Around the Community Lately

[sbutler]

by Susan Butler
for WaccoBB.net

On Saturday, March 19th, Spiral Food Cooperative, a dynamic new initiative, held an event at the Graton Community Center. More on Spiral can be found at www.countybounty.blogspot.com. About 100 people brought their own utensils and culinary creations on a rainy afternoon to a 5pm potluck, enjoyed along with great music, and some surprising information-sharing. Wow.

Tucker Hemquist took us on a walking tour of Graton that really surprised me. Spiral is attempting to lease the Fire Station in Graton which is moving out of their old quarters. There are plans for a food truck to serve cafe tables on the paved space in front of the station's garage doors. There's plenty of parking for deliveries and pick-ups to the new coop which will feature more bulk local food items than you've ever seen before in one place. Tucker told us that as early as May or June a volunteer construction team could begin remodeling the space according to what talks already taking place with the health department say is required. What momentum these folks have!

And that's not all: After the Fire Station, Tucker took us a few blocks away to view an approximately 2-acre parcel in the middle of Graton where the community gardens are now. Spiral is negotiating with the private partner owners for a purchase of that land! Community gardens will stay, an educational open space area will shape up, riparian native species will be restored, and one third of the lot will have new natural buildings constructed for a more permanent café, marketplace, and community kitchen! A really cool, important community center in the planning stages! The one third of the parcel to be built upon will be owned by the worker /farmer/ community-owned cooperative, Spiral Foods Cooperative; while the to-remain-undeveloped two-thirds of the land will be owned by a non-profit already started called S.P.I.R.A.L. Sonoma (Sustaining People by Integrating Responsible Agricultural Living). SPIRAL will be applying for matching grant funds from the Sonoma Open Space District this fall to purchase their portion of the property. Wow again.

Financing is also well-planned. Event participants were asked to sign a "letter of intent" to become charter members of the coop for $200 for a lifetime membership. Once Spiral gets just 100 of those, they will have $20,000 pledged --a "down payment" they can then show to funders. Very savvy. Barbara Hom, one of their five-person core group is dedicated to fundraising and development. I'm impressed. These folks really have what it takes to pull things together excellently. And the time is ripe. Watch this group. Very exciting.

On Sunday, March 20th, Adam Wolpert of the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center facilitated a plenary group of Transition Sebastopol --including representatives from all the Working Groups and the core FACE group --in a five-hour "process" marathon! It went really well. Adam is awesome.

The reason for the gathering was the idea that the old core group had become a self-selected group with no real authority but responsibility for a lot of tasks. Several organizational models were put forward for the group to consider for the formation of a new governing body for TS. The dedicated, hard-working core group showed a long list of tasks they have been taking on, which grounded the discussion nicely. The upshot was the old group was disbanded and a new (interim) one formed --the Structure Team, assigned to come up with a proposal for a realistic type of organizational structure with decision-making protocols. They have until June 21st to get full buy-in on the matter from the Working Groups. I hear this is going well so far!

Another big thing happening lately: Brock Dolman's OAEC permaculture class of March 2011 took on the Sebastopol Grange as the pretend-but-real client for their assignment to do real-world-based permaculture designs for their class project. How lucky for the Grange! Four teams completed designs for the Grange property out on Route 12. The work was imaginative and the presentations wonderfully inspiring. Brock stepped up to do this at the Grange in conjunction with the recent movement to revitalize Sebastopol's club as well as many other California Grange Halls. See www.californiagrange.org for more on this historic family farmer movement.

Sebastopol's Grange has seen a recent influx of about 35 new members after many years of a declining and aging membership base. New members want to restyle the fundraiser Pancake Breakfasts to feature locally-sourced, organic ingredients in order to support local farmers. Sebastopol Grange is actively soliciting new members. See their brand new website, www.sebastopolgrange.org for more details.

Susan Butler is from Northern Virginia and went to school at University of Wisconsin. Built hand-made house on commune in Sonoma County, 1971. She has followed New Age philosophy, progressive politics, alternative economics, during a career as carpenter, general contractor, and then construction project manager. Susan is now a permaculture designer.

[Leslie]

Thank you for the clear report. How does one donate one's $200.00 to join Spiral. Yay! OAEC ~ and Transition Town Team. When is the next meeting? Leslie King

On Saturday, March 19th, Spiral Food Cooperative, a dynamic new initiative, held an event at the Graton Community Center. More on Spiral can be found at www.countybounty.blogspot.com. ....

Financing is also well-planned. Event participants were asked to sign a "letter of intent" to become charter members of the coop for $200 for a lifetime membership. Once Spiral gets just 100 of those, they will have $20,000 pledged --a "down payment" they can then show to funders. Very savvy. Barbara Hom, one of their five-person core group is dedicated to fundraising and development. I'm impressed. These folks really have what it takes to pull things together excellently. And the time is ripe. Watch this group. Very exciting.

[Barry]

Thank you for the clear report. How does one donate one's $200.00 to join Spiral. Yay! OAEC ~ and Transition Town Team. When is the next meeting? Leslie King

I suggest you start by contacting Liat at [email protected]

[Shepherd]

I so appreciate Susan's informative report on SPIRAL, the Grange, and Transition Sebastopol. I happen to have been at the Grange's monthly meeting last night, the Transition plenary, and the SPIRAL gathering in Graton. All three were truly inspiring.

At last night's Grange meeting OAEC's Brock Dolman presented the options that permaculture students have developed to re-design the Grange Hall on Highway 12, which were so wonderful. I think that the website for the Sebastopol Grange is www.sebgrange.com. Among the things that I like about the Grange are its 140 years of history advocating for farmers and challenging powerful interests. It is also a truly multi-generational group with many young children. It is definitely a family affair. Last night there was talk of building a playground outside the Grange Hall. There is also another wonderful local Grange in the Hessel area, as well as elsewhere in Sonoma County.

The SPIRAL gathering, even though it was raining outside, was so much fun! I feel that we can use more fun as we move from the declining industrial societies to the not-yet that is being built. The Hub-Bub Band inspired us to move around and be together in animated ways.

The Transition plenary was very well-organized and democratic. I especially appreciated the presentation by Scott M. and the skill of Adam W. to facilitate. As we deal with multiple emergencies, we need to have the skills that both exhibited, in my opinion.
Shepherd