Building A Local Food System Safely and Compassionately
Greetings!
We are now into, what it is…almost week 4 of lockdown? We wonder how all are faring in these challenging times. Our ongoing questions center around how we can safely and securely feed ourselves and what it means to have food for all.
BCLFN continues to be busy behind the scenes, taking this time to apply for grants so we can offer more scholarship gardens and mentoring programs. We’ve been plotting and planning the roll-out of our Eat Your Lawn campaign. Fun hint- it includes great food, saving water, a healthier planet and ART!!
We’ve been keeping an eye on how the global food system is being impacted and why a strong local food system is so vital. Please read this excellent article that discusses the deeper issues in the food system. So excited more are talking about the power of growing food together and how it builds a healthy and resilient economy and community.
Vecino Victory Garden
Those of you who helped with Phase 1 of the Victory Garden BLITZ (final installations got postponed due to lockdown) will remember Vecino Victory Garden as the staging area. It will be our first teaching ground for how wonderful and abundant your yard can be when it becomes a permaculture food forest.
We know that we are still in lockdown and totally respect and support anyone’s desire to stay at home. However, food production is considered an “Essential Business” and nature does not postpone planting times for our convenience. So we are moving forward and inviting a volunteers to come work in the garden with a whole set of safety guidelines in place. Small crews, spaced far apart, with masks, outdoors, and plenty of opportunity to sanitize will make this a safe opportunity to get out of the house if you are feeling cooped up. Please email if you are interested.
Other projects and opportunities
1- Concow needs food. They have had 2 cases of COVID and the community is in even more need now as they continue to struggle without power and without access to fresh, healthy food without driving for an hour.
From The Ground Up reached out and asked if we can help get fresh fruit and veggies to them. We are doing our best to work with North Valley Mutual Aid to deliver locally grown food on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons.
We know this is a gap sort of time of year in the garden and many crops aren’t quite ready yet. But/and…if you have excess of anything, you can bring it to Kentfield Garden the night before, up to noon the day of delivery. The address is 1125 Kentfield Rd in Chico. It’s not that far off Hwy 99 via 1 st Ave. If you cannot drop it off, please let us know and we can pick it up from your porch. We are also trying to put together a team of gleaners as oranges are in full supply. Let us know if you want to pick fruit or if you have fruit that wants picking and we will do our best, given our resources.
If you don’t have produce there are other ways you can help. If you have time and a truck maybe you can do a delivery or four. You can also donate to help us buy fresh, healthy locally grown produce from our farmers, many of whom have lost restaurant sales. We intend to continue this program until lockdown is over, so we’ll be reminding folks.
2- GRUB CSA needs help installing irrigation in their new Walnut Orchard. Email to find out details to help.
Finally we have AMAZING NEWS…KIXE is our new Top Tomato Sponsor! ! Starting sometime in late May or early June, we will have spots on our local PBS station to share the good news about growing our own food.
So stay tuned and support our local media station!