[Note:placeholder location which is near, NOT at the actual site. RSVP required for directions. Not a current residential opportunity. Read below for details. RSVPs open to all, but EBCOHO Supporting Members get first notice.]

Some folks we know who are leading the local food justice movement have initiated the development of the first sustainable, urban farm cohousing community using Slow Money investment in the East Bay. We have helped folks get connected and become supporters of the project, including tapping self-directed IRA accounts for both social and financial return.

They have completed the purchase and have invited potential development-phase investors/collaborators to participate in a Sunday brunch, followed by a land tour. Note: the community does not have any buildings yet and they are not accepting applications to live there at this time.

They write: We have some exciting updates to share, including two upcoming construction projects: the renovation of a 3-bedroom house, and a new 1,000 square foot straw-bale house, both of which will be setting precedent on natural building techniques to serve as a model for non-toxic, sustainable, and fire-proof building, all to code!

We'd love to show you in person the potential of this project, and we are seeking new lenders to join us in continuing to bring this vision into fruition.

Original Wild & Radish vision:
This 10 acre community in El Sobrante, California (in the hills East of Richmond) will serve as a local foodshed by providing organic fruits and vegetables to the region, raise healthy families, and help others replicate this work through educational programs and strategic support.

In their original long-term plans (which have evolved over the past several years): One acre will serve as the site for four rental homes and corresponding "granny units". This housing will accommodate approximately 30 people as tenants (rentals) as well as a community education center. These beautiful "green homes" will demonstrate the most energy efficient, non-toxic, natural building practices, while generating the revenue needed to pay off construction and development loans.

Two acres will be restored with native species and preserved as a wilderness refuge to honor and nourish the freshwater spring and creek that runs through this special piece of land.

Seven acres will support an extraordinarily diverse permaculture farm, with over 2,500 fruit trees and an abundant understory of edible plants, berries, flowers, and herbs.

If you are interested in supporting or investing in this innovative and ambitious model for true sustainability, join for this site visit.

Notes:

This is not an EBCOHO-sponsored event. We do share opportunities like this and give first notice and first dibs to our supporting members.

The founders are not seeking new residential members at this point, as best we understand. Consider it a Slow Money investment. Oh yeah, this is not a solicitation, and EBCOHO is not an investment consultant or broker or anything like that; our purpose is solely educational.

Wear good shoes and be prepared for walking on hilly, muddy terrain through brush.

The site is raw, without any bathroom facilities or structures. Enter at your own risk.

RSVP required; we'll pass on your info to the organizers.

Some of the founders include:

May Nguyen began her food justice work during her years as a student activist at UC Berkeley, working with a pro-agrarian, community-oriented campus organization and practicing sustainable food production while WWOOF'ing in Thailand and France. She completed a B.A. in Architecture, and has since been interested in building sustainable communities by transforming the asphalt deserts of urban & suburban landscapes into greener, healthier, more vibrant, multi-generational and multi-colored neighborhoods.

Haleh Zandi is a co-founder and the Educational Director of an Oakland-based non-profit organization called Planting Justice. She believes the modern colonial food system is in a paradigm of war, and she is dedicated to the ways in which diverse communities may build alliances and practice strategies that collectively resist the violence of the industrial food system and structurally shift the United States towards more ecologically sustainable and socially just methods for growing and sharing our food.

Andrew Chahrour grew up in Ohio and got his BA in Environmental Studies from Bucknell University in Pennsylvania. In Ohio and Pennsylvania, he was exposed to a variety of Midwestern agricultural systems, both conventional and organic. Andrew's degree in Environmental Studies led him to a job with the Bureau of Land Management in Wyoming where he worked to produce digital maps of aspen stands, whose recession across the Western US has been poorly understood.

EBCOHO member Gavin Raders is a co-founder and executive director of Planting Justice, a social justice activist, and a permacuture demonstrator/teacher. He dedicates his time to practicing permaculture wherever he can, having gone through extensive training with some of the most inspiring and effective permaculture teachers in the world: Geoff Lawton, Penny Livingston-Stark, Brock Dolman, Darren Dougherty, and Nik Bertulis. He comes to permaculture and ecological design through a social justice framework which recognizes the right of all people to peace, security, housing, healthy food, clean water, jobs and healthcare, and the rights of future generations to a just and livable world.

Leah Atwood grew up on a ranch in the redwoods of Arcata, CA and moved to the Bay Area to pursue degrees in Environmental Policy and Spanish at UC Berkeley. She has lived in South and Central America as well as in Bangladesh working on behalf of social, environmental and food justice initiatives. Thanks to her work experience abroad she gained further insight into international agriculture systems and the value of socio-ecologically mindful practices and unconventional multi-stakeholder collaboration. Leah currently serves as Program Director for the Multinational Exchange for Sustainable Agriculture (MESA). She deeply enjoys: teaching and practicing yoga; being outside on rocks, waves and trails; growing food and befriending bees.

Wild and Radish LLC is honored to be working with four amazing green architects: Cate Leger, Karl Wanaselja, Darrel DeBoer, and Bob Thyce.

Details:

http://www.WildAndRadish.com/