• A group opportunity. Invite your friends.
  • 1 person is interested
 

Build a Streetside Food Garden

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ORGANIZATION: CLEMENT WATERS RETREAT

  • A group opportunity. Invite your friends.
  • 1 person is interested
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WHAT/WHY/WHO? - Clement Waters Retreat is transforming a vacant 4-acre lot on the south end of Swope Park into an urban food forest and walking trail. Why is that important? The area is in a USDA food desert. That means that healthy food options are just not available to people who could really use healthy foods to help them avoid long-term medical problems associated with low incomes. This week's project is perfect for the person who doesn't mind getting their hands dirty and loves seeing immediate results.

WEAR/BRING/GET - Wear shoes with significant tread and thick clothing that you don't mind getting dirty, but will keep you warm. Bring pruned-off willow branches or bamboo poles if you have them, but you’re not really required to bring anything other than yourself and a smile! We provide work gloves, shovels and filtered water.

PROJECT DETAILS - We will be building raised beds using reclaimed natural materials. Our method involves pounding bamboo poles into the ground, weaving bendy canes in between the poles, and fastening them together with twine or long grass. Meanwhile, a cob crew is mixing ⅓ clay with ⅔ sand, moistening it, and mixing it with bits of straw. We will mold the cob in & around the canes, and then cover it to let it dry (or leave it uncovered in the sun to dry.) In later weeks, we will be plastering over the cob with papercrete and finally painting the creation with linseed oil paint.

PERKS - Coming out to volunteer at Clement Forest usually means taking away a feeling of inner calm, since the property is surrounded by the serene Blue River Greenway. The physical work done helps relieve tension. Think of the stress relief as our gift to you for helping define this calming space in service of others.

BACKGROUND - In February 2018 an environmental involvement nonprofit, Clement Waters Retreat, acquired the vacant lot that is now Clement Forest. Volunteers from all over the states of Kansas and Missouri came to clear over 400 yards of trail, remove 30 cubic yards of dumped large items, and remove 50 cubic yards of bush honeysuckle. The project took on a social justice element when volunteers realized that much of the waste removed was from the 1970’s, when 'white flight’ changed the demographics of the surrounding neighborhood and contractors were hired to renovate and update homes. The hired contractors saved money by dumping in the forest behind the houses, convinced that it wouldn’t matter. Now, nearly 50 years later, this organization is saying, 'The forest does matter, and so do the people living around it.' They plan to make the trail into a peaceful gathering place for the residents who have made the area their home.

BOTTOM LINE - We’re excited to have you join us as we help nature take back her rightful place in our hearts and minds! Food desert, schmood desert! Let’s make more food accessible to all.

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About CLEMENT WATERS RETREAT

Location:

1012 E Lakeview Ave, Olathe, KS 66061, US

Mission Statement

We are a nonprofit organization that helps people to become better stewards of gifts naturally available to all of humanity: our bodies, our communities and our planet.

Description

Some people want to make the world better for when they're gone ...... we partner with people who want to make the world better for when we're here!

Clement Waters marries eco-activism with modern-day survival skill. We help people in the Kansas City region and the Ozarks to get personally involved in planet friendly self-sufficiency-doing any activity that improves people's position in terms of economics, health, or even survival, as long doing it leaves the surrounding ecology in better shape.

CAUSE AREAS

Advocacy & Human Rights
Health & Medicine
Hunger
Advocacy & Human Rights, Health & Medicine, Hunger

WHEN

Sat Mar 16, 2019 - Sat Mar 30, 2019
08:30 AM - 11:30 AM

WHERE

7150 Jackson Avenueacross from the Holliday Montessori Parking Lotat the Clement Forest TrailheadKansas City, MO 64132

(38.99561,-94.538284)
 

SKILLS

  • Habitat Restoration
  • Environmental Education
  • Landscaping
  • Construction
  • Botany
  • Gardening

GOOD FOR

  • Teens
  • Group

REQUIREMENTS

  • Must be at least 14
  • We meet every other Saturday starting in mid-March from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. (on 3/16, and 3/30.) Come to one or both days. There will be more through the entire summer, so stay tuned!

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