the "gnv blueberry farm"
neighborhood engagement page
Project Update 5
Greetings All!
It’s been a while since the last update - and there has been plenty afoot! I hope Spring has sprung for you all in somehow just the right ways, and summer is off to a sensational start
First, relatively “Old Business” - here is a link to our report-back from last Spring’s workshop (held at First Missionary Baptist Church). This should provide another layer of insight and information about our neighbors’ priorities and visions for this land and the surrounding community. Huge thanks to all who participated, and special appreciation to the volunteer note-takers!! The notes from this meeting are available for those interested.
Next, Newer Biz:
Most of our focus these past few months has been on potential farming and food-related things. While Wis has been researching some housing/neighborhood-related elements, the prospect of creating a “micro-food-hub” on the land has had center stage.
Abigail/Grace Grows was gifted a targeted donation, earmarked to hire a professional grant-writer, so Kelli Brenner worked closely with our core crew for a time, especially in partnership with Abigail to apply for a USDA Agricultural Innovation grant. That application was submitted on April 5th. (Now, we wait…).
The foundational priorities this grant would support are:
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Basic infrastructure like making the packing shed and environs usable as a space for meetings, community gardening, and community-connected programming, as well as the aggregation, distribution, and processing of produce; and
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Staffing to coordinate some of the above developments, including plans for varied and rich food/farm-related educational, entrepreneurial, and recreational activities.
The writing of this grant involved two major medium-sized meetings: one to which we invited neighboring and nearby farmers (attendance was about 18), and one with the same invitees plus an assortment of potential strong farm/food related partners (attendance slightly lower). With input from these two gatherings, along with some other strategic conversations, we were able to confidently-enough hash together a grant proposal we thought could help build the beginnings of some broader adventures in collaboration and collective well-being. The topics covered in these two meetings were many and the conversations were deep (and the food was nummy num-nums!). For details, feel free to reach out for more information or meeting note at bbfdreamsgnv@gmail.com. We were - of course - seeking to identify opportunities for alignment and healthy symbiosis with hyper-local food system homies.
Along with major contributions of energy to support those two meetings, Tanya tackled most of the logistics and communications over these weeks to sort out details of the packing shed and well renaissance (there’s an old well that could be rehabilitated), and continued being a community liaison par excellence - nurturing our introduction to fabulous new friends Otis and Erinesha (of Porter’s Quarters Community Farm), and continuing to volunteer with Daniel and Aviva while they develop material for “Nicoya, The Musical.” (Can I get a “Kale, Yeah!!”?)
We also met in April with a local collective that is interested in farming and food-related programming. We appreciate everyone’s patience as we continue to move forward at what feels like a sustainable-enough pace.
And Tanya and Dan had a tour of Hyldemoer Farm - been a fan of their products and philosophy for a while now and curious about their elderberry, roselle, and other operations. Loosely exploring prospects for future collaboration.
Speaking of collaboration, we also met with Stephan, of Beaten Path Compost, and are feeling good about hammering out some mutually and generally beneficial arrangements.
Big picture questions regarding models for collective management and equity have been raised in a few of these meetings. We have been exploring some models, but much remains to be discussed and developed.
Well that’s plenty for now - thanks for reading this far, and for continuing to care about what is, what was, and what could be on this patch of Earth.
Warm Best Wishes,
Team BBF Dreams
Project Update
04
Greetings All,
We hope the Summer and Fall have treated you well!
A few items to update y’all, regarding happenings on and about the land:
Summer Sling
This summer we were invited to present and participate in a youth community meeting with teens in the Summer Sling (Greater Duval Neighborhood Association) and Environmental Ambassadors (Cultural Arts Coalition) programs. Tanya cooperated with several allies including Jessie Wilson, N’kwanda Jah, and Abigail Perret-Gentil, to create and deliver an opportunity for the teens to learn about the beginnings of our public conversation process, and contribute their input to it. They were also prompted to explore what visioning and planning opportunities might exist in their own specific neighborhoods. We are grateful to have been included and left the meeting inspired and motivated by the deep thought and conversations brought to the table.
Videos
As part of that program with teens, we were also able to share a 16-minute video, prepared by Chris Cano and his team at Betterme Productions from footage of the December 2022 community meeting. Here is a link to three videos: one 4 minute version, one 16 minute version with subtitles, and one 16 minute version without. We hope you enjoy them!
The Packing Shed
One short-term physical goal we have is to restore the packing shed to more useful condition - for meetings, storage, and whatever comes next. Abigail Peret-Gentil wrote a grant proposal to help fund that effort, but we were not awarded that grant. We continue moving forward with the effort - Dan and Tanya talked with a contractor friend to get some advice, and Tanya has been meeting with an electrician and an engineer, as well as GRU, to begin the process of getting electricity and plumbing back online, then we’ll be getting into screen repair etc. This is minutiae for many of you, I imagine, but others may be heartened to hear us working to breathe new life into this building that has been a cornerstone of such a plethora of activity for decades - and may yet have a few more decades to serve!
And in the even-smaller-scale department, Dan quite enjoyed replacing the mangled gate on 15th avenue with the expert help of Naim and musical accompaniment of Tanya.
Miscellaneous
While much about the Summertime has been pretty slow-moving, we have had some helpful and informative conversations with various people about food (thanks Tanya!), buildings, neighborhoods (thanks Wis!), and history.
Regarding food, many of you are probably tuned in to the County-level food security conversations that have been happening recently. We are paying close attention to that process, and discussing what role we might play in future prospects.
Coming Up
We are still gradually reviewing and integrating the products of that March 26th Workshop at the First Missionary Baptist Church. We intend to synthesize the massive contributions of the 40 attendees, reflect them back to the broader community, and work to integrate them into future planning processes.
