Garden Update: 07-19-09

Hi!

Gardeners and friends of Funk Town!! Guess what? I think we have enough gardeners to go ahead and go forward with a schedule!! Please look over the duties to follow and decide which ones (one) you are willing to commit too. If you would like to try it for a month, (or even a week or two) to see if it fits in your schedule that is FINE. Please just let me know. If you are able to make a longer commitment that would be great, but NO pressure! I would ask though, that if you don't specify "week trial" to me, that you give me a weeks notice before you stop watering, weeding, etc.
After you have chosen a duty I'll email you the specifics, and if necessary we can meet up and go over what exactly that duty consists of. I will also give you the gate code so you can come and go from the garden as you choose.
Note, you may choose more than one duty, or change duties as you go, please just give me a weeks notice if you choose to change duties. It would be great if we could all end up training new people as they come in in our areas of (learned) expertise.
THIS IS YOUR GARDEN! It is such a blessing that we are able to share such a special endeavor.


I know a lot of you have just come on board and may not have seen the project vision, so following is the vision for Funk Town Farm;


Funk Town Farm is a community garden behind 219 East 15th Street in Oakland. We are a group of novice and experienced gardeners who want to grow our own produce (and flowers) to use and sell on a sliding scale in the ReGeneration parking lot on Sunday mornings. We also want to raise chickens to have eggs to sell and use, as well as involve the community in "sponsoring a chicken" and composting. Ultimately we would like to provide our neighbors with the opportunity to have fresh organic fruit, veggies and eggs no matter what their socioeconomic status may be.
We feel that gardening as a community not only is a service to that community but to the gardeners as well. Gardening slows us down in an otherwise hectic city, reminding us what is real. We believe that there is no anxiety that digging in the dirt cant cure. We believe that human beings are meant to spend time outdoors. We believe in removing cement. We believe that getting dirty is good not bad. We believe that we can cut back our garbage sent to the landfill by composting AND use it to grow things at the same time. We believe that bugs are better than pesticides. We believe that the taste and smell of a tomato just off the vine can change hearts. We believe that we were created to dig side by side and share stories. We believe that is is true that "God made dirt and dirt wont hurt".


Here is a list of duties;
(Please choose one or two or even three)
An hour worth of work=1 basket of fresh veggies, fruit or flowers at the end of the week*


1.Watering (1/2 hour) Monday, Weds, Friday or Sunday
2.Weeding (1/2 hour) Monday, Thurs, Saturday
3.Chicken feeding/egg gathering and sorting (30minutes) Everyday needed. note: you can earn eggs with this chore
4.Fertilizing Plants (1XWeekly.. day flexible)
5.Pruning and "dead heading" (1XWeekly.. day flexible)
6.Planting (2hours2X per month)
7.Harvesting (1 hour 1Xweek)
8.Organising and bagging harvest for market and give away(2 hours per week can be split between 2 people)
9.Compost turning and watering (15minutes) Monday, Weds, Friday
10.Making sure tools, seeds etc are organized (15 min per week)
11.Resourcing (1 hour per week) This includes tracking down items on craigslist etc.. and organizing pick ups.
12.Letter writing for donations (1-2 hours per month)


*this does not include eggs (to get earn eggs please see Chicken Sponsor email, or choose feeding of chickens as duty)

Let me know what you think you may want to do! I am so excited!!!! Oh, and if you haven't seen the garden yet.. email me and I'll take you back!

-Daphne

PS. If ANYONE knows ANYONE that is a grant writer and wants to trade for organic produce let me know! We don't need, but really, really WANT a grant or two!!!


PSS..PLEASE FWD this email to anyone you know who may be interested in the project. I don't have everyone's email! :) Thanks!