January 3, 2003, updated on January 10
Dear Friends and Supporters,
We are currently doing our best to complete editing/layout/printing arrangements for the Russian
translation of The Sustainable Vegetable Garden by John Jeavons and Carol Cox, simultaneously as we
prepare for the arrival of Irina Kim from Uzbekistan and Ludmila Zhirina from Russia next week, to
participate in the Eco-Farm Conference at Asilomar, Jan. 22-25. For more details of those and other BfR
activities past and future, see my translation below of the letter sent recently in Russian to our colleagues in
the former Soviet Union.
Please get in touch if you'd care to help organize an event, serve as driver, coordinate an outing, host a gathering, etc. (and live close enough to Palo Alto to help out in this way!). Irina and Ludmila both speak English, to varying degrees. Irina will be here from Jan. 15 - Feb. 12, Ludmila will arrive Jan. 17 and stay until approximately Feb. 25.
We could also use some help translating from Russian to English, and editing in English. This is a task that can be done by correspondence, whether you're near or far!
I'll do my best to keep you informed as our plans come together, especially regarding events and tours you
will be invited to attend or join! Two dates that are already definite are the following: January 29, 7-9 pm,
slide talk and PowerPoint presentation by Ludmila, Irina and Carol hosted by the Valley of Heart's Delight
project at the Foundation for Global Community in Palo Alto, and Feb. 8, evening fundraiser at the Santa Cruz
Grange. Please write to me for info , especially if you are not already on BfR's email list. Mary Carpenter Dalsin
is also working on activities at UC-Davis, so be sure to stay in touch if you're in the Sacramento area!
| I echo the wishes for 2003 of Fran Macy and Enid Schreibman of the Center for Safe Energy, symbolized by their dove of Peace.
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"May there be peace in your heart, in your family, in your community and throughout our common home, our beloved planet earth."
- Carol
January 1, 2003
Dear Friends and Colleagues in the former Soviet Union,
Last evening, on New Year's Eve, I attended one last (for 2002) demonstration against war on Iraq at Palo Alto's City Hall Plaza. The speakers all talked about how no one in the world wants this war; one quoted a statistic that 70% of Americans believe that Bush has not made his case for war as a means of eliminating Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. Rather, we believe that Bush and his circle intend to use our armed forces to control the oil in the Middle East and to strengthen American hegemony everywhere in the world. And we deplore the fact that our taxes so many billions of dollars are being spent for destruction, for so-called "security" against terrorists that only causes more terrorism, and not for peaceful goals such as education, pure water, medicines, and food for the hungry. In particular, for projects supporting sustainable mini-farming!
However, there is hope that we will be able to receive support from the US government (USAID, via the Foundation for Russian-American Economic Cooperation) for a joint project with the NGO Viola (Bryansk) to work in the Russian Far East. That is, if the proposal that we plan to write this winter and spring is approved. We envisage not only GROW BIOINTENSIVE mini-farming seminars and the distribution of books and materials, but also the creation of an organic farming association! According to the grant rules, it will be possible to carry out activities in European Russia also, and to collaborate with our colleagues from other former Soviet republics. So, we will try as much as possible to include you all in our plans. We are also working with Irina Kim on a proposal to create a Mini-Ag Center for Central Asia, and with John Jeavons to find the resources to support more translation work of Ecology Action books as well.
Some of you participated in our seminar on GROW BIOINTENSIVE mini-farming presented by Steve Moore at the end of July 2002 at the Educational Methods Center in Novo-Sin'kovo. We hope that you and the others who read this will be interested in reading Igor Prokofiev's translation of my report to my list subscribers that I will send tomorrow as an attachment. (The English original can be read on BfR's Web site, http://biointensiveforrussia.igc.org.) Incidentally, we can expect some major changes to the site, since we have a new Web master, Berta Pires, who has lots of ideas and energy. (Shoshana Billik and Ari Solovyova are still volunteering their computer expertise in other ways.) Berta loves this work, which is apparent if you visit her own site - incidentally, you can travel the world with her at http://www.kelt.com/hippo/travels/!
As regards our translations, we hope that Kak vyraschivat bol'she ovoschei[the Russian translation of How to Grow More Vegetables] will soon be available via the Moscow gardening magazine Novyi sadovod i fermer [New Gardener and Farmer]. Aleksandr Avrorin wrote that he will work toward this after he completes the necessary business following the passing of Larissa's mother in Novosibirsk. And Ekologicheskii ogorod -- the Russian translation of The Sustainable Vegetable Garden -- should be published in a small print run by the press at the Educational Methods Center this month. That is, if Yury Azovtsev in St. Petersburg, Ninel Kushchenko here in Palo Alto, and I manage to complete the final editing and layout work. We are planning to send copies to the active teachers among you as soon as possible, so if you're interested, you will have the opportunity to proofread, before a commercial edition is published!
Right now, we are looking forward to Irina Kim's and Ludmila Zhirina's visit in about two weeks! The three of us will conduct a short workshop at the Eco-Farm Conference at Asilomar (near Monterey), January 22-25. (This was arranged thanks to the efforts of Kate Stafford, who serves on Eco-Farm's board, and who made friends with Irina when she was here previously. Visit the site http://www.eco-farm.org if you're interested in learning more about the topics that will be discussed at the conference.) During Irina's and Ludmila's visit we will also work on our proposals, travel a little, and meet with various organizations.
We wish you happiness and peace, good weather and bountiful harvests in 2003!
Hoping to be in contact with all of you in the coming year,
- Carol Vesecky and Volunteers
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