Kickstarting PetPuja (SMS group and the first meet)

[Prayas Abhinav]

Hi All,

Thanks for your enthusiasm and interest in PetPuja :) Our short term goal: grow enough vegetables for a party in May 2008.



1) <<Being in touch and staying in touch:>> This (http://groups.google.com/group/cityspinning) google group will be good for mails like this, passing around URLs etc. For actual on-ground coordination it might be no good. So, I have setup a SMS group for PetPuja. Here's how you sign up for it:

[everything without the inverted commas, I have put them only to avoid confusion]

* SMS "ACCEPT" to "575758".

* SMS "START PETPUJA" to "575758"

* Just wait, I will allow your subscription.

* To start posting to the group (all posts will go to all those who have signed up): SMS "PUB PETPUJA (your message)" to 9845398453.



2) <<FIRST meet:>> IT IS ON MONDAY at 6:00 p.m. at the parking lot (where the buses are parked). On Monday we will:

a) outline the tasks of the week (site identification and visit, soil analysis, soil preparation and sowing).
b) get the checklists for each of the tasks to be performed and establish some basic data collection and filing norms.
c) Get to know each other. The activities planned for Monday shouldn't take more than 1 HOUR. It will be good if most of the "FARMING" group can land up on Monday. We will organize ourselves in groups of two for further meets (each group to be present for one day a week as we had discussed, on different days of the week).



One more thing :) I will be cooking some sort of food once a week for all the PetPuja team, something like a team party, we will talk on Monday about that too. Meanwhile some relevant + interesting web-sites:

Soil Analysis:
http://www.gardenandhearth.com/OrganicVegetableGarden/Soil-PH.htm
http://cals.arizona.edu/pubs/garden/mg/soils/ph.html

Soil preparation:
http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/envirohort/426-313/426-313.html
http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/sw_soil_improvement/article/0,,DIY_14370_2269846,00.html

General:
http://www.guerrillagardening.org/ggtips.html
http://www.hcs.ohio-state.edu/mg/manual/veg.htm

Very Specific (and very comprehensive):
http://www.bcb.uwc.ac.za/Envfacts/facts/vegetables.htm
http://www.ehow.com/how_2052866_grow-small-vegetable-garden.html



cheers,
Prayas
9902591198, http://cityspinning.org