Local Events; Orders for 2/23 and 2/24

We think we have a healthy perspective on the NIMBY philosophy. Familiar with the term? It stands for Not In My Back Yard.

It’s usually used in reference to the components of our communities that no one really wants close to where they live: Factories. Prisons. Landfills. So often these fixtures that not many want close by, but no one has figured out how to do without, end up in the neighborhoods of the marginalized members of our community. It’s the more privileged of us that usually have the wherewithall and resources to organize and verbalize. NIMBY.

This blog/newsletter is not a platform for our personal soapboxes, of course. But as an organic vegetable farm providing food for our community, we feel compelled to share here that Chesterfield County is in the final stages of approving changes to the Skinquarter Landfill, which is about 1 mile away from our farm. The owners have requested to be able to receive up to 600 truck loads a day, including coal ash and automobile shredder residue. These are items that are associated with great potential for air and water pollution, as well as combustion. This is a problem for the water we use to irrigate and the pollinators that are essential to make our (your) plants fruit.

I don’t know the best place in our community to locate a landfill for these by-products of our current way of living, but I also don’t think that close proximity to agriculture sets us up for success.

The local elementary school has set up an information page with a link to a petition being used to gather signatures to influence the Board of Supervisor’s decision. All Chesterfield residents are eligible to sign. We would greatly appreciate if you would take a moment to sign in support of clean air and water for this farm. (Please note: we do not agree with everything on this information page but provide it here for convenience.)