Page 18 RAIN June ~_976 Commu~ity ,Marshall Landman P.O. Box 1255 Gardens Eugene, OR97401 Dear friends at R0AIN: · I observe three basic necessities of life. The air we breathe, the food we eat, and our impressions. Of these, food is what I'm most involved with. Through the Eugene Community Gardens and The Food Action Council of Eugene I hope those I touch will have a better, more fulfilled life. Without proper nutritim:i, it will be very difficult to accomplish the work needed to make this planet a just one. The Eugene Community Gardens comprise about four '.1-cres within the limits of the City of Eugene, Oregon. Roughly 300 20x30 ft. gardens are available to those without land. Folks who are participating are helping themselves become more locally self-reliant. They'.r~ growing food free from the poisons so widely used by agri-business. They are making a political statement against big business and government, whether they realize it or .not. They 'are taking on responsibili- . ty for their lives in-the most basic way possible. It is good. We in Oregon have had three community garden confer- • ences in the past two years and have compiled a directory of those who are _involved with community gardens throughout . the state (see enclosed). I will be glad to -share my experiences with others interested in starting a community garden in their community. Also, I would like .to hear from others who have had community gardening experience. ' • One word of advice about Community Garden News out of. Columbia, MD. I have sent away for copies of the news twice. The first time was last October ('7 5), and the second was in January '76. Both times I included the $1.50 requested and as of yet s_till no "News." Some other sources of cqmmunity garden info: Gardens for All, Inc. P.O.' Box 164 - Charlotte, VJ: 05445 Gardens for All is sort of a clearing house for the nationwide community garden movement. ~ Bureau of Outdoor Recreation ,Box 36062 450 Golden Gate ·Ave. San Franciscq, CA 94102 Has available a pamphlet entitled "Profiles of California Community Garden Projects_." Now, about th<:: Food Action Gouncil. We came together around Food Day '75 feeling a need to have a central focal point for our diverse in1terests in food. FACE is open to any-' one interested in making the local food scene more harmonic with the global food needs. We attempt to bring farmers together with consumers'. Bring low-technological food growing and preserving skills to city folks. Provide vegetarian diet information to those who will hear. Present public educational experiences to the community. Be~ forurr;i for folks to come together to discuss local, regional,.national and global food and food-related issues. St1ccess is hard to measure when dealing with personal human changes, yet we feel we've done a good job so far. We now have completed our second Food Day, and although there was not a great quan~ity of people who attended, the quality of the event was the highest we'.ve ,had. Lots of workshops on such things as complimentary proteins, food . combining, tofu making, raising poultry in an urban enviro1y ment, nutritious snacks for young peopl~, along ~ith displays on local wild edibles, sprouting and live foods, beekeeping, and vegetarianism provided an educational experience most will not forget. We look toward the fall of the year for our second Harvest Festival. Last year we had over 5,000 people come to our Harvest Fair held 1n the main city park, Skinners ·Butte. Presented were displays on skills city folks could in- , corporate into their own lives. Things like canning with honey, food drying and preservation, raising bees and chickens in the city, heating with wood, etc. Jn th~ future we hope,, to continue doing many of the same things we've don,e in the past plus gaining more access to local media to help spread the word. Many ideas are bubbling, and it remains to' be seen where FACE will go from here: Any ideas? We work closely with The Center for Science in the Public Interest, 1785 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20036, sponsors of national Food Day. I'm also invo-Ived with a new beekeepers cooperative in E~gene. We got together last fall and ever since we've been building our own hives and preparing for the upcoming spring swarm seas,on. We're a non-profit educational and equipment sharing group helping newcomers to the apiary. _ And last: but not least, our newest venture, the Cascadian Regional Library. Stemming but of a great need for coordinated information sharing both locally and regionally,_the library will serve the needs of the alternative community as much as possible. More o~·this il,S developments occur. Locally, I'm in touch with many.dive.rse groups and individuals. I receive, monthly, all the neighborhood newsletters published .in Eugene. Working in City Hall keeps me in touch with many-governmental happenings. As a member of a local fqod co-op,,I'm quite well informed about the local happenings in the alternative community. Get most of my information tion from talking'to folks. Seems that's where the news is! Regionally and nationally I get a lot of helpful info from you · folks at RAIN, the Tilth newsletter, New Age Jotcrnal, EastWest Journal, Communities, Organic Farming & Gardeni~g,& Mother Earth News. Probably the biggest source of input as to the latest happenings of the front lines I have·is B'rian Livingston\ · , , - Well, that's about_all for now. I thank you all for the'tre~ men,dous amount of energy you're putting out to make this _sharing happen. The gods would be pleased. . Towards a more cooperative community in love and light. In Seattle, contact: P-Patch Program Dept. of Human Resources, City of Seattle 313-1/2 1st Ave., S. Seattle, WA 98104 206/62 5-469 5 . Edith Walden Provides ac~ess to 15 urban acres for 1100 gardens, 400 sq. ft. ,or 200 sq. ft. and gardening i1:fo such as the Community Garden Handbook. (LJ)
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