Community Gardens
We believe that an important part of a community's well-being is to have sufficient places for recreation, for interaction, and which can provide nourishment.To date, we helped to foster the development of 2 community gardens, Kawana Community Organic Garden and South Park Community Garden in southeast Santa Rosa, CA, documented on the website, KawanaFriends.org. We are currently researching and refining methods to create a self-governing and sustainable structure and educational component for this project. We will share our ideas and progress on both websites.
Finca Dorada in Costa Rica
Finca Dorada is a 5-acre coffee farm that is being converted into an integrated organic homestead for single women head of households without economic resources to work and obtain food for their families. In the future houses will be available to those women who are victims of domestic violence and qualified to participate in the cooperative. A non-profit Association has recently been formed of Costa Rican and foreign residents who are dedicated to nurturing this farm on behalf of the women. A variety of fruit trees and native trees have been planted to complement the coffee and some areas are being cleared for pasture and food crops. Once a resident caretaker is installed then animals and fish can be maintained on the farm. The future goal is to provide some tourist accommodation and meals produce from the farm crops.
El Semillero Seed Bank in Costa Rica
The El Semillero seed bank is an ongoing project to propagate the most endangered native trees in Perez Zeledon in Costa Rica by paying local women to produce seedlings which are then distributed to host farms suited to each species that can be grown to maturity and reproduce themselves in the region. This project is still seeking some of the desired tree species but has been able to generate sales for the 5 nurseries beyond the economic resources of the funds donated to purchase the original trees. Besides paying for the trees the project has also held three workshops in different elevation zones and produced literature on how to identify the trees and the conditions necessary for their growth.
Multi-generational Affordable Housing Center in Mendocino County, CA
A project that is just beginning is the formation of a Multi-generational center which will provide elder and younger care in northern Mendocino with an emphasis on home food production and alternative energy generation.
