Concerning the seed exchange, I had some seeds on hand that I wasn’t doing anything with. I have long thought about doing a seed exchange and decided to start a blog for it, at http://jacksonvilleseedexchange.wordpress.com/.
I envision it to be a great way to trade and exchange seeds, as well as stockpiling seeds for future use, such as community gardens, personal gardens, etc. Also, I want to express concern on a number of issues and try to educate people about them. The local food movement, organic status (foods produced without fertilizers and pesticides), promotion of biodiversity, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), ownership of patents and claiming intellectual property on food items are just a few of the issues I hope to raise some awareness on.
Just a few generations ago, people grew their own food. They were usually limited to what their region had available, as well as seasonal fluctuations. With industrialization, free trade, and a host of other issues, food started becoming more and more manufactured for convenience.
Now, few people can or do grow their own food. Most of the food we eat is processed and contains many additives, preservatives, and genetically modified organisms. If every part of town in the greater Jacksonville area had a community garden, backed up by farmers markets, we could avoid many of these problems as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The average American meal travels 1,500 miles to reach the plate.
As to how the seed exchange works, most importantly we do not accept genetically modified seeds. If you are unsure if it is genetically modified, or where it came from, please do not send it. The most common GM seeds are soybean, corn, canola (from rapeseed), cotton, maize, and wheat. GM food has not necessarily proven dangerous, but it is too early to tell. Further, behemoth corporations such as Monsanto control most of the GM market, meaning a corporation controls much of our food supply, which is inherently dangerous. Groups have tried to get GM manufacturers to include a label on food products if any of it is GM, but they continue to fight it.
You can request one seed if you have none to exchange. I appreciate a seed or two coming back to the seed exchange after harvesting, of course. If you mail five seeds, we will send 3 in exchange. Feel free to mix and match.
Please try to include the species of the seed as well as the source (whether seed company, supermarket, back yard, farmers market, etc.)
I do accept seed and monetary donations. 100% of all monetary donations will go towards purchasing additional seeds.
If anyone has any recommendations, thoughts, etc. please let me know. I am available at jacksonvilleseedexchange@yahoo.com.
I came across this article, and I thought it would be a fun project. I know there's a lot going on already, but I think this would be a good idea for the community gardern's lack of an electricity source. Of course, everyone could just throw in a little money to get a DC input that could be used to charge extra batteries or other equipment from a car. Nonetheless, it's still cool to know. I hope to make one of these for myself soon.
Solar Powered Generator For Less Than $300 Bucks...
1) Buy yourself a small solar panel. For about $100 you should be able to get one rated at 12 volts or better (look for 16 volts) at an RV or marine supplies store.
2) Buy yourself a battery. Get any size deep cycle 12 volt lead/acid or gel battery. You need the deep cycle battery for continuous use. The kind in your car is a cranking battery--just for starting an engine. Look for bargains; it should cost about $50-60.
3) Get a battery box to put it in for $10. (This is good for covering up the exposed terminals in case there are children about.)
4) Buy a DC input. I like the triple inlet model which you can find at a car parts store in the cigarette lighter parts section for about $10. This is enough to power DC appliances, and there are many commercially available, like fans, one-pint water boilers, lights, hair dryers, baby bottle warmers, and vacuum cleaners. Many cassette players, answering machines, and other electrical appliances are DC already and with the right cable will run straight off the box.
5) But if you want to run AC appliances, you will have to invest in an inverter. This will convert the stored DC power in the battery into AC power for most of your household appliances. I bought a 115 volt 140 watt inverter made by Power-to-Go at Pep Boys for $50. More powerful inverters are available by mail. Count up the number of watts you'll be using (e.g., a small color television (=60 watts) with a VCR (=22 watts), you'll need 82 watts).
6) Use a drill to attach the meter and DC input to the top of the box.
7) Use insulated wire to attach the meter to the wing nut terminals on the battery. Connect the negative (-) pole first. Only handle one wire at a time. Connect the DC inlet to the battery in the same way. Connect the solar panel to the battery in the same way.
