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Permalink Reply by Eileen Pardini on December 27, 2009 at 12:27pm

I have personally picked up old, valuable garden tools at yard sales for a fraction of the cost of newer versions. They often work just as good if not better. If LEAF were to start scouting these things out and collecting them, these items could be loaned out like library books and/or LEAF could also ask for a small donation as well to cover the cost of storage, maintenance, oversight. LEAF could also start a Spring Starts Sale whereby LEAF starts a variety of plants from seed and sells them to the community each spring. This could be one way of raising funds. Starts could be done in egg cartons and other assorted containers that are collected, donated, etc.

Eileen Pardini

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Permalink Reply by New Leaf Club on January 2, 2010 at 8:01pm

I just had an idea for fundraising for LEAF--maybe you could accept plant donations from gardeners who like propagating plants or have plants that self-seed too much and then sell those in the nursery? New Leaf Club is doing a small-scale fundraiser with home-grown plants; maybe LEAF could do this on a larger scale in Fremont? Just an idea.

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Permalink Reply by Steven Turner on January 23, 2010 at 12:31pm

Following up on this, LEAF could staff a table at the next antique fair and request tool donations from folks who would otherwise sell them at garage sales. The "lending library" approach sounds like a good idea. There is a new webservice called Rentalic.com that could be used to facilitate the lending or rental process.

Eileen Pardini said:

I have personally picked up old, valuable garden tools at yard sales for a fraction of the cost of newer versions. They often work just as good if not better. If LEAF were to start scouting these things out and collecting them, these items could be loaned out like library books and/or LEAF could also ask for a small donation as well to cover the cost of storage, maintenance, oversight. LEAF could also start a Spring Starts Sale whereby LEAF starts a variety of plants from seed and sells them to the community each spring. This could be one way of raising funds. Starts could be done in egg cartons and other assorted containers that are collected, donated, etc.

Eileen Pardini

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Permalink Reply by Jackie Sloves on February 4, 2010 at 11:01pm

I think a tool lending library would be much appreciated by many. It could also generate a little income for the garden by charging those who want to have a "tool lending library card" pay like $5/month or $50/year. When checking out a tool someone could leave something as collateral, such as an ID or even just their library card. Lending out tools for a week at a time seems like a reasonable amount of time (with the option of re-checking out tools they need for longer). It would be ideal if there was some type of garden tool shed that would double as the lending library - and it could be open just on weekends for people to check out/in tools.

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