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MUTUAL AID SOCIETY OF AMERICA, LLP

LOCAL COMMUNITY FOOD FREEDOM

INSPIRATION – FOOD FREEDOM

Seed by seed. Plant by plant. Peasant by peasant. Community by community, We will reclaim our food freedom. -- Vandana Shiva i

In the 2008 edition of “LOCALLY GROWN” published by the Willamette Farm and Food Coalition (Lynne Fessenden, Editor, www.lanefood.org), Dan Anderson writes Feeding Lane County, an inspirational call to action in support of locally grown food. His pregnant comment:

“Living in a veritable Eden, we must buy from elsewhere to feed ourselves. The impingement of peak oil economics and climate instabilities, however, are likely to change this. There will be growing market incentives to address this imbalance and increase our capacity to feed ourselves.” Id. at 7.

METHODOLOGY AND RESOURCES

There is an academic process called Stages and Gates which formalizes A process or initiative which is largely uncharted. I will be applying this approach to the local food issue ("Food Freedom") and have developed an outline of many food and farming ideas, some of which can be applied to the MCCS garden project. Much of the outline is lifted from "Locally Grown" of the Willamette Farm and Food Coalition (no use reinventing the wheel). Linn and Benton Counties could use a similar approach and put the information on a Wikiweb, rather than in a print publication (because of cost and timing). The Wikiweb is asynchronous, is open source and is maintained by the users at no/little cost to the initial organizers. Attached is the initial cut of Muddy Creek Community "Food Freedom" outline. The outline is in no particular order at this point – just brainstorming. Eventually it will migrate to a Wikiweb, and all interested parties with Internet access can hyperlink to it as well as edit the content. As time and inspiration permit, I’ll add hyperlinks to appropriate resources and citations.

FOOD ORGANIZATIONS

Willamette Farm and Food Coalition; www.lanefood.org
The Laurel Valley and Educational Farm; www.northwestyouthcorps.org
Oregon Tilth; www.tilth.org
.Oregon Farmers’ Markets. www.oregonfamersmakets.org
Helios Resources Network; www.heliosnetwork.og
Urban to Farm Connection; www.ecoseugene.org
Oregon Sustainable Agriculture Land Trust. www.osalt.org
Oregon State University Extension Small Farms Program; http://smallfarms.oregonstate.edu
Oregon Sustainable Agricultural Resource Center; www.orsolutions.org/williamette/sustainag.htm.
Eugene Veg Education Network; www.eugeneveg.org
Eugene Permaculture Guild; www.eugenepermacultureguild.org
Lane Coalition for Healthy, Active Youth; www.ichay.org
Ten Rivers Food Web; www.tenriversfoodweb.org
Willamette Valley Sustainable Foods Alliance; www.wvsfalliance.org
Huerto de la Familia; www.huertodelafamilia.org
The School Garden Project of Lane County; www.schoolgardenproject.org
Victory Gardens; www.victorygardensforall.org
Worm Composting; www.wormdigest.org
Additional links: See pages 42-43, Locally Grown. Many of the producers listed also have websites.

GARDENING TECHNLOGY
1. Internet access. See separate study by Jim Miller, PROPOSAL FOR MUDDY CREEK COMMUNITY INTERNET
2. MCCS GARDENING 101

ACRES, U.S.A; Publications

“Books from Acres U.S.A. Acres U.S.A. is the premier source of books on organic/sustainable farming and eco-living, each hand-selected by our editors. We don't sell books that we wouldn't want in our own personal library. Most are hard-to-find, some only available here.” http://www.acresusa.com/other/freesample.htm
Subscribe to newsletter: http://www.acresusa.com/magazines/subscribe.htm

USDA Food Security publications; http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/FoodSecurity/
United Nations Food Security
1. Publication on food security, 2006: http://www.fao.org/docrep/009/a0750e/a0750e00.htm
2. World Food Situation: http://www.fao.org/worldfoodsituation/en/
European Union food security and sustainability:

"Our agrifood sector is the third largest employer in the European Union. When it functions well, it not only provides us with a plentiful supply of safe food but also helps to sustain the rural areas which we value so highly. When the stakes are this high, it goes without saying that the policy framework must have clear and appropriate goals."

Mariann Fischer Boel
EU Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner

http://www.eurunion.org/eu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=40&Itemid=48

COALITIONS for GROWING AND DISTRIBUTION
1. Inter-family
2. Farm to:
  1. School
  2. Farmers’ market
  3. Grocery store/food coop/restaurant
  4. Institution
  5. Farm stand on school-farm grounds
  6. Food bank
3. School to:
  1. Family
  2. Farmer’s market
  3. Grocery store/food coop/restaurant
  4. Institution
  5. Farm stand on school-farm grounds
  6. School
  7. Food bank
4. Potlatch and potluck meetings
  1. Neighborhood – weekly during harvest/growing season
  2. Region wide: Monthly during harvest
  3. Canning and dehydration parties.
5. Sources: Web and search engines; Grown Locally, and similar publications and websites.