8) Close the lid (I use a bungee cord to keep it tight). Put the solar panel in the sun. It takes 5-8 hours to charge a dead battery; 1-3 hours to top off a weak one. It will run radios, fans, and small wattage lights all night, or give you about 5 hours of continuous use at 115 volt AC, or about hour boiling water. This system may be added on to with larger panels, inverters, and batteries. Options: A pop-up circuit breaker may be added between the positive terminal and the volt meter. Some of you will want an amp meter as well. The panels I recommend have built-in bypass diodes, but I recommend charge controllers for people who have panels without diodes. Another option is a voltage regulator, which is not necessary for a system this small, but a larger system would require one.
Things we need:
We need a refill on 3mil black landscape plastic for lining the beds. We line them because some of the wood we're using is pressure treated with chemicals we don't want to eat.
If anyone has any spare pry bars or hammers, we could use them at the moment.
If you happen to have both pry bars/hammers AND spare time, you're welcome to come help with one of the more annoying ongoing pieces of work we've got to do. Philip's been salvaging tons of 2x4s, but they're full of nails that need to be taken out before we build beds with them. This takes very little thought or skill, but is time consuming.
Next thing we need to do is collect Zoo compost and fill dirt. We're seeking a truck to borrow for a day or so. Truck + hands with shovels in them = bonus.
Jacksonville Seed Exchange
This is a seed exchange website for the greater Jacksonville, FL area. We accept only non-GMO, preferably organic and heirloom seeds. You can request 1 seed if you have none to exchange, or 3 seeds if you mail us 5. Please include a self-addressed stamped envelope for seed delivery.Let's start trading seeds!
Mike, our red oak lettuce is about to go to seed in Springfield. We'll send an envelope or two once we harvest and dry them.
Thank you!
I went up this morning, with seven gallons of water in the trunk of my car, but when I looked around it seemed like things had been watered since Saturday. Hooray! I thought. But I watered them a tiny bit anyhow. They'll get sunbaked all day and they don't seem to be complaining (*anyone with more knowledge here want to let us know what a plant looks like when it's over watered?).
I think we should put up a chalkboard or something onsite. The dry erase board got warped in the rain. I might make that a project I do soon. It'd be nice to know for sure whether stuff got watered or not.
Students from a psychology class at UNF came out to help, and will be here for us the rest of this semester. These photos were taken by Amanda McAllister. We pulled nails from lumber salvaged from a place we're calling the new shantytown (because all we know about it is that Ian Ranne owns it). We pulled up tons of catbriar root balls from along the south fence of the site. A nice man named Jim came up and offered to help us with getting some materials, including black metal fencing which would look much better than the chain link. We also removed all the barbed wire and razor wire from the top of the fence, all around the site. It was so strange, dealing with this incredibly violent material, with thick leather gloves protecting our hands (but not from the razor wire, which cut straight through them). The barbed wire had been thrown up haphazardly, especially at the corners of the site, and we had to twist it with pliers and unravel it from the fence posts and pull on it with all our strength.
It felt really good to get rid of it.
Sunday I showed up and pulled a few nails before the Food Not Bombs crew showed up with an even more delicious meal than last week. They had lasagna, pasta, salad, and some incredible lentil cauliflower stew. We had even more spontaneous offers of help. A woman asked if she could plant a fruit tree for a friend who had died. An elderly couple on a walk told us to contact them at the soup kitchen, where they feed hundreds on Saturdays, to collect any leftovers they've got. They were really sweet. He said, "When I married her 43 years ago she said, 'If you live long enough I'll show you the world.' I've been to 152 countries so far!"
I had to leave the garden and meal early to carpool out to Mandarin with some folks I met a while back at the UU church to attend the monthly meeting of Jacksonville's Sustainable Future. This group is the most exciting environmental community running at the moment. I'll post more later about the meeting, but in the meantime check out the site: www.jacksonvillefuture.com, and sign up if you're curious.
