Update on Portland Cropsharing

My grandmother did some digging - ha ha, get it? digging? hello? - into the details of the communal farming project in Portland she and my grandfather are contributing land to. I think there's easily enough here to warrant its own post.

I've gotten to know Colibri much better since the day I read "Cropsharing in Portland" to him while he weeded the bean field. A few days after the reading I ran into him at the Common Grounds coffee shop on Hawthorne Blvd (best scones in town.) He stopped by my table to invite my friend and me to visit his "show place" garden, just a couple of blocks away. We did that, and I have to tell you, the tomato plants were very impressive!

I now possess information that will refine your understanding (as it has mine) of the arrangement details.

Toxins in the soils. "He amends the soil so that the pH remains above 6.5. Even if there were poisons present in the soil, this would prevent their uptake into plants." You got this exactly right. Colibri was pleased you represented that correctly. But he doesn't test for lead. Because:

1. Where would he test? He could make twenty spot tests in our smallish plot, and still miss the one spot where we or some previous occupant had regularly dumped toxic substances.
2. Each test costs...I forget...$47? ...$74?...Too much for Colibri's profit margin to bear.
3. We would be shocked if we knew the condition of the agricultural land where our food is grown commercially - polluted by the very fertilizers that made the high yields possible? I don't know if I understood Colibri correctly on this point.

Rationale for "Cropsharing." I hadn't heard the Katrina story. Sue told me, or maybe I read in the newpaper article, that Colibri had leased some acreage and signed agreements with a number of customers to provide them with fresh produce. Then he lost the land lease because....I don't know. I imagined a reason like "Evil corporate land owner discovers possibility of realizing obscene profit by developing shoddy ugly multi-family housing in midst of historic neighborhood." Whatever, Colibri hit upon the backyard plot idea to keep from defaulting on his contracts.

In response to being described as a "crazy hippie" he told me, "I have no political agenda. I'm just trying to make it." But then he went on to tell me the historical reason for lawns: they demonstrated that the land owner was so rich he could forgo raising edible crops. And then Colibri said, "But it isn't true. We need to grow food wherever we can. We've been living in fantasy-land."

Anyway, it's great to not have to worry about weeds in the back lawn. And it's great to see eight different varieties of beans growing - you can literally watch them grow. Colibri says they don't need much water. What they like is heat.

It's a good arrangement. We are happy with it.