[OKC] URBAN MARKET GARDEN COOPERATIVES WILL ORGANIZE IN EASTERN OKLAHOMA COUNTY

[Deb Willis]

URBAN MARKET GARDEN COOPERATIVES WILL ORGANIZE IN EASTERN OKLAHOMA COUNTY

A meeting will be held Saturday, September 15, at 3:00pm, at the YWCA
McFarland Branch, located at 1701 Martin Luther King Blvd, to discuss
forming one or more urban market gardening cooperatives to grow and
sell vegetables directly to the public in eastern Oklahoma County.
Hosting the meeting will be Jerry Newhouse, director of the McFarland
Youth Gardens.

"The demand for locally grown vegetables is far ahead of the actual
production in Oklahoma," says Robert Waldrop, president of the
Oklahoma Food Cooperative. "We want to jump start economic
opportunities for folks in central Oklahoma who would like to develop
a part-time business that could become a full-time income. The Small
Plot Intensive method is perfect for urban market gardeners. Capital
and land requirements are low."

Pioneered in Saskatoon, Canada, the Small Plot Intensive method
utilizes small plots, intensively cultivated, to produce vegetables
for direct sale to customers. In Canada and elsewhere, growers are
earning upwards of $50,000 per half acre.  Typically, the plots are
much smaller than a half acre, and are scattered about an urban area.

Persons interested in developing a part time or full time business
growing vegetables for direct sale to the public should attend this
meeting.

The McFarland Youth Gardens, consisting of 5 acres of property at the
YWCA McFarland Branch and satellite gardens at area schools, uses
organic gardening techniques to teach business and life-skills to
youth.  For more information about the McFarland Youth Gardens,
contact Jerry Newhouse at 424-4623.

For more information about the Oklahoma Food Cooperative, contact Bob
Waldrop, 405-613-4688, bwaldrop at cox.net.  More information about the
"SPIN Farming" concept can be found at www.spinfarming.com .  The
Oklahoma Food Cooperative website is www.oklahomafood.coop .


-- 
Because we all share this planet earth, we have to learn to live in
harmony and peace with each other and with nature. This is not just a
dream, but a necessity.

-His Holiness the Dalai Lama