[BCFSN] community gardens protocol in COVID19 era
Colin Dring
ccdring at gmail.com
Mon Apr 6 15:09:46 EDT 2020
Hi folks for those interested in looking at what some groups in the States
are doing about prioritizing the distribution of seeds and resources
to organizations and groups led by Indigenous, Black and People of Colour ,
check out the work below around resource sharing, protocols during
COVID-19, and upcoming meetings:
Hope you are all taking care,
Colin Dring
[image: 1]
*Monday, April 6, 2020*
**** ANNOUNCEMENT ****
The Cooperative Gardens Commission is *pleased to announce our initial plan* to
connect thousands of people for the purpose of increasing community food
production during this time of uncertainty. Because the growing season is
already here in much of the country, we've determined that the best way to
connect resources with needs is to use an existing online platform that is
free, familiar, non-profit, and already exists in most communities: the
humble *craigslist*!
If you have resources to offer — as *over 1500 of you* indicated when you
filled out our survey — we strongly urge you to visit your local
craigslist.org page today and make a post offering your resources using the
hashtag *#CoopGardens* and following the instructions in our *Resource
Sharing Guide* below (with the header highlighted in green). Be sure to
also *read the critical Health & Safety Guidelines* (header highlighted in
blue) which form the bulk of the guide below, because it is the
responsibility of each and every one of us to prevent the spread of
COVID-19. We in the CGC take this virus very seriously.
To join our organizing efforts, please find the link to register for our
biweekly organizing calls toward the bottom of guide below (the *next call
is tonight* — Monday — at 8pm ET/5pm PT), along with links to join each of
our 14 working groups — including the new BIPOC Working Group for those of
you who identify as Black, Indigenous, or a Person of Color.
Since this organizing project began with a simple social media post on
"Corona Victory Gardens" on March 18th, hundreds of organizers have come
together to create a broad-based and inclusive collective dedicated to
growing food and community. Our work has already been featured in the New
York Times, among other publications — and we are just getting started. *Please
get in touch* with stories and photos of your Cooperative Garden that we
can share on social media.
And please share this announcement widely. Our strategy only works if lots
of people participate.
Thank you in advance for visiting your local craigslist today and helping
your community!
- *The Cooperative Gardens Commission* (Facilitation/Administration Working
Group)
Cooperative Gardens Commission
Resource Sharing Guide
#CoopGardens: How to Increase Food Production in Your Community
The Cooperative Gardens Commission is launching a public campaign to
increase community food production in every community. Our aim is to
connect those with food-growing resources — including seeds, soil, tools,
equipment, land, labor, and knowledge — with those who lack such resources,
and ultimately to get as much land as possible producing food during this
time of uncertainty.
Growing food is not easy, especially for first-time growers, so we urge any
of you who can help your neighbors grow food to go to your local
craigslist.org website and use the hashtag #CoopGardens while offering
their help (following all of the guidelines below). We chose craigslist
<http://craigslist.org/> because it's free, familiar, easy-to-use,
not-for-profit, and has a page for almost every community in the United
States and Canada (and many other countries). We believe this is the
fastest and most efficient way to make your resources available to people
in your community, and we offer directions for how to use craigslist for
this project below. But before beginning to help your neighbors, or receive
help, you must read these important Health & Safety Guidelines for sharing
resources and community gardening.
Health & Safety Guidelines
The novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and the COVID-19 disease it causes are
deadly serious. You should only consider sharing gardening resources with
your neighbors, or gardening or farming with other people, if you take
every precaution recommended by experts to keep yourself safe and to
prevent transmission of this virus. Most importantly: PRACTICE SOCIAL
DISTANCING!
This virus is very easy to transmit to others. It can survive on surfaces
for up to 72 hours (or even longer). It can travel through the air in
invisible droplets for 6 or even 10 feet (or farther in the wind). Many
individuals infected with the virus show no symptoms, but can still easily
transmit it to other people, so no matter where you live on this planet, it
is only safe to assume that anyone — including you — may be infected.
Farmers, gardeners and volunteers involved with this project must follow
these guidelines for growing food and sharing resources with other people:
If you are sick or have ANY symptoms of COVID-19 (cough, fever, diarrhea,
shortness of breath, OR reduced sense of smell/taste) or you have been in
contact with someone who is or has recently been sick:
-
Do not work with other people.
