This chapter The Garden Center, Greenhouses and Methane Gas Unit
Dear Reader, If you would like to help edit Windmill 2040, please contact me.
Imagine having a unique vantage point for a close up look at Windmill Co-op, Eugene and Cascadia in the year 2040. Elder Naj will show you where he lives, explain how Cascadia come into being and what its like fifteen years into Recovery. You will hear about the actions people took at home, in the neighborhood and community, 30 and 40 years before, that were critical for surviving and taking on the challenges for creating a new, healthy and green economy and culture.
The Garden Center
italics is Elder Naj talking
bold is Elder Naj thinking or narrating
regular font is others speaking
“So, I just saw the Newbies head out. How was the first session?”
It was Fraeda, she was at home a lot. She had a small business making insulated drapes. It was late in the season for that but she still had a several orders to fill and some other sewing as well.
“A good group. All very much engaged. I know several of the youngsters because I know their parents and grandparents.”
“Yes, I recognized several of them from events and parties here in the neighborhood. Several I think I've seen at the Garden Center. Speaking of the Garden Center, you might go find Jim and Sue. They may be in the veggie green house.”
“Sure, I'll go have a look.”
Nice day. And what do I hear? I still can't quite get used to that. It just knocked my socks off the first time I heard a Mockingbird right here on Benjamin Street. I used to live in Texas where the feisty little avians were all over. They were the state bird. When there was a Texas. They would dive bomb our cat and sing endlessly from early in the morning to late into the warm, still, humid night.
Years later, after moving to the Northwest in the early 90's, I made a few visits to Santa Rosa, north of the Bay Area. One day in Santa Rosa, I borrowed a friend's bike and was cruising through a neighborhood and what did I hear? I had no idea Mockingbirds had a range into California. But there he or she was. And lots of others. Turns out, Santa Rosa was a popular place for Mockingbirds.
They are a warmer climate bird and I wondered if and when they would start to show up this far north. Even before the turn of the century, salmon were spawning in northern Alaska where they never used to be. Animals and plants were on the move.
While travel was still cheap about 2012, I took a trip to Texas and visited Dallas. I could not believe all the palm trees. I had always been into exotic plants, even when living in Dallas as a kid. In the 1960's, there were a few hardy palms here and there and some banana trees that always froze back in the winter time.
Between 1965 and 2005, there was a remarkable difference. Its not like Dallas was looking like Honolulu but the change was a jolt. I thought I had landed in the wrong place.
That was during the early onset of climate change. I had spoken with several people who made it out of Texas in time and I can only imagine what it was like when the heat in Dallas became like Laredo. As it turned out, even all the windmills making electricity put up during the windmill boom around 2010 were not enough to keep that place livable.
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Well maybe this Mockingbird was joining the human migration. More likely, these newer arrivals made their way up from California along the coastal corridor. They are not the only newcomer. How about malaria. We've been able to keep that in check but I've heard of a few cases in Cascadia. No doubt, the arrival of new diseases will be an ongoing issue.
And the Furdow Garden Center was just across the street from Windmill Co-op..
Here at the Garden Center, we grafted and grew many kinds of apples, pears and peach trees. Surprising to a visitor from the not so distant past, we also raise several kinds of hardy citrus. Several of us were only joking when we set up the fictional Eugene Citrus Exchange almost 40 years ago.
We planted Meyer Lemons outside, up close to a house and then had to cover and heat those small trees on numerous occasions during winter. By and by, those shrubs grew larger and we started putting them further out in the yard and had to cover them less and less often. In 2016, I covered my lemon tree the first two days in January and that was it for the rest of the winter. Amazing. First time that ever happened. Its not unusual now. Those waist high shrubs have become small trees.
When I bought my house in 2000, there was a wholesale nursery across the street with a dozen one hundred foot long green houses. The owners propagated their own ornamental shrubs. But as the owners approached retirement age they began to subdivide the nursery open space into lamentable suburban houses as large as could fit on those small lots. Ten or twelve houses were built but conditions changed in the late 'teens while there was still an acre of open space. That turned out to be the high tide of suburbia.
By the late teen's, the owners came to realize the best use of the property was to make it available to the neighborhood. The Garden Center was born. The owners died during one of the flu outbreaks but are remembered fondly, the Garden Center is named in their honor.
A half block further down the street was a one acre park dating back to about 2010. Fortunately, its design made it easy to be converted to community gardens. This area also became a part of the Garden Center. We only wish we had not waited so long to replace the ornamental trees with Walnuts, Chestnuts and Pecans.
“You found me. Good timing, we're expecting a visit from the Beaver Group at River Road Elementary School in a few minutes. They are doing one of their tours to check out where the kids might like to do Explore and Expand. You might be interested to tag along.”
“Sounds good. A day in the life of kids. Its a far more practical education these days isn't it? I love it that kids are expected to be an active part of community life."
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“That's right. Its essential these kids learn how to contribute from and early age.
"Tell me about it. These kids may be our social security. No old folks homes like my day, if you could even afford that."
"And, of course, we want these young people to carry the torch into the future for the good of humanity. We would like to think we have some words of wisdom that will be helpful.”
“We are here to help. Here come our visitors."
"Tasha, so nice to see you and the youngsters.”
“Hi Jim, Hi Elder Naj.”
“Hi Tasha, its been a while. So nice to see you and the youngsters.”
“Here we are. A tour group from the Beaver Clan at River Road Elementary School. We are 20 in number, ages 8 to 10.”
The School was five blocks away from Windmill and drew kids from co-ops in the southern part of River Road. Windmill, was on the border between older suburbia and newer suburbia. Newer suburbia, further north, tended to be much less populated. I didn't know at the time how well Jim and Tasha knew each other.
“Jim, we can't keep meeting like this.”
She had a mischevious smile. They both shared some kind of secret and laughed easily. Casual affairs were not uncommon in Cascadia.
I knew Tasha since she was 5. Now a woman with responsibility, she was a grown up version of her younger self. Very creative and theatrical. BT, she had started on a career in performance and was doing well, locally but it came time to leave Eugene for the bright lights of the big city.
She lived for several years in the Bay Area, her career was on the up swing. But in the late 'teens it was time to go. One too many riots on Market Street. An acting career did not look so appropriate. She abandoned San Francisco with a group of friends. Their return was quite and adventure. Tasha's acting talents came in useful during a couple dicey encounters.
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The Garden Center
“Lets get started. Hi kids, I'm Jim and welcome to the Community Greenhouses and Gardens. I know some of you. Many of your parents have spent some time here. We are glad to see you.”
“As you may know, your parents work in a number of places besides their main job. One of the Founding Practicle Principles of Cascadia was for every adult to have a functional knowledge of multiple kinds of work. We are multi skilled for many reasons.”
That was only part of the story.In the early Transition, people who had multiple practical skills were wanted and found easy inclusion. People who had little useful experience would have been a burden. They did not receive much welcome or embrace. It was bit like choosing sports teams when we were kids.
Some kids were picked last and it didn't feel good. Prospects for survival dictated it was far more important to choose companions with practical skills rather than worry too much about hurting peoples' feelings. A carpenter, plumber, gardener, facilitator or handyman was a lot more popular than most white collar professionals.
Jim was good with kids.
“Did you kids know much of your food comes from this place? We grow vegetables inside during the winter and outside in the summer. We can extend the growing season by planting some veggies early inside the green houses and then later, take down the cover when its warm enough.”
“I bet all of you have gardens at home.”
All the children raised their hands.
“I bet many of your veggies had their beginning right here. We start the plants from seed, grow them in small containers and then transplant them. We grow thousands of small plants here and distribute them all over the neighborhood. River Road has had a veggie set CSA for over 25 years.”
“Here's a bit of history it may be hard to believe. Most of you know Elder Naj. He has lived in that house across the street for over forty years, before the Transition. What is now the Garden Center used to grow plants that were purely ornamental. That means you could only look at them. They made no food. Amazingly, fifty years ago, most people did not have a garden at all. They went to a store and bought what they ate.”
“A lot of other people went out to eat to places called restaurants or they drove cars to what was called fast food. Imagine, being in a car, stopping at a kiosk with a microphone to make an order to someone inside the fast food place, wait a few minutes, drive to a window take a few sacks of fast food passed out to you from a window, pay for it and off you go."
