Thank You, Mavis

It has been an exhausting few days for me. I went from a semi retired writer two weeks ago to a chef opening a new restauraunt and trying to gt this community project started. That coupled with my mom being in the hospital, family responsibilities, and my own malady and well I was about to throw in the towel.

But, thanks to our new friend Mavis and husband Cary, we have a great new home for Ruby( our first pig) She has been really great and accomodating. Taking time to greet us and graciously offering us her place for our project...well, she is the cream of the crop in my book. I cannot thank her enough.

I had a really successful dumpster dive. Thanks to David and Regina for letting me into the construction dumpster for their new house which is being built. I aquired alot of really good lumber for many possible uses in our village. I have enough to make nest boxes, planting boxes, raised beds,etc... all on behalf of the wastefulness of traditional builders. I am both thankful for the find and disgusted by the amount of waste that goes on. But We will surely put it to good use.

Thanks also for those of you that have brought things for the yard sale. Hopefully we will get some more stuff comming in. All proceeds will go to the first garden to go into Wakulla Gardens.

Thanks to everyone who expressed interest and offered great suggestions and information. We are just starting this and hopefully by next spring we will be putting in several gardens around the county.

Please continue to spread the word and check out the website for things that could be good donations. You would be surprised what we might find useful. My next goal is to get some coastal and Jacob's sheep, so fencing materials would be very useful right now, but garden tools, a wheel barrow, heirloom seeds, compostable materials... the list goes on. You may have odds and ends laying around that could be of great help.

We are also interested in a few more people who may want to plant a plot in the first garden. Right now we only have a few so if you would like to grow some vegetables and live in or near Wakulla gardens, jump aboard. We would like to start planting soon. This weekend or next

So what is really happening

I am starting to realize the the blog might be somewhat ambiguous to newcomers, so I thought I would go into detail about what is really happening. Our official mission statement is on the website at the top of the important links here on the blog.

What are we really about? Well, our overall mission is to become a sponsor and catalyst for community gardens, community farms. In the mid-term I would like to have a place owned and operated by our organization, which has a teaching farm, specializing in the husbandry and production of heritage breeds of livestock.

Why are heritage breeds important? Well, I think for the most part you all have a good clue about why it is important which is why you are here reading the blog, but to go in depth, I recommend checking out the American Heritage Breed Conservancy link provided. I will write up some literature on the subject in due time, but for now and always, they are a great resource.

Bringing kindred spirits together in community to raise responsible, sustainable foodstuffs is my primary goal. Teaching our kids where there food comes from and theirs and our responsibilities as stewards of this planet. While a connection to nature is deeply inherent in all people, it sometimes becomes overshadowed by distractions such as urban living, TV, etc... Giving our kids opportunities to interact with nature and the earth from where their sustenance grows is a vital link that will become deeply embedded within their hearts and souls forever. My fondness memories are the summers I spent on my grandmothers farm. These are the values that become a part of who you are and who you can be.

What is happening right now? Well, this weekend we will chose a site for our first community garden. In the weeks that follow, I imagine allot of hard work and fundraising to see it into existence, and for this I will thank you all in advance. You have heard about the yard sale and stuff so I will keep that information coming to you in emails. Sunday we are also meeting up with an interested supporter, Mavis LaBounty, of Sopchoppy ( or slightly north of) She has graciously offered her property to us for raising livestock. I envision this being the first of the Villages Villages so-to-speak. Although it hasn't been confirmed, we will likely give a home to the first rescued feral pig there. Read my last post about Ruby, the spotted woods rooter. Hopefully we can arrange for her to have a new permanent home there and we can start talking and thinking about the mission for that property.

On a grander Scale, we currently have two board members and we are looking to complete the board of directors so we can incorporate and begin grant writing and serious fundraising. Coral Schievehas accepted my nomination as secretary of the board. We would not be here without her time and efforts and this is greatly appreciated. I am defacto President and visionary. I have been stewing on this dream for too long and I am ready to see it come together. There are a few other considerations for board members. Mavis of course as she has so graciously offered her land and stewardship. I have also extended an offer to Dr. Jenifer Taylor.of FAMU. She is the head of the growers market project at Lake Ella. I am not sure if she will accept as she is quite the busy woman.

So we are currently seeking board members. There are a few professional requirements I am interested in for this endeavor as it will become critical for some of the grants I would like to apply for. I would really like to have a Veterinarian, an Attorney perhaps, Serious Agriculture professionals and or Educators, Teachers, Politicians involved in our local government. This is a core I would like to propose. Having a high degree of professionalism will enable us to carry out our mission and receive grants for doing so.

Equally important to me, are community members. We have about a dozen or so currently, but I would really like this to take off. Becoming good neighbors, stewards, returning to core values and a fundamentally correct quality of life is the very heart and soul of this project. Spread the word get involved.

I am also interested in locating and networking with anyone and everyone involved in green building in our county so if you know of any please refer them to our site and encourage them to email me.

Thanks everyone,

Scott

Ask for pigs....

Well, things are moving fast. To me, it seems, an avalanche of things to do. I am really excited though.

I had an unusual call today. I spoke with a woman about a baby feral pig that her husband found. They nursed the tick ridden five-pound little girl to fifty pounds of healthy and frisky fun in a matter of weeks. She is interested in donating it to us as a non-food contribution. She also made me aware of an adult male at the Jr. Museum. Hopefully, I can work somethig out with them at a later time to breed her once she matures. I think she would make a great contribution to our mission as a rescued and heritage breeder. Now I just have to find or build a good permanent home for her.

Otherwise, we will have a garden site picked by this weekend and a yard sale the following weekend to raise funds. Keep that in mind. Put out some change jars where you work to help feed the kitty. I will work on some labels.

