04/20/2023
Hi there! We need your help!!
We are looking for volunteers to join us this Saturday, April 22nd for an earth day meet-and-greet/landscaping/seed-sowing session on our property in central Manhattan, right off of Manhattan Hill!! Pm me if you're interested in stopping by for an address. We will be out and about noon-6pm. Below is a ton of detail on what we're about.
Let me introduce myself, and then I'll introduce the Root of the Matter Farm project. My name is Anna, I am the plant gal you see in the photos. The man behind the camera is my partner, Kyler. We rent a property in town from a friend who has graciously given us the amazing opportunity of stewarding it. To some of ya'll property owners, this arrangement probably sounds hilarious -- but to me, I am thrilled to finally have the space for a ton of plants!!!! 🤣
This is our second year on the property. Read some of the captions on the photos in the post to learn more about our journey. Last year, we decided that this property could serve as a hub for a community project. Over the course of the year, I considered some potential ways we could develop, and eventually concluded that we need more data about what the community currently needs. From there, it would make the most sense to develop a nonprofit organization based around a core mission that we would identify.
In the meantime, the purpose of this project is to bring together people who want to participate in a common vision and who can work with us to develop it into an organization. Currently, this is the vision that we have for Root of the Matter Farm, or ROTM:
- First and foremost, if you are wondering where the name comes from, it reflects our belief that the degredation of social bonds and friendships is the root cause of many of the crises our society currently faces. Our core mission is to nurture relationships -- the ones we have with the earth, with ourselves, and one another.
- Meeting the needs of our community directly is our second task. Currently, we believe the best way to do this is to grow and donate food to the Flint Hills Breadbasket. We are talking about the food that we grow on our property, and that we need volunteer assistance in order to maintain that ecosystem and to harvest produce.
-- Within that, we will have enough to sustain ourselves, meals with our volunteers, and food to nourish the insects and animals that live within the ecosystem.
- We then think it makes sense to expand that impact by sharing the burden of labor when others want to start their gardens. We envision volunteers helping us on our property, and in turn we help them to start gardens. It is a more resilient model if food comes off of more properties, and building a community that can provide labor in that manner is a big step in that direction.
- Empowering our community with the tools and the skills to build gardens and to maintain them. One of our ideas is to build a tool library for growers. Lowering the activation cost is going to be an important step for us to reach communities where they already are.
-- There are pre-existing projects and nonprofits in town that already provide educational services for growers and gardeners. Instead of reinventing the wheel so to speak, we think it would make sense to instead develop partnerships that would support their work and provide more educational outreach to communities that also need the necessary skills.
Earlier I spoke about needing more data to ascertain whether or not these missions are going to be the right ones. I still stand by that statement. The vision we have outlined will hopefully give volunteers an idea of where we stand on things, but it is subject to change.
What volunteers can expect by working with us or investing their time and energy with us:
+ free food! When you volunteer your time, you will inevitably leave with a portion of what you sow
+ our gratitude! We CANNOT do this without your help. We function in a manner of reciprocity and in addition to food and resources, you have our support and friendship
+ for those of us who are able-bodied, be prepared to lift compost up and down the property!! We are doing our darndest to minimize this and to make it less labor-intensive to save everyone's backs, but it does simply need doing. Best done with 2 people, for sure. Digging is another one of those tasks that is getting phased out soon but currently is on the menu
+ transplanting and seed starting!! We start a vast majority of plants from seed, or get cuttings, but this is a task for those who really want to learn those skills.
+ OCCASIONAL weeding!! Since we lowered our bins down to ground level, and our beds are a standard size, AND because we plan on planting densely and we incorporate lots of mulch, this chore will be pretty minimal, thank goodness
+ OCCASIONAL watering!! We do use drip irrigation, but in areas that don't have it installed, such as in our raised beds, we have a 100' hose with a wand attachment that will make that job easy peasy. Also, this year we are working hard to reduce our need for water in general.
+ plant pruning & general maintenance!! This includes pruning tomato suckers, leading cucumber vines up a trellis, deadheading, etc. Not a whole lot of work, but something to do every day
+ HARVESTING!!!! This will be a good portion of our work. Especially when bean season is here!! Our cucumbers are also notoriously heavy producers.
+ Bringing donations to the breadbasket!! Both I and Kyler work full-time. As the harvests become more frequent, this will be a huge help.
There is too much to say in this initial post. Hopefully you'll stop by and say hello, or drop us a line! I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have!