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Jim Continued. "Elder Naj was an early pioneer of growing food at home. Many people had gardens but Elder Naj was one of the first people to take his entire property and turn it into gardens with fruit trees, blueberries, brambles, nuts, vines and many other food plants.”
One of the youngsters asked "Why didn't people eat at home like Elder Naj? That all sounds really complicated."
"Elder Naj. Would you care to respond? You were there."
"Well, ok. I was always a critic of all that fast pace of life so I have an expert opinion. Here goes a short response. Fast food was so popular for a lot of reasons. A lot of people were busy and didn't want to take the time to cook. Just about everyone had a car and fast food places were easy to go to. They were all over. For a lot of people, they were convenient."
Also, there was an enormous amount of advertising. You know what television was. People watched a lot of television. The television said do this or that and a lot of people did what they were told. Junk food was one of the biggest products advertised.
The food had all kinds of ingredients that were added to make people want to eat it. Lots of salt, fat. Lots of artificial flavors and colors. What was supposed to be a wood fire old fashioned taste for a burger was actually a product with lots of different chemicals to taste like wood fire and it was made in a factory."
"Yuck! That sounds really bad!"
We don't have many over weight people now but BT, all the unhealthy ingredients, plus the enormous amounts of food people ate, plus, a lot of people didn't get much exercise - all that made millions of people overweight and that came with a lot of health problems. We should be glad we don't have much of all that now. Maybe thats enough."
"Wait, why was everyone in a hurry?"
"Why was everyone in a hurry? Good question. The best answer I can come up with is people were in a hurry because just about everyone else was in a hurry. People are affected by what surrounds them. Being in a hurry gave rise to something that was known as multi tasking. You have seen some of this in pictures of the recent past. It wasn't uncommon for people to be driving, eating junk food, talking on a portable telephone and listening to music all at the same time. If people only did one action at a time, the economy would not have done so well because people were not consuming enough. the more consumption, the better as far as the economy was concerned. Damage to peoples' health and the natural world was not much of a care."
"Yeah, I have seen pictures in old magazine with all that. Somehow, that all seems kinda creepy. Seems like people had a hard time just to relax without doing something. Were you in a hurry much Elder Naj?"
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"We are off track here a bit. But, then, we are not in a hurry. The short answer. I was rarely in a hurry. And I rarely ate fast food. Maybe it was that sort of immunity to what was going on around me. I felt like I was in a different time zone. I had to keep in mind that most others had schedules, date books, appointments. I certainly had some of that but for the majority of my adult life, I pretty much did what I wanted. That's enough. Jim, please continue."
"Elder Jan." It was one kids. "Can you tell us about your life sometime?" "Yeah," another said. ?We want to hear stories about Elder Jan and the way he lived."
"Me too. Me too."
They all wanted to hear stories about my life.
"Ok. We can do that."
"Listen to this Elder Jan, one of my teachers is doing study about people and life Before Transition. I bet she would like to talk with you. Can I connect you two?
"Sure. That's a great topic. I would like to talk with her."
"Good to connect people like that! That's a good skill to develop - connecting people with similar interests. That's how we make our lives productive, interesting and educational."
"Ok, that was a good tangent. Thanks for the questions. Enough. Jim, please continue."
“OK, where were we? The River Road Garden Center is a cooperative. Many people spend part of their working time here. You know we all commit to a certain amount of Community Service. That service begins when kids are eleven years old. That means, most of you will be taking on more responsibility a bit more independent from your home cluster.
You will be given some choices. Thats what the Explore and Expand Program is all about. The Garden Center is one place young people can consider when you are making your choices. Here at the RR Garden Center, you can learn about annual and perennial plants, nutrition, propagation, soil, keeping records, communications, working with others. If you have a good idea related to plants, food, gardens, health; you can even use what we have here to develop that idea. That and more is what we do here for Explore and Expand.
Just about all the kids had something to say.
"We know a lot about horticulture. Yeah. We have a garden at school that goes back 25 years. And we all have gardens at home. Eddie's growing herbs. All of us really like plants. We know about seed saving and grafting. But we know there's tons more to learn."
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"Ok, ok. Thats great! You guys are impressive. The kids know about horticulture. Food touches all of us. When you know the history of something, you tend to have more respect and appreciation for it. We can't survive without food and in these more recent years, like we mentioned, we have to take care of our food needs close to where we live - at home, at school, our neighborhood gardens and our farm co-op friends in the nearby country side."
Other places you might think about for Explore and Expand include schools, child care, elder care, the hospital and clinics, many businesses, serving on civic boards and advisory panels, even at your age. When you are bit older, you might volunteer to put in time at the border. We want young people a chance to explore their interests and develop multiple skills. Between ages 11 and 15, its common young people try out 8 or 10 different kinds of work places through the Explore and Expand Program.
“Here at the Garden Center, there are several managers, I am one of them, and it's our task to take care of this place. We trade some of what we produce but most of it stays right here in the neighborhood. There are dozens of other urban farms like this around town. Some are in former parks, golf courses and even where there used to be pavement like at the Mall and downtown.
We also provide agricultural advice to co-ops in the neighborhood, like a neighborhood extension service. We make “garden calls.” We provide guest speakers to schools and we love to have visits. We offer classes and we collaborate with other neighborhood Centers in the area. We are something like the Agricultural Extension Office of 25 years ago, just more expanded because a lot more people are involved in growing food. ”
I reflected on this field trip and the Explore and Expand Program for the youngsters. This was vital education. When people have a close connection to their food, energy, shelter, services they value, they will have a much greater respect and care for how those needs are taken care of. If they actually participate in taking care of those needs, thats even better. Fifteen years into Recovery, if people want to survive, they need to participate in their up keep in a very hands on kind of way.
In the years before the Transition, most people had little idea about what they used - how it was made, where it came from, under what conditions and the consequences of using it and how was it disposed of when it was used up.
A civilization had been created with people disconnected like never before from knowing what it took to maintain their affluent life styles of big houses, cars, eating food from thousands of miles away and all the rest. In reality, much of the world's people and natural environment suffered enormously for the affluent people of the world. And most who benefited from cheap prices and convenience either had no idea or didn't want to know how all that stuff came to them.
Some well off people were critical of other parts of the world with larger families - more children. Overpopulation was a core problem, but many of those well off critics could not see their own affluence as an equal if not larger part of a damaged environment.
A typical middle class person in the United States had a far larger environmental impact than dozens of people in other parts of the world. Upper classes and the rich had even larger eco footprints. Many people, even people who cared about the global condition, either could not or would not think about the damage they were doing to the environment.
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If it had been possible to assemble a jury of animals, plants, rivers, sky, ocean and soil; and the affluent were on trial for assault, even murder, of the natural world, a guilty verdict would be easy to make. The sentence, the punishment. That took care of itself.
Raising kids so they are engaged and empowered to live an ethical and creative life is one of the core ideals of Cascadia.
Jim continued.
“There are more activities here at the Center that are essential for our survival. Years ago, even if people had a garden, they would normally buy seeds every year at the store. Most of those seeds were what we call hybrids. Those seeds were the product of human manipulation that would not happen by itself.
The hybrid seeds became wonderfully productive plants but when you planted the seeds gathered from the mature hybrid vegetables, the new plants would not reproduce the same vegetables as the original hybrid seeds. The vegetables from second generation seeds would usually be no good to eat although during the Transition, people were hungry and glad to eat the not so flavor full second generation vegetables.”
We are also lucky because one of River Roads more recognized residents Kin, devoted so much time to developing plant and tree varieties that do well here in the south Willamette Valley.
“And our good luck, here he is.”
“Kin, you are still putting time into the Garden Center.”
“Yes, thanks Jim. I can't think of a better place to be. Its great to see the kids and pass along what we are learning.”
“We have developed all kinds of plant varieties that do well here and we continue to work on that task, as the climate continues to change. Its like a moving target.”
The kids were teasing. “Thanks Elder Kin. Why do you talk funny like that?”
“I know why,” one youngster called out. “Elder Kin came from another country long ago and they talked like that there. It was a place called England.”
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“Thats right kids. And I am so glad I found my way to Eugene so many years ago. And you should be glad to be here, too.”
“Thanks, Kin. We are on with with our show and tell. Thank you so much!”
“We can't go to the store anymore. We have to maintain plants and collect seeds that will continue to reproduce themselves and the quality vegetables we want and need.
