This small blackberry bush at the Garland Community Garden has 204 blackberries maturing on it.  Market Value of Harvest:  $51.00

To illustrate the extreme productivity of blackberry bushes, for my area of Garland, Texas, I took a photo this morning (May 28, 2015) of a blackberry bush that was planted down at the Garland Community Garden last year (July 2014).

Its first season for production at the garden shows a count of 204 blackberries this morning.  Since it appears to have finished blooming, this is likely the final count for this year.  These berries average 2 berries to the ounce.  Thus this bush has 102 ounces of berries.  At six ounces a package for an average seasonal price of $3.00 for six ounces (sometimes as low as $1.59 but soon it is back to $3.98 per six ounces even before the season is over here the second week in July), the berries on this bush have a market value of $51.00.  That is more than three times the price I paid for this berry bush last year ($15.00). 

What product/service do you know of that can yield a return on investment like this in one year?  Urban agriculture can be profitable, provided the right crops for the right area are chosen.  Urban agriculture is a fantastic way to boost a local economy.  Unlike a lot of other types of startups, urban agriculture does not need a big front-end investment to get started.

Urban Agricultural Market Support is Necessary for Economic Success

The trick to a successful urban agricultural program lies not only in choosing crops with a high market value, a plant with varied uses, and a plant that grows well with little effort in the designated urban area, but also in creating a support system for bringing the crop to market and selling the produce at a profit for the growers. 

One of the best business structures for this is a cooperative or co-op as they are sometimes called.  When it comes to establishing a co-operative of urban farmers, the design might look like a honeycomb of cells within the municipality.  It could be organized as low as the neighborhood level.  From there, here in Garland, it could then be organized at the district level.  

The type of agricultural co-op I suggest is an agricultural service cooperative. This type of cooperative provides various services to the members.  There are two primary types of agricultural service cooperatives:  supply cooperatives and marketing cooperatives.  Supply cooperatives supply members with inputs needed for production such as seeds, fertilizers, fuel, and machinery services.  Marketing cooperatives help the farmers with transportation, packaging, distribution and selling their products.

One of the many advantages of a cooperative is because of its size, the members can get goods at lower prices.  For the urban farmer whose crops may be too small to be considered worth bothering with by a larger business such as a cosmetic manufacturer or a chain grocery store can pool their harvests with their neighbors.

It is even possible for an agricultural cooperative, depending upon its membership support, to create secondary markets for the agricultural product.  For example, a small food processing plant might be created where the berries are frozen for re-sale, or perhaps a plant that made Blackberry cosmetics or other blackberry products such as natural dyes.  Also as part of its operations, the co-op has a store where they sell products grown by their members as well as products purchased wholesale for their members.

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Personal Note:  Life after Loving Garland Green 

Perhaps, after I step down as President of Loving Garland Green on October 31, 2015, I will form The Garland Texas Urban Agricultural Cooperative.  I had thought of calling it "The Garland Blackberry Growers Association"  but that name limits the scope of the organization.  Blackberries are not the only cash cow crop that can easily be grown in Garland.  For example, we also have the loofah.  This year Loving Garland Green is testing the market value of this crop more fully with a larger crop.  Last year we grew 24 loofah from a five-gallon bucket and sold 12 of them for $2 each at the Garland Market Place. And no doubt there are other easy to grow urban crops with high dollar market  value.

It’s quite simple. Here are the steps:

1. Find a plant that grows very well in your community—a plant that can be put into the native soil that only needs slight amendment with expanded shale—a plant that you don’t have to baby; a plant that even folks who claim to have a black thumb can grow.
2. It’s even better if this plant is one that is pricey in the grocery stores.
3. It’s even better if this plant freezes well.
4. It’s even better if this plant is extremely healthy to eat.
5. Be the example.  Grow this plant in your own yard.  Keep track of its production.  Take photos.  Tell people in your community about it.  Blog about its progress.
6. Give away cuttings and encourage people to install the plant in their yards or own their patios.  Talk to people and encourage them to talk to you about the plant.
7. Look for ways you can create more uses and applications for your plant product.
8. While you start small, always have a larger than life vision for your project lurking in the background—a vision that you don’t want to initially share with too many people because they might call you “crazy.”

