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Media Backgrounder

The Center for Local Self-Reliance: Providing the Community with Lifelong Skills

Contact:
Sam Sunderland
samsunderland28@gmail.com
(206)-388-9874

The Center for Local Self-Reliance (CLSR) is a community-run nonprofit organization founded
in 2008 in Fairhaven, Wash. The CLSR offers 5,000 square feet of space, at the Historic Caretakers
House and Gardens, for community members to practice gardening and learn food preservation skills.
Through gardening and house-renovation work parties, the CLSR aims to educate and empower the
surrounding community for a sustainable future, demonstrating the resilience of urban homesteading.
This June it will be featured on the Sustainable Connections Home and Landscape Tour June 21 and
June 22.

Current Status
CLSR takes a hands-on approach to sourcing local food and living sustainably. It is currently
working to renovate the Caretakers House. The Caretakers House was built in 1914 for the caretakers of
the Rose Gardens in Fairhaven Park. When the Center for Local Self-Reliance acquired the property in
2008 the Caretakers House had not been used since 1998. In order to complete renovations CLSR
needs to raise $15,000 to install a sprinkler system in the Caretakers House in case of a fire. CLSR hopes
to gain more recognition in the community once the renovations are complete, and will be featured in the
upcoming Sustainable Connections Home and Landscape Tour June 21 and June 22.

Quick Facts

Work parties are held from 9 a.m. to noon each Saturday at the Caretakers House.
Volunteers are welcome on the third Sunday of each month, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., to assist with
general garden installations and maintenance
Located along Scenic Highway 11 at the gateway to Fairhaven, Wash.
Fairhaven Park's "Rose Garden" house was constructed as a caretaker's residence in late 1914,
erected at a cost of $3,500.
A youth hostel opened in the Caretakers House during the 1990's
The house remained vacant from 1998 until 2008 when CLSR for Local Self-Reliance obtained a
license agreement to restore the premises
Once obtained, CLSR began renovations of the Caretakers House;
-Removing moldy basement remnants
-Partially insulating walls
-Fixing broken windows
-Restoring water
-Damaged front porch
-Replacing roof
-Relocating and rewiring the electrical
-Repainting and priming the exterior
As the 2014 centennial approaches CSLR plans to finish all renovations
Volunteers make compost for the garden on-site by collecting seed, and rainwater for watering.

Why CLSR Matters

If the Center for Local Self-Reliance fails to renovate the Caretakers House or keep up the
gardens, the community loses a valuable and sustainable asset. Currently the CLSR supplies supplemental
food to the Southside Food Bank and provides service-learning opportunities to students. If volunteers
continue to work hard to renovate the Caretakers House, thus attracting more people to CLSR, CLSR
can produce more food to shelters and those in need while educating community members on urban
homesteading.

Contact

CLSR is a volunteer-run organization headed by Steve Wilson. Steve co-founded the South
Neighborhood Association in 2004 and has worked for 30 years as a preschool teacher at the Childlife
Montessori School in the South Neighborhood. Steve can be reached by phone at 360-671-3380.
Working with Steve is gardener Lynn Loveland. Lynn has spent more than 30 years as a horticulturist
for a variety of places and people. For details on gardening at the Center for Local Self-Reliance, contact
Lynn at 360-733-9403.


The Center for Local Self-Reliance was founded in 2008 by community members
in Fairhaven, Wash. The Center supplies food to local food banks while educating
and empowering the community toward a sustainable future by demonstrating
the resilience of urban homesteading. Learn more at www.caretakershouse.org

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