Progress Skips, Jumps & Creeps

By Jami Scholl | September 21, 2011 | 3:25 pm | Comment (1) |

Hermes caught in the act of shucking corn.

It’s 10:19am Wednesday.

My new border collie puppy sleeps in front of the rolling file cart. Deep breathing then silence. The past 4 weeks with him has been one of adjustment, a change of lifestyle. A morning run is absolutely necessary for him to not be using my ankles and toes as teething ring. This little guy, Hermes, is kicking my butt into shape.

Good thing he is, as I need the extra stamina and boosted brain power that exercise provides for what I have going on! Here is an update on current projects:

1)      Garden the City 2012: A city grant deadline is fast approaching on October 1^st at 5pm for an amount that I hope will cover a larger portion of the funds needed for this project. Community partner garden locations now include: The Venue Fine Arts and Gifts, Crosstown Cleaners, FARMbloomington, WonderLab, Thrive, Sublime Design, Patricia’s Wellness Arts Cafe (in final negotiations), Computer Repair Now and Bloomingfoods near west side. Dialogue continues with Rhino’s to have teens involved in public art as publicity, and with Stone Belt Center to provide some garden art.  Other details for a project of this magnitude include defining sponsorships, planning a kickstarter video and brainstorming how to bring in other community members who may not usually participate in art or gardening.

2)      Weekly subscription eMail service, (And yes, I like the capital “M” lowercase “e.”)  This will eventually be for 3 different levels of expertise. The manner in which I currently think of them is garden (annual and limited perennial vegetables and fruits), potager (the previous + fruit trees, shrubs and brambles with possibly poultry), and homestead (the previous +wild edibles and small farm animals). Excel has been my organizational friend in compiling details needed to produce such a service… and I never thought I would have as much need for organization as is needed for this project.

3)      Local political in regards to urban agriculture.  Things are heating up and cooling down. City council and the mayor have been in debate about a large (car centric) round-about for the south-eastern part of the city where limited development has happened. I could go into more detail about this project, but will say instead that budget hearings are lingering while time is quickly moving with new council members to take seats January 1^st. What does this mean? Mobilization and vocalization must happen should there be any hope of at the very least changing the chicken ordinance so that one need not get permission from every contiguous neighbour in order to have chickens. If you or you know of others who want to allow for this change, NOW is the time to write to your city council representative. I am particularly interested in having folks from District 1 being proactive. Anyone in the city can inform At Large members such as Susan Sandberg of your stance for looser regulations in support of chickens as well as any other urban agriculture you would like to see approved for Bloomington to enhance our food security beyond the 1-2 days of food now stocked on grocery shelves. http://bloomington.in.gov/council

4)      Illustrations. Although not a project of My Edible Eden, the illustrations I have been working on for Peter Bane’s soon to be released book is something that I am honoured to be involved in that support my ideals in Permaculture design and which fulfills a dream to illustrate a book. The Permaculture Handbook: Garden Farming for Town and Country is much how I see a potager and homestead Permaculture style. For most people, the definition of a farm and a garden are very defined and differentiated, although this need not be the case. I define what I do as garden farming. Some of this differentiation has to do with scale, some with land use, but rarely has this and the discussion of land tenureship been in the forefront of discussions, especially in regard to urban farming.

Between these four projects I have felt time move quickly, then slow down. I have felt elation with each new community partner for Garden the City 2012 like a jump forward. I have felt the eMail subscription service creep into existence. And I have skipped and danced around with the challenges these projects pose.

If someone were to come along and tell me they would make my life easier, I’d say no thanks. My life isn’t perfect, my house isn’t always clean and tidy, nor the bills easy to pay, but what I do have are dreams and goals where I see I am making a difference in the world. And I think that you can, too, whether supporting urban agriculture by writing a counsel member, attending a city council meeting to speak your thoughts or by getting involved in Garden the City 2012. And then there is the eMail news letters. They need names and I am taking suggestions. Have one?

If so then leave a suggestion in the comment section. Thanks!

Comment (1) | | Categories: Garden the City 2012,Gardens,Homesteading,Permaculture,Planting List,Urban Agriculture,Wild Edibles | Tags: Garden the City 2012, Gardens, Permaculture, Urban Agriculture, Wild Edibles