NOTE:  After meeting all the requirements for steps 1-4, keep repeating steps 5 and 6.  Before you know it, in two or three years, news will spread and you will be well on your way to creating a market in your community that did not exist prior to your efforts. 

New markets also support existing markets.  For example, increased blackberry production in Garland will mean that local cottage industries such as Fat Lady Foods, a local jam and jelly company owned by Melissa Childs-Wiley here in Garland will have a generous supply of blackberries from which to make her jams.  Because the berries are grown locally, she will be able to obtain them more economically. 

As a community, we will become more connected in mutually beneficial relationship with one another.  The Garland urban farmers who grow these blackberries will be going to our local garden stores and nurseries to purchase garden tools and other garden supplies.  In addition, these nurseries could also become their customers as residents could sell their locally grown cuttings to the nurseries for resale and/or residents could sell the cuttings from their own homes as a cottage industry.

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Evolution of Four Blackberry Plants

July 12, 2013 two blackberry bushes each were planted in the two front beds nearest the sidewalk in Garland Texas.

Below June 2014, less than one year later the two blackberry bushes fill each of the two raised beds.

Below, June 2014 blackberries being weighed for market.  ". . . that brings the grand total to date up to nine pounds of black berries from one bush.  At $3.98 for 12 ounces (Walmart prices), the current market value for my Blackberry harvest thus far this year is $47.76. And the good news is:  There are still at least two pounds left on these two bushes AND there are two bushes behind it in another raised bed that are poised to yield at least as many blackberries starting next week. . .

May 25, 2015 -  Even two of the blackberry plants are too large to feature in one photo.  The berries are red but in a few days they will start turned to a dark blue/black color.

LOCAL PLANT BASED ECONOMY PLAN IN ACTION

 1.    Find a plant that grows well in your community. (Few plants grow better in Garland than blackberries.)

One thing is certain, unless it is Pokeweed in Charlie’s yard, I have yet to find a plant that grows easier and better in Garland Texas than the Blackberry—particularly the thornless variety with the Native American names such as Arapaho, Apache, Kiowa, and Navaho.

Last year (2014) in their second year, four blackberries in my woodland garden produced 62 pounds that I counted.  Most likely these bushes produced even more because every Monday (now the first and third Mondays) I have between 10 and 20 people who come to my home for Loving Garland Green Meetings.  In season, most of these people pick and eat blackberries off the bushes on their way before and after the meetings.)

2.    It’s even better if this plant is pricey in the grocery stores. (Blackberries sell for as high as $4.98 for six ounces in the winter)

3.    It’s even better if this plant freezes well. (Blackberries are easy to freeze and when they thaw they taste just like fresh berries—unlike strawberries, which tend to thaw mushy.)

4.     Even better if this plant is extremely healthy to eat. (Blackberries contain high levels of anthocyanin (83-326 mg/ 100g) which work as antioxidants to help fight free radical damage in the body.)

5.    Be the example.  Grow this plant in your own yard.  Keep track of its production.  Take photos.  Tell people in your community about it.

Blackberry Harvest has Begun – June 1, 2014

More on the Incredible Ever-Producing Blackberry Bush – June 9, 2014

Add another $8 to the Blackberry Bounty – June 10, 2014

Agriculture and Community in the USA are changing. – May 2015 

6. Give away cuttings and encourage people to install the plant in their yards or on their patios.  Encourage people in public places who are not ordinarily associated with urban agriculture to grow the plant.

I have given away numerous cuttings from my blackberry plants and I encourage people to plant them wherever I go.  Loving Garland Green sells blackberry cuttings at our plant sales and at the local Market Place.  In addition, through our work with our local pubic schools, we now have counselors and teachers at one of our schools, Beaver Tech, who are planting blackberry bushes on the school grounds.  Because of its low-maintenance requirements, the blackberry is a great choice. 

