DreemGardens Inauguration!
DreemGardens Inauguration!04/23/2012
DreemGardens: First official gathering!
DreemGardens are officially kicked off! Because of the enthusiastic responses received for our project during Earth Week, we decided to gather that weekend to publically kick off the beginnings of DreemGardens. Lots of incredible ideas were churning around for the initial location and since we are wanting to include local businesses with our project, we decided to ask the Windmill Cafe if they wanted to join us. They were very excited about the opportunity! It is great because the Windmill Cafe is a historical Santa Cruz landmark that has been around since the early 1920’s. They originally were a bulb farm and flower shop and many different styles of Cafe’s. Now the Windmill is prospering greatly from their new owners, the best part is that that they have a blooming gardening space that they use for growing organic food for their customers.
Pre-meeting at the cafe we had to get a lot of organization in place for the event. Dani created some good release of liability waivers and a questioner for our volunteers of what they see their level of involvement being for our projects. We also developed an information pamphlet for our DreemGardens vision, which have been flying out the door. We both were riding an incredible wave of potential-filled energy that we had been constantly receiving for our developing project.
Just in the past week we had 60 new DreemGardeners sign up for our future projcts. We weren’t sure of how many would be showing up for this first event. It could have been 5-60 people, which is a huge margin! So we came prepared for many, with enough waivers and food to supply as many Dreemers as possible.
DreemGardens are officially kicked off! Because of the enthusiastic responses received for our project during Earth Week, we decided to gather that weekend to publically kick off the beginnings of DreemGardens. Lots of incredible ideas were churning around for the initial location and since we are wanting to include local businesses with our project, we decided to ask the Windmill Cafe if they wanted to join us. They were very excited about the opportunity! It is great because the Windmill Cafe is a historical Santa Cruz landmark that has been around since the early 1920’s. They originally were a bulb farm and flower shop and many different styles of Cafe’s. Now the Windmill is prospering greatly from their new owners, the best part is that that they have a blooming gardening space that they use for growing organic food for their customers.
Pre-meeting at the cafe we had to get a lot of organization in place for the event. Dani created some good release of liability waivers and a questioner for our volunteers of what they see their level of involvement being for our projects. We also developed an information pamphlet for our DreemGardens vision, which have been flying out the door. We both were riding an incredible wave of potential-filled energy that we had been constantly receiving for our developing project.
Just in the past week we had 60 new DreemGardeners sign up for our future projcts. We weren’t sure of how many would be showing up for this first event. It could have been 5-60 people, which is a huge margin! So we came prepared for many, with enough waivers and food to supply as many Dreemers as possible.
The morning of the gathering I went to Costco to get some gear for the day. I bought compostable silverware, paper plates and plastic cups (which we can wash and re-use). We really want to find plastic plates that we can use, and re-use--that to come soon. I made a bunch of hummus for our volunteers while our friend and fellow DreemGardener, Jonathan, creatively put our DreemGarden sign on a shovel for our meeting at the Farmers Market so Dreemers could find us there.
When we showed up at the Farmers Market, I was stopped a few times and asked about DreemGardens just because of my sign. A few more people gained interest and desire for our project. We then headed over to the Windmill Cafe and meet with the owner, Mary, to see about what she wanted created in her garden. She informed us one bed needed to be filled in and the other dug up and set with a gopher wire. Also there was a plant called “naked ladies” to pull up and new plants to transplant from our Diggin’ In project.
When we showed up at the Farmers Market, I was stopped a few times and asked about DreemGardens just because of my sign. A few more people gained interest and desire for our project. We then headed over to the Windmill Cafe and meet with the owner, Mary, to see about what she wanted created in her garden. She informed us one bed needed to be filled in and the other dug up and set with a gopher wire. Also there was a plant called “naked ladies” to pull up and new plants to transplant from our Diggin’ In project.
At this point there were 6 Dreemers present. Initially I was anxiously awaiting more to arrive, but soon felt the number of people and the type of people there were absolutely perfect. We had just the right amount of crew for the days work, and it was small enough of a group to intimately get to know one another. We held a circle to share names and our vision for this project. We made it clear that this is the very beginnings and we are all the seeds for this project and what it will grow into. It was absolutely thrilling to hear the different reasons of being there and the visions for the future. Jonathan expressed how he is very excited to develop a community of family to work, share and rely upon. This warmed my heart since its the same vision that we have for this project.
I would love to share a bit about our new and established Dreemers visions:
Jonathan has been a wonderful new addition to the team as he is a hard and skilled worker that is sharing the same vision we have for DreemGardens and what it will grow into. He is self propelled and a natural leader. We feel very blessed to have him as a part of our DreemTeam. Jonathan expressed how he is very excited to develop a community of family to work, share and rely upon. This warmed my heart since its the same vision that we have for this project.
