Heart Reading … Day 61

A story of a community garden

There is an amazing community garden that I stop by to visit every once in a while, usually early in the morning when I can see the dew that has settled on the growing leaves of fruits and vegetables, trees and grasses. It is about the size of a NFL football field with one-third of it nestled at the northern tree line, fenced in so that the deer and rabbits don’t help themselves. My heart feels very happy here.

Along the east by the main road, with nice exposure to the morning sun, is another fenced area of gardens that has a very different feel to it. These two areas connect on the inside and have a grassy “commons” space between with a couple of picnic tables. A handsome red shed in the corner with a garage door and a well organized office space has two signs — one naming the shed, presumably after the man who put it there, and one with resources of how to donate food to the hungry.

There are two sign stands along the parking lot side of the fencing — the kind with a little pitched roof and glass doors so the signage can be changed regularly. And inside the fencing are various watering stations — some with watering cans and some with hoses, compost areas, benches, and three different brightly colored wheelbarrows neatly propped belly down up against the fence.

To the west is a community area with plantings and a couple of fruit trees. This small grassy circle has a dozen boulders about two feet apart to ensure no vehicles disturb it. There is a big pile of mulch to one side as well; I suspect there is a community fund that each gardener pays into in order to tend to the larger space as a whole and purchase things for the community to share.

I am imagining the community effort — the planning meetings, the discussions, and the eventual physical labor that went into this garden’s creation. I have walked through the individual plots of the gardeners who tend to their plants, growing a bit of “extra special” food for their tables. I felt really awkward as an interloper the day one gardener arrived while I was still there … but one of the signs does state that visitors are welcome so long as they follow all the rules.

This community garden is full of life and cooperative energy (even when no one is there); it is a model for how to be in community together and it is a model for how to collaborate on small and large scale. Rules that emerge from the community they serve get followed because each member makes an agreement with — and a commitment to — every other member to adhere to these community-designed rules. These rules protect and serve the community.

When rules feel out of touch, arbitrary, imposed on others from those “on high” positions of authority — and when rules are not followed by everyone equally — they do not protect nor serve the community.

What if the police reform efforts across the US took a look at the way community gardens are created? Maybe they could learn a thing or two…

This message is not at all intended to minimize the very significant challenge of police reform. Even communities with many dedicated and heart-centered members coming together on this topic are struggling to cooperate (particularly on budget concerns).