Tom Ellis
1 min readDec 14, 2022

--

I’m doing something similar. I’m starting a garden guild initiative in my neighborhood— finding folks with interesting gardens who are interested in growing some of their own produce; creating an E-list of them to stay in touch, and then organizing monthly potlucks where everyone brings a dish including homegrown vegetables, fruits, or herbs, along with any surplus produce they wish to share. Each potluck dinner will also start with an educational component: a presentation on gardening by one of the neighbors, by a guest speaker, or simply an instructional YouTube clip before dinner—so the ensuing dinner conversation focuses on gardening rather than divisive hot-button issues. To this end, I’ve also created a city-wide “Garden Guild Network” on the Nextdoor app—and it already has over a hundred members! Imagine if this idea and others like it went viral! It could create a relocalized, sustainable “gift economy” from the ground up. The slogan I’ve created for this Garden Guild initiative is as follows: GROW GARDENS; GROW COMMUNITY; GROW AWARENESS.

--

--

Tom Ellis
Tom Ellis

Written by Tom Ellis

I am a retired English professor now living in Oregon, and a life-long environmental activist, Buddhist, and holistic philosopher.

Responses (1)