Greetings from the President!
Unfortunately for us the property we wanted to get ahold of for the Lake City Garden Project is undergoing legal action by the owners at this point (fines and such for permit violations) so we are unable to get our hands on it at this time. That said, I am happy to announce the kickoff of our Patio Green Thumb Project in the North District (encompassing Lake City, Northgate, and Aurora in Seattle).
The Patio Green Thumb Project is all about getting food garden containers in the hands of apartment dwellers. The signup list is on the site above. We are excited to kick off such an ambitious project and hope to be able to bring a great deal of help to people in this area. We are hoping to get enough funding to help at least 50 households, which will require around $750-$1,000. A donation of $10 gets us a planter, $15 gets us the soil for two gardens. Even just $2 gets us a seed packet we can plant to help get the starts started for this noble vision. If you have pots, seeds, soil, money, or anything else you can donate to help us out in our vision, contact us and let us know. You will be helping your neighbors and supporting a great new organization in your community. Thanks for helping become a part of something wonderful!
~Ali S. Hartwell~
Acting President
Friday, December 30, 2011
Friday, December 9, 2011
Lake City Community Garden Project Update
Greetings blog followers and community members! We have located a prime piece of property, three acres of abandoned on Roosevelt and 143rd, near Aurora in Lake City. Our understanding of the history of the lot is that it was slated to become 22 houses by a Wu Construction LLC, construction scheduled to begin in 2009. Needless to say it didn't happen and the area has become a rather large eyesore. We are starting a petition as of Tuesday to have the city donate the land to us to create a three acre community food garden, educational facility, and gathering space. I am sure all of you in Seattle would much rather see this land put to a productive use than to sit there barren, unused, and neglected. We hope to bring some joy and community building to this abandoned Aurora lot, rather than waiting for some other group or construction company to build unnecessary, overpriced housing that does nothing for the greater community.
So if you all feel the same, shoot us an email at getinvolved@emeraldspirit.org and let us know that this is something you can get behind! Like us on your Facebook, let people in your neighborhood and your social network know about what we are trying to do. If you are a registered voter, we would love your signature. Tell us what neighborhood area you are in so we can swing a canvasser by. This is what community action is all about, and even though we are just starting out, we are determined to make a positive change in communities like Lake City. With your help we can make it happen.
Thank you in advance,
~Ali S. Hartwell and Joe Martelle~
President and Project Developer respectively
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Greetings From Project Development!
As Project developer, I am really looking forward to reintroducing the idea of the backyard "Victory Garden" setting up Community Gardens in neighborhoods, teaching the lost art of canning and "putting up" food for winter, re-purposing items into new things, as well as doing for ourselves; once common in our grandparents' day (some of us can remember gardening as a kid) these skills seem to have vanished form the collective modern memory.
There are a lot of skills of self reliance that have fallen by the wayside since the 1960's that we feel should make a come back.(sewing, canning and crafting for for example) With the current financial instability, it would be a wise move to try your hand at growing some of your own food.
Now I hear you say "But I live in an apartment and have no access to a garden!"
Well step right up! We have a plan for you to convert some of that patio or balcony space into a highly productive container garden! You will be amazed at what bounty you can grow in simple containers in a small space!
"But, it's December, it's too cold to even think about gardening.."
True, but I am putting this out there so you can start to think on "What If" and start to look at the possibilities. and be honest, who DOESN'T like the idea of saving money by slashing your food bill?.
Take a few moments and think about what would make a community "Sustainable"? Start small, like say a community garden to feed the people, and expand from there. We are at a point in history where we don't have to reinvent the wheel to create a sustainable community for I believe there is no problem that we as a people can not overcome.
If this sounds like something you want to get behind, than stop by the Emerald Spirit Community Action site and click on the "Get Involved" link. For working together, we can achieve great things.
I Look Forward To Working With You!
~Joe Martelle~
Head of Project Development
Monday, November 28, 2011
Starting Up
This is a little late getting started (the blog I mean), but I am glad that we finally got around to it. If you really want to know what a group is all about, what better way to tell than a blog kept by its board? We are a group of students and community members, fairly small right now, with a grand vision, one in which we hope the communities in which we are trying to work will join in on. We are located in northern Seattle, WA right now, and hoping to expand further into the city in the future. We started with the vision of a local community garden in the neighborhood in which most of us live (Lake City, Seattle) and found that our vision expanded far beyond this, into the realms of locally produced goods and community sustainability and self sufficiency.
