The value of strong community

0:00Let's get practical about building resilient networks of nutritional security in your community, whether that's what you grow on your small farmer homestead or what's available to you in your near community. I'm just in hit with Prosperity Homestead. So one of the things that I advocate is not just growing on your farm, but growing with your neighbors, growing with your community, getting involved in volunteer activities, and being a part of an ecosystem beyond your own home. Now, what does this look like? Well, today, for example, I was on Facebook. I don't like to be on Facebook. It's very distracting, but I came across the flyer from the south side farmstead co-op. Now, you may be aware that I'm doing the 100 community garden challenge where I'm helping 100 community gardens get up and start it. Now, turns out there aren't 100 community gardens in my area. I found three. And the communication between them is haphazard. I haven't yet seen a flyer for any of them looking for gardeners.

1:02And there's a lot of things that I can do to help them in the sense of marketing, organization, and having a great, and productive community garden. When I was in Hampton Roads, I saw community gardens everywhere. But through that process, I had made contact with somebody who worked with community gardens in Franklin County. So Franklin County, Virginia has a big network of community gardens. And it's an example of an organic way to connect people because sometimes folks want to buy fresh food, or they want to have a garden of their own, but they don't have the skills to do it. Now, what does that have to do with farm producers? See, the south side farmstead co-op is actually a collection of vendors who provide livestock services and farm activity, you know, farm related services. I asked them about a referral for buying plants by the flat. So it's kind of a wholesale purchase because a lot of you folks are either going to raise your own plant starts, or you're going to buy them by a flat. I know with a local farm here, we raise 14,000 tomatoes.

2:06Because if you're going to put out a field of tomatoes, you might have more than a few plants. My point being though is that when you reach out to these individuals, you want to make sure that you're offering them something of value upfront. You're not just there to see what you can get, you do want to learn more about their organization, but you want to find out what their organization's needs are. And why is this important? Well, because in building business relationships or building community relationships, it's always a two-way street. Now, in the case of a community garden, we are going to help the person who's gardening there learn skills so they can grow their own food. We're going to help them appreciate the value of quality food. They'll taste the difference when they grew the strawberries themselves. But we're also going to connect vendors who maybe can sell by the plant flat. So if we have a large community garden, we can help the attendee at the garden by lowering their costs while selling full flats or multiple flats of vegetables to that particular community garden.

3:11Or we have a fundraiser for the community garden, or we have some other tie-in. So that helps the farm producer themselves. All of these folks are in the local region, so it tends to be something where if the plants don't work out, so for example, I was expecting to be able to find more community gardens. And in the past, I had started a community garden at my property. I had some challenges with the city. Long story short, there was a lot of interest, especially when somebody else does all the work and they just have to come over and plant and harvest, which is great. It works out really well for everybody. However, only finding three community gardens in my region is not only disappointing, it's a little bit frustrating. And I think a lot of folks will not invest in their community, they'll not invest in building relationships because they're afraid of that disappointment. But I tell you that while I am disappointed, there's only three community gardens. Three is better than zero. And even so, I can still make recommendations or referrals to different businesses in the region who can provide the plants necessary for these gardens.

4:14But also, I can amplify the original message. So, business relationships are built on communications. It's not just the marketing you do for your business, it's not just the advertising that you do. It's also community calendars. It's getting involved with local nonprofits. I'm involved with the rescue squad. It's getting involved with your fraternal organizations, your church community. All of these groups together build a resilient and strong neighborhood. Best places I like to see community gardens is at churches. And the reason I like to see community gardens at churches is because folks are coming out there every Sunday anyway. And then it gives you a couple of extra opportunities for folks to come out for other events and activities. Plus, it reduces the landscaping costs of the church itself, as well as improves the overall aesthetics of the space. Now, again, every community garden is going to have those seasons where it's not as nice, but that's just that education part. Understanding that the plants at the end of the season, once you harvest everything off of them, will be ready for compost.

5:18But again, the education has to start somewhere. The connections have to start somewhere. So, when I saw the south side farms that co-op, they have a flyer about some of the different locations in which they're hosting events. I immediately reached out to the folks organizing that. And then I also passed along the flyer to as many folks who would benefit from it. So, again, it's about giving first. We want to make sure we know of who's out there and what their needs are. We understand what resources are available, but we're playing middleman. We're matching resources. Alright, Airbnb is a multi-billion dollar hotel chain that doesn't have its own hotels. Uber is a transportation company that doesn't own its own vehicles. So, K to be the middleman, the key is we want to connect with somebody who has a want, with somebody who has something to offer. We also want to screen the activities. So, I wanted to make sure that the people I'm engaging with are doing regenerative practices. That means we're leaving the soil better than we found it.

