Dreem Warriors? Allies made to change the world!

This past weekend hosted a slew of amazing connections as our friends and fellow activators of the Urban Conservation Warriors visited for adventure and collaboration. With a mission to employ students (at beautiful wages) to install 100% sustainable and native landscaping, these warriors are really making an impact in Oakland. Inspiring!! Bravo to you Warriors and a special thanks to Rain Dove and Ford for sharing their time with us - what a wonderful weekend. With our parallel Dreems of changing and educating the world - we have decided to join forces. To launch this, we will be having a Dreem Warriors Retreat in the proposed location of Holy City, CA - in the presence of a ring of Redwoods to council and inspire us. This event will be held from Friday, Oct 26th - Saturday, Oct 27th. We will do lots of enthusiatic team building, activations, discussion, etc. In fact, here are the notes from our brainstorm about the event:

Join the facebook event for the Retreat, here!

*We ask that everyone contribute $15 to food sharing! Please hand it over to your respective "leaders by Wed, Oct 24"*

Proposed Schedule of Events Fri, Oct 26th 10am - 12pm: Arrival & Set Up 12 - 1pm: Lunch (shared potluck style meal) 1 - 2pm: Team building and Activation! 2 - 5pm: Discussion Time One 5 - 6pm: Fun Activation and Team Building...more of it! 6 - 7pm: Dinner prep and misc duties for the evening 7 - 10pm: Eat and Celebrate (bonfire, music, storytelling, etc) Sat, Oct 27th 6 - 7am: Breakfast making and waking 7 - 8am: Morning circle and breakfast 8 - 9am: Morning Activation and Team Building...can't get enough! 9 - 11am: Discussion Time Two 11am - 12pm: Lunch Prep and Fun time...face painting? 12 - 1pm: Lunch time 1 - 2pm: Interactive thought on current spicy topics in the world 2 - 4pm: Collaborative Final Discussion Three 4 - Infinity: Go home and create amazing things in this world Proposed Topics of Discussion:

• Mission statements of Dreem and Warriors
• Overview of accomplishments and goals - past, current, and prospective
• Projects in action
• Techniques of operations
• What are our differences as entities and why? What can we learn from each other?
• Potential collaborations
• What we have to offer as individuals

Activity and Team Building Ideas:

• Collaborative Creation (drawing, painting, theater, mandala)
• Take home product/project (DreemCatchers? Pinecone peanut butter squirrel feeder?)
• Workshops and mini-classes (Survival, shelter building, water filtering, yoga, soil evaluation, cob creation, composting, etc)

  Hope to see many there! ~Dani

Artistic Meetings These Days!

As Dreem Reality continues to blossom, we often have amazing specialized meetings to discuss particular topics. Sometimes this is DreemGardens, sometimes it's prepping for events like the Art of Community, and recently it's been to do some artistic work! On October 1st Theresa, Krikor, Dani, and Melinda met up to discuss the evolution of the Dreem logo. But first we rode our bikes up West Cliff Drive to see the sunset along the coast - absolutely beautiful. I'd love to make group bike rides a regular Dreem activity! For the logo, we have been discussing keeping the simple "Dreem" instead of the whole Dreem Reality writing. And we like Glindon's version with the Tree sprouting out of the "M"...however we're thinking about shifting it to be a Seedling that is the "D". Then Krikor had the idea to put a single line that mimics a city skyline, and that the sprout could burst through that. We LOVE that idea! So we did some drawings:

The big question is how to draw the seed, and should it be botanically acurate. Krikor (leader of our first Herb Walk in May) suggests we consider an acorn seed, as it lays horizontal underground and sends shoots up and roots down. Other seeds tend to send the seed case up with it to the surface. We're hoping that a few more collaborations, sketches, and graphic designing will finally leave us with our new logo!   Then on Thursday, October 4th I met again with Sean and Kita to plan for the animation of our conceptual DreemTree that I intend to us in an informational "What is Dreem Reality?" video. In order to practice the technique of time-lapse art we created another animation for the DreemCollective project. The goal of the DreemCollective is to bring individuals together and connect them with local organizations and businesses. We thought that a visual would be quite helpful in bringing in new sponsor businesses and individuals! I have yet to put together the video and narration of this work, but I do have the rough draft that we worked with: So these are our artistic developments so far! Enjoy! ~Dani

Art of Community Event - We're Back!

