The rains stopped miraculously and the day was beautiful for a Sunday Free Farm Stand. Surprisingly we had a great deal of produce (a lot of cabbage, artichokes, Brussels sprouts, and greens), though it was a little sparse on the Hecka Local side of the table. Saturday it was raining hard and not a lot of produce was harvested at the Free Farm Though hat’s off to tree collards, not only we are still harvesting them from the farm, but the Secret Garden is still offering us a few leaves from just one or two plants. I was especially excited with the four pounds of sunflower greens I grew in the greenhouse, starting with just two cups of sunflower seeds. I hope people learn from this that we can grow salads almost anywhere , even if you don’t have a backyard garden.
tree collards
My friend LLyn from the Sharing Garden in Oregon (http://alpinegarden.blogspot.com/) emailed me this letter from a friend in Sendai , Japan. I have been thinking about this inspirational piece all week and how it applies to our actions here:
We share supplies like water, food and a kerosene heater. We sleep lined up in one room, eat by candlelight, share stories.
During the day we help each other clean up the mess in our homes… If someone has water running in their home, they put out sign so people can come to fill up their jugs and buckets.
Utterly amazingly where I am there has been no looting, no pushing in lines. People leave their front door open, as it is safer when an earthquake strikes. People keep saying, “Oh, this is how it used to be in the old days when everyone helped one another.”
The reason the Free Farm Stand and the Free Farm is free is because we feel we don’t need more of a crisis than we have now on this planet to begin living like we are all family and caring for each other. My friend Pancho also shared with me an inspirational article her wrote about Astrobiology (he will be sharing his interest in this subject at the SF refresh event we will be hosting at the Free Farm on April 16th) http://earthlingopinion.wordpress.com/2007/08/20/astrobiology-red-stars-and-the-new-renaissance-of-humanity/. Pancho repeats the idea that we need to have a “world community” that looks out for the planet and it’s people. That community I believe has its basic economics based on sharing rather than barter or buying and selling. Sharing the greens or call it the greens economy.