Just imagine if we started planting blackberry bushes in our riparian areas that interface with our waterways, in our parks, on vacant lots, etc.  We would still help purify the polluted storm water runoff from the streets before it reaches our waterways, but instead of useless weeds, we could have plants that would benefit residents with their fruit production.  As for “natural” plants in the riparian areas near our water ways, with the exception of the Spring Creek preserve, much of the land that directly interfaces with the creeks in our area is land that was once residential land.  Thus we have an abundance of not only “domesticated” vegetation such a privet hedges and honeysuckle, we also have certain plants such as bamboo and chinaberry trees that are designated as invasive species.

7.    Look for ways that you can create more uses and applications for your plant product by connecting and networking with other people in the community and beyond.

First begin at the local level.  For example, in Garland we have Fat Lady Foods, a local cottage industry that makes jams and jellies.   This is an existing local market that needs blackberries.  Melissa Childs-Wiley, owner of Fat Lady Foods, purchases as much of the raw materials for her jams and jellies as possible from local suppliers.  Other possible purchasers might include local restaurants.

 8.     While you start small, always have a larger than life vision for your project lurking in the background—a vision that you don’t want to initially share with too many people because they might call you “crazy.”  But don’t worry.  Almost everyone who has ever had a large vision has been called “crazy.”

My vision is that we will have so many urban gardens in Garland growing blackberries that our city becomes known as “The #1 Blackberry Capital of Texas.”  We will have a Blackberry Week with blackberry cook-offs held down on the square just as many towns have barbecue cook-offs.  We will conduct studies to prove how much blackberry production has added to the bottom line of our local economy.

If promoted to the fullest, the blackberry could raise our local economy up many notches.

But what if you glut the market?  Yes, its true with some products this is possible, but blackberries (and most plant products) do not face this possibility because with only the slightest effort one can increase and sustain the demand for a plant product by promoting all the different ways that it can be used.

With the blackberry as an example, of course you begin with the initial ripple, which is almost entirely local:  It is a food product that is sold and consumed locally—to citizens who purchase and eat fresh blackberries.  From there, as production of blackberries increases in Garland, the food product is sold as an ingredient in other food products sold locally such as for the jams and jellies sold Fat Lady Foods.  Another possibility is to sell the fresh blackberries to local restaurants such as our own Garland Main Street Café.  For the month of June, they could purchase local blackberries and promote them as fresh berry cobblers from Garland.

Other expansions of the blackberry economy include creating a local company that freezes blackberries and ships them to various markets in the DFW region.

Still other expansions of the Garland blackberry economy include non-food applications of the blackberry.  How about starting the “Garland Blackberry Skincare” product line?  Perhaps we could attract a high-fluting manufacturer such as Yves Rocher to our community.  This company already has a botanical line of skin care products that include blackberry hand cream, blackberry exfoliating shower gel, blackberry silky body lotion, blackberry shower gel, and blackberry soap.  J.R. Watkins sells anti-aging blackberry cream  (cruelty-free and eco-friendly).  Of course some local hard working entrepreneur could start his or her own blackberry skin care product line.

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Eventually your promotional efforts will begin to take hold in your community and grow.  The key ingredient to all this is that YOU be the example yourself.  You are the one who makes the difference.  You are the key to your own success in these efforts and ultimately the success of many more people in your community.  Some call this “leadership.”

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 Garland needs a Makerspace – a place where citizens can come together and share their ideas to build a stronger, healthier, wealthier community

“. . .  A Makerspace is a community-directed facility where people share knowledge and resources such as tools, to prototype industrial and technological projects. Depending on local interest, makespaces can cross-pollinate between industries or be focused on a specific niche such as metal working or electronics technology. The creation of a makerspace as a strategic incubator space will be designed to facilitate, encourage, and support local creatives/talents. The Makerspace will leverage the enthusiasm of the Garland community to serve as a point of convergence and landmark for the emerging creative district.  . . .“  From “A Better Plan for the Other Side of the Tracks” by Robert Steuteville – Better! Cities and Towns

So what is the next step?  What can you contribute to realizing the dream of a Makerspace here in Garland?  What will be your role?  What are you going to do?