We have returned! This past weekend, Friday Sept 21 - Sun the 23rd our DreemTeam set out on an amazing journey to Occidental California to attend the FIC’s Art of Community Event. Referred to us by our director Chris Kindig, this event’s purpose was to not only educate attendees about various topics surrounding cooperative culture and community, but to provide an opportunity for us to experience it (see video below for more info).

With the constant support of Susan Frank, the event coordinator, we Dreemers were able to coordinate a group discount, contribute to the Community Casbah, and become an official sponsor for the event! So many thanks to Susan for her incredibly hard work and consistently friendly and precise communication. Each one of our Dreemers were such a crucial element to the “success” of our mission there. I want to thank them infinitely! Theresa, Shiree, Giovanna, Kivah, Jonathan, Melinda, and Dani (myself) - our energy together was powerful, our dedication as individuals and a team was (r)evolutionary, I am so proud and honored to have been on your team. I hope that they will all share their experience in writing, in addition to the notes they took in their classes. Please check back to read them! Also coming up will be a fun video that includes the Dreemers experiences as well some words from others that experienced the DreemTeam. Check our YouTube Channel: DreemTV for that soon. For now - we’d like to say hello to the many new Dreemers we connected with (yes you!) and thank them for reaching out to us then and now. More details about our experience at the event coming soon!

Kirby High School Community Service Project

This past Thursday, Sept 20th we met with students at Georgiana Bruce Kirby High School in Santa Cruz, CA. In an effort to transform the school she works for, DreemGarden leader Theresa has instigated Dreem Reality's involvement in creatinggardens on site. Two gardens are proposed for this community service project available to students:

• An organic herb garden to supply the kitchen with fresh seasoning for their creations
• A roof-top container garden for students to learn about various elements of vegetable gardening

As we wait to hear the outcome of interested students as well as possible funding for the project, we are eager for the opportunity to make our first leap into the School Garden arena! An extremely powerful goal of DreemGardens as it continues to evolve and blossom. It was quite impressive to see how driven and independent the students were that are taking the lead on the project. They had their own table, a poster board displaying their objectives, and space for interested students to sign up.   We'll make sure to check back with the progress on this exciting potential!

DreemGardens Evolution & Big Earth House

On Saturday, Sept 15 we met up with one of our first potential DreemGardens of the new phase of the program. In the past, we rapid-fire assisted in Gardens - setting up a date with home owners and encouraging as many Dreemers to attend as could. We then provided many hands to make light work of whatever the host wanted done to their garden. This was fantastic, and we were able to have a hand in the creation or evolution of 6 different gardens within 2 months! (Check out our YouTube Channel: DreemTV , to see our work together) Each weekend brought new Dreemers to connect, work together, and create with one another. We provided a great service and built our family stronger. From these events, new leaders emerged with a passion to further the effectiveness of these work parties. Giovanna, Theresa, and Shiree have now spearheaded the DreemGarden project, and to learn more about them please see their bios! We sat together to explore how DreemGardens could really evolve, and what was missing. Deciding that we should be taking more adventage of educational opportunities for both volunteers and hosts they came up with the new 4 step approach. 1) Potential hosts complete an information form to share their goals and other specifics. 2) A team of specialized Dreemers visits the location to do an evaluation of the property, the hosts needs and desires, the soil/sun/water situation, and the possible workshop opportunities for volunteers 3) The team constructs a proposal to the hosts that includes an evaluation of their goals, what our specialists believe is advantageous, and some concrete plans for their space 4) A work party is organized based on all this, including volunteers, hands-on experience, and free workshops for those that attend! Thismost certainly involves more of an investment of time and energy by the leaders, but we feel it is worth it! Hopefully the hosts do as well and will feel confident in making a contribution to help further the program! So! The Big Earth House urban EcoVillage, located in down town Santa Cruz, one of our first preconsulations of this evolved approach. We thought this would be a great opportunity to get involved with a local intentional community, expand our educational opportunities, and expose Dreemers to the potentials of cooperative culture and livin g situations. On Sept 15 we met with the residents of Big Earth House to discuss and explore their garden. They have a lovely victorian home with several different gardenspaces - all of which are presently planted wit It was an excellent opportunity for us all to learn about this process, and we thank the residents of Big Earth House for their p atience as we assemble our first proposal. In the mean time, I'd like to share the notes taken from the meeting that we intend to construct our proposal from. (A special thanks to Shiree for scribing and Giovanna for transcribing to the digital realm)h a variety of fruits and vegetables! As we toured the property together, they pointed out where they would like to see more production and how they may need guidance with different elements.  

