Create Plenty!

Wow, yesterday was a day full of great news and hope. I attended a meeting at Fruit Valley Elementary School (right down the street from our house) that was being held by a woman from a group called Create Plenty. They are a non profit group from Portland who support local production and local producers, promote creative thinking about using and reusing materials and provide options to replace wasteful packaging. The name of the woman is Sola (pronounced Sharla) and she said that they would like to expand their organization into Vancouver and want to start in the Fruit Valley area, specifically the school. WOOHOO!!! They want to utilize the school garden and greenhouse as well as add another greenhouse, seed bank and tool library. Eventually they want to hold workshops on food preparation and preservation with the ultimate goal being to get the four gardens (including mine!) in the area to work together as a collective to form a Community Supported Grocery. This is huge news for Fruit Valley. I really wanted to just give Sola the biggest hug ever.

The CSG would work with the families of the students to teach them the importance of growing their own food and the health benefits of it. With hopeful contributions from some Corporate sponsors (Burgerville has already said yes!), the food would be available for a low cost to the residents of the neighborhood. In some cases the sponsors can donate "shares" of the produce to resident families. This sponsorship would also supply the seeds, tools and supplies needed to undergo such a project.

I have to say that this meeting really impacted me and gave me new hope. I wasn't sure how we were going to recruit people for our neighborhood garden and I certainly had no idea how we were going to pay for it this year. This is a big breakthrough coming at a very important time. Also yesterday I talked to someone who is willing to donate a sign for our front yard so we can let people know just what is going on here. People can really be great if given the opportunity. With all of the negativity that is surrounding this country right now it is so refreshing to have people step up where they can and lend a hand. If you are interested in learning more about the organization "Create Plenty", their website is www.createplenty.org And if you are interested in donating tools, time or supplies to the Sunshine Garden of Fruit Valley, you know how to reach me.