6:20We're restoring natural and native habitat. Those are things that are important to me. And while there aren't that many people interested in those things, at least not in my region, I can connect those who are to build that stronger community. And then through that community, we can demonstrate the value of this approach. And ultimately, I didn't mention, I have mentioned before starting a seed bank, but I didn't mention in this network here about the seed bank because we can start with the community garden. That's why the seed bank was there. We can offer plant flats. We can then, if people are interested, they can know what farms to look for at the farmer's market. Another factor too is if you have a really big community garden, very often you can have a farmer's market there. Now, local cities hate that, by the way. Because the local city is going to say, well, they're growing at the community garden using public land in order to sell things at the farmer's market using a public space.

7:26They're not always happy about that. But again, a community garden can be at your church, at your fraternal organization. It could be in a private property. It could be on public property. Don't wait to create a community garden start now. And if you, of course, don't have a community garden, you can certainly start in your backyard. Point being though, you're going to need plants because you're probably not going to have a greenhouse out the gate. You're going to need seeds because that's what we plant in these gardens. And it's getting increasingly more difficult to find heritage breed or true to seed stock. And then ultimately, by making those connections. So for example, inviting a guest speaker from the town over to talk about their successes and their lessons learned. You're now getting climate appropriate conversations. And again, the community starts to build up. Next thing you know, if there is another COVID style lockdown, if there is economic distress, if there is civil unrest, all the things that compel folks to homestead to get back on the land to get more sustainable.

8:30If any of those things happen, you will already have built the networks necessary. See, you could hide in a bunker somewhere. You could bug out into your compound, but you'll eventually need your neighbors. You eventually need outside resources. So why not build the outside resources, the culture, the exchange of information, the friendly outings on the weekend, the cooperative activities or engagements? Why not build that right now before you need it so that when something does happen, or maybe nothing happens because a stable community tends to have fewer less crime, fewer issues, tends to be more cohesive, less corruption in the local government, typically a smaller local government. But again, that's what we're talking about here at Prosperity Homestead. Building your center of influence, creating customers, creating vendor relationships that are relevant,

9:34like I have to haul hay in. So I need to know two or three, hey guys, I do buy a certain amount of feed every year. I need to have two or three places to buy feed because you don't want to be stuck in a lurch. You want to be prepared. God forbid a natural disaster come through. You'll know the people who have resources. You'll know the producers. And because of that, you'll recover faster. So there is even an enlightened self-interest in this. It starts again with reaching out. If you reach out to me with your questions, if you ask your questions in the comments below, I'll answer them. And why do I do that? Yes, I offer consulting services. Yes, I offer coaching. Yes, I'll help with business plans and design plans and the different things that are required. Even compliance plans and standard operating procedures. All the things that are required to run a small farm or homestead in a way that's not going to cause you to go broke. I'll still answer a question because the podcast, because of the newsletter, because it's a way of finding resources and it's a way of sharing resources.

10:37I'm just a hit with prosperity homestead where we help you get your small farm or homestead up and running at break even or better. I know it sounds like an impossible task with the land prices today, with the cost of building materials, with the cost of feed, the limitations and the available fertilizers and other things. But there are ways of doing this. There are ways of getting that result. And the number one way is being aware while building your local community, building your local resources, creating the culture and the community that you most desire. www.ProsperityHomestead.org, thanks for being a part of our podcast. The most valuable thing you can do for the podcast is to continue to listen to episodes, but ask your questions and share your podcast. There's probably two or three people you know who could benefit from understanding a little bit different perspective when it comes to homesteading. And then of course if you started a local homesteading group or a community garden or you're discussing these things at church, that's part of that building that community.

11:42That helps you more than anybody else. I would love it if you share this resource www.ProsperityHomestead.org. Thank you so much for being a part of what we're doing here. It makes a big difference in my life to hear your success stories and the lessons learned and the problems avoided. I'm going to keep answering your questions. Thanks for listening.