Bryan Helfrich
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How can we further support local agriculture? We have the Farmers Market, CSAs, Vancouver Food Co-op and tons of backyard gardeners. Can we take a look at our local agricultural resources and the ways in which we can support it? Big Ag is poisoning us and draining agricultural wealth from our nation and many others.
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Bryan Helfrich
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For instance, we have tons of CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) around here. You buy a share and get a basket of fresh produce or meats every week. I have never bought a share either because I didn’t think I could eat that many veggies in a week or because the price seemed to steep. Would anyone be interest in splitting a share next season?
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tara
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i think part of what needs to be done is people need to be taught how to grow things  me included.. i have a big garden but not everything i tried to grow, grew.
on a side note, people can always take the extra stuff they have left over to share house. my dad dropped off 80lbs of tomatoes to them this year cause he ended up with so many.
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Bryan Helfrich
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Yes, education. Maybe there is a group in town doing this already that we can connect with. Also, what about some kind of gardening group that might trade produce for produce. For instance maybe I’m better than you at growing potatoes and your awesome with tomatoes. We could set something up where several people are involved and all of a sudden you have a bunch of different foods to eat. Donating extra is always awesome.
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tara
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i like the trading idea!! your making me wish spring was here already!! and i think mastergardners is a group that does outreach. my dad used to be a member (back in the day when we lived in eugene) i’ll ask him if he knows what they offer.
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Pamela Whitney
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I’m a gardening nut, I love growing my own produce and creating food from them, freezing/canning for later dates. Am I a master? Nope, but I do aspire to be one someday. : ) My husband and I are talking about ripping out our front lawn to create gardens, where we get the most sun exposure. When you guys are ready, I’d be happy to share what I know. Tara, your dad is a Master Gardener= awesome. Seattle Tilth has a fab ‘zine called the Northwest Gardener’s guide or something like that. As soon as I can dig it up, I’ll give you the correct title. It tells you what to grow on a monthly basis, along with other advice.
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Pamela Whitney
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As for CSA’s, some farms offer half shares. What you don’t eat in the week, you can always freeze up for later, depending on the veg.
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Pamela Whitney
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Another thing to think about, is joining a gleaning network. If you know of friends, neighbors that are overwhelmed with fruits or veggies, you can pick (with permission of course) and bring to food banks, soup kitchens. There is a website where people swap produce as well. Again, I’ll look it up and get back to you guys. Would fit in with our cause of donations.
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Dan Walker
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Pamela, you should do a teach-in about growing your own produce. I am thinking about doing a bunch of video teach-ins and putting them on Youtube. Teach-ins could very well change the whole face of this movement.
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Pamela Whitney
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Blush. Well, I definitely agree that we should start doing teach-ins, say Saturdays after the rallies?
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Dan Walker
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This should be something that is brought up at the GA tonight (11/22)
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Russ Ranard
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I love the teach in idea! I also love the produce exchange/donation idea. We have a large yard and I recently started growing my own produce: squashes, onions, carrots, peppers, spinach, cabbage, grapes, apples, cherries, peaches…I’m a novice and I sure could use some advice.
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Bryan Helfrich
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Wow Pamela! I would love the name of the magazine and website. I have never really gardened before but I would love to experiment! I plan to this spring. I have also been kinda looking into these GMO free zones that have been set up in Europe. There’s great energy in this discussion!
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Pamela Whitney
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Here’s the Seattle Tilth website. It has advice and monthly tips, among others. http://seattletilth.org/
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Pamela Whitney
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Seattle Tilth’s Maritime NW Garden Guide. I bought mine at Powell’s on Hawthorne. It’s available on the website as well.
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