| The Blueberry Patch is a spot in this world where it is entirly possible to escape the everyday rigors of life and retreat into a world of your own fantasy.
A spot where you are not only able to create nearly anything your mind can conceive, but actively encouraged to bring your imagination to life in a three dimentional form.
Welcome to the BLUEBERRY PATCH of Gulfport, Florida.
Dallas coined the term "Sharevival"(http://www.sharevival.org). To help us survive - and in fact thrive - we can find useful resources among industry cast-offs and trash. Land fills have been expanding while natural systems bend under the strain of pollution and depletion.
At the Patch, Dallas gathers industry's castoffs and trash then transforms it into art work.
The whimsical and optimistic care and creativity which gets lavished on the place (day after day, Saturday after Saturday) is probably most of what makes visiting the Blueberry Patch such a wonderful experience for so many who create, support, and enjoy it.
The web sight can only show you a glimmer of the excitement and joy that the Patch is. You're all extra-invited to COME OVER AND HELP!!!!!please:-) Volunteer day at the patch is on Saturdays. 11:11 a.m. till we are done.
Some amazing changes have happened and you are invited to help.
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A LETTER FROM JULIA
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Hello Friends,
I am writing this note to ask for your help in creating a new ecovillage in Gulfport, Florida.
My name is Julia Meadows. I am a native Floridian and am devoting myself to helping create a place in the Tampa Bay area that can stand as an example of sustainable living to the local communities. This area, in the last thirty years, has quickly become over run by consumer attitudes. I think, through example, we can share with our neighbors the beauty and value of sustainable living.
Gulfport is an artist community on the southern tip of Pinellas County, Florida. Many people here are ecologically minded but we are being surrounded more and more each day by the "convenience" of Super Walmarts, McDonald's etc. Our utility bills are high even when we are aware of our use, because the old homes in this area were designed to consume. As a native I fear the loss of the environment that my Grandparents grew up with, as a result of careless human consumption.
Here are the current specifications for the land we have to work with...
My neighbor Dallas Bohrer lives on more than half an acre of property in Gulfport(www.blueberrypatch.org). The property next door is almost the same size and is on the western border of the Blueberry Patch. This property is owned buy Michael Stanley, a long time Blueberry Patch Hero. Both properties have lots of old trees and wildlife. We are discussing the viability of combining the two properties and turning them into an ecovillage that could be used to educate the public on the value of living with the land instead of living off the land. Both of the homes on the properties are in need of either great repair or demolition and reconstruction. Our ideas for shaping the new ecovillage are varied and flexible. We want to create a better future for our little chunk of land one way or another.
Dallas has a large group of friends and a strong volunteer base, through his fledgling not for profit organization, Sharevival, Inc., that have agreed to help with whatever labor involved in creating this ecovillage. Our biggest hurdle is knowledge. Most of us are working class citizens without much more than minimal college educations mostly in artistic fields. We are looking for a knowledge base, a group or individual who would be willing to share their wisdom, experience and guidance.
We hope to be able to act as a creative learning center, teaching the current techniques, that can be used in our local communities and communities around the country/world to enhance our current style of living, bringing meaning and purpose to man's everyday life.
As our plan grows we hope to receive grants from the government to supplement the creation process. Sharevival is in an ongoing fundraising phase and will continue to search out funds to pay for this project. We do expect to use what ever short cuts we can legally use in paying for this project.
I hope this note finds you well, and that you might be willing to help us in this endeavor personally or perhaps even steer us towards any local person or persons who can help us. Also I would like to invite you to visit the Blueberry Patch online and in person, if you ever find yourself in the area. Thank you very much, for taking the time to consider our project.
Sincerely,
Julia Meadows
please reply to julia@blueberrypatch.org | 