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And we also intend some next-level community visioning, connecting, and sharing process on the land this Winter. A few good friends with madd facilitation and counseling skills have stepped forward to help lead a process of connecting with spaces, histories, ourselves, each other, and visions of what may be. Please Stay Tuned!
Speaking of staying tuned, thanks to all for reading this far, and for your care and collaboration however it may show up.
In Gratitude, Solidarity, and Hope,
From Your Fellow Dreamers
Project Update 03.
4/25/23
Greetings to all!
On Sunday, March 26th, we hosted our second community conversation from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the First Missionary Baptist of the other Church. Much appreciation to Ms. Chattie Wheeler for arranging that location, and to Pastor Blue for the warm hospitality. Huge thanks also to Tanya Lopez, who walked the neighborhood with invitations and conversations on 2 days during the week prior to this meeting, and did plenty to help the logistics go smoothly. Thank you Tanya!
About 40 people were present, and after the two of us (Wis and Dan) shared aloud some of what we had heard expressed during the December meeting, we invited all those present to participate in going deeper into the six areas that we named as primary areas of interest emerging from that first conversation:
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Opportunities for work and skills learning and facilitating intergenerational wealth (for individuals and the neighborhood)
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Marketing and accessibility of local, healthy food
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Protecting and restoring ecological well being
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Housing opportunities, both for rental and for ownership
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Programming and activities specifically geared toward teens and tweens and younger children
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Historical acknowledgment and accountability
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How might we honor past contributions and or challenges.
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What part of the legacy of this area might we wish to carry forward or intentionally address and work to heal and transform? and how?
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Folks connected in groups of about seven or eight, and for each of the topics above, were asked to share:
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What excites and/or concerns you about this topic?
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Any suggestions for community partnerships?
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Any Models/Examples you might like to see BBF emulate?
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Any possible funding sources to help this happen?
Food and drink were provided by Flaco's and by Radha's Kitchen, and we hope all were well-fed, in gratitude for the dedicated attitude, wealth of knowledge and experience, and care that folks brought to the table. Many thanks to all who participated, for your invaluable and inspiring contributions!
We also heard from Abigail Perret-Gentil, founder and executive director of Grace Grows. Abigail approached us last month, and did a tremendous amount of work to apply for a planning grant to advance a vision for the agricultural element of the land that would aim to deliver neighborhood and broad benefits. If the application is successful, the grant would support us in compensating future contributions of time and energy from neighbors who care about this project. Hearty thanks to Abigail - and also to Karissa Raskin who put in a lot of hours to help that application happen as well!
We left that meeting re-energized and reinspired to continue this process of discovery and creation along with all of you. Thanks for reading this far, and being part of a community that cares, and dares to hope that together we can build and protect some beautiful stuff.
Dan and Wis
Project Update 02.
The next community conversation regarding the past, present, and future of the Blueberry Farm Land is scheduled for Sunday, March 26th from 5-8 pm at the First Missionary Baptist Church located at 1515 Southeast 15th Street.
Our intention is to go deeper into the topics and prospects we heard raised as priorities during the December 10th gathering, specifically:
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agricultural food production/support for new farmers
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ecological protection/restoration
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housing
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economic opportunities
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honoring the history of the place, and
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educational resources/youth programming.
We plan to talk in small groups, and regarding each of the above topics explore:
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Any stories folks may wish to share
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Potential community partnerships
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Possible funding sources
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Existing models that could provide inspiration/education/solidarity
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Other resources/ideas
Our intended agenda is pretty fast-paced. We will serve dinner and have some opening activities starting at 5, and around 5:30 we will get to the business of sharing ideas and experiences! Last time there were abundant leftovers - please feel free to bring tupperware for take-home!
We appreciate that we are asking for substantial time and energy and input for this endeavor! We want this project to reflect and meet the expressed needs and will of the community, and we deeply value your participation and care.
If you think there is anything missing or awry in this agenda plan, please let us know!!
If you are unable to make it to this meeting, but wish to weigh in on any or all of the topic areas above, (or even if you will be present, and also wish to respond in writing) we welcome you to Complete This Survey!!
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We hope you are all enjoying the arrival of Springtime, and we wish you all the best.
Dan and Wis
Project Update 01.
01/26/2023
BBF Update #1
January 2023
Greetings to all and Happy New Year!
Thanks for giving us your email address to keep in touch! This is the first update, and we hope to keep folks informed without overwhelming your inboxes.
We were pleased, thrilled, and grateful for how that community conversation went on December 10th. We met for about three hours that Saturday evening at TB McPherson Rec Center. Dinner was provided by Flaco’s, and we passed the mic around the circle twice! For those of you who attended (about 55 people did!!), thank you so much for sharing your time, your concerns, your hopes, your enthusiasm, and your care!! It was truly a treat and an honor to host such a gathering. We learned a lot - about the history of the neighborhood through the decades, and about what matters to people, and at least a little more about what thriving, beauty, and sustainability may look like to people in this neighborhood.
Among other things, folks talked about the value of housing, of farming, of waterway protection and restoration, and of opportunities for learning and economic growth for people in the local community.
We are looking forward to another gathering within a month or so, where we might get into some more specific goals and opportunities, with participation from as many of you as are interested and available. We will aim to give you at least two weeks' notice.
We hope 2023 brings blessings galore to you and all your loved ones. Thanks again for dreaming along with us!
Wis and Dan
who we are
We are a small but growing group of friends, neighbors, and allies partnering together to create a future for the land formerly known as the Gainesville Blueberry Farm.
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