Big Earth House ~ Garden Consultation Notes (9/15/12)

Present: Dani, Shiree, Theresa, Giovanna

Gardeners: Caro and Randall

Front Yard: ~ Cob benches in front yard, possibility for neighborhood cob workshop ~ Move “butterfly plant” to full sun ~ Existing ivy groundcover under olive tree, perhaps another useful groundcover instead? ~ Olive tree removal or pruning? ~ Apricot tree fungus – a natural control? ~ 2 Apple’s, Asian pear, Olive: create a shady understory ~ Lemon with a black fuzzy disease? ~ Consider companion plants for fruit trees! ~ Clay soil in front West bed lacks drainage ~ Front beds in East corner need better utilization ~ What veggies and smaller plants were present here?   East Side-yard: ~ Rocky, maybe raised beds/straw bale? ~ Jupiter's beard is prevalent - research nutrients it gives to soil/what it likes (will tell us a lot      about the current soil conditions) ~ Many plants in pots, and those in ground need more frequent watering ~ Caro was not sure if those living on this side wanted our help?   Backyard: ~ History – rototilled concrete, deep soil or perhaps not? ~ Compost – maybe could use some straw, two bales positive for shifting out good stuff! ~ Raised bed with squash and carrots, amendment for soil needed? ~ Salvia, Tomatoes, and what other plants were in this space?? (Bring camera, and permission for pictures next time I think…)   West side-yard: ~ Tomato plant, what does it need? Yellowing, wilting, not nearly as happy as backyard tomato ~ Raspberry needs also not being met? Yellowing, browning, wilting… Perhaps a soil test is in order? ~ Pete Moss to assist the blueberry? ~ Tall person to trim tall tree up against house ~ Build or move soil around lemon so that it retains more water   Overall: ~ Possible workshops are cob building benches and assessing ecosystems for companion planting ~ BEH wants – low maintenance, everything more utilized, more food, flowers and veggies, and moving toward nurturing the existing ecosystem!  

Clif Bar Family Foundation Grant Submitted!

Today we have submitted our first ever Grant Application! It has taken a lot of focus to dedicate the time needed to accomplish this, and we'd like to thank those who have helped. Not only with the writing and brainstorming, as Shiree dove into, but also with those that have helped create what Dreem Reality is. Without the hard work and support of the many dedicated Dreemers, there would be nothing to request a grant for. Thank you Dreemers - we're sure you know who you are!

Now, we'd like to share our answers to the grant application questions. It's important to us that you all know what we are working for together! We hope that these answers appropriately represent what your perception and experience with Dreem Reality has been.

Please feel free to share your thoughts with us!

Clif Bar Family Foundational Grant

Mission: Cliff Bar Family Foundation supports innovative small and mid-sized groups working to strengthen our food system and our communities, enhance public health, and safegaurd our environment and natural resources.

www.clifbarfamilyfoundation.org

Requested Amount: $15,000

Request for: General Support (with a focus on developing DreemGardens)

Application Questions:

1. What is unique about your approach?

From the reactions of those we interact with, be them volunteers, event hosts, or others that have never heard of us before, we do feel as though we have a unique approach to accomplish our mission. By anticipating the rippling effect of change from a micro to macrocosm, we are proud to begin our work with ourselves as members of a educational collective, spreading it outward to our neighbors of all ages, surrounding community, and beyond.

The roots of our organization are set in our acronym for D.r.e.e.m. - discover, research, educate, evolve, manifest Reality! Reaching up from those roots, Dreem Reality is like the trunk of a sturdy growing tree that embodies the core value of bringing people together in a tight-nit community to create and learn together. The branches of this DreemTree represent the ever expanding projects to activate our mission and provide the fruit to share with others. Each of these projects are brought to life by the passion of our Dreemers, who we openly embrace as leaders, decision makers, creators, and DreemCouncil members.


Our projects branch from freely accessible online videos and documentaries (Youtube: DreemTV), to ongoing research projects (The EcoVillage Research Project), to education about growing and making food with adults and children (DreemGardens, DreemKitchen, and DreemSprouts). Presently, DreemGardens is our most unique and fruitful project with a mission to "empower individuals and community toward sustainable food systems by building a collective of volunteers, gardeners, and local businesses to share education and resources".


Through DreemGardens and the other branches of the DreemTree, we seek to bring people together as a community; and through our connection with nature we are reclaiming our place in this Earth's ecosystem. We are eager to share the unique "hows" and "whys" as this application continues!

