"The future's here. We are it. We're on our own."
[Bob Weir + John Barlow]

Ready to get serious about growing food for survival in these changing times? Here's what Sunroot Gardens is doing:

• planting veggies in the city; in front, back & side yards, empty lots & anyplace else possible
• raising staple crops like wheat, beans & quinoa in large plots, in & out of town
• bartering produce & staple crops for land, labor, goods & services needed to farm (see wish list)
• harvesting & distributing to the people who contribute, from a central Southeast location

[ this info as a hand-out flyer ]

Details

Sunroot Gardens is centered in the City of Roses, Cascadia. It is predominantly urban, utilizing over 30 plots in yards and other spaces around Southeast, plus acreage outside of town for staple crops. Sunroot Gardens avoids chemical pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, sprays, etc., and any (knowingly) genetically engineered seeds or plants. No need to poison the food.

Open-pollinated / heirloom seeds: Heirloom and other open-pollinated varieties of vegetables and herbs are generally grown rather than hybridized ones for considerations of seed-saving, variability, and flavor. Irrigation use is low; some plots recieve only rain for watering. Purchased soil amendments are vegan with the exception -- new to 2009 -- of fishmeal in the complete organic fertilizer recipe we mix up from ingredients we procure at Concentrates.

Seed-Saving: We are doing as much seed-saving as possible. Seed companies have been facing higher-than-usual demand over the winter of 08/09, and have been running out sooner. Next year, veggie seed is likely to be rarer and more expensive. Plus which, saved seed performs better than purchased seed if it is harvested correctly and is stored well. Like other tried-and-true farming methods, seed-saving is just good old-fashioned common sense.

Bicycles: Famously, Sunroot Gardens is a bicycle-based operation, over 90% car-free. This is (believe it or not) simply more convenient, less expensive, and (without a doubt) sexier and more fun than driving. We're not interested in cycling as a snooty ideological preference; why saddle it with all that? Better to keep the ride light and free. Sunroot Gardens is not anti-car (or anti-anything else that happens to be present in our times).

Food Distribution
During 2009, starting around May Day and continuing until Winter Solstice, produce will be available at a central Southeast location twice a week. Wednesday will be for the people who paid US$ for a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share. Friday will be for the land-lenders, laborers, friends-of-the-farm, etc. On both days, harvested produce will be set out like at a farmers market stand for people to help themselves. Sunday will bring Sunroot to a new farmers market that will be opening on Hawthorne. Hours for all days will be announced closer to that time.

Additionally, produce will generally be available for people on any day that they come help. We will, after all, be spending our time in gardens!

Sunroot Gardens is not a bicycle delivery service for produce. We have never said we were and don't know why so many people keep saying it. Must be a yuppie "sustainability" fantasy, we suppose -- fresh food brought to the manor by a peasant on two wheels, how cute.

For 2009 we plan to expand to oats, rye, buckwheat, peas, flax and corn. We are also dedicating land to grow out seed for 2010 plantings. Who knows what seed availability will be like in the near or longer term -- we can't count on anything.

Past exchanges have included produce for farm work (by far the most common), and for garden plots, bicycle repair, heavy-load transportation, plant starts, seeds, homecrafts, scavenged wood or tools or special supplies. If you have something to offer for food, bring it up.

The Sunroot Gardens operation is always seeking the following:

• land to farm, in the city or outside it
• help with garden work and farming tasks
• tools, used or new (even broken if fixable)
• bikes, bike carts, bike parts
• mechanical know-how, such as welding and small-engine work
• lumber for building
• windows/plastic for greenhouses & cloches
• metal stakes, PVC, cable & cordage
• boots, gloves, hats, rain gear
• manure & bedding from well-treated, non-poisoned animals. Can include chickens, rabbits, goats, horses, cows, etc.
• household compost -- ask us where to bring it
• picking up coffee-grounds from local cafes, bringing it to compost piles (we already have cafes set up collecting it)