Update

[Will]

Hello FTMers,

Things are pretty quiet, huh. Seems to me that we may not really have
a role in farm-to-occupation food organizing for a while yet, as
there's not much produce, and more importantly, not a ton of cooking/
feeding going on in either boston or NY.

That said, we have some money in the bank! There is a little left over
from the NY kitchen order, though most of it is from donations that we
received through our website from around the country in october/
november. There's a total of about $700 right now. I believe we still
have a few straggling re-imbursement requests from folks who bought
gas when delivering loads this fall (Julia??); assuming we reimburse
those, there's still a nice bit of money. What do we do with it? Some
possibilities I see:

-save it for some future, unknown use
-pay it all out to farmers who were hoping for reimbursement from
donations - as of now, just two have been open to that idea, Fair Food
Farm and Osprey Hill Farm in VT
-throw a huge keg party (psyyyych)

In terms of what/where feed the movement might go from here, who
knows? But if anyone has ideas/opinions about the money and how it
should be spent/saved, PLEASE weigh in - in absence of input, i'll
just try to decide myself, but that's not so horizontal as it should
be...

best
Will

[Julia Handschuh]

Hey Will:
Thanks for this update. Yes, I still have gas receipts, which I am trying to settle with OWS but it would be easier to just roll it into our FTM expenses if that is an option. I didn't realize we still had money left over from OWS funds... is this a problem for them?  weren't we supposed to give it back or supply them with receipts?

I would love to gather together some local conversations about Feed the Movement in VT and MA and then come together spokes council style, or through a conference call to talk about what we'd like to see the next steps be.  I think the Spring is going to be outrageous, and it would be good to have a conversation about how FTM and this extra money might play a part in that. 
that's my two cents,
Julia

[Leah Mae Dyjak]

I agree with Julia. I spent some money on gas the first run Julia and I  did in October, but lost the reciept. I was going to call it a was but would love to get reimbursed if that is possible. How do people feel about that?  Let's brainstorm about the spring! 

Leah

[Cedar Circle Farm Cat]

Hello friends,

Good to hear from you. I agree about paying out any debits, honor
system is fine with me. No debts from here. Left overs could wait til
spring when we may feel a need to re-energize FTM. If no rise of FTM,
we can reconsider ... the keg party :)

I am really excited about the energy coming from Occupy Farms. Kinda
wish the name was different though, it initially scares farmers.

Our farm has been working on a series of videos. We interviewed 6
farmers in January asking questions about OWS and about the
sustainable farming movement. I'll post them here and on OF when we
finish. We plan to edit them in to several short bits to promote
sustainable farming, to support OWS, connect to OWS supporters, and
promote the GMO labeling initiatives in VT, CT, ME, WA, and HI.

VT is rockin out the awesome Right To Know GMO coalition. We have
Rural Vermont, VPIRG, and NOFA at the helm. Fingers crossed.

~Cat

On Feb 15, 1:15 pm, Leah Mae Dyjak <leahleaf...@me.com> wrote:
> I agree with Julia. I spent some money on gas the first run Julia and I  did in October, but lost the reciept. I was going to call it a was but would love to get reimbursed if that is possible. How do people feel about that?  Let's brainstorm about the spring!
>
> Leah
> On Feb 15, 2012, at 11:44 AM, Julia Handschuh wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > Hey Will:
> > Thanks for this update. Yes, I still have gas receipts, which I am trying to settle with OWS but it would be easier to just roll it into our FTM expenses if that is an option. I didn't realize we still had money left over from OWS funds... is this a problem for them?  weren't we supposed to give it back or supply them with receipts?
>
> > I would love to gather together some local conversations about Feed the Movement in VT and MA and then come together spokes council style, or through a conference call to talk about what we'd like to see the next steps be.  I think the Spring is going to be outrageous, and it would be good to have a conversation about how FTM and this extra money might play a part in that.
> > that's my two cents,
> > Julia
>

[Will Gusakov]

Hey guys,
Great to hear from all of you. Julia and Leah, just get me receipts
and/or amounts owed, and I can send you checks. Also, I know LIsa
Depiano wants to get reimbursedm but her phone number never works when
I try to call her, and i don't have her address!!! Can you help me?

In terms of what/where Feed the Movement goes. Yes, I'd love to be
part of more conversations, and see where folks are at. I too am
excited about much of the possibility of what's being talked about in
Occupy Farms; but there's no reason that FTM couldn't continue with
similar (but different?) work, under our own, non-scary name. :)

I have been coming back to an idea over and over again, of setting up
a food-sharing (feeding) program, somewhat like the black panthers
breakfast program ("survival until revolution"), a mix of ideas and
parts - radical CSA, gleaning, work-for-food, food-truck distribution
parties/teach-ins, 'grow a row for OWS,' sister-towns/neighborhoods
(farms from a certain town/area providing food/in relationship with
folks in a certain neighborhood)...

I have so many ideas, and it's very overwhelming. So would love to
hear from you exquisite talented intelligent peeps about your ideas
and reactions. Does this sort of program even make any sort of sense
to you guys? Does it have its own internal logic, is it part of a
revolutionary strategy for building counter-power, will it create
relationships and community, will it feel good and liberating and
empowering to those involved, IS IT POSSIBLE PRAGMATICALLY????

mwah
W