So seed saving is essential and we do that here at the Center. We are the back up seed bank for the surrounding co-ops. Most co-ops save their own seeds, and we all back up each other. In case something happens at one location, we receive help or can offer help to another.”
"Other towns in the Willamette Valley have similar arrangements. We are all inter-connected that way and can all help each other when needed. There are yearly conferences to maintain those connections. We are all security to each other in Cascadia from Ashland to Vancouver."
“We also encourage growing what we call perennial food plants. We raise many of those here as well. Some of those are native, others come from distant places. What they have in common is they grow well in our climate and don't need the amount of time and resources to maintain as annuals. Annuals are plants that live less than a year like most vegetables we are familiar with.
Many perennials don't require seeds. Some are shrubs, trees, vines that make berries, fruit and nuts. Some may grow tubers that can be replanted. Many others are nuts or berries.”
“The Center has a number of greenhouses. These places use sunlight to create heat. You know that's called solar energy. With that additional heat, some food plants that would grow little outside, because its too chilly, will actually grow well during the winter time inside. Extending the growing season means we can grow more food. Cool weather crops do well over the winter inside and warmer season crops can have an earlier start in the Spring and last longer into the Fall.”
down to here
We continued our stroll around the Garden Center.
“I know what that is!” One excited tousel haired girl shouted as we approached an odd looking tangle of pipes and tanks.
She said, "That dome shape with pipes going in and coming out is a methane digester. This simple technology does multiple important good things at the same time. Years ago, I read, there was what was called a sewer system. People would go to the bathroom, poop in a water filled bowl, you'd turn a handle, more water would pour into the bowl, it would drain quickly and away the poop would go to a central big pool where the waste would be broken down, treated and made safe.
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We don't do that any more. Instead, we either have composting toilets or we collect the poop and bring it to a digester like this. There are over 200 digesters like this around town with more planned. Installing them, managing them and making the parts is the main work of several co-ops in town. Few people used digesters in Eugene untill ten years ago."
"Whoa! That's a lot to say about methane digesters. Where did you learn all that?"
"I really find the digesters fascinating. I've studied them and help out with the one we have where I live."
Jim continued, "Very good! So you know, for a typical digester like this one, lots of people take turns collecting the waste. Three or four people don't usually produce enough material for the digester to work but 10, 12 or more, its a large enough amount for a small digester. Delivering the poop is community service work. Care to help? Its one of those chores with high time value.
All the poop from this digester comes from five clusters of Windmill Co-op. We dump it in here and the bacteria in the big tank you see decomposes the poop creating methane gas we use for cooking and what is left over is great fertilizer. Pretty nice wouldn't you say? This is great technology. Very simple, many benefits."
"You know Eugene has an ambulance and four other vehicles that run on bio gas and a few small electric carts. Most other towns in the Valley and Cascadia have methane projects. There are several farms in the area that make their own bio gas and use it for small tractors.
“Years ago, poop was considered a nuisance, even a health hazard, which it was. Managing poop was one of the great public health advances in human history. Diseases like typhoid and cholera killed thousands through much of human history. But the centralized water treatment approach was resource intensive, expensive, they took a lot of expertise and infrastructure and was totally unnecessary.
"Here in Eugene, several “outlaws” began using bio gas 30 years ago. I read he Chinese had six million digesters by 1970 while other places in the less affluent world were encouraging bio gas, mostly in rural areas. Tasha, Karmalaya had composting toilets 30 years ago and now you have two digesters on site?"
Tasha smiled.
"That's right. About 35 years ago, in pre historic times, long before any of you kids were born, we were on the social and economic fringe, advocates of living more simply and cooperatively. Karmalaya had some very interesting encounters with the authorities at the time about regulations - what you could and could not do on your property. We were a small education center with programs and interns who came to learn about alternative living, culture and spirituality.
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We did have composting toilets before they were made legal. But first, composting toilets are not the same as these methane digesters. We had composting toilets at Karmalaya for over a decade. We built our first methane digester fifteen years ago. A composting toilet was simply a way to safely allow natural bacteria to break down the poop into what actually looks like beautiful soil. It takes a couple years unless you have a system to keep the poop tank warm because the bacteria like a certain warm temperature to work best.”
"When we were well into the Transition, energy from far away, both gasoline for cars and electricity became disrupted. We had to look closer to home to make much better use of what we had. We found lots of opportunities to take care of important needs that were already available. People just didn't notice. Without a compelling force to motivate, Like the Transition, people were docile and easily distracted, simply not much interested to live more responsibly towards the environment and each other.
When the time came, unknown attributes and personalities came out of people. Some of them flattering, some not.
Like the methane digester. Before the big changes, people should have been using these appropriate technologies much earlier. They could have helped avoid or at least mitigate the damage to the environment and suffering to people. That's history now.
"We were lucky. Many of us here in the neighborhood did not buy into the mainstream way of looking at the world. We started creating alternatives and preparing for the decline of that system. Truth is, we should have started a lot sooner and done a lot more to develop the social and economic alternatives, not to mention, the built stuff like micro eco villages, green houses, bio gas, passive solar and all the rest."
Right. Treatment of poop was a good example of a centralized system. A lot of money was invested in infrastructure - the machinery, pipes and expertise to run it all. There were other ways to take care of the poop that cost a lot less with much less impact on the environment.
Bio gas was part of a larger movement for people to control more of taking care of their needs at home and in the neighborhood. Here and there around Eugene and other parts of Oregon, the United States, really, all over the world, an increasing number of people were creating alternatives to centralized systems of energy, water and food."
"Here in Eugene, our community owned pre Transition utility company actually maintained several small hydro power plants up in the mountains. They are community controlled. We still use those, but its a limited amount of electricity and only serves downtown, the community college, the hospital and City Hall. Lucky the utility people were thinking ahead and stocked up on spare parts."
"So we have taken down just about all the power poles and lines, in inhabited parts of town, for other uses. Sure looks different not having all those poles and wires up in the air all over the place. Some of the better located cell phone towers now have windmills on top. Some people are talking up the idea of installing windmills up in the Coberg Hills. That has become a controversial issue."
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Jim continued. "Windmill Co-op produces its own electricity for the Dome in the evening. Most clusters have their own smaller systems. We use electricity much more carefully than fifty years ago. No more cooking with electricity, which was common BT. We have shifted cooking to bio gas, solar and rocket stoves. We also eat more raw food. With a lot more shared living and mindful intention, we use about a seventh of domestic energy per person compared to twenty years ago."
“So the digester fits right in. Multiple benefits. Human poop is now a valuable resource.
"So how does it work?"
"How does it work? Inside the methane digester, the poop, and other organic stuff is kept anaerobic, that means without oxygen. At the right temperatures, these particular bacteria become active and eat whats in the tank. Their metabolism gives off methane gass like we give off carbon dioxidel. and produce methane gas, which is a by product of their metabolism.
The left over solid product becomes a valuable fertilizer. The gas produced can be collected in a big rubber pillow, pressurized and used as cooking fuel. The gas from this digester ends up in the Dome for cooperative cooking and a couple of refrigerators and freezers. It has a lot of advantages over wood or solar.”
Jim continued. “You see kids, there are lots of stories. One story leads to another. Your teachers, your clusters, parents, old friends, new friends, they all have stories. Life is stories we hear and stories we add to and help create. You are all part of those stories and you will take those stories with you into the future. Its the responsibility of your elders to make sure you young people understand our history. We want you to add positive chapters to that history."
I had always enjoyed kids who were mature and responsible. Kids who paid attention and were not shy to speak up. Kids who were curious, maybe a bit rambunctious, still kids; but kids who knew they were part of a larger community, had a sense of that community's values and goals and knew they were valued and had a part to play. This was part of growing up in Cascadia.
Ummm,,, in the distance. A mockingbird.
Ok. that's good. Time for you all to go back to school. You are all welcome to visit the Furdow Garden Center. Tasha, see you later. ”
Thanks Jim, replied Tasha with a sly grin. "See you later."
Back At Wind Mill
“Nice tour and conversation today, Jim. Somehow this all seems like a fiction novel. Somebody is writing a story here."
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"Even after 20 years of adjustment, it still seems so hard to imagine this has all happened. You know, many of us at the turn of the Century talked about the whole system coming unglued and what would it look like afterwards. Opinions and speculation were all over the place. Its easy to begin a replay of all that experience when we talk history with the Newbies ."