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MORE EXPERIMENTS IN THE WORKS TO PROMOTE A LOCAL PLANT-BASED ECONOMY

The possibility of creating a secure, healthy plant-based economy here in Garland has proof of concept. To the extent this concept is realized remains to be seen, but as to the possibility, there is no doubt.  Blackberries are but one example.  Currently down at the Garland Community Garden members of Loving Garland Green are experimenting with the following possibilities:

1) Growing hops as a commercial urban crop.

2) Growing Loofahs as a commercial urban crop.

3) Growing sweet potatoes as a commercial urban crop.

Also we are considering the following possibilities:

1) Creating a Hugelkultur bed in June and planting blackberries in it in the fall.  This bed would be set aside as another example to illustrate and promote commercial value of the blackberry plant in Garland as well as to test the claims made by those who promote the Hugelkultur by saying (among other things) that if it is built initially at a height of six feet that no irrigation will be needed.  The blackberries grown in this bed will be sold to local restaurants and also to local entrepreneurs who make food products from blackberries.  [Note:  We have 16 other blackberry plants at the Garland Community Garden, the produce from which is to be shared with food banks.]

2) Building Terra Perta-- Loving Garland Green want to undertake a study to learn more about this soil and methods we might undertake to create it.  We want to explore the possibility of creating this soil and selling commercially.

3) Exploring the feasibility of growing gardens vertically on walls in downtown Garland in 2016.

It’s time to tear down, that much I’ll concede—but tear down and replace, or simply tear down—that is the question.  And I think this morning as I took this photo:  If I tear down, I may have to fill in this low-lying area on my neighbor’s side. Change is rarely easy for me and often it is preceded by much grousing on my part as to what is the best direction to take.  Not being a church-going person, I turn to poetry for support.

MENDING WALL – Robert Frost

Something there is that doesn't love a wall, 
that sends the frozen-ground-swell under it, 
And spills the upper boulders in the sun, 
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.  .  . .

He is all pine and I am apple orchard. 
My apple trees will never get across 
and eat the cones under his pines, I tell him. 
He only says, 'Good fences make good neighbors'. 

.  .  . 'Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't it 
where there are cows? 
But here there are no cows. 

.  . .  He will not go behind his father's saying, 
and he likes having thought of it so well 
he says again, "Good fences make good neighbors."

Ironic but Frost’s famous poem, “Mending Wall” is often cited as being a good reason for fences and the line “good fences make good neighbors” is quoted in support of fences.  The truth is that Frost was mocking his neighbor for clinging to a worn-out cliché handed down by his father that had no truth to it. Frost points out in the poem:  “But here there are no cows.”

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RETHINKING FENCES AND FRONT YARDS

As I gaze upon my dilapidated fence that seemingly becomes more dilapidated by day if not the hour, I find myself leaning more and more toward the possibility of simply taking it down and not replacing it.  Yet, a part of me clings to the old notion of a fence.  Thus I seek more proof that having no backyard fence is a good idea and I’m finding plenty of evidence to support no backyard fence. 

In his book, Happy: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design by Charles Montgomery, published in November 2013 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, the author points out that American cities are experiencing a crisis of social disconnection and urban design is part of the problem. 

I can definitely attest to the truth of this statement.  In June of 2013 I had lived in my home here in Garland for 9 years.  In that time not one person had ever stopped to chat when I was in my front yard(although for 9 years I was in my front yard from time to time to get my mail, pull weeds from the lawn and trim my shrubs). 

Then I decided to dig up my front lawn and begin to build a woodland garden with fruit trees, berry bushes and perennials.  From June 12 to August 16, I estimate that close to 200 people stopped to chat with me—people driving by in their cars literally stopped, parked, and came over to talk with me.  In fact, it was from these casual meetings that a few months later Loving Garland Green was formed.

