Our February 21st Work Party was a success, due mostly to the hard work of our volunteers who contributed their efforts. Four members of SPOA joined six members of Edmonds Christian Church and we now have three garden plots ready for planting, and we have ground broken for about 4 more plots, as well as frames constructed for 2 more plots. We also enjoyed a delicious lunch provided by the ECC Women’s Fellowship. One plot has already been claimed, and we are pleased to be making this step towards increasing local food production.

Our next work party opportunity will be on March 14th at 9:30 AM until about 3:00 PM. Lunch will again be provided.

Directions:
Edmonds Christian Church
23010 84th Ave W
Edmonds, WA 98026 (map)

If traveling by public transit, the church is served by Community Transit Route 118 which originates at the Aurora Village Transit Center. Metro Transit serves Aurora Village with Routes 331, 346, and 358.

Following are some photos from our work party on February 21st:

The site we are working with before any work was done.

Removing sod after it was initially broken up with a rototiller.

Working the soil.

Building the frames for raised beds.

What we had finished at the end of the day.

Lately I’ve been wrestling with the idea of buying farmland.  Several of my friends have already made the leap and are busy making the preparations I can only dream about.

Currently my wife and I live in an apartment in Capitol Hill and I feel like I’ve done pretty much all I can do in this situation.  If I buy land now I will surely overpay for it.  If I wait for land to become cheap, I might not have developed the skills needed in time.

After speaking with several friends of mine who’ve done this, it’s obvious that it takes years to learn the kinds of things required to become even somewhat self sufficient.

(more…)