesting as we get older, our stories more intertwined and more outlandish and more solid. And really the adventure’s just begun.

It’s not even Springtime yet.

Sascha Scatter
4872 State Route 9G
Germantown, NY 12526
scatter@theicarusproject.net

Farm Meeting Notes Day After Thanksgiving 2005

2005-11-28T15:07:00.000-08:00

Minutes from our 2nd Farm Meeting
The day after thanksgiving, the grand year 2005

Proposal to create an agenda and people noted…
-money (for the farm, where it comes from, where it goes)
-goat fence
-greenhouse
-lightning tree (erica’s investigation of manure sources and feed prices)
-diesel truck
-chocolate (move the whole bowl to the table)
-low-till, no-till, mulching
- tractor ideas
- season schedule

GREENHOUSE:
From Steven, 12’ x whatever length we want hoop house,
But…we need to buy plastic, if it went on foundation we would need to construct a fence around it, and it probably makes sense to put it near the water source (spring fed pond) and where the field will be (behind the pond)
Go on a site walk after meeting!
What about greenhouse near animals…chicken heated???compost heated???
Although….when we get a nice glass greenhouse with insulated north wall, that can be chicken heated…
The green house now will be for seed starting in february etc.
Sheep shed; move it down for garden tools
Conclusion:
Site walk after meeting and little greenhouse (tires and bay window) to be run-in shed for ducks and geese with shelves for house garden seed starting. Little greenhouse needs to be completed in the next few weeks.

ANIMALS:
Chris and Ashley…
Roof of goatshed figure out leak spots, chickens have bad and unsanitary roosts,
Make amendment corner of garden shed into a nice feed room
Hay: estimate we will need 60 bails to last us through the next four months,
Best price $2/bail hopefully we can get it all at once
We need to do a pre-winter clean…stripping out banty shed and chicken coop, plastic banty windows, Ashley will make a list of the daily animal routine (morning and night)
So that we can all have it on our radar,
Think about……geese and ducks, are they worth our time and resources?
Submersible coil for goat water (figure out finances for it)

LIGHTNING TREE
Waiting for feed prices, see if it makes sense to by individual grains and mix our own feed or by the feed already mixed. Erica also got #’s from farmers around that feed their animals organic grain so that we can get their shit.
Shall we get more chickens for the spring, we have space and selling organic eggs at the green market is bling.
Rooster Problem!!!! We have way too many

MONEY$$$$$$$$$$
Ben’s sentiment is that people who invest in the farm very certainly should be reimbursed, we ought separate animal and vegetable expenses, and keep track of our hours.
Still, we will not be able to cover living expenses on the profits from a first year farm without needing to work a fair amount off the land
So….
Investors?
Grants? (there are soooo many kinds, we don’t need to have our own 501c status, especially if someone claims us as their project)
Research the options and come back…
Also Individual fundraising, if we make a solid plan and solicit funding.
PICK A NAME!!!!
Get people involved at this stage!
And we will have to put $ in at this stage as well, where will that come from? (finance section of Monday house meeting)
Quick summary (given that Ben is leaving and we are continually explaining ourselves to people) so that we are all on the same page…..
We are talking about an educational, sustainable community farm project. The CSA is more about building community that about becoming a successful market farm.
Lots of nodding…
Market farm is more about subsidizing projects that we are ideologically connected to (i.e. South Bronx CSA) so that we don’t have to lose money on them
South Bronx CSA update,… Ben talked to Harry and he says that even just growing one crop and greens would be very useful for them.
Steven also says that anything we want to grow for his distributor would be great (esp. Broccoli Rabe)
Look into farms that want specific crops
(edible flowers, basil, arugula, broccoli rabe, collards)

DIESEL TRUCK
Insurance needs to change,
Registration will expire at end of month,
Will be farm truck,
How can we collectivize expenses,
Probably draw from farm expenses which need to be separated from House expenses,
Maybe…Sascha can insure it, it sure would be a heck of a lot cheaper!!!

TRACTOR/LOW-TILL, NO-TILL
There is a roto-tiller coming so maybe we could just use a local farmers tractor for work exchange and then use the roto-tiller for the rest.

We need to make a list of specific things and exact $ amounts to show folks and solicit funds (next farm meeting)
Tractor: ask….Ken and Barbie(kaya and Dylan) Grape Farmer neighbors, and John down the road.
We need a discussion about how we will be farming, what model/ example do we want to look toward?

NEXT FARM MEETING:
Thursday December 1st 6pm
To be coupled with Bobby’s 2-week anniversary meeting.
-make the list of specific things we need and $ amounts
-visioning (what methods and why) (what kind of farm do we want to be?)
- Tractor updates
- Drafting of a season schedule

Things tabled for Mondays house Meeting:
- work party scheduling (goat fence, wood etc.)
- finances!
- New rooster home check in

Designated tasks:
Roosters: Chris will post at feed shop, Erica will make some calls and ask around, Kaya will post on Freecycle.
Check in about geese and ducks (are they worth it?)… (house)
Ashley:call greenhouse plastic suppliers (farm)
BEN TO BOTTOM LINE LISTSERVE

Farm Meeting Notes November 20, 2005

2005-11-20T15:05:00.000-08:00

Farm Meeting November 20, 2005

Garden<>Farm Relationship:

Garden: diversity, test varieties, food for house

1 Acre Farm plot: Tilled earth, trusted varieties for market

Folks involved in project & their interests and potential commitments:

Ben- Bottom lining market garden, full time +- commitment with very part time outside job. Orchard care a large commitment also and helping out with goats (milking) birds & bees. Will take part in seed saving, greenhousemushroom & herb projects.