Our standard urban/suburban design is a well-manicured expanse of lawn in the front yard, a few low shrubs stuck up near the foundation of the house, and a Bradford Pear or some other ornamental tree stuck in the yard half-way between the house and the curb. 

The only time that most are in their front yards is to get the mail, and to mow the lawn.  Those who hire others to mow their lawns spend even less time in their front yards than I do.   Yet it is amazing how invested some are in maintaining the status quo of this type of useless landscaping by insisting their neighbors follow along as well.  I didn’t encounter any resistance in my neighborhood, but I have friends living in other neighborhoods who report difficulties with neighbors when they tried to break out of the prescribed format for front yard landscaping.

RETHINKING STREETS AND ALLEYS

Ross Chapin, in his book, Pocket Neighborhoods, points out that streets are more than the routes we take to get somewhere else.  He advocates that we think of streets as rooms whose walls are made of building facades, trees, hedges and fences.  When traffic slows to a walking pace, streets can also become the neighborhood commons where neighbors meet and children play.  I know this sounds fantastically impossible to some, but if we can slow to 20 miles an hour in a school zone, we can also do it elsewhere.

Hans Monderman, a Dutch traffic engineer pioneered the Woonerf concept.  “Woonerf” translates from the Dutch to “living street.”   Traffic signs, according to him, are an invitation to stop thinking.  To control traffic, and particularly to slow people down, he advises confusion and ambiguity.  Without clear signals, signs or boundaries, drivers pay attention and slow down. 

I find a great deal of truth in this as more than once in my life, I’ve gotten off a main road and onto a narrow gravel country road with barely enough room for two cars with ditches on either side.  In these situations I am on full alert and indeed I slow down and pay attention.

In the Netherlands, Woonerfs have no lane markings, curbs, sidewalks, signals or crossing signs.  They are surfaced with paving blocks to signal a pedestrian zone.   Unsure of what space belongs to them, drivers become much more alert.  The outcome of Woonerfs has been drastically slower traffic and far fewer accidents.

Read more in this study:   The Woonerf Concept .  (The concept of Woonerf is not new.  It was developed in the late 1960's by the resident of Delft Netherlands who were upset with cut through traffic in their neighborhoods.  Streets are designed for people--not just traffic.)

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 Albuquerque High - Albuquerque Daily photo

RETHINKING REUSE OF OLD BUILDINGS

One of my favorite urban re-use designs is the conversion of the old Albuquerque High into 234 homes in 7 buildings plus the new BelVedere/Urban Courtyard Living block of 13 buildings.  Eight years ago a five-day public charrette at the First Baptist Church gave birth to the Edo Master Plan—unanimously passed by the City Council in March of 2005.

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When people get together at a local level, fantastic and wonderful things begin to happen—things that we alone could never have dreamed, much less realized.

Chris Savage, Vice President Loving Garland Green 

Notes and More on Soil Improvement with Charcoal

Last night, Chris Savage, Vice President of Loving Garland Green, made an interesting presentation at our weekly meeting on the topic of Terra Preta (“Black Earth” in Portuguese).  Chris has been experimenting in his own garden for the past few years with the development of Terra Preta.

Terra Preta is a type of dark soil that is found in several countries in South America (particularly in the Amazon) and beyond.  It consists of up to 9% charcoal, pottery shards, animal manure, fish and animal bones, plant compost.  The ingredient not often found in various soil mixes is charcoal.  Yet charcoal, according to research from Cornell University, is the magic ingredient that makes the difference. Bio-char, it turns out, is very stable in the soil and it is believed to provide and retain nutrients for millennia.