“I was just a kid in 2017 but my parents would tell me stories.” Jim replied, gazing out the window. " Action, drama, tragedy, heroics, disappointment, uplift. It was a turbulent time and I remember bits and pieces. My parents had been together for 8 years and I was only five or six.”
“We lived in Colorado. First memories I have, we were in the midst of widespread unemployment, in the mid 'teens. Several years earlier there was a sharp upturn in social protest. A movement called "Occupy Wall Street" started to occupy the news. It was quite a sensation. What started off in New York City spread nation wide in a matter of weeks, thanks to the near instant communications of social media."
"Yes. I remember Occupy. The Authorities thought it was only a passing fad. They sure had that wrong. There were other movements, too like, it was Black Lives Matter. Lots of young Black kids were shot by police under conditions that had a lot to do with a strong economic and cultural bias against Black people.Some called it racism."
"Both movements were products of the economic system that was becoming increasingly tilted in favor of the already well off so they could have even more control and money."
"Some would say Occupy was touched off by a remarkable outbreak of social upheaval in the Mideast during the summer of 2011 when a number of long term dictators and authoritarian governments were forced out of power, mostly at the hands of disenchanted, unemployed and educated young people.
"And social media. Vital to all those protests were mobile phones and what was called social media. An event and where it would be could go out to thousands in minutes. Those mobile phones and all they could do really changed the dynamics of organizing and opposing the System.
I remember in Iran about that time. The country had a national election with two relatively different candidates, one conservative, the other not so conservative and everyone knew the election was a fraud.
Thousands were in the streets protesting the false victory of the conservative guy, an unprecedented upheaval in that theocratic country. Many were killed, the unrest was put down, but only for a while. They could not have spread news about events and, coordinated all that actions and demos without the mobile phones and computers."
Ultimately, the Iranian theocratic government, like governments all over the world, suffered its own version of the Transition.
I know you will talk with the Newbies about the history of the Transition. I would like to sit in on that.
Great. You have a back stage pass. Its a great story. Telling it to the Newbies is a bit different than for adults. The story I tell changes a bit from year to year.
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The captains of the galley had no idea what the crew was experiencing.
Ok, remind me to let you know when we will have that discussion. You can join us. Its a great topic.
"Hi guys." It was Fraeda with a box of purple seed potatoes. "What's the discussion now?"
“Oh, I was asking Naj to let me know when he talks with the Newbies about the history of the Transition. “
“That's Naj's favorite subject.”
“For good reason.”
"Great, you picked up the potatoes."
"Quite a load from town with some other stuff. Can you fix the wheel on the green bike trailer, Jim?"
“Can do.”
“So, we have a Discussion this evening and we'll talk about another group of people who lived their own ordeal to make it here. We are reminded of the past all the time.” I replied.
“What's all the talk?” It was Aimie. She walked into the kitchen with a nice load of greens.
“Hi dear. Just some talk about life, history and where we fit in. At Discussion tonight, we will talk about Windmill and a new cluster that will be making a trial stay with us. We have a few responsibilities with the River Road Co-op Association and the broader community. Like other co-ops, we agreed some years ago to host a new cluster from the Outside when the need presented itself. This doesn't happen very often. Its our turn and it will be good for us.” We are being asked to hosts a cluster of seven. Five adults and two children.”
Even six year olds received a complete answer.
“Where are they from?” Aimie asked. It was not an idle question.
“This is remarkable. Ten years ago, people from all over the country risked everything coming to Cascadia. Not so many in recent years. These folks are from what was known as Arkansas. Its about 2000 miles to the south and east. I can't wait to hear their stories. We haven't had word about what's happening in huge parts of the country for some time, other than the occasional short wave radio and that's only here and there now and then.”
15
“You know since the Transition, birthrates have gone down. From what we can tell, much of the former United States doesn't have a birthrate at all. There's no one there. If newcomers are a good prospect for Cascadia, they are very welcome. We need to maintain our numbers. Many of our older population are passing on. The medical care that kept many of them alive BT is mostly gone now. Home care is primarily what we have. Many older people don't want to be a burden so many just come to the point and say that's enough I'm out of here. That's a choice we respect.”
“True enough but I support the go slow approach we have in terms of birth rate. Its a high blood pressure topic. I don't think everyone should have as many kids as they want.”
Aimie knew a good deal about these issues. Letting go of a flickering life was not at all uncommon. Neither was helping it along. Those involved made the decision. Cascadia was not monolithic with laws that applied everywhere. There was no regional legislature to make laws like BT.
“That years ago right to die movement is alive and well and it should be.
“You know, I read about a guy in South Africa years ago. He could run a hundred yards in 30 seconds. Doesn't sound so impressive until you find out he was 100 years old.”
“We are still glad you are with us Naj. But I am in line for the Bungalow. Say, this will be great, Windmill is up for sponsoring a new cluster. Its been a 6 or 7 years. I can bet we will be in for some great stories. Imagine, Arkansas to Cascadia. You lived in Arkansas, right?"
"I did. And my understanding is a fellow from this new group spent some time in the area where I lived. I am very curious. Our group lived in the most rugged part of the Ozarks. Most people would be amazed to find this kind of geography in Arkansas. Cliffs, springs, caves. Ask me sometime and I can tell you more. It was a pretty crazy couple of years and very formative. It was a big deal in my life."
“Also for discussion, there's a request for volunteers at the Border."
“Finally, we have a request for trial residency. Her name is Misty and she is from South Eugene. Nice resume. She works in Hillside Salvage, has been active with her school group, looks to have traveled a great deal. She's been to Ashland, Florence, Portland, even to the Eastern Border Areas. That's a lot for a 17 year old.”
“I've met her. She's one of the Newbies. Left a good impression, maybe a bit mischievous. Sounds like a lot to cover tonight.”
"Another item on the agenda, more an announcement. We are seeing more big cats here and there. Mostly after sun set. Just a heads up. Last Tuesday, a big cat was seen trotting along the fence at Rosetta Garden."
"Ok, we need to be aware of that."
16
Big cats. We are talking about mountain lions. With all the abandoned and overgrown suburbia, a new kind of wilderness is emerging. Homes for humans are becoming homes for wildlife and its not a static condition. Its only the last 2 or 3 years there have been cougar sightings here in River Road. More sighting than before.
“Hi guys.”
It was Fred .
“Into the kitchen. We need to come up with a dish for tonight's Discussion. Your assistance is invited."
“Sounds like an invitation you pass up at your own risk. OK, lets put something together.”
The Dome is the center of Windmill Co-op. Most co-ops have some kind of iconic feature, the dome is ours along with the windmill. From the beginning everyone agreed we needed a space large enough for everyone to be with each other.
After lengthy discussions, a site was chosen that was already severely impacted, an old gravel parking area on the south side of a house with area large enough to construct a meeting space with good solar access and convenient for everyone. The owner of the house gave his enthusiastic consent. We built the dome on this location, largely with materials salvaged from nearby abandoned homes.
The dome was built extending south from the two car garage of the existing house. It was built nearly 40 feet in diameter and close to 20 feet high and included a big wood stove, book shelves, work space, many potted plants, couches and comfy chairs. It was built to integrate with the existing house which came to include a library, kid space and tool room, all in a former garage.
The dome was furnished with a collage of colors and styles. As the neighborhood's population went into steep decline during the Transition, there were plenty of homes full of furniture to make use of. Whatever was in them was there for the taking. Most of the neighborhood north and west of Windmill had become a giant overgrown salvage yard. Over time, the plan is to remove the former structures and allow nature to reclaim whats left. The concrete slabs will take longer but those, too will give way.
All together, Windmill counts eleven clusters. Each cluster is like an extended family of 6 to eight people and has its own house. There are several houses within Windmill's boundaries maintained but not occupied. Windmill is about average in size for a residential co-op. About 75 people.
Next to the Dome is the co-op bike barn and workshop. The area of the Dome facing southeast to southwest is clear for solar gain. There used to be a 200 foot tall fir tree within that zone but it blew over fifteen years ago crushing several houses along with three people. We have a clever system for drawing a huge insulated drape over the clear walls when temperatures are low.
17
For our meeting, food is put out along with tables and chairs. Unlike in years BT, there is no child care. For the most part, even at a young age, kids have a sense to be on good behavior and it's important for them to become familiar with how the co-op functions.