2. What is the purpose of this project? In a few sentences, state what the project is designed to accomplish. 

The ultimate purpose of Dreem Reality lies in the deep-rooted passion we all share to make our society and environment a co-existing organism. The highest focus within this idea is education. We feel that our society has come to a place far removed from the natural world and we aim to rekindle this fundamental relationship step by step. One such step is through the joy and fulfillment of creating a garden and reaping its fruits, via DreemGardens.

Our intention for this project is to assist home gardeners to establish their garden, in an effort to educate ourselves, our volunteers, and the hosts - all of whom are considered "Dreemers". By using principles of permaculture and self observation, we seek to address all elements of a project with time and care. We plan to provide a pre-consultation of specialists to evaluate the most sustainable options (native plants, seasonal, light requirements) as well as potential educational opportunities. Next, we will activate a work party of volunteers to provide many hands to make light work. All the while learning together on focused topics such as irrigation, composting, food forests, etc. Each work party has the potential to become a free workshop for our on-site Dreemers as well as viewers of the follow up video posted online.


Furthermore, we realize the utmost importance to reach out to children as the seeds of change for the future. DreemSprouts is a focused off-shoot of DreemGardens that is specifically aimed at at youth education in the garden. With a growing team of specialists in this arena, we plan to create curriculums, activities, and workshops with this mission.

As garden after garden is established, and education continues to spread throughout our local community, we intend to take our purpose beyond our county lines. Reaching out to lower income communities and eventually to establish an educational headquarters to provide more learning opportunities! 

3. What is the project designed to accomplish? Please list specific goals of the project.

To be more direct about the goals of the organization, specifically DreemGardens, we'd like to share a story that has been an inspiration to drive on. Natalie, a first time gardener, is a perfect example, and can be seen on our "What is DreemGardens?" video on Youtube. She had never set foot in a garden before her first work party and since has become one of our most enthusiastic Dreemers! It has been a great goal of ours to motivate people to take matters into their own hands, creating the change and growing a community of like minded Dreemers along the way.


In addition to empowering more Dreemers like Natalie, we intend to accomplish the following, which the Clif Bar Family Foundation will be a resounding part of:

• Evolve the reach of our educational methods for each new garden host and the attending Dreemers (by pre-consulting, hiring specialists and leaders, improving work parties, and follow up education)
• Develop and deliver various curriculums, workshops, activities, seminars, lectures, etc. to share with classrooms, individuals, groups, and other organizations
• Establish the DreemCollective - a membership network that connects individuals with local businesses and organizations, supporting the local economy and strengthening the community
• Reach out into the youth, low-income, and disabled communities to provide hands-on learning experiences for these powerful populations
• Locate a space in which to begin a community garden that will allow for on-site workshops, harvest celebrations, and a year round DreemKitchen providing free food from the abundance of the garden
• Create a Tool and Resource Library to rent out tools, books, and seeds, throughout the DreemCollective, reducing consumption and building community resources

As our goals are neared and reached more continue to blossom! We are enthusiastic about this, especially as our family of Dreemers grows and they find a place to activate their passions within the organization and projects. 

4. How do the proposed activities bring about positive change?

We believe that our mission toward sustainability is synonymous with a mission for positive change that Clif Bar is seeking to support. To clarify, we'd like to provide our definition of sustainability as it has come to be a commonly used word in today's culture. Sustainability is the ability of a system to endure through the healthy cooperation of environmental, social, and economic elements. Positive change implies both progressive and lasting change, which we feel includes the necessity of a sustainable system.


Our overall mission for sustainability is enacted specifically through our branching projects, each having a particular approach to education and community building. As is broken down on our website's project page, DreemGardens contributes to sustainable positive change in each of the major elements. (www.DreemReality.org)


Environmentally

• Organic gardening decreases the wide spread use of pesticides and fertilizers that contaminate our earth and water supplies
• Buying and growing locally decreases the need to transport food over long distances, which contributes to global warming and petro-fuel dependency

Socially

• Gardening collectives and community gardens empower people to connect and create with each other, strengthening the shared human experience
• Educating the next generation to continue sustainable practices and community building

Economically

• Growing one's own garden is less expensive than buying at a grocery story -- especially when it comes to organic produce!
• By supporting farmers markets and CSAs we are keeping our money local and supporting the hardworking farmers of our region
• The DreemCollective supports local businesses

Finally, we believe that the above outcomes of our project's activities are made truly sustainable by the sharing of education. To reference a well known addage, it is more powerful to teach a man to fish than to give a man a fish - especially if that man will then go on to teach others as well.  

