Thanks to all y'all progressive peeps
who've clicked the link because, I think,
you'll find these few moments of attention
you've so kindly given
well worth your while,
if only to beguile
five minutes or so
cogitating upon a thing or two
you may not have cogitated upon before.
And, indeed, whether you've considered these ideas before or not, I know form my time here that your BS-o-meters are finely calibrated, your intentions are largely beneficent, and your tongues are oh so sharp (but only when necessary), but not nearly so sharp as your wits.
I published a brief diary about this here before the election when the website was a mere stub of what it has become as you will see if you follow the link below. We are now on the brink of incorporation, ducks all in a row, but, 1000+ hours of talking and listening and coding and writing and research later, with firm commitments from a couple dozen people to cough up the cash when the documents are ready (more than enough to start with), and a deep well of possibilities, user participation in the discussion capabilities of the website is, well, dismal. I've spent a lifetime trying to do the right thing, with some success and a great deal of failure, and here I am, more wizened if not more wise, givin' it one more go. And, for that to succeed, we need to get a conversation like the one we have here on DKos, up and running over at NCMFCoop.org.
Our notional service area, the Eel River watershed and its periphery covers 1000's of sparsely populated square miles in the heart of the former Redwood Empire, which is now, and has for the last thirty years been, in fact, the Redbud Hempire. Moral judgments aside, the fact is that this too shall pass, is passing, and, truth be told, Boehner's Plan B had a better chance of fixing the nations financial problems the the Plan B we have here for when the old way is no longer tenable because, soon, Colorado and Washington will no longer be outliers. Which is to say, there was no Plan B here. Till now.
An internet based system is absolutely fundamental to our success. If folks have to drive fifty or a hundred miles each way to participate in meetings, coordinate production, distribution and marketing and do all the essential housekeeping required to successfully operate a member owned and managed cooperative, it won't happen, and probably shouldn't. But, if we can break these ancient habits of isolation, get them to embrace the open style of discussion that DKos exemplifies, we WILL succeed.
As you will see when/'if you check out the site, among many other things, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has been spending millions of dollars in places like Rawanda and Thailand to establish local mushroom farming industries in remote rural areas because it is a workable alternative to poaching and poppies with a very low capital bar to entry and many subsidiary benefits in addition to the economic ones.
The folks here are willing, able and, albeit tangentially, experienced in extracting value from family scale agriculture in our rugged, rainy, giant tree infested environment, but, for obvious reasons, have not been in the habit of sharing the details with the world, and therein lies the rub. Face to face meetings have been very encouraging, but the website, at this moment, is like the first fifteen minutes of a dance in the Junior High gym; the band is on the stage playing, the balloons and crepe are swaying in the AC breezes, but everybody is standing against the wall waiting for somebody to take the floor first.
And so my unmet friends, I'm asking for a few of you to help me break the ice over there; comment, chat, criticize, take the polls, rouse the rurals, rate the content, show us how its done. Please.
FYI; This is NOT a plea for money, that is not our problem. But if you are interested on that level, we do have an excellent Absentee Member/Producer option available, which aside from any participation originating here, potentially gives the coop access to a global pool of micro-capital :-)) Thank you for your time, intelligence and interest.