A Big Thank You From County CROPS
One thing we've learned from County CROPS is that Multnomah County (and Clackamas and Washington County) are filled with incredible people and organizations that are willing to come together in a time of need. Our "little" project has a thousand moving parts, and people from all over our community have stepped up to provide donations, advice and moral support.
We wanted to take a moment today to thank some of the folks who have made this project possible. In addition to our financial sponsors, McMenamin's Hotels & Pubs and Portland General Electric, these are the amazing people and organizations who have donated materials, advice and time:
Patrick McNurney @ McMenamin's
Patrick has been an invaluable resource to CROPS, on the plan development side and even more so now that we're "in the ground". He's answered questions, given great advice and is just an all around sweet and helpful person.
Anne Berblinger @ Gales Meadow Farm
Anne donated over 100 Heirloom paste tomatoes (Italian Heart) from her own saved seeds.
Patty @ Al’s Nursery
Al's Nursery not only gave CROPS it's first plant donation back in May, but this month they donated 15 flats of tomatoes and peppers. Thank you!
Metro Councilor Rod Park and Cedar Grove Composting, Inc.
Councilor park worked with Cedar Grove composting to donate 35 yards of beautiful compost to CROPS. Thanks to Jennifer Ericson and Denise Bartlett for coordinating and delivering the load!
Liz Smith @ Westwind Gardens, Forest Grove
Westwind donated 1,658 beautiful Oregon Tilth Certified Organic Veggie & Herb starts.
John Weber
John heard about our project on the news and called immediately to volunteer his time time to plow and till our farm. He is our hero!
Naomi Montacre @ Concentrates
Naomi not only helped us interpret the results of our soil test, but she volunteered on our behalf to get (literally) tons of donated soil amendments (lime & fertilizer) from her suppliers.
Ray Fujii @ Fujii Farms
Ray and his family farmed strawberries on the CROPS property for many years and he kindly gave us critical advice on how best to irrigate our fields.
Lisa Sedlar @ New Seasons Markets
Lisa, President of New Seasons, heard about CROPS and worked quickly to donate over $2000 of truly gorgeous organic tomato, squash, eggplant and pepper starts.
Peggy Acott @ Portland Nursery
Westwind Gardens, Forest Grove
Peggy helped CROPS connect with the wonderful people at Westwind Gardens. They delivered over 1600 Oregon Tilth Certified Veggie and herb starts to the farm this week.
David Neidemeyer @ Brentwood Park Organics
David has volunteered to grow starts for CROPS from seed. This is HUGE.
Carol and Anthony @ Ayers Creek Farm
Carol and Anthony have volunteered to advise us on growing grains and dried beans and connected us with the wonderful:
Alice & JD @ Log House Plants
Log House Donated 700 hand-chosen veggie starts to the farm yesterday!
Dan Bravin @ MRP Plubming (Father of our CROPS Manager, also Dan Bravin)
Dan not only has given us great advice on how to safely and inexpensively get water to our site, but volunteered his own time to ensure the installation was done right. MRP also donated the fire house that connects our water source to the field. Most importantly, if it weren't for Dan Bravin @ MRP, there would be no Dan Bravin @ County CROPS.
Andy Nelson & Co. @ Hands On Greater Portland
Hands on Portland has stepped up to coordinate our community volunteer days on the farm. Our first volunteer day June 13th was a great success and we look forward to more days with Hands On all summer long.
Multnomah County Employees
We would never be able to pull this project together without the incredible contributions of our Multnomah County Employees. From small requests to advice on how to move a shed, we've encountered nothing but responsive, enthusiastic support for our work and we are truly indebted to the following individuals for their excellence:
Gerard Welch, Dori Larson, Dan Eddy and David Main at DCJ's Community Service Program
Mike Sublett and Cyrus Yamin at County Facilities
Kim Peoples, Brian Vincent and the crew at County Roads
Tony Lester & Mitch Hamel at the Bridge Shop
Claudia Arvidson at County Purchasing
Kat West and Tim Lynch in the Sustainability Program
Posted on June 25, 2009
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Comments
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Posted by: Jeff Cogen - June 26, 2009 09:36 AM
Wow, it really takes a village to grow a garden!
At least two very important people were left out of that list of thank yous:
1) Dan Bravin our fabulous farm manager, and
2) Marissa Madrigal - the brains behind the whole operation!
Thanks so much to all of you!!!
Jeff