Just thought I'd put in a good word for an organization in Fort Bragg that I've been working with. They're called Noyo Food Forest and they run a learning garden next to the high school that provides organic produce to the school as well as farmer's market. They just started a new community garden near Noyo Harbor and we went to the work day for the garden this weekend. It is a great little spot and I can't wait to get some veggies planted there! The next workday is February 24th if anyone is interested, and more information on the organization can be found here: www.coastlocalize.org/html_pa..._pg.html
What follows is a repost from Noyo Food Forest about their community garden project in case anyone is interested in participating:
Last summer, Paul Katzeff, owner of Thanksgiving Coffee, offered Noyo
Food Forest the use of his fallow land next to the warehouse, located
on 19100 South Harbor Drive , Fort Bragg . Two months later, Ukiah
Natural Food Cooperative awarded Noyo Food Forest a grant to
start the Noyo Com-Unity Garden , a traditional community garden
where plots will be subleased to community members, and shared
community beds will be accessible. This project is administered by
the Noyo Food Forest , a non-profit organization, whose mission is to
cultivate a healthy local food system by providing opportunities for
education, enterprise, and community involvement.
The two obvious benefits of community gardens are the beautification
of a barren space, and a strengthened sense of community. But the
impact of a community garden can reach much further; touching on
areas of sustainable agriculture, urban revitalization, reducing
hunger, environmental concerns, generating money for low-income
neighborhoods, cultural understanding, crime reduction, education and
development of youth. The simple act of planting
a garden can create positive environmental, economic, and social
impacts on a neighborhood. Community
gardens foster cultural understanding and an awareness of the
environment around us. They transform empty lots into green, living
spaces, which are collaborative projects created by members of the
community. This encourages social cohesiveness, which is becoming a
lost art in our society. Residents share in both the maintenance and
rewards of the garden. One of the main goals of community gardening
is to work together or next to each other in relative harmony.
The purpose of Noyo Food Forest is to provide access to land, water
and general garden administration. We provide liability insurance,
infrastructure, tools and equipment. The care and maintenance of
the garden is the collective responsibility of the Noyo Com-Unity
gardeners.
Plots will be assigned on a first come first served basis. Only
organic methods will be used in the Com-Unity Gardens . Any
pesticides or herbicides and fertilizers must be approved and
organic. This aids in the plan to allow Com-Unity Gardeners the
option to sell their produce at Noyo Food Forest 's produce stand at
the Farmer's Market.
We are inspired by the basic permaculture principles: looking at a
whole system or problem, seeing connections between key elements, or
parts, observing how the parts relate, and planning to mend sick
systems by applying ideas learned from long-term sustainable working
systems. Modern permaculture is a system design tool.
It recognizes that the Earth is the source of all life. It supports
and helps to change to ways of living that are not harming ourselves
or the planet. It develops healthy societies, and ensures that the
Earth's limited resources are utilized in ways that are equitable and
wise by limiting our consumption. Paul Katzeff has a worm farm
(Vermacomposting) located by Thanksgiving Coffee Warehouse, where all
of the scraps from his house and restaurant are digested into
wonderful compost for their apple orchard. We plan to follow his
lead in this innovative approach to better use of the waste we make.
Noyo Food Forest Com-Unity Gardens and the Learning Garden will
sponsor workdays, ROP classes; and low cost workshops. Com-Unity
Gardeners are encouraged to attend as many as they can. Workshops
and public forums, where people have an opportunity to contribute
ideas and concerns about improvements and physical changes in their
neighborhoods, will strengthen our ability to work together as a
whole. Noyo Food Forest believes in asking questions of the people
from the community to discover their needs and aspirations. We feel
it is important to work with individuals and communities to create a
vision around the places that they view as important to community
life and to their daily experience. Noyo Food Forest feels that
cultural unity is important to the cohesiveness of our community. In
our organization the language is not a barrier. We provide useful
information to the community in both English and Spanish.