- Self-quarantine for 14 days if you believe you have been exposed to
someone who may have been exposed.
- Self-quarantine for 14 days after your symptoms subside.
- Wear a mask or bandana over your mouth and nose if you must go out in
public.
- Do your best to reduce contact with those in your household when you
or they are sick, following these CDC guidelines
<https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/.%20guidance-prevent-spread.html>
.
-
Call your doctor or local authorities if you are sick enough that you
believe that you need treatment (many emergency rooms are reducing services
provided for non-emergency "routine sick" care, so call before you go to
the hospital).
Even if you are not sick, or do not believe you have been exposed to the
virus, you must still assume you are an asymptomatic carrier (meaning you
could be spreading the virus while showing no symptoms). Given this
assumption, everyone should practice the following guidelines when sharing
any kind of object — seeds, tools, documents, etc:
-
Wash your hands (for 20 seconds or longer with soap and water)
before touching
any item you plan to give to another person, and after touching any item
you receive from another person.
- Sanitize any object (package, tool handle, etc) received from another
person using household bleach or minimum 70% alcohol.
- Use contact-free means to pass objects (seeds, tools, paper documents,
etc) from person to person, such as leaving objects in a mailbox or on a
porch. If an object received from another cannot be sanitized, put it
somewhere it can be left for at least 3 days and then wash your hands
before doing anything else.
-
Seeds or other supplies should be packed in paper, not plastic, whenever
possible (since the virus survives longer on plastic).
When working in a garden with any other people:
-
Wash your hands with soap and water before you arrive and when you get
home.
- Set up a simple but effective hand-washing station
<https://onfarmfoodsafety.rutgers.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Build-Your-Own-Hand-Washing-Station.pdf>,
and/or carry a ziplock bag with very soapy water inside so you can wash
your hands wherever you are.
- Consider using disposable gloves (but remember that once they come in
contact with the virus they may easily spread it to everything they touch).
- Wear a mask or bandana if other people are working nearby.
- Do not touch your face. If you do, wash your hands again.
- If you need to cough or sneeze, do so into a tissue or your
shirtsleeve — and remember that the virus may now be on the tissue or your
sleeve.
- Always stay at least 6 feet from any other person.
- Sanitize any shared tools or equipment, including hand tools, hose
nozzles, gate latches, wheelbarrow handles, etc., before and after each use
(using sanitizing wipes, bleach, or minimum 70% alcohol), or — whenever
possible — do not share tools.
- Keep gardens closed to the public when no one is there to ensure
health & safety compliance.
- Wash all produce before consumption.
- Remove clothes and wash immediately upon going indoors after being
outside among other people, especially if you've taken public
transportation.
- Go home immediately if you start to feel sick, have a fever, or are
coughing or sneezing.
-
Wash your hands again.
One of the best current clearinghouses for health & safety information for
food growers — including how to build your own handwashing station
<https://onfarmfoodsafety.rutgers.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Build-Your-Own-Hand-Washing-Station.pdf>
and OSHA's Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19
<https://onfarmfoodsafety.rutgers.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/OSHA3990.Covid_.pdf>
— is this webpage
<https://onfarmfoodsafety.rutgers.edu/covid-19-information/> put together
by Rutgers University aimed at farmers. Anyone growing food for other
people should study it. Also, please regularly check the Centers for
Disease Control's frequently updated Public Health Recommendations for
Community-Related Exposure
<https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/public-health-recommendations.html>
.
And please also learn about and follow all current official mandates in
your state and municipality designed to stop the spread of COVID-19. Each
state and municipality has its own rules regarding social distancing,
essential services, and stay-at-home orders. It is your responsibility to
know and follow them.
Using #CoopGardens on craigslist to help your community
Growing food is a skill. It also requires certain resources — including
seeds, soil, equipment, labor, land, knowledge, etc — which many people
lack. If you have resources to help other people grow food, please go to
your local craigslist <https://www.craigslist.org/about/sites> page right
now and make a post following these instructions:
-
Click "create a posting" at the top left of your local craigslist.org
page.
-
Choose "community" and then "general community" for your category.
-
Include the hashtag #CoopGardens in the "posting title" and use this
format to offer resources: #CoopGardens - Offer: Seeds, Knowledge,
Compost - 19144 [be sure to include your zip-code or postal code; and
also add your town name and zip code again when prompted.]
