Class Two: and where are you?

The Howell Collective has been busy with classes and work parties and meetings and and and…  Really, there is so much to be done in this new space.  Two classes taught by Tilth, Grow Great Garden Soil and Over-wintering Vegetables, have come, gone, and completely transformed our space physically and in the minds of all those who have participated.  As a collective supported by the DON’s P-Patch Department, each month we have the opportunity of offering a free class to the public- whomever you are and wherever you come from.  We have the opportunity to take an idea, present it, discuss it, and then act upon it. AND we have the opportunity to accept new collective members. If you have been thinking about getting involved, come join us!  If you are excited about worms, nitrogen, carbon, decomposition- want to be the p-patch leader on compost?  or do you like to fix things- not just when they are broken but when they need maintenance?  Perhaps you want to be the collective’s maintenance leader?!  Even if you lack experience, come!  We are teaching each other and are learning from all those involved, too.

Oh, and this is what the space looks like after class 2!  You will see the cover crops growing- clover, vetch, and rye.  Oh my!  You will also notice a section of sheet mulching.  And thanks to Leilani we have begun a straw bale garden, which is currently under the pile of burlap!

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SLICE

Join regional cooperators on Saturday October 23 at Seattle Central Community College for a powerful day-long conference – SLICE: Strengthening Local Independent Co-ops Everywhere – on everything ranging from cooperative basics for people starting or interested in starting a new co-op to general information for anyone who supports co-ops and cooperation, and advanced collaboration opportunities for existing cooperatives and cooperators.

You can purchase tickets at:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/122332

GET ENERGIZED
• Hear the opening keynote address from Rosalinda Guillén, executive director of Bellingham, Washington’s De Comunidad a Comunidad (Community to Community), a women-led grassroots organization that works on practical solutions to social injustice through self-organizing by disempowered communities to build their own institutions to meet their own self-identified needs. Among other innovative and exciting projects, Guillén and Community to Community are working to create a culturally appropriate cooperative development center, and are supporting local farmworkers in their efforts to establish worker cooperative agricultural enterprises.

• Enjoy a lunchtime keynote address from Jim Anderson of Ohio Employee Ownership Center at Kent State University and a founder of Evergreen Cooperatives, an inspiring Cleveland-based project designed to build a federation of worker cooperatives modeled on the Mondragon Federation in Spain. Evergreen Cooperatives includes an industrial laundry, a solar installation company, and a nascent large-scale urban greenhouse for growing lettuce. Commitments from the “Eds and Meds” (large educational and medical institutions in the University Circle area of Cleveland) enable these new worker cooperatives to hit the ground running, hiring and building equity for workers from surrounding neighborhoods devastated by the ongoing collapse of our industrial economy.

GET SKILLS
• Attend workshops on the following topics: decision-making, communication, and governance; incorporation; finances; eating cooperatively; living cooperatively; and working cooperatively.

GET CONNECTED
• Participate in a cooperative primer and discussions concerning cooperative economics, the next generation of cooperators, and the global cooperative movement.

• Join us for our Friday Night Social with beer and wine (at All Pilgrims Christian Church from 5-7:30pm)
GET YOUR SLICE
To register, visit Brown Paper Tickets.

For additional information, visit www.slice.coop or contact Central Co-op’s cooperative advancement department via telephone 206.329.1545 or email.

October with the Howell Collective P-Patch

The Howell Collective P-Patch is beginning to move.  AND, we are still looking for some additional movers and shakers.

Please join us for these upcoming events:

I.  Saturday, October 9th 10am-12noon  WORK PARTY

We hope to share what some of us learned during the Howell Collective’s 1st class: Grow Great Garden Soil.  Come prepared to turn up soil in an effort to prepare planting beds.  We will share some great techniques for enriching the soil.

II.  Saturday, October 16, 2010; 10am-12noon  Over-wintering Vegetables

Learn all about over-wintering vegetables, which are crops you plant now and harvest next spring or summer.  We will talk about garlic, onions, fava beans and other plants you can plant now, including local sources for seeds. Extend your garden season by planting these late crops.  Note: For all classes please register by sending an email to registerhc@gmail.com including your name, neighborhood, and how you found out about the Howell Collective P-Patch.

III.  Additionally, we will be meeting in the next 2 weeks to solidify our plans for what our border plantings will be & acquire plants for planting before the end of October.  We would like to invite all those interested to this planning meeting.  If you are interested, please send us an email athowellcollective@gmail.com.

Howell Collective P-Patch Opening Celebration Recap

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Thank you to the Parks Department’s Virginia Hassinger and Karen O’Connor, the P-Patch/Department of Neighborhoods’ Rich MacDonald and Sandy Pernitz, Councilmember Sally Bagshaw, and Parks & Recreation Acting Superintendent Christopher Williams for all the hard work being done to create new parks and p-patches like the Seven Hills Park & Howell Collective P-Patch.

I also want to thank Paul Fedorowicz (accordion) and the West Seattle Senior Center Ukulele Group for playing music throughout the event!