Southern New england

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Comment by Mimi on January 20, 2009 at 6:55pm

congratulations, my fellow field hands. how wonderful to be a witness to this day, this new era.

Comment by Suzy on January 7, 2009 at 6:42am

meant to write: lawns into VEGETABLE gardens ;)

Comment by Suzy on January 7, 2009 at 6:39am

Hi, Jess: I think there is also a new 'sustainability' group in Pittsfield. The CSA farmers are well represented here in the hilltowns: Chesterfield, Cummington, Plainfield. Also in the Valley: Hadley, Amherst. If I were still living in a suburban area, I'd be following the work turning lawns into gardens. Will check my bookmarks to find the best references for you. Happy New year. Suzy

Comment by Jess on December 31, 2008 at 6:09pm

Thank you for the heads up about Boston Urban Gardeners. I live out near Worcester and know there is a group out this way as well that's quite orgaized and able to offer advice and help for communities starting out on these sorts of projects. Folks at our church have expressed interest in using a chunk of our 'front yard' there before and requiring that a chunk of the produce get donated to the local food pantry. I also like the idea of trying to get our town to pony up a bit of land on the town commons by the elementary school. We'll see. There are loads of people in town with gardens and many of the folks at our church (we're UUs) already have their own gardens as well. If it happens I think it will be because people want to get their kids involved and/or the donations to the food bank.

I'm just trying to figure out where I can have the biggest impact. Gardening is something I enjoy and local food is vital so that's why I keep cycling back to it in my head but there are probably other things that might matter more.

Comment by Allison on December 31, 2008 at 3:59pm

Jess, I used to work for Boston Urban Gardeners. It's been a while, but when I was there there were over 130 community gardens in Boston. There a lots of people with experience organizing and maintaining them. The first big hurdle is land...

Comment by Jess on December 31, 2008 at 1:42pm

It is frustrating that the Bush administration folks are going to go unpunished. Leaving such a complete mess behind them helped cover them. I have to agree that we can't afford to prosecute them. I believe that there is some karmic debt that will bite those who have knowingly inflicted so much damage. Along with many other countries we have a legacy of hypocrasy (we just happen to have had the money and arms to dominate the world in the past) so as much as I agree with your comments I don't know how to even begin addressing the issue aside from making my voice heard when I feel I need to say something.

Sustainability, especially on a local level, is one area I do feel like I can have a real lasting impact so that's where I'm chosing to put my energies. Right now we do that through doing as much local eating and purchasing as we can (far from perfect and with my husband getting laid off we can't buy as much from the farm as I'd prefer but when things ease up a little we will make that a priority again even though it's more expensive [and yet with all the benefits it's really not more expensive long-term]). I'm also really interested in organizing a community garden but am not sure yet if that's the most productive use of my time and energy. Through campaign work I met a man in Boston who is the director for a pretty amazing group and he has a lot of knowledge and experience in community sustainability issues so I thought I'd try to pick his brain in the next month or two as I figure out what I really want to focus on.

Comment by Allison on December 30, 2008 at 8:43pm

I'm in Boston. Interests: human rights, civil rights, sustainability

I'm harboring some big anger about the prospect of the Bush administration going unpunished for their war crimes and constitutional crimes. It would appear that Obama et al don't think we can afford to prosecute because there are others things to address. What good are those other things if we know that we are vulnerable to a totalitarian government at any time since there are never ramifications for abuse of power? And how do we work with other countries on human rights issues when we don't prosecute war crimes ourselves? Anyway....

Sustainability has long been an interest. I have an MBA and fought with the finance professor about the unsustainable premise of constant exponential growth. I could go on....

Comment by Jess on December 30, 2008 at 5:55pm

Hi Allison - I posted to see if anyone was interested in organizing actually :-). I know we're all spread out in this group and we do all have diverse interests though I know several of us are focused on sustainability issues.

May I ask where you are and what your interests in terms of political action are?

Comment by Allison on December 30, 2008 at 9:33am

Jess, I check in when there is activity, but I have to admit, I joined hoping this was a group with some plan of political action. There doesn't seem to be anything going on, so I'm not sure what the point of this is.

Comment by Jess on December 29, 2008 at 6:03pm

Is anyone checking in here anymore? If you are could you give a shout? Thanks!

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