-
Here are some common keywords you might want to include in your post:
seeds, soil, compost, farmland, garden land, labor, volunteers, lumber,
hand tools, farm equipment, plant starts, tillage, farmer housing, storage,
combine, tractor, food processing, community kitchen, paid work,
mentorship.
-
At the bottom of your description, please include the following text:
#CoopGardens is a hashtag designed to encourage the free sharing of
resources among gardeners and farmers in every community, offered by the
new Cooperative Gardens Commission as a response to the surge of interest
in growing food during the coronavirus pandemic. For more information on
the CGC or to join its organizing efforts — and for critical health &
safety information to prevent the spread of the virus while gardening or
sharing resources — please visit www.CoopGardens.org
<http://www.coopgardens.org/>. Thank you.
Here is an example
<https://southjersey.craigslist.org/com/d/monroeville-coopgardens-offer-seeds/7100871244.html>
.
How to find help growing food
If you need resources or assistance to begin growing food and you can't
find help through a local gardening club or business, go to your local
craigslist.org page (every community has one at least nearby
<https://www.craigslist.org/about/sites>) and search for the hashtag
#CoopGardens. If your local page has many entries using this hashtag,
search for the particular resource you need like this: "#CoopGardens
seeds."
You can also create your own listing following the directions above but
substituting "Need" for "Offer."
If you can't find what you need through craigslist, please fill out this
form
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1TsBpBgwvznorOPk2tBbrTuZVUgrPTPPiUp2ipEtWAMY>
and we will do our best to help you. Additionally, for those who have no
access to the internet, please share our phone number: (202) 709-6225
Who are we?
The Cooperative Gardens Commission (CGC) is a project of the Experimental
Farm Network Cooperative, a Philadelphia-based 501(c)(3) non-profit
organization. The CGC is composed of hundreds of volunteer organizers from
across the United States and Canada working as a collective to increase
community food production, facilitate resource-sharing, help first-time
gardeners succeed, build more resilient communities, and support existing
food sovereignty projects and networks — especially in communities that
were already struggling before the COVID-19 pandemic.
To* join our organizing efforts*, please register here
<https://myaccount.maestroconference.com/conference/register/WRBVQV8OURPMFVCE>
for our biweekly conference calls (Mondays at 8pm ET/5pm PT & Thursdays at
4pm ET/1pm PT).
You are also encouraged to join the discussions happening in any of our
fourteen working groups at the following links:
- Tech/Logistics
<https://groups.google.com/d/forum/cg-techlogistics-working-group>
- Outreach <https://groups.google.com/d/forum/cg-outreach-working-group>
- Media Relations
<https://groups.google.com/d/forum/cg-media-relations-working-group>
- Design/Messaging
<https://groups.google.com/d/forum/cg-designmessaging-working-group>
- Education
<https://groups.google.com/d/forum/cg-education-working-group>
- Fundraising
<https://groups.google.com/d/forum/cg-fundraising-working-group>
- Herbalism
<https://groups.google.com/d/forum/cg-herbalism-working-group>
- Policy <https://groups.google.com/d/forum/cg-policy-working-group>
- Seed Distribution
<https://groups.google.com/d/forum/cg-seed-distro-working-group>
- Work & Livelihoods
<https://groups.google.com/d/forum/cg-work%E2%80%93livelihoods-working-group>
- *BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color)
<https://groups.google.com/d/forum/cg-bipoc-working-group> *
- Accessibility & Inclusion
<https://groups.google.com/d/forum/cg-accessibility--inclusion-working-group>
- Health & Safety
<https://groups.google.com/d/forum/cg-health--safety-working-group>
- Facilitation/Administration
<https://groups.google.com/d/forum/cg-facilitationadmin-working-group>
#CoopGardens is a movement for everyone regardless of race, ethnicity,
gender identity, sexuality, survivor status, economic status, immigration
or documentation status, nationality, language, appearance, age, religion,
ability, background, health, etc. Inspired by Soul Fire Farm's Safer Space
Agreements <http://www.soulfirefarm.org/about/safer-space/>, we are here to
"Share knowledge and skills with our community. No one knows everything.
