PLEASE NOTE CHANGE IN MEETING VENUE FOR THE FABULOUS FOODS COMMUNITY MEETING

Due to an overwhelming community response, the meeting venue has been changed to Tabor Presbyterian Church at the corner of Crozet Avenue and Tabor Street in Crozet. The time and date remain the same: September 4, 2008 at 6pm. Please car pool if possible. Please come with your ideas as this will be a brainstorming session.

Thanks,
Denise Murray
540-447-0912
murrden@gmail.com

Opportunity for Community Owned Business

Fabulous Foods market in Crozet is going out of business and will close in mid September. All those interested in participating in a discussion about the feasibility of a community owned and operated business are invited to attend the first of a series of meetings to be held at 6pm on September 4, 2008 at the Blue Ridge Co Housing Common House in Crozet (the former Schulman home on Parkview Rd behind the Veterinary clinic on Route 240). For directions please visit: www.blueridgecohousing.org. For more information you may contact Denise Murray 540-447-0912/murrden@gmail.com


Thanks,
Denise Murray

Introduction to Permaculture weekend workshop in Oct - Nov

Weekend workshop in Fall 2008

Introduction to Permaculture: Sustainability Strategies for the Blue Ridge

This 3 day Introduction to Permaculture workshop will focus on basic principles and strategies to live more sustainably in your home, neighborhood or community. The course will be held on October 31 - November 2 near Charlottesville, Virginia. The workshop will focus on permaculture ethics and principles, observation and patterns in nature, and implement permaculture strategies to use them to improve soil, grow food, harvest water, utilize renewable energy and regenerative building techniques, and build sustainable communities.

The course is offered through the Blue Ridge Permaculture Institute, and will be a hands-on, intensive weekend training workshop. The cost for the course is a sliding scale, $195-$250, and limited work-trade positions are available. For more information, contact Terry Lilley at tygerlilley@gmail.com or visit the website http://www.blueridgepermaculture.net/.

Water collection system

Hi Group,

We've completed our roof rainwater collection and gravity fed watering system which can now supplies our raised beds during dry periods. We invite anyone in the Charlottesville area to come by and take a look. We used a 40mil pond liner and have water coming from 3/4 corners of the roof. There is a spill over. We are currently using Mosquito Dunks (active ingredient Bacillus thuringiensis) with limited success. We will eventually need a cover. We did install an electric fence and this has allow the corn, cucumbers and beans to thrive. The groundhog would have done them in otherwise. The tomatoes and peppers are not doing too good but this is probably due to low light conditions.

If you would like to see the system and swap ideas feel free to send an email at kaj_511@earthlink.net

Kim

Online Food Storage Class

Hello All,
If you are interested in following along with an online food storage class, here's the link:
http://sharonastyk.com/

The first post for the food storage class was posted on July 8 and was titled Food Preservation - Class 2 - Welcome!. There should be a couple of posts on each Tuesday and Thursday throughout July. You can just scroll down to find the right entries.

You'll see in the outline the topics to be covered. There's some more unusual techniques like salting, lactofermentation and dehydrating in addition to canning (water bath and pressure). So even if you know a bit, there might be something new for you. Oh yeah, it's also free and you can read at your leisure (in your underwear at midnight if you so desire).

Some of you may already know Sharon Astyk's writings. If you don't, be forewarned she is an outspoken peaknik but also a fantastic farmer and food storage expert.

I participated in the first food storage class in the spring (posts can be found in the archive) and am a member of her yahoogroup (sharonfoodstorage@yahoogroups.com). It tends to be a very lively (and varied) discussion. In August there will be an Adapting in Place class as well.


So enjoy or delete!
Vicky

The Fatherland of Apples

The birthplace of apples, with an assortment of related links, over at Metafilter

THE FUTURE OF FOOD Film Screening

There will be a free public screening of the film THE FUTURE OF FOOD
When: Sunday June 8th at 6:30 pm
Where: Tabor Presbyterian Church
Tabor Street
Crozet, Va.

THE FUTURE OF FOOD offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled grocery store shelves for the past decade. THE FUTURE OF FOOD examines the complex web of market and political forces that are changing what we eat as huge multinational corporations seek to control the world's food system. The film also explores alternatives to large-scale industrial agriculture, placing organic and sustainable agriculture as real solutions to the farm crisis today.

Hi Group,

My husband and I are relatively new to Charlottesville. We are very interested in connecting with folks interested in sustainable urban agriculture. We recently complete our first raised beds. The existing garden flooded with a really good rain. I have done some gardening in the past but this my first house and now I can experiment. Unfortunately between the groundhog and the squirrels we have already suffered some plant damage. Has anyone had success with electric fence and small critters? Are they a worthwhile investment for urban agriculture? Please see the photo of the raised bed.

I would like to share this info with anyone who lives by an impaired waterway. Albemarle County still has funds availble to help homeowners with the purchase of plants to help with the stream buffer restoration initiative. http://www.albemarle.org/department.asp?department=planning&relpage=9382. I didn't know about it until fairly recently.

Thanks,

Kim Swanson

Frank Cook - Roanoke Permaculture Association Event

The Roanoke Permaculture Association is sponsoring an event with Frank Cook.
Date, times, and cost (which should not be a barrier for anyone
otherwise inclined to attend) are below.

For information on event locations contact Pamela Corcoran at 540-322-2192 and leave a voice mail message.


Thursday, May 22, 2008

Green Local Food

Explore Permaculture Noursihment with Permaculture Designer and Green
Man Frank Cook

3:00 - 5:00 p.m. Plant Walk for Edible and Medicinal Species $10.00
(scholarships are available)

6:00 - 7:00 p.m. Local and Foraged Food Meal $18.00 Vegan or Omnivore

7:30 - 9:00 p.m. Discussion and Permaculture Resource Sharing $10.00
with take home written info (scholarships are available)

Ferrocement workshop May 17

Free ferro-cement workshop on Sat 5/17, starting at 10:00 am in Afton (Albemarle County), Virginia. We will be building a free-arch, thin shell small building. Metal parts are in place, so we can jump right into finishing it. Ferro-cement is a building method used for everything from sailboat hulls tobuildings, uses very little material and is very resilient.For directions, to RSVP and further information, contact Leslie atinnerspark@juno.com