Because of the high fertility of Terra Preta, continuous cropping for longer periods of time appears to be possible from a soil fertility point of view. How long a field can be continuously cropped and what can be done to prolong this period is not yet clear. Petersen et al. (2001) reported that Terra Preta soils in Açutuba were under continuous cultivation without fertilization for over 40 years. [Source: http://www.css.cornell.edu/faculty/lehmann/research/terra%20preta/terrapretamain.html accessed May 19, 2015]

Arbuscular Mycorrhiza, an important soil microbial fungus that attaches to the roots of plants, performs a function similar to saliva in the human mouth:  it begins the breakdown of the nutrients in soil so that plants with vascular systems can better absorb these nutrients.  Apparently this fungus particularly likes charcoal as it is found in abundance in Terra Preta.

Other sources for information in this article:  Science Brief from Cornell University. http://www.css.cornell.edu/faculty/lehmann/research/terra%20preta/Flyer%20terra%20preta%20landuse%20strategy.pdf - accessed May 19, 2015]

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NOTES ON MAKING YOUR OWN BIO CHAR

After creating/purchasing your fresh carbon, it must be charged by soaking it in a nutrient tea (such as compost or worm tea) prior to use.

1. Make your Bio Char the Hard Way

Here one way to make your own bio char, but check with local burning permits and your fire department prior to attempting to do this.   Frankly, this looks like too much work for me.   Make Your Own Bio Char and Terra Preta: 
[ http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-your-own-BioChar-and-Terra-Preta - Accessed May 19, 2015]

2. My Potential EZ Way

I may experiment with this method.  This way I don’t have to worry about breaking any burning laws:  Partially burn a log in one’s fireplace and then pour water on it when it is about half-way burned.  Chop that up and then add at the rate of 9% to your existing garden and see what happens.  [Note:  Key word is “potential”.  This method is untried by this author.  As of now the “potential” exists only in my mind.]

3. A Really EZ Way
One of Loving Garland Green’s members, Cheryl Andres, suggested using the small chips of activated charcoal that can be purchased at an aquarium store.  [Be advised that 22 ounces of this stuff costs about $12 at most stores.]  You would need about 40 pounds of it for a 4’ x 8’ bed and this would cost you about $480 just for the charcoal.

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Other Ways to Create and Not Create Bio Char

Chris advised us that it’s a tough job to make your own bio char by smashing briquettes.  According to Chris, it’s extremely messy and produces fine particulate dust that can harm your lungs.  He recommends soaking the briquettes in the compost tea, working them into the soil with a shovel, and then whacking them with the shovel.  Another member suggested using a rotor-tiller.

BE ADVISED:  Do not use “Quick Light” or “Easy Light” charcoal or the purpose of creating Terra Preta as it contains unwanted petroleum compounds.

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FOR INTERESTING, LIVELY MEETINGS REGARDING TOPICS OF GARDENING AND COMMUNITY, JOIN LOVING GARLAND GREEN.  

Membership is free and we are open to the public.

We now meet the first and third Monday of each month at 216 East Kingsbridge Drive Garland Texas 75040.  Of course, be sure to stop and visit anytime you see us working in the Garland Community Garden at 4022 Naaman School Road.  We always have time to talk garden.

No, we can never be 100% safe, but there are steps that communities can take to offer protections against terrorist attacks. 

While flag-waving has value as an expression of patriotism and loyalty to one’s government, it does little in terms of providing actual solutions to serious problems.

Terrorism is not new to the USA.  We’ve always had terrorists among us and as I mentioned earlier with the example of Kehoe who in 1927 blew up a public school killing 38 children and injuring 58 others. [Had he been able to fully realize his plans, Kehoe would have killed hundreds of people but something went wrong with his detonator.]  We are likely to have people like this among us always – here in the USA and all over the world. 

However, particularly in addressing the issues of the current wave of terrorists who claim to be Islamic, there are several things that Americans can do to improve this situation.

1) Figure out ways to identify and reach out to individuals in our community (and in fact the world if we have those means) who are in a downward spiral away from identification with their community and do something to pull them back in so they reestablish their identity and connection to the community.  We know the profile of the young men who are attracted to terrorist cells.  They are between the ages of 20 and 30 and often they are members of a minority group who feel disenfranchised from the larger community and are looking for a place to belong and feel important.  With this much knowledge, we should be able to do something in the way of intervention/prevention.

