Re: [TheUWfarm] Farm Leadership Transition & All Farm Meeting PLEASE READ Lots of information AND REALLY IMPORTANT

Nina and colleagues:

Please be sure to include discussion of the UWFarm Diversity Project and share with newcomers some of the work we have done so far.

Thanks,

Devon

On Tue, 3 May 2011, Nina Arlein wrote:

> Hello all you lovely farmers,
>
> Happy Spring! Warm weather is finally upon us and new life is sprouting out of the ground! Beets, carrots, peas and
> more. You know what else is sprouting???? LEADERS!
> That's right it's time for a new batch of energetic farm leaders to emerge. Are you interested in education? Do you
> have visions for fun projects to do at the farm? Do you want to get better at coordinating people, and working with
> teams? Do you have so much passion and enthusiasm for the farm that you are about to burst? If you answered YES to
> any of these  you might be interested in being a farm leader in the future.
>
> Each farm role has a different set of responsibilities, but all involve facilitating your committee's meetings,
> attending farm visioning meetings, and in general, coming up with great ideas that will better the farm. Farm
> leaders are also always looking to share responsibility, share the learning, and get other people involved with
> taking hold of their own education at the farm, and taking part in the collaborative process of making the farm
> work!
>
> The different positions and their descriptions can be viewed online at
> http://students.washington.edu/uwfarm/home/leadership/
>
> If you are interested here are some important dates and deadlines:
>
> May 4th: TOMORROW @ 5pm in the Botany Greenhouse. In lieu of an official all farm meeting, I and other current farm
> leaders will be at the farm to talk more about the different positions and responsibilites associated with these.
> We can talk about challenges and great experiences that you might have as a leader. We can talk about the support
> you will have and the learning you will do. We can talk about the possibility of collaborating with other students
> and sharing leadership positions. And i can answer any questions you might have the best I can. If you have any
> other questions and you can't make it tomorrow feel free to email me!
> *** Note: there will be a NEW FARMER ORIENTATION and TOUR on Friday May 13th. There will NOT be a tour tomorrow.
>
> May 7th: SATURDAY @ 5 pm. If you are interested in being a farm coordinator we need to hear from you. This is a new
> process, because these two positions will now be paid thanks to our CSF funding! So we're trying on some new
> formalities.
>  Email Paige Irwin, irwinp@uw.edu with your name, the position(s) you are interested in and a blurb, a brief
> description, of your interests and experience. It will be good to think and write about why you are interested and
> what you think you will bring to your position.
>
>
> May 8th: SUNDAY evening those little blurbs  will be posted to the farm website, so we can all start to think about
> the strengths and passions of the folks interested in being farm coordinators, and try to figure how each of them
> might best be a leader on the farm, and most importantly who will best fill the coordinator positions next year.
>
> May 11th: WEDNESDAY @ 5:30- 7:30 pm in the Botany Greenhouse. ALL ARE INVITED TO PARTICIPATE Come one and come all.
> If you have been involved in the farm in any way shape or form over the past year this is the meeting for you! We
> want your voice, thoughts, and opinions. At this meeting we will...
> * break out into small groups to talk about the different committees (green team, compost, chickens, outreach,
> social media &  education) and to hear from the folks interested in coordinating those committees. We will
> figure out if and how people might want to collaborate in leadership positions.
> *  We will return to the big group and talk about what folks decided. And ask: Who will be the new committee
> coordinators? Does everyone feel good about these decisions? 
> *  Then we will hear from the different folks who want to fill the farm coordinator positions. They will have a
> chance to answer questions and share some of their experiences, passions, and dreams for the spaces they are
> coordinating.
> * Finally we will pass around a ballot box and have an anonymous vote on the farm coordinator positions
> * Yay!
> The ballot box will be in the farm cabinet for people to cast their votes for farm coordinator until FRIDAY May
> 13th @ 5pm. This is for people who want to vote and missed the meeting to have a chance to participate.
>
> FRIDAY May 13th @ 6 pm we will know who our farm coordinators are!
>
> WOWOWOWOW. So yup that's a lot of information. the visioning team worked really hard to try to figure out a way to
> make this as inclusive, transparent, and user-friendly a process as possible. Here's hoping! I will be sending
> periodic reminders throughout this process to keep people updated, but we wanted all of you to have sense of the
> whole thing as we get started.
>
> As usual if you have any questions or concerns let me know: nina@uwfarm.org.
>
> Best!!!!!
> Nina
>
>
>