Cafe Huntington

Project Description:
We have a large community garden we call “The Community Garden at Webbstock”. It is located on our 9 acre farm. It was started in February 2010 with a group of 10 adults and lots of children. Everyone worked collaborately to prepare the land, plan, plant, maintain and harvest the garden. Last year we began building our fencing and successfully grew corn, pole beans, bush beans, swiss chard, cucumbers, zucchini, squash, cantaloupe, watermelon, peppers, and tomatoes. We met as a group 1-2 times and week and took turns caring for the garden on the other days. We would like to model our garden after The Edible Schoolyard, located in Greensboro, NC. Our goal for the community garden is to 1) grow organic produce for our members to enjoy throughout the year (through canning/freezing) 2) impact the environment minimally and use natural resources whenever possible. 3) be an example for others who want to start a community garden or just learn about gardening and 4) create
a sense of community among members.

Project Importance:
Organic community gardens are important because they help people eat more nutritiously at minimal costs and impact on the environment. Gardening is a fun way to be physically active therefore improving physical health, as well as mental health. It allows people to be more in tune with their environment and with the food they consume. It also fosters a greater sense of community because gardening can be done by people of all ages and can also be a wonderful family hobby.

How Money Will Be Used:
We will use CAFÉ money to:
1. Improve our current fencing to make it more secure against critters. We already have electric wiring/box but need heavy duty fencing around the bottom.
2. Purchase materials needed to build a chicken coop, as we would like to expand the garden to include free range eggs also.
3. Purchase materials needed to build permanent structures for the garden such as raised beds, bean teepees, cucumber fences and tomato cages.

3 Month Goal:
We will use CAFÉ money to:
1. Improve our current fencing to make it more secure against critters. We already have electric wiring/box but need heavy duty fencing around the bottom.
2. Purchase materials needed to build a chicken coop, as we would like to expand the garden to include free range eggs also.
3. Purchase materials needed to build permanent structures for the garden such as raised beds, bean teepees, cucumber fences and tomato cages.

Project Description:
Inspiring Volunteerism Video

Project Importance:
Many in our region believe in the power of caring and the act of doing for others, dedicating their time to more community projects than I can count, making a real difference daily. I feel that this should be celebrated in video form so that it might inspire others. The effect of viral media is well know in today’s culture of instant gratification. To make use of this phenomenon, one must either have luck or a good eye for the kind of thing that viewers will quickly share. The success of shows such as Extreme Home Makeover and School Pride demonstrate that viewers want to be inspired. It is my belief that if we can capture the real “before and after” imagery of all our Huntington area efforts, we can help spread this positive impact to other communities who need to know that it can be done. And, knowing how inspirational the last two years have been for me on a personal level, I feel that we have a very good shot at “going viral” with this empowering message.

How Money Will Be Used:
Moneys will be used to purchase an affordable video camera, video editing software, and audio editing software, as well as training on the use of all three. I’ve already received approval for use of a particular piece of music for the score, offered free of charge by international ambient artist Ulrich Schnauss.

3 Month Goal:
Over the next three months, these funds will make it possible for me to purchase the tools I would need to do this project right: a real digital video camera, video editing software and audio editing software. In addition, it will allow me to get hands-on training on how to use these tools. With these skills in hand, I will be able to shoot new footage, editing existing footage and images, and coalesce them into a moving story of the power of community.

Project Description:
Urban-Organic Raised-Bed Square-Foot Gardening and Consulting

Project Importance:
As loss of biodiversity and individual control over our food sources continues to be an issue, we would like to be an integral part of teaching others in Huntington how to grow their own fresh, organic food. We aspire to become models of sustainable urban gardening and to begin by assisting neighbors in developing and growing their gardens. We envision a network of yards transformed into diverse growing spaces filled with edible and fragrant plants. People who garden get exercise, meet new neighbors and produce great-tasting, additive-free food. Individual gardening builds community as people become invested in their local food source. We would like to share this passion with others in Huntington and also produce enough in our expanded gardens to become market sellers of our heirloom, pesticide-free, just picked produce. We’d also like to perfect hoop house gardening and expand the fresh vegetable season by several months. Imagine access to greens and even tomatoes in
the middle of winter. By expanding our own gardening space, we will be able to share our ideas, growing expertise and fresh produce with others in the community. We’d also like to work with the community gardens and other non-profits to continue helping develop self-sufficient, sustainable gardeners throughout the city.