5. How will this project or program help sustain or further your organization's mission?

Once again, Dreem Reality's mission is "to educate ourselves and others on the environmental, social, and economic aspects of sustainability through the creation and sharing of research, specialty projects, and hands-on experience. To develop an Education and Research Eco-Facility to explore, enact, and demonstrate sustainability in a community setting".


As we've discussed throughout this grant application, DreemGardens is a project that enacts research (in efforts to educate others effectively), various speciality projects (such as DreemKitchen and DreemSprouts), and good-n-dirty hands on experience (through work parties and events). Also, it is active in all elements of our definitition of sustianability as was seen in the privious section. Furthermore, in our efforts to learn as we create we are preparing for our long term goal of an Education and Research Eco-Facility (or headquarters) that will allow us to initiate all the lessons of community building, team work, leadership, food production, documentation, teaching, and more.


By now, the Clif Bar grant committee is probably aware that DreemGardens is our most grass-roots and hands-on project that directly fulfills our mission. As it continues to blossom as a branch to the DreemTree, its fruits will be nutritious and plentiful to those we can reach. Through our accomplished goals, present work, and future development it continues to educate within the organization's leadership, the active Dreemers, the surrounding community, and hopefully the world!  

6. Where will additional funding come from not only to support the project, but to sustain it?

As we are a non-profit, we offer services and education for free accepting donations when our hosts and supporters are so moved. Of course we are researching grants that support our goals. Fundraisers are another avenue of monetary accumulation as well as educational workshops with our certified staff. 

7. How will success be defined and how will you quantify it?

Success is absolutely a continuous journey for Dreem Reality! We are happy to define some quantifiable goals in order to motivate our Dreemers and set sites for the next year. With the assistance of the Clif Bar Family Foundation we intend to:

• Creating at least 24 home gardens, with fully evaluated and established sustainable gardens
• Begin the DreemCollective - establishing a membership system and commitment from at least 10 cooperating local businesses and organizations
• Build a substantial Tool and Resource Library for members to take advantage of
• Complete a full scale educational presentation and or curriculum to share with classes and relevant groups
• Employee 5 Dreemers to continue to lead and evolve Dreem Reality and DreemGardens to its fullest potential

Though we are positive more goals will blossom, these are some big ones we'd like to accomplish! 

8. What other organizations do the same or similar work and/or compliment your work?

Similar organizations and a bit about them:

• The Homeless Garden Project - provides job training, transitional employment and support services to people who are homeless. HGP's vibrant education and volunteer program for the broad community blends formal, experiential and service-learning. The programs take place in our 3-acre organic farm and related enterprises.
• Food Shift - Food Shift is an Earth Island Institute sponsored project dedicated to building a more just and sustainable food system that curbs waste, empowers communities, respects the environment and nourishes all. Food Shift educates and empowers consumers, businesses and communities by increasing awareness about food waste and inspiring food related behavior change. By trimming our waste and diverting food loss, we can feed the hungry, create jobs, combat global warming, conserve natural resources, and cultivate more sustainable communities.
• Food not Lawns - Now international, Food not Lawns encourages people to turn their yards into gardens and their neighborhoods into communities.
• Food not Bombs is a similar organization to Food not Lawns with the shared vision of investing in home gardens rather than the high amount of money spent on military defense.
• Environmental Education for the Next Generation - provides education to kids in classrooms about gardening 

That's it! 

Let's put all of our intention into receiving this grant so that we can continue to blossom in leaps and bounds!

Master Gardeners Boot Camp!

Master Gardeners Boot Camp, 2012

On June 30^th Dreemers got a chance to take part in the Master Gardener’s Boot Camp, held at Cabrillo College. After communication with Denise, the President of the Board for Master Gardeners, we were able to get a DreemScholarship discount from $40 to $25!

The Boot Camp was an all day educational event that allowed students to choose their desired classes to attend. Each student sat in on 4 classes, with topics ranging from Irrigation, Worm Composting, Integrated Pest Management, Greywater use, Permaculture practices, Plant growth, and many others.

In total we had six DreemScholars join in – Dani, Shiree, Melissa, Thereasa, Kama, Giovanna, and made a new connection with Harry who’s visiting from the East Coast for the Summer. It was wonderful to connect and learn with these great people!

We want to offer our true gratitude to Denise, the Master Gardeners, and the Cabrillo professors that made the day possible!

Now to continue using that knowledge! Onward!