COMPOSTING, WORMS, INSECTS
1. Technology
2. Educational courses
  1. Field
  2. Online
3. Sourcing ingredients
  1. Home kitchen and yard trimmings
  2. Farm
  3. Restaurant and institution
  4. Animal operations
  5. Wood processing plants
4. Location
5. Equipment
6. Bags and buckets
7. Student run, adult supervised
8. Home gardening component

GRANTS AND DONATIONS
1. CSAs
2. Food bank
  1. Direct
  2. Affiliations
3. Value added farm products
4. Energy conservation
5. Pollution reduction
6. School lunch program
7. NCLB
  1. Teacher certification
  2. Curriculum development (especially online)
  3. Testing rubrics
  4. School assessment rubrics
  5. Metrics
  6. Cash flow issues
8. Innovative teaching
9. Innovative learning
10. Government grants
11. Foundation grants
12. Individual donations of cash, equipment, labor, and rent-free farm land.
  1. Wired Wealth: http://www.onenw.org/toolkit/wired-wealthy-report/

In March 2008, Convio, Sea Change Strategies and Edge Research released a report titled, "The Wired Wealthy: Using the Internet to Connect with Your Middle and Major Donors." We think it's one of the most interesting, actionable pieces of online fundraising research we've ever read. If you're part of our world, you need to read this report.

MULTIMEDIA STUDIO (part of community outreach)
1. Streaming media and webcasting
2. Equipment and devices
  1. Video camcorders
  2. Sound
  3. Mixing
  4. Computers and monitors; hard disks and tape drives
  5. Sound systems
  6. Special effects
  7. Micro-photography
  8. Stop action, lapse-time, and slow motion camcording
  9. Camcorder mounts and tracks
    1. Tripods
    2. Steady cams
    3. Tracks
    4. Lifts
    5. Flying (radio controlled model helicopters)
  10. Lighting
  11. Cables
  12. Remote power
  13. Security and transportation
  14. Insurance
3. Production
  1. Plots
  2. Script
  3. Story board
  4. Sets and locations
  5. Actors
  6. Executive
    1. Producer
    2. Director
    3. Staff
  7. Wardrobe
  8. Make-up
  9. Food service
4. Post-production
  1. Non-linear editors
  2. Special effects
  3. Codex
  4. DVD production
5. Distribution
  1. Free, shareware, pay per view, DVD sales
  2. Film festivals and shows. ii
  3. Trade shows
  4. Conferences
  5. Media: print, radio, TV,
  6. Institutional:
  7. Web related services: web hosting, editors, email, etc::
    1. One Northwest. iii
6. Awards:
7. Funding, budget and cash flow management.
INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT
1. Natural juices and teas
2. Fungus
3. Insect predators
4. Phytotechnology
5. Natural products and by-products (i.e. coffee grounds against slugs)
6. Education
  1. Teaching staff
  2. Students
  3. Maintenance
  4. Funding
  5. Testing and assessment
  6. Administration
PUBLIC OUTREACH
1. Locavator – bar chart showing percentage of locally (100 mi) produced farm products, by organization – Wikiweb
2. Website of relevant organizations, including interactive pages and link page
3. Online courses via MCCS and others regarding food choices
4. Field trips
5. Farm clubs (4H, FFA, etc).
6. Seminars
7. Conferences
8. Speaker’s bureau
9. Self-help manuals, extension services, government and private publications.
10. Holistic thought and management techniques
11. Legislation watch: Bill tracking: Clear Voice: iv http://www.onenw.org/success-stories/clear-voices
12. Farm Heros: v http://www.farmerheroes.org/site/c.kjJQJ9MSIsE/b.4113789/k.5205/FarmAids_Farmer_Heroes.htm

CONSULTANTS
1. Legal: Ann B. Kneeland, Attorney; www.kneelandlaw.net; ann@kneelandlaw.net
2. Accounting:
3. Internet: John Schoville, thescout@pcsatwork.com
4. Agronomy
5. Bioenergy: Jim Miller; jimmiller5417@yahoo.com
6. Education:
  1. Community outreach:
    1. Sustainable Table. http://sustainabletable.org/getinvolved/spreadtheword/
    2. Helios Resource Network: http://heliosnetwork.org/resources.htm
    3. .
7. Computer:
  1. One Northwest: http://www.onenw.org/bin/page.cfm?secid=1
8. Home and hybrid Schooling:
9. Business: Good Company; www.goodcompany.com