In December 9, 2007 we had our first workday to remove brush and
debris from this 6,000 square foot parcel. Fourteen ambitious
volunteers showed up to clear our canvas. Underneath we found gold;
deliciously black topsoil that is just awaiting our seeds and love.
Workdays will be on Sundays at 1:00 pm, weather permitting. Don't
forget to put them on your calendar!
February 10 and 24
March 9 and 23
April 6 and 20
The first and most important tasks are:
Build a fence (Feb 10)
Sheet mulch and build compost (Feb 10)
Make seed balls for a cover crop (Feb 10)
Build a tool shed/meeting space (Feb 24)
Fence Building
If any of you that have extra 8' wooden posts, other lumber, bags of
cement, or rolls of 6-1/2' tall deer fencing lying around we could
use them! Let us know what you have so that we can order the
materials as soon as possible. We plan to rent an auger to dig the
post holes. If you can bring tools and know how to build a fence, we
would be gracious for your help!
Sheet composting
We will need a lot of raw materials delivered to the site on Sunday
to get started. Noyo Food Forest asks that you bring compost
materials including:
Nitrogen (manure, kitchen waste, etc)
Carbon (weed-free straw, leaves, etc)
Lots of cardboard (remember we are working with 6,000 sq ft)
Please arrange with Katrina Aschenbrenner (Noyo Com-Unity Garden
Coordinator), if you have large loads to deliver or if you need us to
pick something up.
Cover Crop Seed Balls
Virginia O'Rourke will be on site to demonstrate how to make Cover
Crop Seed Balls. We will have the materials available for
all "dreamers" to make while we plan the design of our garden.
Shed Building
We will have the plans drawn up for the shed by February 24. We have
a carpenter ready to donate his time to build it. Any other
carpenters are welcome to join our team. Please let us know if you
would like to help with this project or have any "lightly used"
materials to donate.
Don't miss this opportunity to participate in the larger vision of
the Noyo Com-Unity Gardens ! We also envision growing food for the
Food Bank and Homeless Shelters, along with encouraging people with
gardens at home to do the same. Learn new methods in organic and
sustainable gardening, permaculture, Vermacomposting. Meet new
friends in the community. Be a part of this local movement which is
open to everybody. Get involved!
`Cuz Everybody's Gotta Eat!!
What follows is a repost from Noyo Food Forest about their community garden project in case anyone is interested in participating:
Last summer, Paul Katzeff, owner of Thanksgiving Coffee, offered Noyo
Food Forest the use of his fallow land next to the warehouse, located
on 19100 South Harbor Drive , Fort Bragg . Two months later, Ukiah
Natural Food Cooperative awarded Noyo Food Forest a grant to
start the Noyo Com-Unity Garden , a traditional community garden
where plots will be subleased to community members, and shared
community beds will be accessible. This project is administered by
the Noyo Food Forest , a non-profit organization, whose mission is to
cultivate a healthy local food system by providing opportunities for
education, enterprise, and community involvement.
The two obvious benefits of community gardens are the beautification
of a barren space, and a strengthened sense of community. But the
impact of a community garden can reach much further; touching on
areas of sustainable agriculture, urban revitalization, reducing
hunger, environmental concerns, generating money for low-income
neighborhoods, cultural understanding, crime reduction, education and
development of youth. The simple act of planting
a garden can create positive environmental, economic, and social
impacts on a neighborhood. Community
gardens foster cultural understanding and an awareness of the
environment around us. They transform empty lots into green, living
spaces, which are collaborative projects created by members of the
community. This encourages social cohesiveness, which is becoming a
lost art in our society. Residents share in both the maintenance and
rewards of the garden. One of the main goals of community gardening
is to work together or next to each other in relative harmony.
The purpose of Noyo Food Forest is to provide access to land, water
and general garden administration. We provide liability insurance,
infrastructure, tools and equipment. The care and maintenance of
the garden is the collective responsibility of the Noyo Com-Unity
gardeners.