Water Awareness...Down the Drain- An Educational Documentary

Water Awareness...Down the Drain- An Educational Documentary04/25/2012

 

Water Awareness video history

The making of!

As you may have seen in the video, our intention in creating this Documentary was to not only educate others about “What happens to the water after the drain?”...but ourselves! We had no idea. So, we vowed to find out and quickly the opportunity arose.

We met Mark Westwind in February 2011, at a fundraising event in Berkeley and happily connected with him. He has an incredible history of creating organizations, community gardens, and facilitating many projects. He provided us with an opportunity to work with the Digital Safari Academy at Mt. Diablo High School in Concord, CA. The Academy guides students through a career skill building path, and this one was focused on media production.

Our first meeting at the Academy was great! We met Randy Depew, the teacher and incredibly giving mentor for a group of students we had been partnered with. Winnie Wambui, Qua’Tasia Williams, Brenda Bach, and Nina Tran - “The Girls” as we came to refer to them as - were a great match for us. Their assignment was to provide D.r.e.e.m. Reality with a marketing packet consisting of a printed item (brochure, logo), digital (web design, photos), and finally an educational video. I think the video was all of our favorite part!

From February to May, we worked with “The Girls” on the various projects every Monday. Then on May 18th, we all took a trip to West County Wastewater District in Richmond, CA to interview and tour the facility with Joe Neugebauer. Randy, the ladies’ teacher, was kind enough to drive and chaperone them that day. Joe was wonderful - super friendly and full of great information, where would we be without his openness to explore with us. The girls took a ton of footage around the facility, which is what you will see in the video.

After the incredibly informative tour and interview with Joe, we took the footage and tried to see what we could make of it. There was so much footage and too little time before the end of the semester for the girls. So the Water Awareness video sat dormant from May 2011 until Feb 2012, almost a whole year! A heap of footage that we slowly organized into usable categories.

Finally the time came to re-connect with Jason Raggio, an up and coming film editor that we met in Hawaii on a research project - slash - adventure. He is eager to turn film editing into his full-time career and we are enthusiastic to try and make that happen with DreemTV. We quickly began putting the “Water Awareness...Down the Drain” video together in order to premier it on March 18th for Earth Week on Cabrillo Community College. During that month Jason and I would discuss the script, review drafts, recorded music, expand audios on Jason’s time-off.

Also during that month we evolved the documentary to include “on the street” interviews. We asked people what they thought happened to the water before and after treated, and about cleaning products - as that was the initial motivation and curiosity for the video’s creation. Using Joe’s educational interview and tour, we re-narrated the script and added in extra footage we shot.

The documentary was a hit on campus! Viewers laughed and asked questions, seeming to take in the great information we all learned together. Before launching it on youtube and vimeo it was a true priority to add closed captioning to the video. What a process that is, but we did it. With a heart for the Deaf community and growing support from its members, we are proud to reach out and educate as many people as we can!

So, we’d like to thank each and everyone that co-created this documentary with us - whether it was filming, facilitating, editing, interviewing, educating...you have all been a crucial part in this great first step in launching DreemTV as our educational video venue.

Enjoy the movie!

~Dani

Earth Week, Day One - "Food and Gardens" Theme!

Earth Week, Day One - "Food and Gardens" Theme!04/16/2012

 

Melinda has been working hard with the Sustainability Council on campus at Cabrillo community college. She has taken on the Secretary position with them and they love her dedication, leadership, hard work, and beautiful newsletters. It’s also allowed us to link up with a like-minded group in the area, which is wonderful.

For a while now they have been planning for the Earth Week, from Monday April 16 until Friday April 20th. Each day has a different theme that the campus will be focusing on (click here for more info).D.r.e.e.m. Reality has jumped on board to have a booth on Monday (food and garden theme) and Thursday (water awareness theme). 

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Well today is Monday and we had a truly fabulous booth day! We woke up early to make sure we had all that we needed to make an attractive and fun booth. Bringing our pop-up canopy and fold out table (thanks to Director, Ashley C), our speakers for music, our library of excellent books, newsletter sign up sheet, decorations and incense, our Dreem Banner (you may recognize from DreemKitchen 2011), and of course our awesome tri-fold poster about DreemGardens.

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With the Sustainability Council rocking a bike powered blender across the way, loaned by Power People, to make organic smoothies - the setting was perfect. Sunshine, fun music, and the radical students of Santa Cruz made for a great showing. We got about 30 people signed up to either volunteer or develop their own DreemGarden. There was so much support about the idea of the collective - sharing work, tools, food, and education together as a community - that I even got a high five and “Thank You” for it! 