Erica-Working on farm during week according to need and 14th Street Green Market on weekends. Orchard care & bees as well.

Kaya-Part time working on farm, part time networking, events, community outreach, seed saving projects, point person for volunteers, bottom lining house garden. Bees & Orchard as well.

Ashley-Part time laborer 2-3 days a week womanpower. Will work on educational aspects/workshops in barn, tours. Bee person.

Courtney- Seed Bank, seed processing, events, farm work (not full time) education work 2 days a week. Bee person.

Betaya- 2 days a week farming, education, marketing in city

Moss-Greenhouse and other farm construction, herbal business, herb bed, handy mon of farm. Shitake mushroom project

Sascha- Farming a bunch of days a week, Greenhouse, early season seedling work, curriculum, events, folks biking up to farm with times up from city.

Ashley Mac-Animals, milk goats part time, house garden, seed saving, curriculum, labor on farm 1-2 days a week, Forest farming project on part of orchard.

Chris(not present) Animal caring

Farm Schedule Forming! Weekly list come season
February workshops on weekends
Pruning!

Greenhouse—
Erica-greenhouse glass source
Kaya-Rebar, Plastic, PVC easiest way to go

Markets-

Green Market 14th street (specialty goods)
Rhinebeck
Hudson
Roadside honor system stand on road next to our house

CSA- This year we are building the groundwork

South Bronx CSA- 1 crop offering possibility

Alternative CSA model- every week pick a 10$ or 20$ box depending on what we produce (Ashley Mac)

Local small CSA possibility for this year

Think out Fermentation/Cannery

Education

$ and/or work exchange for students

Bard

Hudson Valley Ecovillage list serve

Property stuff-

-Keep Asa informed in detail
-Keep good records of farm
-Keep track of investments
-Write proposal for this farming season with Asa and our signatures.
*Land use, people and time involved, $, equity?
-Contemplate possibility of evergreen lease for next year(mutual agreement between owner and leasee renewed every year with a several year time to move out if lease is not renenewed.)

Follow up for Friday 2:00 meeting
Moss & Sascha-Greenhouse plans
Erica-compost sources
Ashley Mac- Goat and Chicken advice, contact Rafter
We must all contemplate compensation for farmers (reduced rent, split of market $)
Fundraisers for initial setup
Kaya-contact farmer Dan, Renard, calling Asa

2005 Fall Gathering Invitation

2005-10-28T15:11:00.000-07:00

Come friends, come neighbors, come farmers and seed savers, come visionaries, teachers and learners, come skilled trades people and good cooks, come musicians and storytellers and bonfire builders, come if you’re curious, come children and your folks, come all ye fighting the good fight, enjoying life, working for change, come as whatever you like!

You Are Invited to a Fall Gathering of Our Hudson Valley Community

For the weekend of October 28, 29, and 30th, we the people of the Bob and her sister community in Germantown declare our home Open, and we invite you in hopes of new friendships and a lovely time. May our broader community of good people be ever-expanding, ever connecting! Let’s talk of our resources, of what we want and what we have. And locally, we must know each other to call upon and to make merry!

Camping is welcome on our land if it’s warm, and all over the floor of our house if it’s chilly. We will feast nightly around 7 o’clock in the barn, potluck style! We invite music and performance, films, information sharing, and the like.
There will be various farm projects to work on throughout the weekend.

The gathering will be held at our farm on 9G in Germantown, at number 4872. We’re about 2.5 miles north of the town’s 4-way intersection. You can get to 9G from 199 off the Taconic Parkway at the Red Hook/Rhinebeck exit, or right over the bridge from Kingston.

For more information call us 518 537 6139

really rough principles conversation from late summer 2005

2005-09-01T15:09:00.000-07:00

Principles
Support our local economy
We strive to maintain a direct connection with our water, food, fuel, shelter, and waste
Understanding of interdependence
Support independent livelihood
Have patience
We pay attention to the symbiosis between the wild and the cultivated
Variety and diversity create strength
Learning from our elders
Contributions is accepted and valued in its many forms
Share information as much as possible
Prioritize the health of the individual\be aware how our habits effect the community and the environment
Room for change
Our work is a work in progress
We believe in being able to laugh at ourselves
We recognize every action is significant

Aims and Mission
Knowing our place in history and nature
Know history, pass down history of land and people and culture
Limiting self interest in order to offer support to others
Make information available through sharing and education
Educate ourselves and others through information sharing
Creating processes that we trust
Individual and community ,mental health support and skillshare
To welcome and engage travelers as valuable members of our community
Urgency/pace (significance of every action article for newletter
The edge space between ecologies and communities
Creating
Replacing consumerist cycles with natural processes
Creating a georgous abundant alternative to wasteful living
Solidarity (come back to)