Dear Reader, If you would like to help edit Windmill 2040, please contact me.
Imagine having a unique vantage point for a close up look at Windmill Co-op, Eugene and Cascadia in the year 2040. Elder Naj will show you where he lives, explain how Cascadia come into being and what its like fifteen years into Recovery. You will hear about the actions people took at home, in the neighborhood and community, 30 and 40 years before, that were critical for surviving and taking on the challenges for creating a new, healthy and green economy and culture.
The Garden Center
italics is Elder Naj talking
bold is Elder Naj thinking or narrating
regular font is others speaking
“So, I just saw the Newbies head out. How was the first session?”
It was Fraeda, she was at home a lot. She had a small business making insulated drapes. It was late in the season for that but she still had a several orders to fill and some other sewing as well.
“A good group. All very much engaged. I know several of the youngsters because I know their parents and grandparents.”
“Yes, I recognized several of them from events and parties here in the neighborhood. Several I think I've seen at the Garden Center. Speaking of the Garden Center, you might go find Jim and Sue. They may be in the veggie green house.”
“Sure, I'll go have a look.”
Nice day. And what do I hear? I still can't quite get used to that. It just knocked my socks off the first time I heard a Mockingbird right here on Benjamin Street. I used to live in Texas where the feisty little avians were all over. They were the state bird. When there was a Texas. They would dive bomb our cat and sing endlessly from early in the morning to late into the warm, still, humid night.
Years later, after moving to the Northwest in the early 90's, I made a few visits to Santa Rosa, north of the Bay Area. One day in Santa Rosa, I borrowed a friend's bike and was cruising through a neighborhood and what did I hear? I had no idea Mockingbirds had a range into California. But there he or she was. And lots of others. Turns out, Santa Rosa was a popular place for Mockingbirds.
They are a warmer climate bird and I wondered if and when they would start to show up this far north. Even before the turn of the century, salmon were spawning in northern Alaska where they never used to be. Animals and plants were on the move.
While travel was still cheap about 2012, I took a trip to Texas and visited Dallas. I could not believe all the palm trees. I had always been into exotic plants, even when living in Dallas as a kid. In the 1960's, there were a few hardy palms here and there and some banana trees that always froze back in the winter time.
Between 1965 and 2005, there was a remarkable difference. Its not like Dallas was looking like Honolulu but the change was a jolt. I thought I had landed in the wrong place.
That was during the early onset of climate change. I had spoken with several people who made it out of Texas in time and I can only imagine what it was like when the heat in Dallas became like Laredo. As it turned out, even all the windmills making electricity put up during the windmill boom around 2010 were not enough to keep that place livable.
2
Well maybe this Mockingbird was joining the human migration. More likely, these newer arrivals made their way up from California along the coastal corridor. They are not the only newcomer. How about malaria. We've been able to keep that in check but I've heard of a few cases in Cascadia. No doubt, the arrival of new diseases will be an ongoing issue.
And the Furdow Garden Center was just across the street from Windmill Co-op..
Here at the Garden Center, we grafted and grew many kinds of apples, pears and peach trees. Surprising to a visitor from the not so distant past, we also raise several kinds of hardy citrus. Several of us were only joking when we set up the fictional Eugene Citrus Exchange almost 40 years ago.
We planted Meyer Lemons outside, up close to a house and then had to cover and heat those small trees on numerous occasions during winter. By and by, those shrubs grew larger and we started putting them further out in the yard and had to cover them less and less often. In 2016, I covered my lemon tree the first two days in January and that was it for the rest of the winter. Amazing. First time that ever happened. Its not unusual now. Those waist high shrubs have become small trees.
When I bought my house in 2000, there was a wholesale nursery across the street with a dozen one hundred foot long green houses. The owners propagated their own ornamental shrubs. But as the owners approached retirement age they began to subdivide the nursery open space into lamentable suburban houses as large as could fit on those small lots. Ten or twelve houses were built but conditions changed in the late 'teens while there was still an acre of open space. That turned out to be the high tide of suburbia.
By the late teen's, the owners came to realize the best use of the property was to make it available to the neighborhood. The Garden Center was born. The owners died during one of the flu outbreaks but are remembered fondly, the Garden Center is named in their honor.
A half block further down the street was a one acre park dating back to about 2010. Fortunately, its design made it easy to be converted to community gardens. This area also became a part of the Garden Center. We only wish we had not waited so long to replace the ornamental trees with Walnuts, Chestnuts and Pecans.
“You found me. Good timing, we're expecting a visit from the Beaver Group at River Road Elementary School in a few minutes. They are doing one of their tours to check out where the kids might like to do Explore and Expand. You might be interested to tag along.”
“Sounds good. A day in the life of kids. Its a far more practical education these days isn't it? I love it that kids are expected to be an active part of community life."
3
“That's right. Its essential these kids learn how to contribute from and early age.
"Tell me about it. These kids may be our social security. No old folks homes like my day, if you could even afford that."
"And, of course, we want these young people to carry the torch into the future for the good of humanity. We would like to think we have some words of wisdom that will be helpful.”
“We are here to help. Here come our visitors."
"Tasha, so nice to see you and the youngsters.”
“Hi Jim, Hi Elder Naj.”
“Hi Tasha, its been a while. So nice to see you and the youngsters.”
“Here we are. A tour group from the Beaver Clan at River Road Elementary School. We are 20 in number, ages 8 to 10.”
The School was five blocks away from Windmill and drew kids from co-ops in the southern part of River Road. Windmill, was on the border between older suburbia and newer suburbia. Newer suburbia, further north, tended to be much less populated. I didn't know at the time how well Jim and Tasha knew each other.
“Jim, we can't keep meeting like this.”
She had a mischevious smile. They both shared some kind of secret and laughed easily. Casual affairs were not uncommon in Cascadia.
I knew Tasha since she was 5. Now a woman with responsibility, she was a grown up version of her younger self. Very creative and theatrical. BT, she had started on a career in performance and was doing well, locally but it came time to leave Eugene for the bright lights of the big city.
She lived for several years in the Bay Area, her career was on the up swing. But in the late 'teens it was time to go. One too many riots on Market Street. An acting career did not look so appropriate. She abandoned San Francisco with a group of friends. Their return was quite and adventure. Tasha's acting talents came in useful during a couple dicey encounters.
4
The Garden Center
“Lets get started. Hi kids, I'm Jim and welcome to the Community Greenhouses and Gardens. I know some of you. Many of your parents have spent some time here. We are glad to see you.”
“As you may know, your parents work in a number of places besides their main job. One of the Founding Practicle Principles of Cascadia was for every adult to have a functional knowledge of multiple kinds of work. We are multi skilled for many reasons.”
That was only part of the story.In the early Transition, people who had multiple practical skills were wanted and found easy inclusion. People who had little useful experience would have been a burden. They did not receive much welcome or embrace. It was bit like choosing sports teams when we were kids.
Some kids were picked last and it didn't feel good. Prospects for survival dictated it was far more important to choose companions with practical skills rather than worry too much about hurting peoples' feelings. A carpenter, plumber, gardener, facilitator or handyman was a lot more popular than most white collar professionals.
Jim was good with kids.
“Did you kids know much of your food comes from this place? We grow vegetables inside during the winter and outside in the summer. We can extend the growing season by planting some veggies early inside the green houses and then later, take down the cover when its warm enough.”
“I bet all of you have gardens at home.”
All the children raised their hands.
“I bet many of your veggies had their beginning right here. We start the plants from seed, grow them in small containers and then transplant them. We grow thousands of small plants here and distribute them all over the neighborhood. River Road has had a veggie set CSA for over 25 years.”
“Here's a bit of history it may be hard to believe. Most of you know Elder Naj. He has lived in that house across the street for over forty years, before the Transition. What is now the Garden Center used to grow plants that were purely ornamental. That means you could only look at them. They made no food. Amazingly, fifty years ago, most people did not have a garden at all. They went to a store and bought what they ate.”
“A lot of other people went out to eat to places called restaurants or they drove cars to what was called fast food. Imagine, being in a car, stopping at a kiosk with a microphone to make an order to someone inside the fast food place, wait a few minutes, drive to a window take a few sacks of fast food passed out to you from a window, pay for it and off you go."