2) Teach our children how to think and reason--not merely regurgitate “facts” they are told by adults.  I've just this past week suggested to some of my teacher friends that perhaps we should offer an elective that teaches kids how to be more aware of how advertisers try to manipulate them.  The same kinds of tricks that advertisers use, cult leaders and leaders of terrorist cells use to recruit their young impressionable victims.  There is a lot of value for our kiddos in learning [how] advertisers manipulate them.  PBS has a fabulous course for kids on advertising tricks of the trade.  It is absolutely fabulous.  I would love to see every single one of our kiddos exposed to this information.  

http://pbskids.org/dontbuyit/advertisingtricks

http://pbskids.org/dontbuyit/teachersguide.html  

 3) Educate people regarding all the many faces of Islam.  Just a one-page fact sheet might open the eyes of some people--especially when parallels are drawn between Muslims and Christians. Although I’m sure there are those who would take exception, I find it quite amazing how similar their organizations are.  For example, both religions are broadly divided into two factions.  For the Muslims, it’s the Shia and the Sunni.  For the Christians, it's the Catholics and the Protestants.   

Both religions are fractured into many sects.  Islam is divided into at least 50 different sects or schools of thought and many of these sects are as different from each other as the Westboro Baptist Church is from the larger body of the Baptists.  

To view adherents of Islam as one giant united sweeping body of locusts bent on world domination, as some do, would be laughable if this mistaken viewpoint did not come with awful consequences for innocents.

When people tell me that "a Muslim is a Muslim, they are all the same", they reveal a certain lack of knowledge regarding the Muslims and their complex religion.  For one specific example, they show they do not know that ISIS, a fundamentalist sect of Islam, has vowed to kill all four million Shia Muslims in the world because according to ISIS, the Shia don't follow the law of the Koran.  One could hardly say then that the Shia are united with ISIS.  Also such a declaration indicates an unawareness of the Muslim persecutions of the Sufi, another Islamic sect (that also has 14 different variations within its own sect). In light of this, think of all the different kinds of Baptist churches. 

Muslims are no more united than are the Christians, even within their own narrow sects or schools of thought.  There are not just Sufis; there are at least 14 different sects of them and they don’t agree among themselves. 

There are not just Sunnis, there are many different sects of them and some of them like ISIS are extreme fundamentalists who interpret their ancient religious text literally while others do not. 

Using the Christian religion as a comparison, there are not just Baptists.  There are so many Baptist denominations I can’t count them all.  Go take a look for yourself.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Baptist_denominations

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Religions Evolve

Also, it’s important to remember the face of Islam is changing and evolving.  Among their sects they now have a "non-denominational Muslim" group and just last night on KERA news I saw a story about a group of Muslims in Africa who have begun a sect called "Open-Muslim".  Sixty-year-old Taj Hargey, an Oxford University graduate, is the man behind this new mosque– a mosque he sees worthy of being replicated in other parts of the world.

In this Mosque the women can speak and they worship in the main area along with the men.  They are also open to the gay community.  Several of these "Open-Muslim" mosques have opened up all over the world.  A few are in the USA. 

Of course there is uproar among many of the other Muslim groups about this, just as there is uproar among many Christian communities regarding acceptance of Gays and welcoming them into their houses of worship.  There are Christian Churches in the world where gays are not welcome just as there are Mosques where they are not welcome.  No particular religion it would seem has a corner on exclusivity. Among the Christians, for example, many churches have communion that is closed to non-members of that particular Christian branch even though communion is a ritual that is practiced in many, if not most all Christian Churches.

Below are links to that Open Mosque in Cape Town South Africa.  Imagine that!  A country that was home to the repressive regime of the Apartheid from 1948 to 1994 is today home to this expression of religious freedom in the Islamic faith.  Perhaps anything is possible.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/cape-towns-gay-women-friendly-mosque-sign-muslim-faith-evolving

http://theopenmosque.co.za