Thanks to everyone for contacting me regarding the Worker’s Cooperative Urban CSA. I just wanted to put together a few thoughts before responding to ya’ll. Since I’m interested in forming a Worker’s Coop I want to make clear now, that this group will not be based on ‘volunteerism’ rather a group of self-interested individuals who want to commit weekly part-time (hours to be determined) participation to the development of a business model that grows and sells/consumes organic produce and permaculture products cooperatively.
With this in mind, let me define a few things:
An Urban CSA is a collection of plots of organic agriculture and permaculturaly tended plots that produce surplus products for human consumption. It is most likely coordinated across multiple sites to maximize production and minimize labor. Since we are working at a grassroots level it can be any plot of land leased or owned by the organization.
A worker’s cooperative is a business that is collectively owned and managed by its workers. It is a registered organization that functions to provide goods and or services to the public and make a living for the worker/owners. It is democratic in nature and often relies on consensus building for major decisions.
What does this all mean?
Well, I am looking for individuals (or couples/families) who are interested in getting involved to help develop this organization. My hope is that by the spring we can have completed the following.
- found access to a few plots of land, totaling a minimum of 5,000 square feet.
- developed a core organizing group and identified potential workers.
- registered as a for-profit or non-profit organization and developed proper business/management models
- planned and prepped our season.
If this sounds of interest to you, please re-email me with a bit more about yourself. What experience do you have in gardening/farming? Where in Seattle do you live and do you have access to a small plot of land (1,000 sq feet is a good minimum per plot)? Are you interested in regular weekly commitments and participating in group processes to these ends? Since we will be working together good communication is important, so please, do tell about yourself.
Since our group may be involved in selling produce or materials, p-patch plots may not be a valid plot for our needs, since it is against the city regulations to market things grown in the City’s P-Patches. But, we don’t know if this is actually happening yet, so don’t feel discouraged from participating.
Once I’ve heard from interested folks, I’ll send another email out introducing everyone and beginning the schedule process for meetings to start soon. I imagine that we need a minimum of 5 workers and that we will not have all members figured out soon, as well continue to receive contact from interested folks over the winter.
Look forward to hearing from you.