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So many people were enthusiastic about the idea, and the poster board was a great way to show what’s been happening. We had pictures from our “Diggin’ In”, Eric’s “Fox Garden”, Hetty’s “Rock Island Farm”, and of course the original “G is for Garden” by Amanda. We listed our goals:

Immediate:

• Teams of volunteers to help start home gardens and projects
• Establish a Tool Library
• Host workshops at the garden parties
• Share food throughout the collective!

Near Future:

• Start a community garden and education center
• Establish DreemKitchen at the farmers market with food abundance, also host educational opportunities
• “Fam-chise” DreemGardens in other locations, giving start up advice and fulfilling wishlists

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Anyway, it was such a wonderful event that we have decided to go again tomorrow too in order to grab the Tuesday students. Then we’ll again show up on Thursday for Water Awareness day, to premier our DreemTV: “Water Awareness...Down the Drain” video! (More about DreemTV here)

To find out more about what DreemGardens is blossoming into, click here.

Comments

Amanda

04/17/2012 00:20

way to spread the green word ladies! you motivated me via the web, i can only imagine the impact you had on those who visited your booth! garden time!!

Reply

Chunglink

04/26/2012 14:30

Hello my beautiful friends!
I am so happy to see the dreem come to reality and I would LOVE to be a part of it! Of course I couldn't be there physically at the moment, but when I get back to the States, I would very much like to come join he Dreem Community! I am so willing to learn the magic of earthly work and contribute whatever I can for the community!
I send my hearty love to you all and hope very much to see you very soon!
LOVE you all!!
Chung

"Fam-chise" - What the...?

"Fam-chise" - What the...?04/16/2012

 

Quickly, I’d like to explain a bit about the concept of “Fam-chising” that we’ve come up with. Think Franchise...but not corporate and more beautiful.

Even though we are located in Santa Cruz, CA we obviously think the ideas and projects we are creating apply everywhere! As we gain the experience of “how to start” various projects, such asDreemGardens we would like to provide a “start up package” on how to do it in another location.

In addition to providing some how-to information on getting projects started, based on our own experience, we also would like to provide scholarships to fulfill wishlists. Let’s say one of our DreemGardens abroad like Hetty’s“Rock Island Farm” in Maine or Amanda’s “G is for Garden” in Oregon, wants to start a DreemGarden Collective and begin a Tool Library in their community. Though we are a California non-profit, we’d still like to utilize our abilities to award a scholarship to assist in the start up of that Library.

We, of course, need experience first before we can give suggestions to others...but it’s a goal on the horizon for us!

Diggin' In - Progress Journal (4/10 - 4/13)

Diggin' In - Progress Journal (4/10 - 4/13)04/13/2012

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4/10/12. Rainy Day Birds

Rain today! Such a difference than yesterday. The conservatory is as chilly as ever with no sun. But the wall of 1 pane windows at least provides us a beautiful view of the backyard now - instead of just letting the heat out. The wall of ivy right outside the conservatory used to block the sun as well as the yard. Now I can see all the plants and seedlings - observing how they grow. I can experience the sunlight and water with them, and see the birds that nibble on them.

Though the birds are eating "our" seedlings, answering a re-occurring question about the disappearances of the stevia, I feel ok about it. We did take down their oak tree pitch away, like wiping out a community in one fell swoop. But now they are enjoying hopping around the piles of branches that still sit in the yard. I never knew so many species visited us before! They seem happy about their new playground and rainy buffet. I'm pleased to feed them, it's a good trade for the sunshine we now have.

I want to build them bird houses, to help replace their home tree. I wonder if the birds are building nests in the branches. I hope not, since they won't be there very long. The dogs bark and chase them, so maybe they won't settle in. I would rather them nest safely in a bird house than temporarily in a stick-pile-nest. That will be another project to add to the list!

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4/11/12. Rainy Day Contraption

Today started out super rainy. Pum woke us up to help put the rain gutter tube back on - to prevent the conservatory from flooding. Now with the Ivy wall gone, the gutter drains on the cement. We had to quickly build a crazy contraption including a plank of wood, a chair, tape, and a rubber mallet.

The sun has been out since about 20 mins after the contraption was built. The rain filled up the huge pot and overflowed quickly. But now...sun. Crazy weather!

