I have been hugely blessed and it comes with a responsibility to share it fairly.
I was given a huge quantity, thousands of dollars worth, of very nice Raintree edible plants, from strawberries to walnut trees, some Natives and Wildlife plants,
The first catch is that I am entrusted to give them out or use them to benefit Seattle area non-profit groups or community food efforts.
The other catch is that they are all bareroot, just out of cold storage, under wet towels and tarps in this weather, and volunteers are needed NOW to get them inventoried and into pots or appropriate homes.
I had talked to a few groups about officially getting plants for them when it became likely that this was happening, but I had NO idea it would be this generous with so much to share. If you are one of those folks, this is an add on to what we had talked about already, no worries... but contact me immediately at
LLB@consultant.com or
LLB101@excite.com to arrange things.
Several scenarios are possible if you want this to benefit your organization, you'll likely have even better and more creative ideas, and you may forward this to specific folks you think may be interested. I am asking you not to blanket post to forums or bulletin boards, just forward to responsible people at qualifying organizations. This posting and thread is the only "public" link with all the info and what the proceedure will be for sharing as it evolves.
One idea is that I have a decent location in NE Seattle for a plant sale, on an arterial street, usually parking, easy to find etc. Your organization's volunteers would help prep and staff the sale and you would get the proceeds. I am donating my many hours I already have into this, and probably a lot of soil/mulch etc to get them potted up. You will need to bring more 2 and 5 gallon pots.
Another idea is to use them for your event or sale, or a worthwhile community food type project put on by a Sustainable Neighborhood group in public space etc.
I'd like to see some of them get put into the Edible Arboretum if someone is willing to help with that.
There are lots of possibilities, limited only by our imagination and the rules that it be for community good, and shared by a fair process.
What needs to happen NOW, is that these bareroot plants need to get out from under the wet towels and tarps where they now are, and into kiddie pools of leaf mulch/sawdust, and real soil pots asap. In that process they will get inventoried so we know what is available. For example, I know there are some large nut trees, those need to make sure they go to an appropriate place.
I am proposing that ANY organization who can get volunteers to help with this will share in the gift. I will have time sheets for each organization, and a Resource sheet for those who bring 1 gal or larger pots, soil etc. When we have the plants inventoried and taken care of, the group that contributed the most will get first choice. To make it fair, we will use something inspired by wild harvesting model, each group can only take half of any one type, to leave some choice for the others. For example, if there are 10 combo plum trees, the group with the most resources contributed can take a max of 5, that leaves 5 for the next group, who take a max of 2 or 3, leaving a couple for the next groups who would get at least one. This seems like a fair system to those I've spoken with personally already. I'm open to suggestions and input until we actually start, then we have to be fair and all play by the same rules.
Like most folks, I have to work and have other responsibilities too, so will try to balance the urgency of this and convenience of volunteers with my other responsibilities.
Let this blessing be shared and grow on in many places!
All the best,
Lacia Lynne
