upcoming events Winter’s Eve and Green Crafter Fair at the National Colonial Farm Saturday, December 7, 2013 4:00 p.m. -7:00 p.m.
Come experience the holidays, 18th century farm style! Kick off winter with a special evening tour of the seasonally-decorated National Colonial Farm featuring self-guided tours of the farm (lit by luminaries), caroling by the fire, costumed interpreters, warm treats, refreshments and fun for the whole family.
field notes
Volume 18 | Number 19 | November 19 & 22 2013
Ecosystem Farm at Accokeek www.accokeekfoundation.org | 301-283-2113 | csa@accokeek.org
This year, we’re adding a new element to our annual Winter’s Eve program: a Green Crafter Fair, showcasing unique, hand-crafted gifts made by local artists and artisans. We’re inviting artists who work with sustainable, recycled, or locally-sourced materials to participate as vendors, for a vendor fee of $15. Space is limited and reservations for a vendor table are first-come, first-served. If you or someone you know are interested in participating in the Green Crafter Fair as a vendor, please contact info@accokeek.org. For details on any event, please visit www.accokeekfoundation.org.
Hello CSA Community, Our season is closing, which brings both sadness and relief, as we watch the fields pale in the cold of the past few weeks. We continue to marvel at the abundance of the farm, as the root vegetables plump and the greens sweeten in the brisk November brilliance. This week marks our last regular pickup, and we will have the market-style pickups for the days before Thanksgiving. Please review the insert in this issue to check out the pick list and the details of the pickup. Eat and be well! love and spicy greens, Farmer Becky
Ecosystem Farm Manager Rebecca Cecere Seward Farm Apprentices Alex Binck, Holli Elliott Farm and Garden Coordinator Daniel Michaelson Volunteers Rosemary Zechman, Amanda Truett, Tom Ellwanger, Mary Lynn Davis, Yvonne Brown, Terrance Murphy, Ethan Carton, Cairna Bode
Starting out Possibility Dare to Dream
Transition: the Movement by Holli Elliott Transition, it’s in the air. From leaves dropping and the end of the CSA/apprentice season to shifting climates and economic instability, the natural world and the human made one (which, of course, relies upon the former) is moving through some very critical and possibly scary times. When one stops to think about how much his or her life will be affected if the impending energy crisis becomes reality, panic can ensue. The population has exploded and supplies are diminishing. Right now, we consume 4 barrels of oil for every 1 we find. Between 1945 and 2010 we used over 1/3 of all the petroleum ever discovered! So much of what we do relies on petroleum…just look at transportation. What would happen to you if there were no more gas for your car? And no gas for manufacturers to create their products or bring them to your town? It gets dire quick. One way, perhaps the only way, to circumvent this crisis is to build local resiliency. The Transition Movement is a grassroots network of communities that are working to build local resilience in response to peak oil, climate shift and economic instability. This environmental and social movement is founded (in part) upon the principles of permaculture. Permaculture is a design system inspired by nature in order to guide individuals and communities ‘beyond sustainability’. Take a look at the permaculture principles below:
By adopting the ethics and applying these principles in our daily life, we can make the transition from being dependent consumers to becoming responsible producers. This journey builds skills and resilience at home and in our local communities that will help us prepare for an uncertain future, and also will be intensely rewarding. Central to the beliefs of the Transition Movement is the idea that life without oil could in fact be more enjoyable and fulfilling than the present situation. Transition Culture aims to make the coming Low-Carbon age to be thriving, resilient and abundant. A place much better to live than our current alienated consumer culture, which is based on greed, inequity, and the myth of perpetual growth. To fully make a transition, we will need to change what we value and how we value it. Our current economy is broken. Many Transition Towns have adopted a form of local currency, so that things like taking the elderly a meal or another neighborly act acquires a spendable capitol. No longer is the worth of someone tied to how much their job enables them to buy. This radical idea of socioeconomic localization to foster resilience has legs and has developed quite a following. TrasitionNetwork.org has resources for starting (or joining) a Transition Movement in your neighborhood. No two transitions look the same. Each individual, community, locality, etc. must start where they are at and use the resources available in their unique vicinity. I think Accokeek and its surrounding vicinity is quite blessed with possibility.