Seedlings and Bikes - A match made in heaven
Do you have a trailer for your bike to haul kids and other precious items? Or a basket or panniers? Do you know someone who does?Due to COVID-19, Valley Verde’s annual seedling fair had to be canceled, seedlings that provide income to Valley Verde. So, they approached SVBC and said, hey, what do you think about recruiting some volunteers to deliver seedlings by bike? Our reaction: A match made in heaven!What’s Valley Verde, you ask? Valley Verde is a nonprofit farm in San Jose dedicated to building healthy and resilient communities by providing low-income families educational programs, edible gardens, and micro-entrepreneurship opportunities that create food security and lead to self-sufficiency.Specifically, the organization:
Celebrates and increases knowledge of how to grow food to improve the resilience and health of low-income families and individuals.
Provides an income stream from growing and selling seedlings
Under normal circumstances, Valley Verde sells seedlings at the annual seedling fair. Unfortunately, the seedling fair was canceled due to the shelter in place mandate creating a loss of revenue to families and Valley Verde.Instead, Valley Verde has decided to give the seedlings away to low-income families and has enough seedlings for 400 families. To avoid 400 cars driving to the small urban farm in Downtown San Jose, Valley Verde reached out to the bicycling community to see if we might be interested in helping out. Knowing that you all are itching to ride AND do good at this time of crisis, we figured it would a great marriage.When/Where/How? Seedling deliveries will take place Saturday May 9th. Each family will receive a 6x8 sized set of seedlings, an example of which is pictured in the margin. The seedlings will likely be about 7-10 inches tall by then and consist of tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini. Riders will show up, get their seedlings, the address(es) of families, and then drop those seedlings off on their front porch or lawn. What is needed:
Someone who likes to pedal long distances and would relish an excuse to ride all over San Jose.
A bike equipped to carry seedlings. Panniers that can carry a 6x10 package is what is needed in the very least. If you have a trailer or something similar and can carry multiple packages, even better. Then you can deliver to more than one family in one run.
If you have boxes that help stabilize seedlings based on your bike set up, please bring them. As noted above each set of seedlings takes up about 6x10x10 inches of space. Also, bring items that can help secure the seedlings, like straps.
This sounds great! Where do I sign up? To sign up, click on the google form here. And forward this to your friends who would love to participate. You’ll need to sign up for a time slot so that we comply with health directives, and answer a few other questions about your hauling capability and how many miles you’re up for. It’s important that we avoid a logjam of bicyclists all coming to the farm at one time so be sure to indicate a time slot. Bring your mask to wear as well.Questions? Contact Shiloh@bikesiliconvalley.org
