<p>Funny...the first thing I realized when I started writing this article is it's not a typical business subject. But since we are all people here...people with lives and energy to share I took that as a challenge to relate to who we are in these times. And right now, in the depth of winter we need some hope of spring to come. Kids know this instinctively --they start early on fantasizing about plans for summer vacation. If we adults are feeling less than inspired... maybe it's time to enjoy life. As Dorothy said: "right in our own back yards!" Let's get creative!</p>
<p>I was inspired to write this after seeing a documentary in which Alice Waters, the founder of legendary Chez Panise restaurant in San Francisco, was interviewed about her involvement in a children's learning garden experiment she started at a Berkley school in an abandoned lot. They worked together to plan and plant and harvest and make lunch and share a meal all in the same day. Kids from many different backgrounds all told Alice that the most important aspect of their experience was eating a meal together at a table...and they wished their families would do that. They were taking home their lessons to teach their siblings and in many cases their parents the value of cooking and sharing. Growing their own food means some of these Berkley kids are learning first hand that food comes from dirt, sun and water and the magic of a seed. What we plan and feed is what we harvest and eat and take into our beings. The philosophy of this is not lost on the children or adults sharing this experience. It was great to see them happily spraying each other with water hoses and gathering eggs and weeding greens and freeding snails to the chickens and finding out about the textures and flavors and colors while cooking and testing the food and just experiencing the process of creating real food from start to finish.</p>
<p>So-What if we--you and I and a couple of friends--started a small community garden for our local elderly and rambunctious kids in our neighborhoods this summer to share? I'm sure our city or parks authority would be glad help us claim a patch of dirt and toss in some supplies to get it going. I have spied just the spot near my office and a public housing project. Last summer when the children arrived (it's a new housing project) I couldn't help notice their interest in my flower beds...often plucking them. It was hard to be too cross about it. These latchkey kids were bored and left to their own devices. The next step for some of these kids would be graffiti art and glue sniffing further down the hill. Instead, I can just imagine the effect of picking real strawberries they can pluck warm and fresh off the vine they grew themselves! The wonder and pride and fun of it!</p>
<p>Before you know it these kids will be tasting new foods and experimenting and serving others and learning things they had no idea related to the simplicity of food and gardens. Sure they will learn how to work together. But through play and exploration... in a different way but in no less important way than they do in school or other settings.</p>
<p>I realize that the inherent 'good guy' value of such an enterprise will not be lost on a business owner. We run in events wearing our company T-shirts and our company Caps and give school kids bags with our names..but this is more than that...literally reaping what we sow and finding out just how that feels to be working for a humble cause together.</p>
<p>How about it? Surely you have an old wheelbarrow and a back and a soup pot worth putting to work? I know I do! </p>
2009-01-14T06:05:24Z
-12.8573
355
2819
true
15
21712
we-reap-what-we-sowdig-your-community
5
2009-01-16T17:00:18Z
2009-01-16T17:00:18Z
I am proposing that a few local community minded entrepreneurs in my neck of Bellingham transform a weedy unloved lot into an active garden space for kids and elders to have fun and grow their own food--our own cause celebre!
We Reap What We Sow....Dig Your Community!
0
2009-03-27T04:01:43Z