i was looking on wikipedia at something that abby had brought to my attention yesterday when we bumped into eachother at the garden. the term is “social entrepreneurship”  and i think everyone should look it up becasue it really defines our role as free farmers and how we relate to our community.

anyway, i read about this fundraising technique and thought it might work out for us. kickstarter will deffinitly help us out but this could help us make a big score of some sort. other people apparently have also used this technique for fundraising cash monies. Check it out- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_red_paperclip

also, if anyone else has any other ideas (specific grants or other techniques) I would love to discuss them.

i edited down the hose shots to 45sec., sped up the mapa little and remixed the audio… i have cut a little over a minuete of what we saw at the meeting… i after the 2nd video montage before the door opens im going to incorporate some of the harvest shots and potato collection to refill in that minuete with more “produc(e)”tion.

i have been humbled by my experiences at ash street. everything challenged me and my sense of what is possible is now unshakable. creating the site was an act of sheer will, of cooperation with each other, and what some call luck. the orchestra of crossed paths- people, materials and tools, and ingenuity all happened right on cue. we acquired space, roughed it in, grew a garden and it became beautiful. all the people that kept that garden alive over last summer did it to pay respects to all those who came last spring and volunteered the time that they could. it truly is a space created by many. the design of the garden happened rhythmically, with many voices laying stones into the ground. An environment to live in usually is not a choice but rather a force of powerful circumstances. I was their when people decided that they would work harder than they ever did in their lives to create a world in their likeness. it worked. against all odds, it worked. an environment that is built to bring in life, and to showcase the diversity of it. In my life the freshness of the memories are an escape like a head vacation I can go on recalling the vividness of it all. truly a human experience has been had?

-billygoat

Ok, so I started posting the rewards on the kickstarter website.  It still needs some work though, so please check it out and let me know what you think!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/935022097/baltimore-free-farm-community-center

I also contacted Abid, and sent them the info for our banner and flyers. Here’s what I sent:

Banner
I think this would be a good looking banner, with all our info. Maybe some some kind of garden-related graphic?

BALTIMORE FREE FARM
Sustainability / Green Space / Alternative Energy / Organic Community Gardens
baltimorefreefarm.org // ashstreetgarden.com
410-900-7779 // 443-740-8183

Flyer
This is the info needed on the flyer. Please make the websites stand out somehow. We need as many as possible, so quantity>quality I think. Please feel free to include that you donated the flyers to us as well. If you have any questions/comments/criticism, please let me know. We need these by October 1st if at all possible. Thanks so much! ~don

The Baltimore Free Farm is opening a Community Center located on Ash Street right by the Garden!  The building is in need of repairs, and we need your help! Please visit http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/935022097/baltimore-free-farm-community-center and donate towards our goal! Awesome prizes for donators! Fundraiser begins October 1st! Visit http://www.baltimorefreefarm.org/ for more info!

• Contacted the fellow from the Fusion Potluck last night about kickstarter help.
• Emailed Mare Cromwell about her sustainability center she plans to open in western MD
• Contacted Katie Dix at CGRN, Americorps will be bringing rakes and pickaxes with them tomorrow
• Called Fraziers on the Avenue, they are going to buy our green tomatoes!
• P.S. we really need a scale…

Sorry some of this info isn’t very interesting, but it helps me organize my thoughts :P

This is the quarterly meetup with all the other groups that are with Fusion Partnerships. It is open to all Free Farmers. Great place to socialize all sorts of interesting people. We should bring a bottle of wine or so and something we prepare out of our garden. Salsa maybe?

Meeting scheduled tonight at Monster, 8pm. Please call if you can’t attend.
Some topics include
Kickstarter Video and Rewards discussion
Composting Workshop at the DIY Fest
Halloween Show
Fall Rotation
Re-Cycle
Meeting Schedule
Watering Schedule

We haven’t had a meeting in a few weeks due to everyone’s schedules changing for school and other things, tonight will be a test for Mondays to be our new night. Please try to make it.

The BFF is starting a brand new bike recycling project called ReCycle. We will accept donations of old, unused, or broken bikes and turn them into working bicycles for Baltimore Free Farm members and eventually the surrounding community. Contact us at myrecycledbike@gmail.com if you would like to donate any bicycles, bike parts, or tools to this project or if you would like to be involved. -Allison