We will be holding our last BFF organizing meeting of the year tonight at 8pm at Ash Street Garden.
There will be a workparty tomorrow at the BFF Warehouse. We will be organizing and getting ready for the aquaculture tanks to be delivered!

Don’t forget to make your pledge to the Kickstarter fundraiser! We will be canvassing for the fundraiser sometime this week as well, details soon!

http://kickstarter.baltimorefreefarm.org!!!

Happy Holidays to everyone! With one week left to go, we are trying to get the word out any way we can! Next week we will be canvassing in Baltimore, as well as promoting the fundraiser at our Movie Night December 26th! We will be getting festive with all of our favorite zombie flicks!

http://www.facebook.com/event.php…

Remember, if we don’t reach our goal by the end of the time limit, nobody gets charged. But that also means that we won’t receive funding, and won’t be able to send out any rewards! Please help by posting on your social network websites, and letting your families and friends know about the great work Baltimore Free Farm has done this year, and our plans for the coming year! Together we can still make this happen!

http://kickstarter.baltimorefreefarm.org!

Come on over to the BFF warehouse(3510 Ash St.) tonight for some sweet acoustic music from local artists The Flying Eyes, Dead Whale Ramblers, and Damn These Old Bones! Doors are at 8:30, $5 suggested donation.

Then go read this blog post by Tim Boucher: Interesting Groups and Projects in Baltimore. Tim has been scoping out various projects in Baltimore by volunteering for a couple of days at each of them. He discusses a lot of great projects currently going on, including the Baltimore Free Farm!

It’s been a busy week here at the Free Farm already. We had our meeting last night (sorry I didn’t get a post in..), and we’ve scheduled several events for this week. Workparty Wednesdays return this week, we will be organizing and getting ready for the benefit show this friday! After the show, come on out saturday morning at 10 to attend a canvassing workshop and help canvass some neighborhoods for the kickstarter fundraiser!

Baltimore Green works is also hosting a winter mixer on Wednesday, where a few members will be present to promote the fundraiser as well. If you are interested in attending any of these events, email us at thefreefarm@gmail.com, or call Don at 443-740-8183! Happy Holidays!

Check out this article in the Baltimore Sun!

Vacant lots or secret gardens?

We’re having an acoustic show at the BFF warehouse on December 17th! Proceeds to go towards repairs to the space! Come on out!

We are also having a work party tonight from 6 to 9pm, as well as one all day this Saturday! There will also be a short workshop on fundraiser canvassing on Saturday as well, hosted by Anna Ewing and Peter Treadway. See you there!

Check out this article about the BFF in the Urbanite’s Green Zine:

Young and Hungry in Hampden

Baltimore Free Farm will be featured in next week’s online Urbanite Green Zine! you can get it hot off the presses in your inbox by subscribing at urbanitebaltimore.com It’s free!

Hello Homies,

Please read this list to prepare for Monday’s meeting. I know it’s a little long, but the minutes you spend reading it could save us hours in meeting time.

