This is the invitation to our next pre-Earthday no-costs ORGANIC VICTORY GARDENING class, gathering and volunteer day.
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The next class will be held on Wednesday April 15th from 3 to 7:30 in the same Bel Air location as the two previous ones!
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Also we need Volunteers for Earthday events on the 18-19 & the 22! Please advise us if available any of these days! /p>
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>>> DIRECTIONS to our classes & gatherings by request!<<<
To get the exact address and DIRECTIONS, just email us!
victorygardeningevent(at)gmail(dot)com ============================================
Latest News: We had one more class/gathering in Bel Air tlast Thursday 04/09 from 3 to 7:30, attended by 18 people, which is remarkable for a week-day class, and shows how these classes truly address a need. So, if you have a location where a Project could be started or have some experience and could be teaching or help teaching about gardening, please tell us about it!
Also, if anyone has experience with grant requests writing, and a bit of time, that would be great, as we want to explore that avenue, since we could do a lot more if we had the funds for it.
This week, we planted various things such as potatoes, chayotte, purple corn, celery roots, beets, and much more, as well as seeding for 9 varieties of lettuce courtesy of Jack McAndrew the bio-dynamic wizard at http://www.biodynamiccompost.com/ , who unfortunately is now completely out of biodynamic compost until the next batch is ready, so you can't buy any at any price right now (that's the problem with artisanal production of a high-demand product -- sometimes all of it is just gone).
Our previous Class in Bel Air on Sunday 4/5 was also very fruitful. We created two small raised beds where nothing was before in one afternoon, almost totally from local materials, if we except two buckets of decomposed granite and calcareous sand, seaweed from the Palisades, and a mix of horse manure and alfafa from a stable...
Since coming Sunday is Easter Sunday, we are not going to have any of our trademark hands-on zero cost classes this week-end - which was replaced for this week by past Thursday's class. Next week we will as well have a weekday class, on Wednesday 04/15 from 3 to 7:30, [NOT Thursday, as previously considered), again at the same location in the Beverly Glen area of Bel Air, in the hills between Sherman Oaks and Bel Air.
Note that the week between the 18th and the 25th will be Earthday week. We intend to do attend some of the events during that time, for which we need volunteers both to prepare for it and for the events themselves (send an email if interested about this!).
The current Bel Air series of events should be considered both a "Westside" as well as a "Valley" class, as they are exactly mid-way. There will be nothing again at the usual Alhambra location till May.
We absolutely love to show people how to create an optimal organic (and sustainable) garden, so we look forward to see you during our next class.
The Alhambra project got lots of new wood donated, and help with easy carpentry is also needed there (to set up new raised beds)! But this is not a "class", just volunteering.
Please note: No Pasadena classes in the near future, contrary to what was in the planning, but there is something in the making in Sylmar and perhaps in Palos Verde -- stay tuned about these ones!
If you wanted to familiarize yourself with the ideas of "Optimal Gardening", you could start with looking at the following video: "Square Foot Gardening Introduction Video.avi" It's available at the following address, which unfortunately is fickle and not reliable at all: http://mybloop.com/go/cnCt5i
We will try to have a better one up and running when possible.
This video in truth is no more than just an introduction to a simplified form of "PLEASE" organic gardening and farming. However, for most people, it's definitely a very useful one.
In general, we believe that the most important and significant thing anyone can do is try to provide people with materials that will truly empower them, particularly when it comes to food -- what they are eating. "Ye are what ye eat", said Hippocrates, the founder of Western medicine, 2500 years ago, and that sure hasn't changed since.
So teaching and educating people about Advanced Organic Agriculture and Organic Gardening is our number one priority. It really makes such a difference in so many aspects of our lives that it is truly amazing how apparently so simple a thing can make such a tremendous shift.
The most advanced approach we know of is the "PLEASE" Organic "Victory Gardening" methods, something that seems to now have reached even into the White House. Best proof of it, make a search on Google and here is what you get:Results 1 - 100 of about 138,000 for ' Michelle Obama organic victory garden '. (0.20 seconds)
Besides the fact that this is actually about pleasing yourself as you address the fundamental needs of your body for wholesome foods, "PLEASE is an acronym for
"PATTERNED LAYERED EDIBLE AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS & ECOLOGIES"
which actually means a lot of specific things, which we will go over in the coming weeks...
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A Special Note for people owning or having permanent, stable access to some available land:
Please also note that if you have a substantial (or even a small) backyard, besides trying to do something out of it entirely without help, you could also consider creating a "Project" of your own at your place.
Such a Project can be entirely self-administered and self-managed from garden design to on-going maintenance, or be designed by a Resident Coordinator who'd reside there for a couple months (if you have the space to host one, that is, an unused bedroom, big RV or even real or virtual garage conversion), and then managed by you. Please inquire for details. A standard "Project" is not a "community garden" (that is another type of project), but a garden of you own that is created with you or for you at no costs to yourself when it comes to design and labor, in exchange for a share of the produce, to be determined by common agreement depending on several factors.
To give you an idea, each year, here in Southern California, any 500 square feet of usable space, if optimally prepared, that is, raised beds, designer soil, mushroom mycelium inoculation, etc, once mature, is big enough to produce about 1,500 pounds of organic and sustainable food of the highest quality.
Plus, normally there is always additional space people would normally not think of for gardening, along walls, etc, but which is usually usable as well with proper plantings, for example with vines such as, say, chayote squash, pole beans, and all sort of long-vined squashes and fruit, such as passion fruit, kiwi, grapes, etc.
If you are interested in starting a Project of your own, no matter if self-managed or managed for you by a Project Coordinator, we have a separate detailed email that goes over the several different options you might want to consider. Just send an email saying "Please send Project information" to get it.
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We are holding Hands-On Organic Gardening Gathering and Class once or twice a week. Attendance is always completely free-of-charge*. And if you want a special class held at your location or for your non-profit group, that also is always totally free of charge (however, you need to cover related expenses, if any, such as gas, seeds, or whatever). If you are a business, it's STILL free of charge, however, we are a non-profit, and certainly could give you a little tax certificate for any donation coming our way to keep up the good works going...
WHO WE ARE:
We are a "Victory Gardens 2.0" (Hey! even Michele Obama just got into it, at the same time legislation to make organic gardening illegal under the guise of "food safety" is discussed in Congress -- now is this a case of political schizophrenia??? Perhaps consider calling your congresspeople and tell them what you think about it!) and "HEALTH THRU GARDENING" informal group open to new participants, active in the Greater Los Angeles area - several locations, from Orange County to Southern Ventura County. We highly encourage people to emulate us anywhere they are in the world, and help similar groups to organize.
But in fact, read on, and you will find out why we are a lot more than that as well...
WHAT WE DO IN THIS PART OF THIS PROJECT:
First, design, start, maintain and share local Organic Victory Gardens. So people can emulate what we do on their own. "Copy it", if you wish, adapting it to their own needs, environment and conditions. So as to, in turn, become models to others.
As a matter of principle, we never charge anything for what we offer. The unfortunate side of this is that also, we cannot compensate you for your input either, would you wish to help us.
We believe that during this "Second Coming of the Great Depression", as the Crisis further unfolds into a "Greater Depression", endeavors such as ours will become increasingly in tune with the necessities of the time as well as the needs of the people.
Our welcoming email will tell you more. Just email us at:
victorygardeningevent(at)gmail(dot)com
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