The Observation Deck

About a dozen members of the community met at bela dubby last night to share their ideas related to food. The energy level was high, and ideas were plentiful. A common theme of community was evident in everyone's visions of what is possible.

I will try to summarize the discussion below. If you would like to add or correct anything, please do so. If you are interested in sharing your ideas, please do not hesitate to jump into the discussion. We know that there are many other people who have much to contribute.

Each person put forth their ideas of what they would like to see happen here in Lakewood. We covered a broad range of projects/ideas that range from continuing and expanding current programs to very ambitious ideas that may be five or ten years down the road.

The ideas are as follows:
- Continue and expand Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) participation.
- Form a bulk food buying club
- Create community gardens within the City of Lakewood
- Use a community kitchen for group canning/cooking and for making value-added products
- Start a program of planting fruit trees
- Ban pesticides
- Modify laws related to livestock
- Start composting operations
- Connect and partner with local restaurants
- Create a resource list for community members
- Explore rooftop gardens
- Promote organic, local (sustainable) food production
- Educate the community, each other, and children about gardening & food
- Create a marketplace for the exchange of food and food products

We feel that implementation of these projects will better our lives, and the lives of the community - not just by being healthy and by securing quality food sources, but by creating and growing community.

Four projects were judged to be the foundation of the project.
1. Community Gardens - create organic gardens on available, underused land within the City of Lakewood, by which we will be able to produce food, educate each other, and further community in neighborhoods.
2. Community Supported Agriculture - create and maintain relationships with local farmers to ensure a source of fresh, local produce for the citizens of Lakewood.
3. Bulk Food Buying Club - obtain access to high-quality foods at a reasonable price through group buying power.
4. Composting Operations - Ensure that Lakewood re-uses its natural resources to their full potential, rather than sending these valuable, organic resources to a landfill.

The community gardens brought forth the most excitement and interest. We will be starting immediately in order to open the first garden in the Spring of 2007. Efforts are currently underway to scout potential sites and assess the pros and cons associated with each. If you know of a potential site, we would love to hear about it!

We will use the Observation Deck to further our discussion of these projects and to plan what steps are necessary to realize our visions. We will try this method and see how well it works. Jim O'Bryan has offered assistance if we feel the need to create a seperate area for these discussions.

We will meet again Monday at 7:00pm at bela dubby to discuss, specifically, the Community Gardens project.

Again, if you would like to participate in this effort to bring community and agriculture together, please join in the discussion!

You might take a look at this web site to see if it is something you would like to attend. Or if it interests you.

http://www.cbgarden.org/Events/Detail.aspx?id=454


Rhonda Loje

I wonder if Lakewood could do what my wife's hometown in Massachusetts did ... they essentially were able to buy simple assemble-yourself compost bins, and made them available at cost for all the homeowners in that town. $20. My father-in-law already extensively composts, so he got us one, and it was a breeze to put together, and it holds quite a bit, not only the few leaves we had in our back yard this fall, but all sorts of kitchen waste, etc. When I looked at composters in catalogs, they were all quite expensive, but this one has definitely got us started right.

Now if only they could do cheap rainbarrels ... though the Shaker Lakes Nature Center did offer a course on making your own rainbarrel, and they provided all the materials for 35 bucks. That might be something Lakewood could do too ... because saving that rainwater which goes down our downspouts is good for gardens, and saves money on water use.

any news on future meetings?

Also, where exactly are the proposed community garden sites? If someone emails me the general locations, I can post some Google Earth images of the sites in discussion. It would be interesting to see the sites' general dimensions, foliage coverage, etc.


thanks!

John,
We are getting together this Saturday at 10am at bela dubby to review the sites that we've scouted for community gardens. Various people are in the process of contacting the owners of the sites. I've got a map of the locations...if you want to send me your email address, I'll shoot it over to you. We've made some good progress on selecting sites.
We'll be discussing the c.s.a., bulk-buying, and composting in future.

c.dawson,
The idea about composters and rain barrels is great. Obviously, anyone can compost in a corner of their backyard, but having a rotating barrel, or the like will really speed up the process and keep the yard looking a little tidier. Maybe education and affordable kits for both rainwater collection and composting is something that could be offered in the future. Do you have any interest in working on such a project?

Chris