Happy sigh

I should have known not to get too discouraged about the land issue. I did meet with the guy and looked at the property today. It is still a cosideration for the future, But I recieved another offer today from a friend of Coral. Their property is north of Sopchoppy and she graciously offered it to us for use. I will try to meet with her this week and see what we can work out.

Otherwise, I planted hundreds of seeds in cups over the last two days to get ready to break soil wherever we decide, and we need to decide soon. This week is critical, I suppose. I would like to have a get together of some kind next weeken. A chance for us all to meet each other face to face and hopefully we can do that at my place. Maybe a yard sale to raise some money for our needs.

Anybody who is interested, please send me an email, introducing yourself, what you would like to see happen and grow. We reall need to get the ball rolling soon before we get into the heat of summer with nothing in the ground. Spread the word this week. Get excited. This is going to be great.

Backslide

Well, a bit of bad news...if we decide to take it that way anyway. The guy with the land didn't seem that interested in having people present on their property as it is adjacent to their abode, so it is out of the question for the community garden part. There was also an issue with irrigation, but he was receptive to boarding our livestock there if we get to that point soon enough, I suppose in the meantime we are in search of land again. I can support more garden development at my place, but as for livestock, I am about at my max. I can do some more poultry and thats about it, but as for now would serve our needs and cost us nothing.

I sent out an email today about the planting so if nothing else comes through soon, we can plan on making some new beds at my place. I am not sure about Regina's property but as of those in our group. I think that she is the only one who might have some room. I will check with her. So keep your eyes and ears peeled. I will work on finding a board and getting our non-profit status so we can seek grants and things. In the meantime lets get gardening. I have room, time and knowhow to serve our current needs.

Peace and love,
~Scott~

Wow, how things evolve!

Well things are really moving fast. Thanks to Coral we are starting to get a little buzz going in the Community. So I guess we should start to list "us". Here is a list of names of members and interested parties.

Me-Scott Dantzler and family (Chef,farmer,writer)

Judy Langston and family- Judy is my former business partner and forever partner in peace and love. She still owns and operate TasteBuds as well as many other great things.

Coral Schieve- Great community oriented mother of my favorite non-Dantzler child, Tannis. She has opened so many doors and is helping me spread the word to our community.

Shane Erwin and family- A long time friend and all-around great guy. A Tallahassee resident, great dad, and fellow gardener.

Regina and David- Wakulla residents, and parents of some of my dear friends. They realize the importance and economic relavance in producing our own food and would like to show their support.

William Bertoncin- Although he doesn't know it yet, he will be a monthly supporter, because I am to be the chef of his new restaraunt and he supports local farms.

This is the list of those committed on one level or another to our organization. I will update as this list grows.

I am still working on the mission Statement. I promise to post it soon, as well as a proposed Itinerary, calendar of events, and a proposal of ideas.

Until then think of some of your favorite foods and make a list of foods that you might like to see growing on our farm. I also need to come up with some questionaires for evaluating the needs and skills of our group.

Peace

Echo...echo...echo...

Well I talked to my old homegirl Judy Langston today, she said she was down. So here is what I know so far. I have about thirty chickens about to start laying and a bountiful garden about to start really producing. I have three goats(1 of the does is expecting) arriving tomorrow. So I am already well on my way to self sufficiency, but I don't want to start there. This is my calling. I am meant to do this.

I found a three acre site very close to my new house. I am about to call the guy about it to see what kind of deal we can reach on a long term lease. What I want is to come up with a group of five or six committed people to serve as the board and lease holders. I expect the monthly "Membership fee" to be around twenty five dollars per month. I don't really expect the first months to show any prolific return on this except for fresh eggs, vegetables, and maybe the joy of seeing our vision as a seed emerging into this world which we are trying to change. But, in the mid term I hope that the founding families will pretty much generate much of their household food needs on our community farm. I will do much of the groundwork for this endeavor and I can be in charge of the day-to-day as it is so near my house.

I do however have a pressing fundraising issue to announce briefly. It is not a life or death matter but if we don't act soon we will likely be another year before we can have the opportunity to get lambs from http://www.patchworkfibers.com/2009Lambs.html Jacobs lambs are one of the most critical on the heirloom list and well, they are just plain awesome. Check out the Pics. They are black and white spotted sheep with four horns...that's right four horns. too cool. It would probably be around fifteen hundred dollars for a good start on the herd, but this could instantly attract some of the desired visitors. I think they are the first major investment we should make if we can manage to raise the funds, but Judy and I are great at fundraising. I believe it can be done. Sheep are also alot less maintanance and costly to raise than alot of livestock.

So at this point I am looking for members. I will be creating our mission and putting together some ideas to spread tonight so look forward to those. Let's do this. We can create change.

Wow! This almost feels like yelling down an empty hallway. I suppose in a way it is. It is the process of "I" becoming a we. A sole visionary becoming a member of a group dedicated to making a new shared vision become a reality. So. I suppose I should tell you all my vision:



For all intents and purposes this vision is for residents of Wakulla, FL and surrounding counties, and/or persons or landholders with interest in preserving land and promoting self-sufficient living in and around our county. This is not to discourage or rule out those living in other areas, but my diret purpose is to set up shop in our community, but this could certainly be a model and fraternity so to speak for an online community.

So my basic vision is to procure an adequate parcel of land on which to begin a community garden, teaching farm producing and preserving heirloom breeds of livestock, poultry and vegetables. The construction and function of this farm is to be strictly self -sufficient. I want to be completely off-the-grid or prolific enought to sell back to the grid.

This is a very brief basis for the plan that I have in mind, but I want to officially draft something to post at a later time.