Plots will be assigned on a first come first served basis. Only
organic methods will be used in the Com-Unity Gardens . Any
pesticides or herbicides and fertilizers must be approved and
organic. This aids in the plan to allow Com-Unity Gardeners the
option to sell their produce at Noyo Food Forest 's produce stand at
the Farmer's Market.
We are inspired by the basic permaculture principles: looking at a
whole system or problem, seeing connections between key elements, or
parts, observing how the parts relate, and planning to mend sick
systems by applying ideas learned from long-term sustainable working
systems. Modern permaculture is a system design tool.
It recognizes that the Earth is the source of all life. It supports
and helps to change to ways of living that are not harming ourselves
or the planet. It develops healthy societies, and ensures that the
Earth's limited resources are utilized in ways that are equitable and
wise by limiting our consumption. Paul Katzeff has a worm farm
(Vermacomposting) located by Thanksgiving Coffee Warehouse, where all
of the scraps from his house and restaurant are digested into
wonderful compost for their apple orchard. We plan to follow his
lead in this innovative approach to better use of the waste we make.
Noyo Food Forest Com-Unity Gardens and the Learning Garden will
sponsor workdays, ROP classes; and low cost workshops. Com-Unity
Gardeners are encouraged to attend as many as they can. Workshops
and public forums, where people have an opportunity to contribute
ideas and concerns about improvements and physical changes in their
neighborhoods, will strengthen our ability to work together as a
whole. Noyo Food Forest believes in asking questions of the people
from the community to discover their needs and aspirations. We feel
it is important to work with individuals and communities to create a
vision around the places that they view as important to community
life and to their daily experience. Noyo Food Forest feels that
cultural unity is important to the cohesiveness of our community. In
our organization the language is not a barrier. We provide useful
information to the community in both English and Spanish.
In December 9, 2007 we had our first workday to remove brush and
debris from this 6,000 square foot parcel. Fourteen ambitious
volunteers showed up to clear our canvas. Underneath we found gold;
deliciously black topsoil that is just awaiting our seeds and love.
Workdays will be on Sundays at 1:00 pm, weather permitting. Don't
forget to put them on your calendar!
February 10 and 24
March 9 and 23
April 6 and 20
The first and most important tasks are:
Build a fence (Feb 10)
Sheet mulch and build compost (Feb 10)
Make seed balls for a cover crop (Feb 10)
Build a tool shed/meeting space (Feb 24)
Fence Building
If any of you that have extra 8' wooden posts, other lumber, bags of
cement, or rolls of 6-1/2' tall deer fencing lying around we could
use them! Let us know what you have so that we can order the
materials as soon as possible. We plan to rent an auger to dig the
post holes. If you can bring tools and know how to build a fence, we
would be gracious for your help!
Sheet composting
We will need a lot of raw materials delivered to the site on Sunday
to get started. Noyo Food Forest asks that you bring compost
materials including:
Nitrogen (manure, kitchen waste, etc)
Carbon (weed-free straw, leaves, etc)
Lots of cardboard (remember we are working with 6,000 sq ft)
Please arrange with Katrina Aschenbrenner (Noyo Com-Unity Garden
Coordinator), if you have large loads to deliver or if you need us to
pick something up.
Cover Crop Seed Balls
Virginia O'Rourke will be on site to demonstrate how to make Cover
Crop Seed Balls. We will have the materials available for
all "dreamers" to make while we plan the design of our garden.
Shed Building
We will have the plans drawn up for the shed by February 24. We have
a carpenter ready to donate his time to build it. Any other
carpenters are welcome to join our team. Please let us know if you
would like to help with this project or have any "lightly used"
materials to donate.
Don't miss this opportunity to participate in the larger vision of
the Noyo Com-Unity Gardens ! We also envision growing food for the
Food Bank and Homeless Shelters, along with encouraging people with
gardens at home to do the same. Learn new methods in organic and
sustainable gardening, permaculture, Vermacomposting. Meet new
friends in the community. Be a part of this local movement which is
open to everybody. Get involved!
`Cuz Everybody's Gotta Eat!!