Melinda has had a rash on her hand (thumb web area) since Tuesday 4/3. She’s been confused about it for a while. We just figured it out! On Ivy pulling day on 3/31 she was in charge of the soil mixing while Eric and I pulled Ivy. She used her bare hands to mix in the vermiculite and manure to the new soil. Vermiculite = air puffed volcanic rock. BINGO! Hopefully it will clear up soon, but we’re glad to know the source of it now.

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4/13/12. More Rain and Sun

It’s been hard to get any gardening done because of the crazy rain and sunshine dancing the past few days. Last night it rained so much that the conservatory flooded!! Obviously there is something up with the house foundation. Maybe another topic/goal for our Green Building Project.

Diggin' In - Progress Journal (4/7 - 4/9)

Diggin' In - Progress Journal (4/7 - 4/9)04/09/2012

 

4/7/12. Let the Sunshine In!

We cut down the dead, mossy oak tree today! Our friend, Cam, came to visit for a few days, bringing his 3 chainsaws and loads of land developing experience with him. Absolutely surprising how we were able to fell this rather large tree within the confounds of our little backyard - without any damage! Or injuries!

All morning we worked to cut the limbs off the big tree. Cam climbed up and did the cutting, while Melinda and I either pulled on a rope to bring the limb down a certain direction...or stood in a safe space. Our yard is only about 50' x 50' and the tree managed to perfectly fall within the boundaries of the neighbors fences, and our other trees (1 plum, 2 cherries). We let it fall on our inner-fence as we hoped it would help us to bring that down also!

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After all the limbs were off and the trunk stood bear, we took a lunch break. Also had to run and get more gas for the chainsaws! Good thing Cam brought 3 because it took the different sizes to chop up the branches and trunk. Plus, Melinda and I got to learn how to use the small chainsaw! That was awesome! We managed to get back to work after our break to breakdown the obstacle course of branches and limbs, chop potential firewood, separate into piles, and rake it all up. Not to mention Cam took down half of the metal and wood fence that used to contain Ivy before the Ivy Pulling work day.

Pulling down the fence really opened up the yard, and will allow us to access the future garden beds from all angles! It feels so much bigger and we can see the house from the yard and vice versa! Additionally, we now have a truly significant amount of sun that shines on the Ivy patch, half of the yard, the back yard porch and our room patio. It's incredible.


To watch the video on this amazing progress, check out this DreemTV Episode:

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Not to mention, I'm sure the neighbors are pleased to open the sky-line up. We have thought to go around and tell the neighbors about DreemGardens, and give them some firewood. This will build the community and maybe the Garden Collective!

In other news, the warm season veggies, specifically the squash, cucumber lemons, and pumpkins are ready to transplant. We are eager to manifest these raised beds. We need tools, wood, and hands. 

4/8/12. Extra Sunshine

The extra sunshine on the house has been blissful. The "conservatory" (which is an add on to the yard-side of the house), has always been the coldest room in the house, as it was shaded by the oak tree. Now it is "Passively Solar Heated" and is warmer than the living room! The porch is more enjoyable to be on too, as it gets direct sunlight from the morning on. I'll have to do another sun tracking project when the wood poles are cleaned up out of the yard!

We really need to transplant the peas from the cold season round. We're thinking about putting them in "Pug's Garden Box", which is about 18 inches deep and 8 ft long. She made it with plywood and stained the outside. I'm slightly worried about the glue in the wood, as it's known to be able to seep into the dirt, but it has a cloth inside - so maybe that will stop the leaking. Perhaps we'll line it with plastic too. We want to also put it on wheels, to allow it to move around...It'll be heavy with all that dirt in it!

We've also noticed the beets are having a hard time, perhaps because the soil is too clayee. Though the 1 kale and 3 cauliflower that share the same pot, seem to be doing ok. The cabbage in the big green pot looks great - though may need to be transplanted again when the beds are made. We've heard they need more room to fluff out. The arugula, small pot, with 1/2 compost tea and the other not - looks like the tea side is more robust. The lettuce that is still in the strawberry and water container look like they're not wanting to grow more. Probably not deep enough.

Basically, we need to really transplant into the perminany, deeper homes. Raised beds!! We're in a limbo with the raised beds, not having the money to purchase the wood or tools...but really needing it. The herb trimmings seem to be taking root, even though we put them right into the soil, not leaving them in the mix (for a month) as the directions said. 

4/9/12. Hot Conservatory!

The conservatory was so hot from the passive solar heating...we had to open windows to ventilate! Wow! We may have to consider a shading vegetation - perhaps a living roof on the room-patio. I wonder if small raised bed gardens would do the trick - warm soil!