2Hands Urban Garden

Meeting Minutes

We had a fantastic turnout of around 50 people! We are so delighted and thankful for
everyone who came.

Elizabeth Anna Samudio introduced herself and everyone took a moment to tell us their
name and a little bit about their backgrounds and interests.

Elizabeth explained that Elizabeth Anna’s Old World Garden had hosted an organic
farmer’s market this past season, but that we had several problems. Most of these
problems stemmed from the fact that we only had one organic gardener, Kim Gerdeman,
who supplied fantastic produce and flowers.

More than one farmer is needed to cover for problems with yields, to provide adequate
supply, to offer variety, and to ensure reliable availability for customers. There were
days when Kim sold out her produce very early and many customers were disappointed
to find the produce they wanted was not available. This discouraged some people from
coming back, so then there were days that Kim had lots of produce and not many people
came to buy.

Elizabeth looked far and wide for additional organic gardeners, to no avail. Thus, her
vision on raising up community minded organic farmers was birthed, and from the result
of our meeting she has teamed up with like-minded people! What a wonderful
opportunity for both farmers and buyers, and what a sense of community we will be
forging together!

We have members who live in dorms, apartments, urban and suburban homes, and those
who have acreage. We will all be sharing our knowledge, skills, ideas, and labor to
implement a variety of gardens from container gardens to large plots.

For those who do not have gardening space, we will be locating some areas for you to use
to grow your own produce.

Our first step in creating our gardens is soil preparation. This involves elbow grease and
will be covered in our first class, this coming Sunday.

We will create our own organic seal which will be given to each member who grows
organic produce.

The best compost is cheap and abundant. Use what you can make or obtain locally.
Most anything made from plants can be composted including paper, grass clippings,
hedge clippings, horse and cow manure, coffee grounds and filters, tea bags, cooking
water and table scraps. Do not attempt to compost meat products, grease or dairy
products.

The Fort Worth Botanical Gardens cuts back their bamboo every year and we can call
them to arrange to pick up the cuttings. These can be used to build plant cages and
supports.

Membership is $100 per year. Just let Elizabeth know if that is a problem, and we can
arrange for you to wait until harvest, pay in increments, or trade for service. Your
membership entitles you to discounted seeds, free compost tea application, discounted or
free bags of plant feed and amendments and compost. Plus, Elizabeth will be spending
her time promoting our group to the community with an eye toward obtaining additional
monetary and product donations, as well as garnering us publicity and customers.

Our supplier of organics is a company called Natural First and they are considering
giving our members some radio time and free bags of amendments that are torn or
otherwise unsaleable. We will be sending out letters and flyers to the community with
the hope of changing their mindset regarding local and organic produce.

There were a few within the group whose interest is primarily for meeting their personal
needs, and Elizabeth blesses this too, as she has decided to make the classes available to
all free of charge.

She hopes, though, that all will join membership to receive the many benefits available,
we have to be fair, she believes.

We will be offering organic seeds for sale from Botanical Interests, which is a small,
American, family-owned company. We will discount their seeds to you at 25% off the
retail price.

We will be looking into putting together a water harvesting clinic using recycled
materials. Some have volunteered to go to Austin for an out of box clinic.

A member mentioned that there is a water harvesting clinic happening at the Fort Worth
Nature center this month. James has connected with the man in charge and will discuss
this at our next meeting.

With My Own Two Hands

Lyrics by Ben Harper

I can change the world
With my own two hands
Make a better place
With my own two hands
Make a kinder place
With my own two hands
With my own
With my own two hands
I can make peace on earth
With my own two hands
I can clean up the earth
With my own two hands
I can reach out to you
With my own two hands
With my own
With my own two hands

I'm gonna make it a brighter place
I'm gonna make it a safer place
I'm gonna help the human race
With my own
With my own two hands

I can hold you
With my own two hands
I can comfort you
With my own two hands
But you got to use
Use your own two hands
Use your own
Use your own two hands

With our own
With our own two hands
With my own
With my own two hands
-------------------------------------
Download Agenda (PDF )

Download Agenda (Word)

The Vision

The Vision
WE - The Urban Organic Farmers

• Empowering urban neighbors by teaching them to grow organic produce and offering it for sale at our "With My Own Two Hands Farmers Market"
• Sustaining ourselves and our community with a small part of your ground for the good of mankind, our neighbors, city, state, and - in the scheme of things - our planet.

All this with our own two hands!

The Purpose
Growing veggies with a conscience and a green thumb

• First, to provide homegrown, organic veggies for you and your family.
• After that, providing organic veggies to our community @ Elizabeth Anna's "With My Own Two Hands Farmer's Market".
• Is this limited to vegetable growing? No but first let's get the core thing - local organic produce on our tables and available to those in search of real food.

The Location

• The food, fruits and veggies will be grown @ your home and at the homes of other urban gardeners who wish to participate.
• The produce will be sold at Elizabeth Anna's Old World Garden during our "With My Own Two Hands Farmers Market".

When

• Harvest season is approximately April-Oct, unless you have a green house.
• With My Own Two Hands Farmers Market will be on Saturdays and Thursday evenings.

How

• You will learn good organic veggie gardening practices through participation in a program lead by Elizabeth and James Samudio, lifetime green advocates and organic gardeners.
• Elizabeth has been growing urban veggie gardens for 20+years, both on her own and as a child when she spent endless hours with her grandparents in their organic fields.
• Elizabeth will be offering classes on most Sundays starting at 3 p.m.

Incentives - Why Join?
It takes a village!

• A free consultation and evaluation of your veggie growing space
• A tea treatment to your yard, regularly a $95.00 value
• Access to materials Free classes 15-30% off of organic products to help grow your garden
• Discounts on labor, seeds, rain barrels, composters, etc.
• Basic instruction
• Through this program you will receive a local organic certification seal
• We will raise the awareness of our neighbors by sharing with them how we are using our land, which in turn may aid in them eliminating toxins from their grounds as well. More and more people want to go organic in their yards, they just don't know how easy and cost effective it is.

Cost

• The membership fee of $100 may be deferred until harvest for those in a tight spot.
• Members of the same household will be charged a single fee.
• Discounted group memberships are available.
• Members are making a commitment to sell produce at the "With My Own Two Hands Farmers Market". Those who elect not to sell at the market will be charged a higher membership fee.
• Sellers will pay a percentage of their sales to Elizabeth Anna's to cover some of the overhead of holding the market.
• Members will pay less of a percentage on their goods sold at the market than other farmers who do not participate in the training program.

Who is Membership Open To?
Anyone who has a desire and willingness to build an urban organic garden to provide produce for themselves, and to sell at "Your Own Two Hands Farmers Market".

Things to Consider

• If this act of Green living keeps you from driving to the grocery store only one day less, you save on gas and reduce emissions.
• By providing locally grown produce to your community you reduce fossil fuel use and emissions that are used to import food - from out of state and out of the country.
• If you make this your part-time job, you may save on gas, childcare, expensive clothing, stress, and groceries.
• Organic gardening has been proven to build your immune system and enhance wellbeing, due to your contact with healthy soil, chemical-free plants, fresh air and sunshine.
• Gardening provides the benefits of exercise!
• GARDENING IS FUN!!!

Founders

• Elizabeth Anna Samudio
• James Samudio