Billy expressed how he initially became interested in the project through our booth at Earth Week because of our poster with our D.r.e.e.m. accronym of “Manifest Reality”. He said he didn’t even need to see more to know he was in the right place. He expressed that he is a “do-er” and a “feeler” and that is what lead him to come. I feel blessed to have that sort of response for someone and look forward to creating more fulfilling projects for Billy, and others, that lead them to create within. Billy is also manifesting awareness that “everyone is going conscious”. He has a website dedicated to that vision and we are happy to create with him to manifest that common vision we share. Visit his vision here: http://www.worldpeaceisinevitable.org/
We also established a new Dreemer named Kyle, who had heard about our garden project through Mary, the owner of the Windmill Cafe. He was initially quite skeptical of our project and even joked around with us in our meeting circle when we expressed that this was the very beginning, saying “Ahh I see, well I’m gonna head out, why don’t you call me when you are all established”. He of course stuck around for the whole event and was such an important part of our day. He worked extremely hard and shared a lot of knowledge about what to do and how to do it. At the end of the day, when we were talking about our tool library we wish to grow, he donated to us a shovel! We were so thrilled and joy-filled that he said he would be right back. He came back with 2 more shovels and a rake!!! We are very grateful for these gifts. We offered him a letter of acknowledgement for his donations so he could write it off. He wasn’t interested in that and just wanted to give them to us. Our Tool Library is officially growing!
Our other Dreemer, Giovanna, expressed her desire to work with us just about every weekend! She has been with us as a Dreemer for over a month now, and will be going to the 5 week permaculture course in Oregon at Lost Valley that we have facilitated (we have been in communication with their program and have received a reduction in the course fees due to our non-profit and shared goals with Lost Valley). She is going into her Masters program for permaculture related things and so is very enthusiastic about working with us.
So, the day went by with our DreemGardeners very smoothy. I had a lot of fun getting to know like-minded souls and it is so fulfilling to create with others. My favorite part of the day was seeing the fruit of our labor in front of us, the beds all dug up and the new plants happily transplanted into their new homes. We all stood around and crossed off our completed ‘“to-do” list for the day and even got to do a “Dreeeeeeeeeem Onnnnn” spiraling handshake cheer! It feels so great to be doing good work, it absolutely heals the soul.
Very much looking forward to watching these new seeds grow. We will continue moving forward with this project as long as there is a desire and need for it in our community. At this point this desire seems insatiable, we are looking forward to fulfilling the satiation to the best of our capabilities- which are ever in blossom!
Tune in next time to watch DreemGardens bloom!
Yours truly,
Melinda
Jonathan has been a wonderful new addition to the team as he is a hard and skilled worker that is sharing the same vision we have for DreemGardens and what it will grow into. He is self propelled and a natural leader. We feel very blessed to have him as a part of our DreemTeam. Jonathan expressed how he is very excited to develop a community of family to work, share and rely upon. This warmed my heart since its the same vision that we have for this project.
Billy expressed how he initially became interested in the project through our booth at Earth Week because of our poster with our D.r.e.e.m. accronym of “Manifest Reality”. He said he didn’t even need to see more to know he was in the right place. He expressed that he is a “do-er” and a “feeler” and that is what lead him to come. I feel blessed to have that sort of response for someone and look forward to creating more fulfilling projects for Billy, and others, that lead them to create within. Billy is also manifesting awareness that “everyone is going conscious”. He has a website dedicated to that vision and we are happy to create with him to manifest that common vision we share. Visit his vision here: http://www.worldpeaceisinevitable.org/
We also established a new Dreemer named Kyle, who had heard about our garden project through Mary, the owner of the Windmill Cafe. He was initially quite skeptical of our project and even joked around with us in our meeting circle when we expressed that this was the very beginning, saying “Ahh I see, well I’m gonna head out, why don’t you call me when you are all established”. He of course stuck around for the whole event and was such an important part of our day. He worked extremely hard and shared a lot of knowledge about what to do and how to do it. At the end of the day, when we were talking about our tool library we wish to grow, he donated to us a shovel! We were so thrilled and joy-filled that he said he would be right back. He came back with 2 more shovels and a rake!!! We are very grateful for these gifts. We offered him a letter of acknowledgement for his donations so he could write it off. He wasn’t interested in that and just wanted to give them to us. Our Tool Library is officially growing!
Our other Dreemer, Giovanna, expressed her desire to work with us just about every weekend! She has been with us as a Dreemer for over a month now, and will be going to the 5 week permaculture course in Oregon at Lost Valley that we have facilitated (we have been in communication with their program and have received a reduction in the course fees due to our non-profit and shared goals with Lost Valley). She is going into her Masters program for permaculture related things and so is very enthusiastic about working with us.
So, the day went by with our DreemGardeners very smoothy. I had a lot of fun getting to know like-minded souls and it is so fulfilling to create with others. My favorite part of the day was seeing the fruit of our labor in front of us, the beds all dug up and the new plants happily transplanted into their new homes. We all stood around and crossed off our completed ‘“to-do” list for the day and even got to do a “Dreeeeeeeeeem Onnnnn” spiraling handshake cheer! It feels so great to be doing good work, it absolutely heals the soul.
Very much looking forward to watching these new seeds grow. We will continue moving forward with this project as long as there is a desire and need for it in our community. At this point this desire seems insatiable, we are looking forward to fulfilling the satiation to the best of our capabilities- which are ever in blossom!
Tune in next time to watch DreemGardens bloom!
Yours truly,
Melinda
Comments
Billy
05/04/2012 13:47
Awww, that was sweet. I just read what you said about me. Thanks for promoting my site. Nice!
Labels: ~Melinda, DreemGardens
posted by D.r.e.e.m. Reality @ 4:29 PM
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