A LIST OF WHAT WE CAN DO:

1. We want city help to locate land that can be used to construct new community
gardens. There are many lands under 4J jurisdiction that are not being used.
We would appreciate the city helping us get 4J to release these lands for
community gardens.

  
2. There are other vacant lots that could be used for community gardens. We
want city help locating and making these lands available. Tax incentives at the
city and county level would be great.. Then we want help from the city on how
to get the water.  We can find the way to build the fences.

 
3. We want these community garden plots to first go to low income folks and so
we want there to be ways for these folks to get the funds which with our methods
are minimal to start the garden ($60.00). There is a rental fee in the
community gardens and we want a fund so that this fee can be paid for low income
folk.

4. Our gardens are based on a system that was developed by William Albreacht
during the 40's and has given and will continue to give many solutions to
climate change including more carbon storage in the soil, less soil additives,
less organic runoff, more nutritious vegetables, less noxious weeds, and less
labor. We actively seek ways for these methods to be documented and
thereby extended to the Extension Service and local farms. We are actively
doing research with growing grains with a no till system. We have worked last
year with dry land farming and want to continue with this. We believe that it
is in the interest of everyone in food sufficiency (I prefer this term to food
security) to encourage and pull together these sustainable practices and
encourage such practices in the whole community. Again maybe tax incentives or
other incentives would work.

5. More than anything the Victory Gardens stands for a CAN DO ATTITUDE. 67% of
our population is on medically prescribed antidepressants or mood elevators. If
we start doing what we can for ourselves and our community most of us will not
be depressed. It is relying on "them" to solve our problems and noticing that
things are not getting solved that is depressing us. As we get more active, we
would expect that city and county government (local government) would have ways
not just to hear people expound on what works or what is wrong, but to have
ways to work together to get the jobs done effectively. I do not see this as a
lot of thinking., talking or discussion. I am wanting a way that people who
have a vision and want to do it can be encouraged, and linked together to other
visions in a self organizing type of way. A CAN DO WEBSITE as well as a CAN DO
BOARD maybe at the bus station down town.