Who's on board?
Currently we have more than 100 people on the mailing list and there are ten people in the core group.
Current and Past Newsletters
As of May 2008 we are going to post past newsletters, which have recaps of meetings as well as information about core group progress. To subscribe to the newsletters, email sdfeinfo@gmail.com.
The links sometimes take a day or two to work after going up or being edited.
Newsletter # 14 - July 13th meeting announcement, recap of June meetings, Core Group update (added June 28, 2008)
Newsletter #13 - June 8th meeting, meeting recaps (added June 8, 2008)
Newsletter #12 - May meeting reminder, June meeting announcement (added May 10, 2008)
Newsletter #11 - May meeting, Core Group update (added May 2008)
Who started all this?
The creators of the idea of SDF and initiators of this project are Sarah and Mike. We're both California natives and currently live in San Rafael, CA. We want to go forward with this project in Central California because of the wonderful climate and growing conditions and the numerous possibilities for selling to restaurants, at farmer's markets and grocery stores and through a CSA - and because California feels like home to us.
Mike is currently going into finance, and I, Sarah, make organic non-toxic soap and attend UC Berkeley. I am interested in all things homesteading and would like to work towards greater self-sufficiency. (I love the book "The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It" by John Seymour). I cook quite a lot using local and organic ingredients. I look forward to producing much of my own food and root cellaring, preserving, canning, etc. A born and bred suburbanite, I have wanted to be a farmer since the seventh grade. I did a six-month stint in a conservation corps before starting college and have researched organic farming for hundreds and hundreds of hours. I have visited many farms and loved them, and it is hard to put into words what draws me to organic farming; but I know that it is my dream and my destiny!
We are both Jewish. We, and the Sweet Demeter Farm community, are tolerant and welcoming of all religious faiths and spiritual leanings! (I - Sarah - affiliate with Reform and Renewal Judaism and also embrace earth-centered and eastern spirituality.)
We tend to adhere to the nutritional principles of the Weston A. Price Foundation and the book Nourishing Traditions, which encourage consumption of raw whole milk, raw cheese and raw cream and butter from grass-fed animals, cultured dairy products, grass-fed and pastured meat and eggs, traditional fats such as butter, animal fats, tropical oils and olive oil, lacto-fermented and traditionally preserved foods, cooked and raw vegetables and fruits, and properly prepared (soaked or sprouted) whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds. Plus, of course, ecologically grown and local. We are not too picky about kashrus in the kitchen but do not eat pork and would prefer not to have pigs on the farm (even though we acknowledge the healthfulness of pastured pork and lard). We see having an ecological pasture-based farm as not only a fulfilling lifestyle, but as an important contribution to a growing movement concerned with food safety and security, environmental stewardship, localized economies and improving health. We are glad that SDF will be that many more acres devoted to organic farming rather than industrial farming, which is harmful in many ways for many reasons. It will be that much more acreage committed to conserving the land and reducing its inhabitants' footprint.
Notes from Sarah
2/11/08 -- The next newsletter with information about future meetings is going out very soon!
10/17/07 -- The first meeting was so exciting and there was a really terrific group of people. Can't wait 'till the next meeting!
8/22/07 -- It turns out that Mike and I are moving back to California in December, earlier than expected, and I'm going back to school at UC Berkeley. I'm going to try to complete a degree in English before SDF breaks ground, and Berkeley will be a terrific place to network and recruit potential cofounders. If there's time I am very interested in applying for the master's program in ecological agriculture at New College of California.
Over the course of the next few months I'm going to attend permaculture, strawbale construction and green building workshops here in Tucson. I am going to continue attending classes and workshops in California and next summer I plan on visiting several intentional communities.
Everything started for me when I visited the Sirius community in Massachussetts about six years ago. I was fascinated and at the age of 18 completely hooked on the idea of intentional community. (Yes, I'm 24 now!) Here in Tucson I have some friends who live in a cohousing community called Stone Curves, which I have enjoyed spending some time at as well. I spend a lot of time researching existing communities on the web and learning as much as I can from the safety of my living room, but it will be absolutely imperative to visit existing communities in person before breaking ground on SDF. So that's my plan!