Together we know a lot." We seek to follow their lead in attempting to
create a community that holds space for the wisdom and experience of Black,
Brown, Indigenous folks, immigrants, members of the LGBTQIA+ community,
women, elders, chronically ill, disabled, immuno-compromised people, and
all others whose voices and experiences are far too often marginalized by
our society. Violence or oppressive behavior in any form will not be
tolerated. Please bring any and all concerns to the attention of the
community's moderators at CooperativeGardens at gmail.com or by calling us at
(202) 709-6225.
--
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.
On Fri, Apr 3, 2020 at 6:42 PM Jen Cody <Jen.Cody at nanaimofoodshare.ca>
wrote:
> We have a protocol developed for the community farm.
>
> Below are attached the protocols that we are instituting in terms of COVID
> safety. As an essential service, I would hope that municipalities would
> allow them to remain open.
>
> I hope that the protocols are helpful.
>
> In short, we are pre-screening volunteers before they come to the farm,
> with a 5 question questionairre. They also recieve a COVID worker safety
> information handout.
>
> At the site volunteers are directed to check in with a manager who asks
> if there have been any changes in their health status. People have to
> wash hands before continuing, have a COVID safety orientation. One
> person on site has the responsibility to enforce 6 ft distancing, wipe
> commonly touched surfaces with a bleach solution every 2 hours. All tools
> are to be cleaned with bleach before use and after use by the
> worker/volunteer.
>
> We also have some signage we can share.
>
>
> Most of the resources are from AgSafe. Very helpful for us!
>
> Jen Cody
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Catch the Five Acre Farm Film here
> <https://www.facebook.com/ManlyMedia/videos/494881957946058/>!
>
> Jen Cody, MHSc, RD, she/her
> Executive Director
> jen.cody at nanaimofoodshare.ca
> 250-753-9393
>
> Living, playing and learning with respect as an uninvited guest on
> Snuneymuxw, *Snaw-Naw-As and Stz'uminus Coast Salish* Indigenous Lands
>
>
> On Thu, Apr 2, 2020 at 9:32 AM Abra Brynne <abrabrynne at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hello all,,
>> I am wondering if anyone has developed a protocol - particularly if it is
>> recognized by a local authority (govt or health) to ensure that community
>> gardens can continue during the pandemic. Seems to me that it would not be
>> that hard to organize physical distancing but it would be good to
>> collectively talk through issues like shared tools and other issues that we
>> have not before had to deal with.
>>
>> any thoughts suggestions??
>> thanks,
>> Abra
>>
>> Abra Brynne
>> abra at foodshed.ca
>> 604 Gore Street West, Nelson, BC V1L 3H3
>> Ph: 250.777.2480
>> she | her | hers
>>
>> "Whoever suggested that good thinking should be in a straight line?"
>> Brewster Kneen
>>
>> "Social justice does not come from passivity or non-caring. Justice must
>> be struggled for. That is what life is, or should be all about - striving
>> for justice. Not only or primarily as individuals, but as members of larger
>> communities." Ursula Franklin
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> Our email address: food at bcfsn.org
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>>
> _______________________________________________
> This is the public mailing list of the BC Food Systems Network. BCFSN.org
> Our email address: food at bcfsn.org
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change your settings:
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>
--
Colin Dring, PhD Candidate
Chair, BC Food Systems Network <http://bcfsn.org/>
Secretary, Sustainable Agriculture Education Association
<http://www.sustainableaged.org/>
Graduate Facilitator, Centre for Teaching Learning Technology
Faculty of Land and Food Systems | Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at
the UBC Farm
The University of British Columbia | Unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm Territory
Phone 778 859 1148
*colind at mail.ubc.ca <colind at mail.ubc.ca>* | @UBCFarm
<https://www.mail.ubc.ca/owa/redir.aspx?C=QLDp11_IQcRClmuvofgLayol9wfIG32SiywaYL4JsUdAHyuAOXzUCA..&URL=https%3a%2f%2ftwitter.com%2f%40UBCFarm>
http://ubcfarm.ubc.ca
<https://www.mail.ubc.ca/owa/redir.aspx?C=5zmTToizlylaGNMG8_q_qyRlrNALd1T3P8gh2IbYxgFAHyuAOXzUCA..&URL=http%3a%2f%2fubcfarm.ubc.ca%2f>
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