Dear Wild Goose Farm Members and Friends,                                                   March 2018

 

We'd like to thank everyone who supported the third full year of learning, playing and growing at Wild Goose Farm. Thanks to your support, we offered over fifteen events including classes, performances, educational workshops, farm tours, building projects, Theater/Art/Food week and a two-day Building Sustainable Solutions gathering. We also completed the sustainable forest plan - a plan to build on the restoration of the soil and water initiated by the Andersons.

 

This year we begin the first stages of implementing the forest plan by replacing invasive species with native fruit, berry and nut trees to create an edible forest demo in a section of the forest near the parking area east of the barn. We will also continue to work on upgrading and expanding our gathering and growing spaces in order to enable us to offer learning and community building opportunities beyond what we are presently able to offer. We will host a number of community events including our sing-alongs, continue with our green building projects and continue to support local political activism.
 

We will provide opportunities for members to organize and lead gatherings, classes, meetings and events that support the mission of the farm. Brian Gockley will continue to lead campfire sing-alongs, Sara Street will take the lead on the forest work, Scott Simone will organize building projects, Penn Garvin is planning some political discussions around climate change, Heather Pask will offer a Wild and Free outdoor play program for kids and parents. Kathy K-G will team up with Tina Cody, Emma K-G, Shirley Schellenberg and Dave K-G to offer Theater, Arts, Food Week, and maintain the permaculture garden and grow medicinal herbs, Dave will work with Keith Moyer on maintaining the fruit trees and mushrooms, Lori Weaver is managing chickens and overnight visitors and Sierra Meggitt has offered to help with coordination and outreach. We will continue to provide hands-on learning opportunities for college-aged students and community groups to deepening their awareness of sustainable living.
 

Please take a moment now to renew your membership for 2018. Your membership dues allow the Farm to continue to operate as an educational center encouraging people young and old to begin to transition to a sustainable way of living beyond fossil fuels. Without your dues we simply cannot continue to offer this programming. Membership dues help to offset the operating costs of hosting these activities (these include liability insurance, building and ground maintenance, event supplies, setup and cleanup, utilities, and outreach - posters, signs, web and email account fees). If you cannot participate but would like to support the project consider making a donation as a friend of the farm. (Just use the membership page to pay online or bring a check to the member brunch on April 8th.) Of course, feel free to introduce friends to Wild Goose by inviting them to join us at the members' breakfast.

 

If you prefer to exchange work for part or all of your membership dues, we'd love to have your help with any of the ongoing projects - forest work, building or gardening. Forest work involves cutting and chipping invasive and undesirable trees and shrubs, mulching, pruning and grafting; building includes completing the micro shelter, worm bin, solar dehydrator, and installing green fencing. Growing includes creating plant guilds, deep mulching, and harvesting and preserving mushrooms, fruit and medicinal herbs. We'll share what we've learned, learn from you, and together create a demonstration site for others to learn from. Other help you can give includes talking to friends and family about the project, attending the two promotional events this spring (Threading Love 5K and River Road/Preserve Protect Play) and tabling at these if you can.

Of course, family members are always welcome to attend any of our events.  
Please invite interested friends to come and visit as our guests and consider joining.

This year, we will offer eggs and a few other products at member discounted rates, and u-pick berries, apples and pears. Later this spring if all goes well we will have tumeric and ginger plant starts for sale. Thanks again for supporting this innovative and forward-looking project. We hope, like us, it gives you a bit of hope that together we can continue to find ways to regenerate our world even in these politically, socially and economically challenging times.
 

With much love,

Kathy, Dave, Emma, Rudy