MAO Fundraiser Info
Alright, there’s not going to be enough time to repeatedly answer the same questions at the No King’s rally later today, so here’s the deal:
Donate $25 or more to MAO’s “Mesh Network and TRILL Fund”
and receive the gift of the Longevity Plant, aka Ashitaba plant.
Donate $10 or more to MAO’s “Community Fridge/Freezer Fund”
and receive the gift of (your choice) either a Huckleberry or a Sicilian heirloom tomato plant called “Inciardi.”
Donate $25 or more to MAO’s “Community Fridge/Freezer Fund”
and we will give you a combination of three Huckleberry/Inciardi Tomato.
All three of these species needs to be kept indoors in a south-facing window, or better yet under a grow light. They can all be planted out after the last frost, which is looking like it will be a few weeks earlier than usual; Godzilla El Nino is here! So, we are planning on planting out all these plants on April 26th. If a cold snap hits afterwards we will have halves of milk jugs acting as a miniature greenhouses for the plant BB’s.
Ashitaba is a biennial hardy to Zone 6. It does well in pots. Regenerates its leaves very quickly. Many of the oldest living populations of people on Earth drink tea made from this plant! Scientists have said it lengthens the telomeres of our DNA, creating more accurate blueprints for cell regeneration!! This is a very rare plant, and difficult to source seed from. We got it through Strictly Medicinals, after being on a waiting list for 3 years.
Huckleberry is a tenacious little bugger. Withstands most weed pressures, and likely would hold its own in the wild. They reseed prolifically, making an easy edible in the landscape. These are sourced from the fruits of seed that sat in storage for ten years. So, we are selecting for ex-situ shelf life. Not very sweet fresh, but makes great jams with some added sugar. Anthocyanin powerhouse, for antioxidant goodness. If we run out of the potted up plants, we will start handing out plugs. Find a cup, add any dirt, and water it _ it’ll be good to go.’
Inciardi tomato: Read more about it here: Inciardi Paste Tomato The seed that grew these gifts were sourced from Blazing Star Seed Co-op, and it is drought and heat tolerant. Local eco-type! Meaning it has adapted to our soils, because this seed has been harvested repeatedly here in Omaha.
*TRILL stands for Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links. Which is a way we hold dear.
The “Mesh Network & TRILL” project revolves around the idea of installing solar powered mesh nodes in little free pantries/libraries, businesses, and community spaces all over Omaha. They will become connection points to access this decentralized network, that nobody can control, provides reliable coverage, at zero cost to the people accessing it. This could become a lifeline for our unhoused neighbors!
“If it is not accessible to the poor,
it is neither radical nor revolutionary”
-Jonathan Herrera Soto
We have a number of ways you can help us with this project.
First off, lets meet! Join us some time at our weekly meetups
called MACE; Mutual Aid Community Exchange, which are posted up here on MutualAidOmaha.org
We need:
Donations of solar-powered landscape lights, to scavenge the solar cells from. The mesh nodes use a tiny amount of electricity, and therefore only need tiny solar cells to charge their batteries.
Donations of exterior-grade fasteners, treated lumber, cedar fences, bags of cement.
Participants who want to host a node (and maybe even a community fridge/freezer?!) in their front yard, place of business, public spaces. We can also retrofit the mesh nodes into existing little free pantries/libraries.
Volunteers to help solder components, 3d print the housing for them, build and install node pantries.
Most importantly what we need is FUNDING. Our goal is to raise $5,000 which will cover the cost of building out and installing 75 mesh network nodes. We plan to bulk purchase them to be cost efficient.
The mesh network will also prove its efficacy and resiliency during the continued destabilization of our climate, and amidst the escalating barbarism of late-stage-capital. When shit goes down the mesh network stays up!
We are also building out community freezers donated to us at one of our first weekly MACE (Mutual Aid Community Exchange) meetings. Once we get the first two freezers installed, we want to continue to install more community fridges/freezers throughout town. We will source the labor & materials to build them FOR FREE, for whoever would like to host them. Wherever we build these we will be installing mesh network nodes into them too.
We intend to break the capitalist model of false scarcity in our food system, because when we free food, we can free us all. The colonizers of Turtle Island killed off all the buffalo, clearcut the food forests, and eliminated all the wild staples to break the native people’s autonomy. MAO chose the buffalo as a symbol of that previous and future connection to the land. The buffalo are known to charge into storms, because it is thought that they can sooner get to the other side of it.
Also there is a free native tree sign up sheet at the table. Take your pick of either a River Birch, Redbud, or Chokecherry and we will coordinate with you later about pick up spots. Also look out for Omaha Planting Project’s Free Native Tree Distro in the calendar. (Navigate your browser to the upcoming events page for details,)
Donations accepted via Venmo:
@MutualAidOmaha (Please tag donations for either the “Mesh Network and TRILL Fund” or “Community Fridge/Freezer Fund”)
Send us an email at:
