WELL NEWSLETTER – MAY 25, 2006

Calendar of WELL Events Monday, June 12 – Special Meeting: Project Updates!

6:30 - 8:30pm Willits Community Center

Come hear the progress of various projects that are happening NOW, in our community and get active.

Friday, June 16 – Film: “The Future of Food”

7pm Willits Library

This film explains the issue of Genetically Modified Foods and compares GMO foods to Conventional and Organic agriculture.

Monday, July 10 – Speaker Event: “Voices of Wisdom”

6:30 - 8:30pm Little Lake Grange Hall – 291 School St.

Come listen to stories addressing traditional values and agricultural practices here in the Little Lake Valley. This event will be co-sponsored by the Willits Grange.

Saturday, July 22 – Special Meeting: “The Future of WELL”

All day – exact times to be announced – Willits Community Center

This all day meeting will culminate in the adoption of WELL’s Membership and Governance structures and the Strategic Plan. Subcommittees have been working hard on drafts, which will be widely available by mid-June.

Please come to this meeting to give your feedback, work on incorporating changes, and, to VOTE on accepting these documents. This is the culmination of months of work and visioning.

Saturday, July 22 – PARTY

6-10 pm, at the Bradford home – 284 Redwood Ave.

Join us to celebrate this day’s hard work and all of WELL’s progress. More details to come.

Our schedule is intentionally light this summer. We suspect that people will busy with travel plans, gardening and general warm weather frolicking. The events we have planned should be FUN, as well as informative. It is also our sincere hope that folks will take time to carefully read the documents that our three hard working committees – Strategic Planning, Membership and Governance – will be distributing soon. Broad, carefully considered input is welcome and vital in this process. We hope that by the end of the summer we will have a lot of these details agreed upon and in place, allowing us to turn our attention to further projects – large and small alike.

Localization in the News

Portland, Oregon joins the Peak Oil movement. The following is the opening paragraph for an article published on the Energy Bulletin website. You can read the full text here: http://www.energybulletin.net/15851.html

“The threat of a peak in global oil supplies has received official attention from the City of Portland. A resolution to create a task force to investigate implications of peak oil was passed by City Council today largely in response to activism from Portland Peak Oil, a local grassroots group. "This task force will focus on preparing Portland for a local response to impending global oil shortages," said Stephen Johnson, a volunteer with Portland Peak Oil.”

School Farm Update from Jason

Ground has been broken – lots of help was given in this on Friday and Saturday, May 12 and 13. The students were out in force on Friday when Jason explained the project to them and then had them make hay piles. They had some good success and then they decided to jump in them. Five classrooms showed up and other kids came by during recess.

On Saturday about 12 people helped with breaking the sod off. We took off the top 2-3 inches on 400 sq ft and made a windrow out of this. Based on this experience, it’s been determined that it takes 1 person hour using spading and pitch forks to remove 16 sq ft of sod, after it has been mowed.

Measurements are being done to sort out what will be required to remove the sod, make thermal compost with it to kill weed seeds, and return this to the field. A tree trimming has deposited several cubic yards of wood chips our next step is to combine these into compost piles. These piles will also need to be watered, checked for temperature, and turned. All these steps involve organization of the work. We think we have a tractor system ready to go when the time is right for more sod removal.

In order to get water on the site we are getting some detailed plans developed through Drip Works where staff are modifying plans drawn by architect John Cross. Once we get these new plans, we can sort out how to put in that new infrastructure.

Without start–up money we are working with busy people and trying to get some spare time and resources out of them. So it is taking longer than we all hope, but we are moving forward with persistence and solid planning. We have about 10 donation cans around town that netted over $100 in a week. We are going to expand this program, removing cans where they are not doing well and are not featured by the stores, and trying new places. Most donations are spare change or dollar bills, but one donation was a $50 check with the note "I've been waiting for this to happen since 1974!" Please look for these cans and help out on the farm.

Special Thanks

I would like to thank REDI for the brand new, well-functioning computer that they recently upgraded to. This makes my life much easier and the work of WELL goes more efficiently and effectively.

Copious thanks also go to Liam UiCearbhail for his outstanding availability and support in getting this new system set up and running smoothly. His volunteer time has been invaluable.

Office Note: If you would like to be taken off this mailing list, please let me know and I will gladly oblige.

Spring

spring@redinet.org

Spring Senerchia, Office Manager

Willits Economic Localization - WELL

Renewable Energy Development Institute - REDI

75 N. Main St. PMB 234 Willits, CA 95490

707.459.1256