5
Jim Continued. "Elder Naj was an early pioneer of growing food at home. Many people had gardens but Elder Naj was one of the first people to take his entire property and turn it into gardens with fruit trees, blueberries, brambles, nuts, vines and many other food plants.”
One of the youngsters asked "Why didn't people eat at home like Elder Naj? That all sounds really complicated."
"Elder Naj. Would you care to respond? You were there."
"Well, ok. I was always a critic of all that fast pace of life so I have an expert opinion. Here goes a short response. Fast food was so popular for a lot of reasons. A lot of people were busy and didn't want to take the time to cook. Just about everyone had a car and fast food places were easy to go to. They were all over. For a lot of people, they were convenient."
Also, there was an enormous amount of advertising. You know what television was. People watched a lot of television. The television said do this or that and a lot of people did what they were told. Junk food was one of the biggest products advertised.
The food had all kinds of ingredients that were added to make people want to eat it. Lots of salt, fat. Lots of artificial flavors and colors. What was supposed to be a wood fire old fashioned taste for a burger was actually a product with lots of different chemicals to taste like wood fire and it was made in a factory."
"Yuck! That sounds really bad!"
We don't have many over weight people now but BT, all the unhealthy ingredients, plus the enormous amounts of food people ate, plus, a lot of people didn't get much exercise - all that made millions of people overweight and that came with a lot of health problems. We should be glad we don't have much of all that now. Maybe thats enough."
"Wait, why was everyone in a hurry?"
"Why was everyone in a hurry? Good question. The best answer I can come up with is people were in a hurry because just about everyone else was in a hurry. People are affected by what surrounds them. Being in a hurry gave rise to something that was known as multi tasking. You have seen some of this in pictures of the recent past. It wasn't uncommon for people to be driving, eating junk food, talking on a portable telephone and listening to music all at the same time. If people only did one action at a time, the economy would not have done so well because people were not consuming enough. the more consumption, the better as far as the economy was concerned. Damage to peoples' health and the natural world was not much of a care."
"Yeah, I have seen pictures in old magazine with all that. Somehow, that all seems kinda creepy. Seems like people had a hard time just to relax without doing something. Were you in a hurry much Elder Naj?"
6
"We are off track here a bit. But, then, we are not in a hurry. The short answer. I was rarely in a hurry. And I rarely ate fast food. Maybe it was that sort of immunity to what was going on around me. I felt like I was in a different time zone. I had to keep in mind that most others had schedules, date books, appointments. I certainly had some of that but for the majority of my adult life, I pretty much did what I wanted. That's enough. Jim, please continue."
"Elder Jan." It was one kids. "Can you tell us about your life sometime?" "Yeah," another said. ?We want to hear stories about Elder Jan and the way he lived."
"Me too. Me too."
They all wanted to hear stories about my life.
"Ok. We can do that."
"Listen to this Elder Jan, one of my teachers is doing study about people and life Before Transition. I bet she would like to talk with you. Can I connect you two?
"Sure. That's a great topic. I would like to talk with her."
"Good to connect people like that! That's a good skill to develop - connecting people with similar interests. That's how we make our lives productive, interesting and educational."
"Ok, that was a good tangent. Thanks for the questions. Enough. Jim, please continue."
“OK, where were we? The River Road Garden Center is a cooperative. Many people spend part of their working time here. You know we all commit to a certain amount of Community Service. That service begins when kids are eleven years old. That means, most of you will be taking on more responsibility a bit more independent from your home cluster.
You will be given some choices. Thats what the Explore and Expand Program is all about. The Garden Center is one place young people can consider when you are making your choices. Here at the RR Garden Center, you can learn about annual and perennial plants, nutrition, propagation, soil, keeping records, communications, working with others. If you have a good idea related to plants, food, gardens, health; you can even use what we have here to develop that idea. That and more is what we do here for Explore and Expand.
Just about all the kids had something to say.
"We know a lot about horticulture. Yeah. We have a garden at school that goes back 25 years. And we all have gardens at home. Eddie's growing herbs. All of us really like plants. We know about seed saving and grafting. But we know there's tons more to learn."
7
"Ok, ok. Thats great! You guys are impressive. The kids know about horticulture. Food touches all of us. When you know the history of something, you tend to have more respect and appreciation for it. We can't survive without food and in these more recent years, like we mentioned, we have to take care of our food needs close to where we live - at home, at school, our neighborhood gardens and our farm co-op friends in the nearby country side."
Other places you might think about for Explore and Expand include schools, child care, elder care, the hospital and clinics, many businesses, serving on civic boards and advisory panels, even at your age. When you are bit older, you might volunteer to put in time at the border. We want young people a chance to explore their interests and develop multiple skills. Between ages 11 and 15, its common young people try out 8 or 10 different kinds of work places through the Explore and Expand Program.
“Here at the Garden Center, there are several managers, I am one of them, and it's our task to take care of this place. We trade some of what we produce but most of it stays right here in the neighborhood. There are dozens of other urban farms like this around town. Some are in former parks, golf courses and even where there used to be pavement like at the Mall and downtown.
We also provide agricultural advice to co-ops in the neighborhood, like a neighborhood extension service. We make “garden calls.” We provide guest speakers to schools and we love to have visits. We offer classes and we collaborate with other neighborhood Centers in the area. We are something like the Agricultural Extension Office of 25 years ago, just more expanded because a lot more people are involved in growing food. ”
I reflected on this field trip and the Explore and Expand Program for the youngsters. This was vital education. When people have a close connection to their food, energy, shelter, services they value, they will have a much greater respect and care for how those needs are taken care of. If they actually participate in taking care of those needs, thats even better. Fifteen years into Recovery, if people want to survive, they need to participate in their up keep in a very hands on kind of way.
In the years before the Transition, most people had little idea about what they used - how it was made, where it came from, under what conditions and the consequences of using it and how was it disposed of when it was used up.
A civilization had been created with people disconnected like never before from knowing what it took to maintain their affluent life styles of big houses, cars, eating food from thousands of miles away and all the rest. In reality, much of the world's people and natural environment suffered enormously for the affluent people of the world. And most who benefited from cheap prices and convenience either had no idea or didn't want to know how all that stuff came to them.
Some well off people were critical of other parts of the world with larger families - more children. Overpopulation was a core problem, but many of those well off critics could not see their own affluence as an equal if not larger part of a damaged environment.
A typical middle class person in the United States had a far larger environmental impact than dozens of people in other parts of the world. Upper classes and the rich had even larger eco footprints. Many people, even people who cared about the global condition, either could not or would not think about the damage they were doing to the environment.
8
If it had been possible to assemble a jury of animals, plants, rivers, sky, ocean and soil; and the affluent were on trial for assault, even murder, of the natural world, a guilty verdict would be easy to make. The sentence, the punishment. That took care of itself.
Raising kids so they are engaged and empowered to live an ethical and creative life is one of the core ideals of Cascadia.
Jim continued.
“There are more activities here at the Center that are essential for our survival. Years ago, even if people had a garden, they would normally buy seeds every year at the store. Most of those seeds were what we call hybrids. Those seeds were the product of human manipulation that would not happen by itself.
The hybrid seeds became wonderfully productive plants but when you planted the seeds gathered from the mature hybrid vegetables, the new plants would not reproduce the same vegetables as the original hybrid seeds. The vegetables from second generation seeds would usually be no good to eat although during the Transition, people were hungry and glad to eat the not so flavor full second generation vegetables.”
We are also lucky because one of River Roads more recognized residents Kin, devoted so much time to developing plant and tree varieties that do well here in the south Willamette Valley.
“And our good luck, here he is.”
“Kin, you are still putting time into the Garden Center.”
“Yes, thanks Jim. I can't think of a better place to be. Its great to see the kids and pass along what we are learning.”
“We have developed all kinds of plant varieties that do well here and we continue to work on that task, as the climate continues to change. Its like a moving target.”
The kids were teasing. “Thanks Elder Kin. Why do you talk funny like that?”
“I know why,” one youngster called out. “Elder Kin came from another country long ago and they talked like that there. It was a place called England.”
9
“Thats right kids. And I am so glad I found my way to Eugene so many years ago. And you should be glad to be here, too.”
“Thanks, Kin. We are on with with our show and tell. Thank you so much!”
“We can't go to the store anymore. We have to maintain plants and collect seeds that will continue to reproduce themselves and the quality vegetables we want and need.
