Lee Vining School and Community Garden

The Lee Vining School and Community Garden is full of Student Gardeners this 2021 Season! Todd Wanner’s LVHS Agriculture Class of Juniors and Seniors is working hard every afternoon, digging, weeding, pruning, fencing, seeding, transplanting and sampling the sprouting vegetables. Watch for flyers and notices SOON of a Spring Tomato Sale (for donations) of six varieties of tomatoes selected for this climate-that the students are propagating now! Volunteers will be needed to help keep the garden going over the summer- (and share in the harvest)- please let us know if you are interested. Thanks for your support!

Lee Vining School and Community Garden Is Welcoming Gardeners! Thanks to a handful of volunteers taking care of our garden during the Covid 19 closures, our garden is ready to welcome more gardeners for the 2020 season. If you would like to safely be in the garden (wearing masks and physical distancing when others are around, and sanitizing hands and tools when working) then please come join in! ... There are several beds available for planting and we could use help with watering, greenhouse repairs and other tasks. Some crops are off to a good start and the birds, butterflies and flowers are abundant. Due to the pandemic, we are learning how fragile our food supply really is. In the 19th Century farmers comprised over 80% of the population but now only 1%- and food was grown and consumed locally. Now our industrial food system is so consolidated that farmers have been forced to dump crops while people are lining up at food banks. Americans have responded with Community and Victory Gardens in times of recession and world wars and we can do it again. But this will only happen if the skills and economy of growing local food are valued and supported. How about it Gardeners?! If you would like to participate, please contact Rose: 530-864-8100

A Letter to New Farmers on Earth Day, from Michael O'Gorman Fifty years ago, I decided to become a farmer. ... The back-to-the-land movement captivated hundreds of thousands of us, looking for some refuge from a chaotic world. We read Mother Earth News and studied Robert Rodale. We planted cover crops and made compost. We struggled to grow food without chemicals. A decade later, few of us were still farming. America has never launched many first-generations of farmers farmers have mostly been raised into it But some of us hung in there. I struggled for almost twenty years and then opportunity knocked interest in organics blew up overnight and my experience became valuable. I got to grow organic vegetables at a scale that had not been done before. More importantly, I got to influence what other farmers grew and how they grew it. My career became fun, exhilarating, and lucrative. When Covid 19 upended the marketplace a month ago, I was racked with guilt. What possessed me to spend this last decade encouraging so many to try something so hard, so easy to fail at? Then I watched all of you America’s new farmers. I saw you were outside when others couldn’t leave their home. You had work when others had time to pass. If you had kids, you shared with them the wonder of animals giving birth and crops sprouting out of the ground. Your world was technicolor when others were black and white. Yes, your marketplace may be in shambles; not all of you will survive. But many are finding new markets and neighbors and townspeople hungry and grateful for your food. This may be your moment. As larger farms lose labor, packing plants shut down, and distribution systems stop distributing, opportunity is knocking for smaller, local food producers. America’s large producers will be back. We need them to feed us all and you need them to learn from. But this market, your market, will not retreat. My partner and sales manager at the large organic farms I managed always told me, ‘Michael, whoever you can supply at Thanksgiving will be back with you in the spring.’ A buyer your customers will remember who fed them at their time of need. It likely will never be easy you probably will never stop worrying. That is the price of admission. And you may still fail. But remember it’s not your market or your business plan, or even your land that makes you a farmer. It is your knowledge of how to grow food. I never owned land and only once owned my business. If you are lucky enough to stay afloat through hard times, you will be welcomed into the farming community. Other farmers will not judge you for how you farm, only if you farm well. At the end of the day, when you are tired and go to pull your boots off, I hope you feel the power and freedom that farmers get to feel. And I hope it will make you want to get up early in the morning and do it again. Michael O'Gorman, Founder/Director/Chief Agricultural Officer, Farmer Veteran Coalition

The True Story of the "Old 395 House" and History of the Kutzadika'a Paiute At the Monday, March 2nd, meeting of the Mono Basin Historical Society, Bethany Sam ...and her grandfather, Joseph Sam, will present a slide talk about the history of the much-photographed old Sam cabins, west of Highway 395 between Lee Vining and June Lake. Joseph is the son of the original owners, Frank and Betsy Sam. The property is still owned by the Sam Family. Joseph is a retired CalTrans Engineer. Bethany grew up in the area and is the Innovator and Project Manager of First Nation's Focus, a tribal newspaper/magazine for Nevada and the Eastern Sierra. The short business meeting begins with a potluck dinner at 6 PM, and the program at 7 PM at the Lee Vining Community Center on Mattly Avenue. All are welcome. The Mono Basin Historical Society is a non-profit organization; visit our webpage at www.monobasinhistory.org. See more

Greetings from the Lee Vining Community and School Garden, summer 2019. A lovely group of gardeners has been serenely working here and the garden is giving back!

Hello Mono Basin Gardening fans! Although winter is reluctant to loosen its grip, the Lee Vining School and Community Garden is finally free of snow, birds and ...butterflies are drifting through and fresh green leaves are unfurling. Most exciting is that a newly sprouting and vigorous group of local gardeners is also emerging! They have been meeting, going through seed collections and planning a 2019 community gardening effort. All are welcome to join in! For more information see Beth, librarian at the Lee Vining Community Library, or contact her at [email protected] or 760-647-6123. See more