How Money Will Be Used:
We want to build at least 4 more raised beds and construct an urban-scale hoop house. Materials needed include at least 132 board feet of lumber, 16 joint brackets, and 6 tons of topsoil for the raised beds. Lumber, greenhouse plastic, foam and row covers, pvc pipe, nuts and bolts and other hardware for the hoop house.
Heirloom, organic seeds and plants, and soil amendments as needed.

3 Month Goal:
If we receive the grant, we will be able to purchase needed building materials and a cache of heirloom seeds. We will complete construction and planting of the gardens and begin promoting and consulting on urban gardening and selling our produce.

Project Description:
Background research for an independent film project and/or novel, based on the life of Huntington-native Mary Smith McClain, aka “Diamond Teeth” Mary or “Walking” Mary. The goal of the project is to include Mary on the City of Huntington’s “Wall of Fame,” as well as make the life and accomplishments of Ms. McClain known to all Huntingtonians, West Virginians, and the rest of the country through a popular medium–i.e. a film and/or novel. Travel for intensive research will begin April 1, 2011, and will conclude by May 31, 2011. This research will include archival study at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage in Washington, DC, and interviews with friends and former bandmates in St. Petersburg, FL. The Cafe Huntington grant would help to cover travel, lodging, and writing expenses for these destinations, as well as copying expenses (i.e. audio, visual, and/or print) as applicable. Web-based research is ongoing.

Project Importance:
“Diamond Teeth” Mary Smith McClain serves as shining example of both the creative power that exists within Huntington, and the commitment the citizens exhibit for their fair city.

Mary left Huntington in 1915 at the age of 13, to set out on the minstrel and medicine show circuit. She went on to perform in nightclubs alongside act such as: Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Ray Charles, Nat King Cole, Howlin’ Wolf, Big Mama Thornton, and her step-sister Bessie Smith, just to name a few. Clubs from Boston to Miami billed her as the “Queen of the Blues,” and she lived with baseball great Satchel Paige. Once she recalled an evening in Memphis when a young boy from the neighborhood named Elvis Presley “would bring Howlin’ Wolf and me liquor from the liquor cabinet.”

Her name “Diamond Teeth” came from the diamonds that she had embedded in her front teeth to create a dazzling stage presence. She is mentioned in the last verse of The Band’s hit song: W.S. Walcott Medicine Show – “Mrs. Brier Foxhole, she’s got diamonds in her teeth. She is pure gold down underneath. She’s a rock and roll singer and a true dead ringer, for something like you ain’t never seen.” When her step-mother became ill with cancer, Mary pawned the diamonds to help pay for the medical bills.

Mary never stopped considering Huntington to be her home. Even after a career that spanned nine decades, her last wishes where to for her ashes to be spread at Heritage Station where she first set out on the road.

She performed at the Cotton Club, the Apollo Theater, and the White House for President Reagan’s 1980 inauguration. She starred in an off-broadway show, a Smithsonian documentary called “Free Show Tonite,” toured Europe 3 times with the USO, and was remarried; all after the age of 80.

How Money Will Be Used:
The Cafe Huntington grant will help to cover travel, lodging, duplication, and writing expenses for research about Huntington native Mary Smith McClain (“Diamond Teeth” or “Walking” Mary) to be compiled for induction in the City of Huntington’s “Wall of Fame.” Copying expenses will be required for authorized duplication of media. These include audio, visual, and/or print, as well as digital conversion where necessary.

3 Month Goal:
A large community of former medicine show performers exits in the Tampa Bay, FL, area where Mary retired in 1960, and many of her friends still live there. I plan to make a trip to Florida to meet with as many of these performers as possible and document their experiences with Mary.

Additionally, a considerable amount of the footage and recordings of Mary and her medicine show cohorts were documented by the Smithsonian for their archives. This footage has been cataloged but little else and, therefore, would need to be edited into some usable format. I plan to make a trip to Washington, DC, to research and condense as much of the information from these archives if possible. Copying expenses will be required for authorized duplication of media. These include audio, visual, and/or print, as well as digital conversion where necessary.