i
Vandana Shiva (Hindi: b. November 5, 1952, Dehra Dun, Uttarakhand, India), is a physicist, environmental activist and author. Shiva, currently based in New Delhi, is author of over 300 papers in leading scientific and technical journals. Shiva participated in the nonviolent Chipko movement during the 1970s. The movement, whose main participants were women, adopted the tactic of hugging trees to prevent their felling. She is one of the leaders of the International Forum on Globalization, (along with Jerry Mander, Edward Goldsmith, Ralph Nader, Jeremy Rifkin, et al.), and a figure of the global solidarity movement known as the alter-globalization movement. She has argued for the wisdom of many traditional practices, as is evident from her interview in the book Vedic Ecology (by Ranchor Prime) that draws upon India's Vedic heritage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vandana_Shiva

ii
Media Aacademy - Why Should I attend their film festival? Cleveland's Media Academy is a state of the art production facility located at Cleveland High School in the West San Fernando Valley. Its unique curriculum for training future filmmakers is part of what educational experts describe as LAUSD's multiple pathways for the next generation. This inventive program is also one of the reasons Cleveland is the only LAUSD school to earn a California Distinguished School designation
http://www.indieproducer.net/

iii
ONE/NORTHWEST:
Our Services Overview of ONE/Northwest's technology solutions and services ONE/Northwest offers a wide range of technology and communications consulting services that help environmental organizations in the Pacific Northwest more effectively engage their constituents and improve their ability to collaborate with one another.
Website Design and Development ONE/Northwest provides complete website design and development services that deliver reasonably priced, high quality websites that make it easier for environmental non-profits to manage their websites.
(Learn more!) http://www.onenw.org/services/websites/index_html

View our Website Portfolio HTML Email Newsletters For organizations that want to send out HTML Newsletters, or other e-communications, with the polish provided on their website, ONE/Northwest provides design, implementation and training for our clients on how to set-up and utilize these powerful tools. (Learn more!) View our Newsletter Portfolio Database Consulting

ONE/Northwest strongly believes that your database should not just be a fundraising database but a complete tool for managing all the ways you interact with the people your organization cares about. Since 2005 we have been building databases customized to meet the unique needs of our clients using Salesforce.com, a versatile online database that allows your staff to track their interactions with the the people important to your organization. Thanks to Salesforce's donation of this powerful tool, ONE/Northwest is able to provide our clients with the power and flexibility needed to manage their important relationships. (Learn more!) View our Database Client Portfolio Email List Hosting ONE/Northwest hosts over 1000 email lists for conservation groups and activists throughout our region. They are a powerful way to collaborate, connect and share information.
http://www.onenw.org/services

vThe Solution In less than six weeks, we created "Clear Voices," a collaborative bill tracking system for Oregon environmental activists.

Clear Voices helps Oregon's environmental champions work together better. It provides a simple system that answers the day-to-day needs of individual lobbyists "in the trenches" in Salem, and automatically pools their individual knowledge into collective intelligence for the broader Oregon environmental community. Here's how it works: every night, Clear Voices downloads data on legislative activity straight from the Oregon legislature. Environmental lobbyists and their colleagues and allies can log into Clear Voices' private, password-protected website. There, they can:

Search through thousands of bills in the Oregon legislature to more easily discover pending legislation affecting their specific issues
Create "hot lists" of critical bills that they can easily track for their organization
Easily discover and communicate with other individuals and organizations that are tracking similar bills and could serve as new allies
Alert colleagues and allies on fast-breaking news around particular pieces of legislation

We built Clear Voices on top of Plone, a powerful open-source content management system that is ideal for building customized tools for helping people work together online. The Results In its first "season" Clear Voices was a hit. Over 70 users from 20+ leading Oregon environmental organizations hopped on board. Jed Jorgenson, Political Director of the Oregon Conservation Network said: "Clear Voices has been a unique and useful tool for the Oregon Conservation Network. Our work requires us to know what bills the rest of the environmental community is tracking. In previous years, we had weekly meetings where representatives of different groups would discuss the bills they were following. We still have the weekly meetings, but now with Clear Voices we are able to spend more time on strategy each week, rather than just reviewing a litany of bills." http://www.onenw.org/success-stories/clear-voices

Daniel Salatin Swoope Virginia While following Daniel on his water check through the hogs paddocks (and enjoying a cool breeze caught by the oak trees), I learned connoisseurs are paying up to $500 for hams made from acorn fed hogs. Happily already a Polyface buying club member, I enjoy the same for significantly less. The Salatin?s have responsibility for managing thousands of acres of forest and pasture in the Shenandoah Valley, and caring for the many species populating their farm. Daniel is so clear in his articulation of the benefits he finds in stewardship and husbandry; I am still charmed. Stepping over a large stone to be closer to the hogs, I brushed some aromatic leaves and wondered aloud at the scent. An exacting tone of politeness noted I was, in fact, standing in the middle of hogs? True, but I hadn?t noticed any but a citrus-y floral note, as I tried to explain? Submitted by: Holly Bridges

jimmiller5418	Latest page update: made by jimmiller5418 , Aug 16 2008, 11:02 PM EDT (about this update About This Update Edited by jimmiller5418 1 word added view changes - complete history)
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LOCAL COMMUNITY FOOD FREEDOM

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