We are still starting by trying to find either a distressed property or abandoned lot (or any donated piece of land we can get our hands on) and growing open pollinated plants on it for the purpose of giving the fresh produce away to the community. This would differ from a food bank system in that anybody in the community, regardless of income, can come and get a basket of free produce. We are mostly going to be located in impoverished areas, such as Lake City, Ranier Valley, SODO, White Center, and Burien, meaning that by default we will be helping those in need, which is part of our goal, but the vision is broader than that.
We want to teach people how to become more self sufficient and sustainable, both on an individual and community wide basis. As soon as the garden is set up we plan on hosting lectures and classes on such diverse topics as sewing, urban homesteading, food container gardening, basket weaving, home canning, livestock rearing in the city, etc. We hope to begin to revive these basic skills that have fallen by the wayside in the post modern generation, as we feel they are essential to a sustainable community. We are greatly saddened by the extinction of the "Victory Garden" mentality and are greatly hoping that the current economic troubles will fuel a renewed interest in basic skills. Our philosophy is that a person should not have to bankrupt themselves to learn and practice said necessary skills, and we hope to offer our lectures for free and our workshops for very low cost to learn them. There may come a time where these skills can mean the difference between having food, clothing, and shelter for your family and going hungry, and this is among the first generations in which the people born into it have lost the skills that generations past took for granted. A culture of consumption has given way to a society that is nearly completely reliant on outside sources for it's basic.
Even as recently as the 60's families were known to derive a great deal of their own food from a large garden just outside the home. Clothing was just as often handmade as purchased, and all clothing was often repaired and re purposed rather than thrown away. More often than not, families owned some form of livestock, be it chickens for eggs or dairy cows/goats for milk. Butter and mayonnaise were made by hand, and excess produce was canned or frozen. These skills were seen as part of daily life, not an extra hassle or simply a hobby.
We are excited to be involved with our communities, and look forward to working with individuals and families interested in re-cultivating the self-reliant attitudes that are essential to a sustainable community. If you want to know more, or better yet get involved, head on over to emeraldspirit.org and check us out. Currently we are incorporating and investigating possible land locations, but anything you can do, be it donating time or money, supplies or expertise, will be greatly welcome no matter where you are located. We look forward to working with you and in your communities!
Acting president,
~Ali S. Hartwell~
We are still starting by trying to find either a distressed property or abandoned lot (or any donated piece of land we can get our hands on) and growing open pollinated plants on it for the purpose of giving the fresh produce away to the community. This would differ from a food bank system in that anybody in the community, regardless of income, can come and get a basket of free produce. We are mostly going to be located in impoverished areas, such as Lake City, Ranier Valley, SODO, White Center, and Burien, meaning that by default we will be helping those in need, which is part of our goal, but the vision is broader than that.
We want to teach people how to become more self sufficient and sustainable, both on an individual and community wide basis. As soon as the garden is set up we plan on hosting lectures and classes on such diverse topics as sewing, urban homesteading, food container gardening, basket weaving, home canning, livestock rearing in the city, etc. We hope to begin to revive these basic skills that have fallen by the wayside in the post modern generation, as we feel they are essential to a sustainable community. We are greatly saddened by the extinction of the "Victory Garden" mentality and are greatly hoping that the current economic troubles will fuel a renewed interest in basic skills. Our philosophy is that a person should not have to bankrupt themselves to learn and practice said necessary skills, and we hope to offer our lectures for free and our workshops for very low cost to learn them. There may come a time where these skills can mean the difference between having food, clothing, and shelter for your family and going hungry, and this is among the first generations in which the people born into it have lost the skills that generations past took for granted. A culture of consumption has given way to a society that is nearly completely reliant on outside sources for it's basic.
Even as recently as the 60's families were known to derive a great deal of their own food from a large garden just outside the home. Clothing was just as often handmade as purchased, and all clothing was often repaired and re purposed rather than thrown away. More often than not, families owned some form of livestock, be it chickens for eggs or dairy cows/goats for milk. Butter and mayonnaise were made by hand, and excess produce was canned or frozen. These skills were seen as part of daily life, not an extra hassle or simply a hobby.
We are excited to be involved with our communities, and look forward to working with individuals and families interested in re-cultivating the self-reliant attitudes that are essential to a sustainable community. If you want to know more, or better yet get involved, head on over to emeraldspirit.org and check us out. Currently we are incorporating and investigating possible land locations, but anything you can do, be it donating time or money, supplies or expertise, will be greatly welcome no matter where you are located. We look forward to working with you and in your communities!
Acting president,
~Ali S. Hartwell~
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