Sometimes life surprises you in good ways, not only in bad ways. One of our ideas for helping make a community sustainable was to build a business that our young adults could be a part of. One of these businesses was growing things like vegetables and flowers. Learning what it takes to grow “food”, healthy food, would help our kids in so many ways. They would learn about how the earth can replenish things. They would learn why farmers are so important. They would learn about organic gardening instead of using man-made potentially dangerous chemicals. They would learn responsibility in taking care of the plants as they grew. They would learn about running a business and the responsibility that goes with that. And, most of all, they would feel good about themselves, knowing that they accomplished something. They would also make friends and socialize with customers.
So many things that are so beneficial to them leading productive and happy and healthy lives.
So, with this idea in hand, we searched and contacted those who we thought might be able to help us. And, low and behold, we were pleasantly surprised by the Media Farmer’s Market. They wanted us to be there every Thursday this season to sell flowers. Why flowers? Because we wouldn’t have the time to get a vegetable-growing business certified by the PA Department of Agriculture. But now, where the heck are we going to grow flowers, particularly ornamental sunflowers as some friends had already grown and were very successful with.
Land. We needed land. And we searched. Then, the other night at a Timebank Media potluck, we participated in a “gift circle”. What’s this, you may ask? Well, it’s a way of telling about your gift (could be something tangible that you made or could be a service that you could perform for someone) and then also telling about something that you need. So, when it was my turn, I spoke about our project and said that I needed land so I could grow sunflowers. Someone chimed in that they would give us their Rose Tree Media Community Gardens plot to use. Wow! I was very, very thankful.
And now we are one step closer to our goal. I’ve also ordered sunflower seeds. The next step – Get the garden ready for planting.
And we are looking for another piece of land for more sunflowers.