So seed saving is essential and we do that here at the Center. We are the back up seed bank for the surrounding co-ops. Most co-ops save their own seeds, and we all back up each other. In case something happens at one location, we receive help or can offer help to another.”
"Other towns in the Willamette Valley have similar arrangements. We are all inter-connected that way and can all help each other when needed. There are yearly conferences to maintain those connections. We are all security to each other in Cascadia from Ashland to Vancouver."
“We also encourage growing what we call perennial food plants. We raise many of those here as well. Some of those are native, others come from distant places. What they have in common is they grow well in our climate and don't need the amount of time and resources to maintain as annuals. Annuals are plants that live less than a year like most vegetables we are familiar with.
Many perennials don't require seeds. Some are shrubs, trees, vines that make berries, fruit and nuts. Some may grow tubers that can be replanted. Many others are nuts or berries.”
“The Center has a number of greenhouses. These places use sunlight to create heat. You know that's called solar energy. With that additional heat, some food plants that would grow little outside, because its too chilly, will actually grow well during the winter time inside. Extending the growing season means we can grow more food. Cool weather crops do well over the winter inside and warmer season crops can have an earlier start in the Spring and last longer into the Fall.”
down to here
We continued our stroll around the Garden Center.
“I know what that is!” One excited tousel haired girl shouted as we approached an odd looking tangle of pipes and tanks.
She said, "That dome shape with pipes going in and coming out is a methane digester. This simple technology does multiple important good things at the same time. Years ago, I read, there was what was called a sewer system. People would go to the bathroom, poop in a water filled bowl, you'd turn a handle, more water would pour into the bowl, it would drain quickly and away the poop would go to a central big pool where the waste would be broken down, treated and made safe.
10
We don't do that any more. Instead, we either have composting toilets or we collect the poop and bring it to a digester like this. There are over 200 digesters like this around town with more planned. Installing them, managing them and making the parts is the main work of several co-ops in town. Few people used digesters in Eugene untill ten years ago."
"Whoa! That's a lot to say about methane digesters. Where did you learn all that?"
"I really find the digesters fascinating. I've studied them and help out with the one we have where I live."
Jim continued, "Very good! So you know, for a typical digester like this one, lots of people take turns collecting the waste. Three or four people don't usually produce enough material for the digester to work but 10, 12 or more, its a large enough amount for a small digester. Delivering the poop is community service work. Care to help? Its one of those chores with high time value.
All the poop from this digester comes from five clusters of Windmill Co-op. We dump it in here and the bacteria in the big tank you see decomposes the poop creating methane gas we use for cooking and what is left over is great fertilizer. Pretty nice wouldn't you say? This is great technology. Very simple, many benefits."
"You know Eugene has an ambulance and four other vehicles that run on bio gas and a few small electric carts. Most other towns in the Valley and Cascadia have methane projects. There are several farms in the area that make their own bio gas and use it for small tractors.
“Years ago, poop was considered a nuisance, even a health hazard, which it was. Managing poop was one of the great public health advances in human history. Diseases like typhoid and cholera killed thousands through much of human history. But the centralized water treatment approach was resource intensive, expensive, they took a lot of expertise and infrastructure and was totally unnecessary.
"Here in Eugene, several “outlaws” began using bio gas 30 years ago. I read he Chinese had six million digesters by 1970 while other places in the less affluent world were encouraging bio gas, mostly in rural areas. Tasha, Karmalaya had composting toilets 30 years ago and now you have two digesters on site?"
Tasha smiled.
"That's right. About 35 years ago, in pre historic times, long before any of you kids were born, we were on the social and economic fringe, advocates of living more simply and cooperatively. Karmalaya had some very interesting encounters with the authorities at the time about regulations - what you could and could not do on your property. We were a small education center with programs and interns who came to learn about alternative living, culture and spirituality.
11
We did have composting toilets before they were made legal. But first, composting toilets are not the same as these methane digesters. We had composting toilets at Karmalaya for over a decade. We built our first methane digester fifteen years ago. A composting toilet was simply a way to safely allow natural bacteria to break down the poop into what actually looks like beautiful soil. It takes a couple years unless you have a system to keep the poop tank warm because the bacteria like a certain warm temperature to work best.”
"When we were well into the Transition, energy from far away, both gasoline for cars and electricity became disrupted. We had to look closer to home to make much better use of what we had. We found lots of opportunities to take care of important needs that were already available. People just didn't notice. Without a compelling force to motivate, Like the Transition, people were docile and easily distracted, simply not much interested to live more responsibly towards the environment and each other.
When the time came, unknown attributes and personalities came out of people. Some of them flattering, some not.
Like the methane digester. Before the big changes, people should have been using these appropriate technologies much earlier. They could have helped avoid or at least mitigate the damage to the environment and suffering to people. That's history now.
"We were lucky. Many of us here in the neighborhood did not buy into the mainstream way of looking at the world. We started creating alternatives and preparing for the decline of that system. Truth is, we should have started a lot sooner and done a lot more to develop the social and economic alternatives, not to mention, the built stuff like micro eco villages, green houses, bio gas, passive solar and all the rest."
Right. Treatment of poop was a good example of a centralized system. A lot of money was invested in infrastructure - the machinery, pipes and expertise to run it all. There were other ways to take care of the poop that cost a lot less with much less impact on the environment.
Bio gas was part of a larger movement for people to control more of taking care of their needs at home and in the neighborhood. Here and there around Eugene and other parts of Oregon, the United States, really, all over the world, an increasing number of people were creating alternatives to centralized systems of energy, water and food."
"Here in Eugene, our community owned pre Transition utility company actually maintained several small hydro power plants up in the mountains. They are community controlled. We still use those, but its a limited amount of electricity and only serves downtown, the community college, the hospital and City Hall. Lucky the utility people were thinking ahead and stocked up on spare parts."
"So we have taken down just about all the power poles and lines, in inhabited parts of town, for other uses. Sure looks different not having all those poles and wires up in the air all over the place. Some of the better located cell phone towers now have windmills on top. Some people are talking up the idea of installing windmills up in the Coberg Hills. That has become a controversial issue."
12
Jim continued. "Windmill Co-op produces its own electricity for the Dome in the evening. Most clusters have their own smaller systems. We use electricity much more carefully than fifty years ago. No more cooking with electricity, which was common BT. We have shifted cooking to bio gas, solar and rocket stoves. We also eat more raw food. With a lot more shared living and mindful intention, we use about a seventh of domestic energy per person compared to twenty years ago."
“So the digester fits right in. Multiple benefits. Human poop is now a valuable resource.
"So how does it work?"
"How does it work? Inside the methane digester, the poop, and other organic stuff is kept anaerobic, that means without oxygen. At the right temperatures, these particular bacteria become active and eat whats in the tank. Their metabolism gives off methane gass like we give off carbon dioxidel. and produce methane gas, which is a by product of their metabolism.
The left over solid product becomes a valuable fertilizer. The gas produced can be collected in a big rubber pillow, pressurized and used as cooking fuel. The gas from this digester ends up in the Dome for cooperative cooking and a couple of refrigerators and freezers. It has a lot of advantages over wood or solar.”
Jim continued. “You see kids, there are lots of stories. One story leads to another. Your teachers, your clusters, parents, old friends, new friends, they all have stories. Life is stories we hear and stories we add to and help create. You are all part of those stories and you will take those stories with you into the future. Its the responsibility of your elders to make sure you young people understand our history. We want you to add positive chapters to that history."
I had always enjoyed kids who were mature and responsible. Kids who paid attention and were not shy to speak up. Kids who were curious, maybe a bit rambunctious, still kids; but kids who knew they were part of a larger community, had a sense of that community's values and goals and knew they were valued and had a part to play. This was part of growing up in Cascadia.
Ummm,,, in the distance. A mockingbird.
Ok. that's good. Time for you all to go back to school. You are all welcome to visit the Furdow Garden Center. Tasha, see you later. ”
Thanks Jim, replied Tasha with a sly grin. "See you later."
Back At Wind Mill
“Nice tour and conversation today, Jim. Somehow this all seems like a fiction novel. Somebody is writing a story here."
13
"Even after 20 years of adjustment, it still seems so hard to imagine this has all happened. You know, many of us at the turn of the Century talked about the whole system coming unglued and what would it look like afterwards. Opinions and speculation were all over the place. Its easy to begin a replay of all that experience when we talk history with the Newbies ."