• Please check this board regularly. If we can be more prepared for meetings, they will be shorter, and we will get more done within them. This is VERY IMPORTANT to our ability to function well as a group. The less time we spend in meetings, the more time we have to do what we do best: be unstoppably awesome.
• I encourage you to add topics & comments to these threads. I plan on writing one of these each week, starting now. I’ll email you when it’s up, & check it shortly prior to each meeting, to collect everyone’s feedback. Remember, this board is publicly viewable.
• We are hosting a volunteer day on Saturday. It’s Billy’s birthday! We will be working in the warehouse. If you can make it, please do. Please bring friends. (I will probably have to work at my $job and not be there, but I’ll be there on Sunday. [Bring AG tacos.])
• We are, as usual, having a meeting on Monday at 8pm. It would be rad if we could start closer to 8 this time.
• One topic that will be introduced at the meeting is “Security Culture.” Please prepare your thoughts.
• I move that we OK buying ink for Mike’s printer/scanner, even if we don’t plan on doing so instantly.
• Some of us are of the opinion that we should just buy, as opposed to building, a cider press. Kenny will have a proposal ready.
• What’s up with the brew buckets?
• Another topic is “Warehouse Maintenance.” This refers to project maintenance, but also, more specifically, to everyday maintenance, especially cleaning.
• Would anyone like to volunteer to cook dinner for this meeting?
  • I think we should ask people who can, to bring their OWN bowl & set of cutlery, so it’s on each of us to wash/take home our own dishes, and they wont be left laying around the warehouse.
  • If you are planning on cooking, please allow enough time in your schedule so that the food can be ready, and we can start the meeting promptly at 8.
• Our Kickstarter campaign marches on: kickstarter.baltimorefreefarm.org. Donations are still coming in, and we also received some generous donations directly through Fusion this week. Let’s all brainstorm creative ways to up the momentum with this, and have suggestions ready by Monday.
• Ditto for the Green Roof Giveaway: http://greenroofgiveaway.com/nominees/nominee-detail/?nominee_id=5.
• We are getting ready to do a  huge Merch push mid-December. Please have ready, by Monday, any opinions or suggestions you feel strongly about, surrounding this topic.
• Robin Gunkle will be attending our meeting.
  • She got my number through mutual friends.
  • She is bringing some other members of Evolver Baltimore.
  • Evolver is a collective of about 20 Core, with a few hundred occasionals.
  • Evolver’s mission involves “Social change through the expansion of consciousness.” Robin mentioned alternative energies and whole foods while we were discussing this.
  • My understanding is that their slogan is “Inward Peace, Outward Action.”
  • They are interested in using our space as a venue for a party in late January or early February. We need to decide, on Monday,  if we  want to do this.
  • It is crucial that we make a decision during the meeting, because she needs to start looking elsewhere ASAP if we cannot accommodate her event.
  • They are expecting up to 400 people.
  • Robin says she has her own staff. Some BFF’s have expressed interest in requesting that we do some staffing, if we reach consensus on moving forward with this event.
  • They would like to see the party run from 9pm on a Saturday night to 6am the following morning.
  • The theme is “Give It Up.” It’s described as a celebration of gifting culture, in the vein of Burning Man.
  • The Evolver Core meets at the Baltimore Yoga Village, on the third Sunday of each month.
  • Robin is planning on charging $5 at the door, and is offering us a percentage of that, TBD. (I might ask her is she would consider going just a little bit higher? Thoughts? I think $6-8 would be appropriate.)
  • Her current plan is that this is a BYOB, 18+ event. Some BFF’s have questions about the BYOB part.
  • Her team would need about one week for setup, immediately prior to the event. They want to build a lounge tent, and I imagine they have additional plans.
  • Here are photos from last year’s “Give It Up.”
  • There are tangible and intangible benefits we might reap from hosting this event. We can probably all attend for free, and the event could bring in cash through door and merch sales. We would probably be greatly increasing our networking pool, as well. This is a whole scene of people that may be experiencing us for the first time. We’d be likely to recruit new volunteers and supporters from within this group. The potential for a cultural-capital level-up is high.
• Please bring your own schedule, so that we can make final decisions, as a group, about other calendar items. These include:
  • Bazaar Days (I strongly suggest monthly. Please have your arguments prepared if this does work for you.)
  • Movie Nights (Monthly?)
  • Meme’s Beekeeping Workshop (Any additional info about this would be greatly appreciated)
  • Mid or Late December Show (We really need to start publicizing this ASAP)
  • “Keeping the Harvest” Canning Workshop
  • A benefit Banquet in December (Is this possible in the allotted time frame?)
  • Cash Handling Mini-Workshop (Core Members)
  • First Aid Workshop

• Fusion has doubled their administrative fee, from 5%, to 10%.
• Fusion is having a potluck on Tuesday, December 21 @ 6pm, at the Cork Gallery. BFF should send representatives. Who can commit to going?
• Some of us went to the monthly Hampden Community Council meeting last week. It was very fortuitous, but confusion resulted. Some core encountered some mis-communication, that inconvenienced them to the degree that I feel guilty about it. Let’s try to use this board to all stay on the same page.
• Don and I went to the Public Design Meeting for the Skatepark of Baltimore last night. It was really cool. They may give us some lumber. We should help them.

In closing, I’ll remind you that I’m inviting your feedback. While I strive towards efficiency, I’m not trying to make any rules. I just really want to get more finalized within our meetings, so we can have some relax time.

Thank you all,

AG – Taker of Minutes, Keeper of Calendar, Enemy of Clocks