Sunroot Gardens

For those who don’t know, Sunroot Gardens is an urban, bike-based agricultural operation that grows produce and staple crops for people who invest $ and for people who invest land/labor/goods & services. There’s much TALK about “sustainability”, barter economy, growing food-for-survival, etc. Sunroot Gardens is ACTION on these items, seriously, as if this year is not a drill, and as if this is how we will be feeding ourselves. So if you’re interested in all that, read on:

1. PLANTING FOR SUMMER VEGGIES / STAPLE CROPS

The moon is waxing. It is full on May 9th. The next full is on June 7th. During these next two cycles, beginning NOW (as in TODAY), here is what must be planted, if we’d like it later:

* All squash — cucumbers, summer squash, melons, winter squash for storage
* All beans — snap beans for summer, soup beans for winter. PLUS, soy for summer edamame and winter miso
* All corn — sweet for summer, flour/dent for winter
* QUINOA — for survival
* Sunflowers — for oil, for cooking

So here it is. For STAPLE CROPS, what we plant in the next 6-8 weeks will be what we have to eat over this fall, winter, spring, ’til next harvest next year. This is a vital time, if our concern is to truly take care of ourselves. For 10,000 years, most of the human creatures in the world have been eating by growing & cultivating, harvesting & processing, and storing. Just exactly what we are talking about with the Staple Foods Project. For the last 50+ years, most of the human creatures in the Industrialized West have been eating by buying it from shops. The food in the shops has been grown and transported and stored by using a one-time-only supply of concentrated solar energy stored in rocks and viscous liquids (coal, oil, etc.).

It is now clear, to anyone who cares to notice, that this 50+ year system is running out of steam, and — as in the rapid phase changes found everywhere in nature — could give out rather suddenly any time now. We don’t know when. Many people say, “Oh that’s years away.” When I ask these people for evidence of this claimed longevity, they have nothing to offer. No, what these people are talking about is not a reasoned and measured examination of the facts and of their possible outcomes; what these people are talking about are their own personal hopes and fears about the system. Well, I have to tell you now, I don’t give a shit about anybody’s hopes/fears, including my own. When it comes to EATING, which most people currently have to do, we must look at the FACTS of our situation. Our FEELINGS are nobody’s business but our own, and have no place in a practical discussion. And the FACTS show that some kind of “Crash” is not theoretical, but is actually already occuring and has not reached us here yet. One billion human creatures already don’t have enough to eat. That number is rising, and will include more of us here in the West, sooner or later, regardless of whether we fear it or hope against it.

So, all that being said, we are planting like crazy over the next two moons here. If necessary, we can LIVE off of quinoa, beans, squash, winter vegetables, etc. We have the seeds, we have tools, we have amendments, we have land. All we need is more folks to come out and help. So how does that work? How do you get in on this food? Read on….

2. AVAILABILITY OF PRODUCE / STAPLE CROPS

For those who have little/no time, and want produce or staple crops, there are a limited number of $ shares available.

* CSA $ SHARES:
Produce shares with Sunroot Gardens are $600 (negotiable). This is for 30+ weeks of produce (more than most CSAs), starting in May, and going through Winter Solstice. Pick-up will be at the Firepit on Wednesdays. There you will find the week’s veggies/fruit spread out like at a farmers’ market stand, and can take what you need for your household. The total number of CSA shares is being kept down to 13 in order to assure a good amount of produce for each household. This is down from 24+ last year. TWO CSA SHARES ARE AVAILABLE.

* STAPLE CROPS $ SHARES:
These are $420.11 each. (That’s the year’s budget divided by 10.) Each share gets you a fixed percentage of the final harvest. This will translate into hundreds of pounds altogether. Certainly enough for a household (or two or three) to make it through the winter if necessary. Crops will include wheat, oats, flax seed, quinoa, soup beans, cooking oil (hopefully) and flour corn, plus more. TWO STAPLE CROPS SHARES ARE AVAILABLE.

* The NO-$ approach!!
Sunroot Gardens will have a second veggie/fruit distribution day every week, on FRIDAYS, for people who donate labor, land, goods/services. This will be by-invitation. Again, it will be set up like a farmers’ market, with piles of produce for you to pick from for your household. Additionally, people who come to help will be offered whatever produce is available on the days they show up. In some cases, helpers get “special” produce that is not growing in enough quantity for the Wed. & Fri. picks. The famous salmon-colored raspberries of the Firepit Garden are one example. “The best raspberry ever,” Farmer Deva says.

STAPLE FOODS LABOR – There are TWO ways to get food from the Staple Foods Project besides $. One is to be a HELPER. Hours worked by helpers are logged, and the helpers will recieve a percentage of the harvest proportional to the amount they worked. Last year, folks who helped harvest and/or process the wheat got one pound of wheat berries (or flour) for every hour worked on the project. This year, that amount per hour is expected to be higher due to more efficient harvesting techniques. If a household sends three people for three hours, that counts as nine hours total for the household. To work on the Staple Foods Project this way, you just show up for those days when you want.

The other way to get stuff out of the Staple Foods Project is by becoming a FARMER on one of the projects. The total harvest is divided among a) $ investors, b) time investors, and c) “the farmers”. FARMERS are folks who are “bottom-lining” a particular crops somewhere. For example, someone with an interest in soup beans might volunteer to “bottom-line” the Cannellini bean patch, which could be up to 1/4 acre in size. “Bottom-lining” does not mean you are working alone. What it means is that your own personal interest in that crop is strong enough that you will help find materials and tools, that you will go around and check on it regularly, that you will help organize work parties for thinning/winning/cultivating/harvesting/processing, etc. What FARMERS get out of this extra work is a share of the Farmers’ portion. This is expected to be a greater amount than you would get just by working hours as a helper, since the number of farmers on any given project will be limited. The farmers’ share of a crop is intended to be MORE than the farmer’s self needs, so that the farmer can barter/sell some of it for other things in life.

Whew. So that’s a description of what’s going on currently with Sunroot Gardens CSA & Staple Foods. If you would like to be involved with any of this, contact Farmer K at 503.686.5557, or write back to this email.

3. “I Want To Help — How Do I Do That?”

STEP RIGHT THE FUCK UP. That’s how. This email is about all of the “courting” that I can give to anyone. Yes, there will be “work parties” for big projects, but in the meantime there is LABOR to do every single day. Yes, EVERY SINGLE DAY, ALL DAY, ANYTIME you want to come help, we have something to do somewhere. Call/Write one of the farmers to find out where things are happening that day. The numbers are below.

I, Farmer K, am now basing day-to-day operations out of the greenhouse at the Firepit Garden, 1905 SE 44th, across the street from Ruby’s (if you know where that is). So you can also stop by there anytime to see what’s going on. This time of year, we will be “suiting up”, loading tools, etc., there in the morning for the day’s activities. If you show up early enough you’ll get breakfast cooked by Mrs. K. She also serves dinner there to whomever is around at sunset. It’s a lot like camping, but with gourmet eating.

On one final note: In my mind, the entire point of helping around the farm is to ENJOY YOURSELF. The world of the gardens and our communal resourcefulness is a haven from the exhausting work/entertainment complex of city-life. In the gardens, you are invited to set aside your socialized fears & doubts, and to find presence with the life of the plants and soil and water. No experience is necessary. There is very little to KNOW, but there is much to NOTICE. What is being offered here is an opportunity to find moments of true integrated living. We all know that Society is based on non-material abstractions ($, “ownership”, etc.) and many people feel trapped by those things. The garden is where you can step out of that silliness and experience something REAL instead.

C’mon out!!