“I was just a kid in 2017 but my parents would tell me stories.” Jim replied, gazing out the window. " Action, drama, tragedy, heroics, disappointment, uplift. It was a turbulent time and I remember bits and pieces. My parents had been together for 8 years and I was only five or six.”
“We lived in Colorado. First memories I have, we were in the midst of widespread unemployment, in the mid 'teens. Several years earlier there was a sharp upturn in social protest. A movement called "Occupy Wall Street" started to occupy the news. It was quite a sensation. What started off in New York City spread nation wide in a matter of weeks, thanks to the near instant communications of social media."
"Yes. I remember Occupy. The Authorities thought it was only a passing fad. They sure had that wrong. There were other movements, too like, it was Black Lives Matter. Lots of young Black kids were shot by police under conditions that had a lot to do with a strong economic and cultural bias against Black people.Some called it racism."
"Both movements were products of the economic system that was becoming increasingly tilted in favor of the already well off so they could have even more control and money."
"Some would say Occupy was touched off by a remarkable outbreak of social upheaval in the Mideast during the summer of 2011 when a number of long term dictators and authoritarian governments were forced out of power, mostly at the hands of disenchanted, unemployed and educated young people.
"And social media. Vital to all those protests were mobile phones and what was called social media. An event and where it would be could go out to thousands in minutes. Those mobile phones and all they could do really changed the dynamics of organizing and opposing the System.
I remember in Iran about that time. The country had a national election with two relatively different candidates, one conservative, the other not so conservative and everyone knew the election was a fraud.
Thousands were in the streets protesting the false victory of the conservative guy, an unprecedented upheaval in that theocratic country. Many were killed, the unrest was put down, but only for a while. They could not have spread news about events and, coordinated all that actions and demos without the mobile phones and computers."
Ultimately, the Iranian theocratic government, like governments all over the world, suffered its own version of the Transition.
I know you will talk with the Newbies about the history of the Transition. I would like to sit in on that.
Great. You have a back stage pass. Its a great story. Telling it to the Newbies is a bit different than for adults. The story I tell changes a bit from year to year.
14
The captains of the galley had no idea what the crew was experiencing.
Ok, remind me to let you know when we will have that discussion. You can join us. Its a great topic.
"Hi guys." It was Fraeda with a box of purple seed potatoes. "What's the discussion now?"
“Oh, I was asking Naj to let me know when he talks with the Newbies about the history of the Transition. “
“That's Naj's favorite subject.”
“For good reason.”
"Great, you picked up the potatoes."
"Quite a load from town with some other stuff. Can you fix the wheel on the green bike trailer, Jim?"
“Can do.”
“So, we have a Discussion this evening and we'll talk about another group of people who lived their own ordeal to make it here. We are reminded of the past all the time.” I replied.
“What's all the talk?” It was Aimie. She walked into the kitchen with a nice load of greens.
“Hi dear. Just some talk about life, history and where we fit in. At Discussion tonight, we will talk about Windmill and a new cluster that will be making a trial stay with us. We have a few responsibilities with the River Road Co-op Association and the broader community. Like other co-ops, we agreed some years ago to host a new cluster from the Outside when the need presented itself. This doesn't happen very often. Its our turn and it will be good for us.” We are being asked to hosts a cluster of seven. Five adults and two children.”
Even six year olds received a complete answer.
“Where are they from?” Aimie asked. It was not an idle question.
“This is remarkable. Ten years ago, people from all over the country risked everything coming to Cascadia. Not so many in recent years. These folks are from what was known as Arkansas. Its about 2000 miles to the south and east. I can't wait to hear their stories. We haven't had word about what's happening in huge parts of the country for some time, other than the occasional short wave radio and that's only here and there now and then.”
15
“You know since the Transition, birthrates have gone down. From what we can tell, much of the former United States doesn't have a birthrate at all. There's no one there. If newcomers are a good prospect for Cascadia, they are very welcome. We need to maintain our numbers. Many of our older population are passing on. The medical care that kept many of them alive BT is mostly gone now. Home care is primarily what we have. Many older people don't want to be a burden so many just come to the point and say that's enough I'm out of here. That's a choice we respect.”
“True enough but I support the go slow approach we have in terms of birth rate. Its a high blood pressure topic. I don't think everyone should have as many kids as they want.”
Aimie knew a good deal about these issues. Letting go of a flickering life was not at all uncommon. Neither was helping it along. Those involved made the decision. Cascadia was not monolithic with laws that applied everywhere. There was no regional legislature to make laws like BT.
“That years ago right to die movement is alive and well and it should be.
“You know, I read about a guy in South Africa years ago. He could run a hundred yards in 30 seconds. Doesn't sound so impressive until you find out he was 100 years old.”
“We are still glad you are with us Naj. But I am in line for the Bungalow. Say, this will be great, Windmill is up for sponsoring a new cluster. Its been a 6 or 7 years. I can bet we will be in for some great stories. Imagine, Arkansas to Cascadia. You lived in Arkansas, right?"
"I did. And my understanding is a fellow from this new group spent some time in the area where I lived. I am very curious. Our group lived in the most rugged part of the Ozarks. Most people would be amazed to find this kind of geography in Arkansas. Cliffs, springs, caves. Ask me sometime and I can tell you more. It was a pretty crazy couple of years and very formative. It was a big deal in my life."
“Also for discussion, there's a request for volunteers at the Border."
“Finally, we have a request for trial residency. Her name is Misty and she is from South Eugene. Nice resume. She works in Hillside Salvage, has been active with her school group, looks to have traveled a great deal. She's been to Ashland, Florence, Portland, even to the Eastern Border Areas. That's a lot for a 17 year old.”
“I've met her. She's one of the Newbies. Left a good impression, maybe a bit mischievous. Sounds like a lot to cover tonight.”
"Another item on the agenda, more an announcement. We are seeing more big cats here and there. Mostly after sun set. Just a heads up. Last Tuesday, a big cat was seen trotting along the fence at Rosetta Garden."
"Ok, we need to be aware of that."
16
Big cats. We are talking about mountain lions. With all the abandoned and overgrown suburbia, a new kind of wilderness is emerging. Homes for humans are becoming homes for wildlife and its not a static condition. Its only the last 2 or 3 years there have been cougar sightings here in River Road. More sighting than before.
“Hi guys.”
It was Fred .
“Into the kitchen. We need to come up with a dish for tonight's Discussion. Your assistance is invited."
“Sounds like an invitation you pass up at your own risk. OK, lets put something together.”
The Dome is the center of Windmill Co-op. Most co-ops have some kind of iconic feature, the dome is ours along with the windmill. From the beginning everyone agreed we needed a space large enough for everyone to be with each other.
After lengthy discussions, a site was chosen that was already severely impacted, an old gravel parking area on the south side of a house with area large enough to construct a meeting space with good solar access and convenient for everyone. The owner of the house gave his enthusiastic consent. We built the dome on this location, largely with materials salvaged from nearby abandoned homes.
The dome was built extending south from the two car garage of the existing house. It was built nearly 40 feet in diameter and close to 20 feet high and included a big wood stove, book shelves, work space, many potted plants, couches and comfy chairs. It was built to integrate with the existing house which came to include a library, kid space and tool room, all in a former garage.
The dome was furnished with a collage of colors and styles. As the neighborhood's population went into steep decline during the Transition, there were plenty of homes full of furniture to make use of. Whatever was in them was there for the taking. Most of the neighborhood north and west of Windmill had become a giant overgrown salvage yard. Over time, the plan is to remove the former structures and allow nature to reclaim whats left. The concrete slabs will take longer but those, too will give way.
All together, Windmill counts eleven clusters. Each cluster is like an extended family of 6 to eight people and has its own house. There are several houses within Windmill's boundaries maintained but not occupied. Windmill is about average in size for a residential co-op. About 75 people.
Next to the Dome is the co-op bike barn and workshop. The area of the Dome facing southeast to southwest is clear for solar gain. There used to be a 200 foot tall fir tree within that zone but it blew over fifteen years ago crushing several houses along with three people. We have a clever system for drawing a huge insulated drape over the clear walls when temperatures are low.
17
For our meeting, food is put out along with tables and chairs. Unlike in years BT, there is no child care. For the most part, even at a young age, kids have a sense to be on good behavior and it's important for them to become familiar with how the co-op functions.