Lessons from the garden – community
July 30, 2009 by Juliet Chase
Filed under The Art of Happiness
We seem to be living in an increasingly disconnected age, or maybe that should be more electronically connected. Most of us don’t even know our neighbors anymore. Partly that’s because of computers, but long commutes and real-estate prices are just as much to blame. In just the five years I’ve owned my house I’m on the third neighbor in the house next door and for sale signs seem to be an annual crop across the street. One neighbor even asked me if I travelled a lot because she only saw me on the weekends when I was out in the yard – I wasn’t travelling really, but my commute was so long that I left the house and returned in the dark. Even if it’s only on weekends or in pots on an apartment balconyu, gardens can be a wonderful way to be a part of your community.
For one thing, the new neighbors or the long-standing ones that you’ve never met are much more likely to stop and say hi and strike up a conversation if you’re out in the yard then they are to walk up to your front door and knock without a reason. We are far more leary of interupting these days than our grandparents were, I think. Gardens open things up for more casual conversations, offering a variety of safe topics on plants and colors, not to mention compliments. You might be surprised at what you consider to be overgrown with weeds looks stunning to someone down the block. Offer to share some seeds or starts and you’ve got an instant community project that will withstand houses trading hands.
