Will the groundhog even be able to get out of its burrow? And why would it want to?

             We had the first community meeting of Katie’s Commons this morning, albeit a small meeting.  As I sat in my office yesterday watching the snow blowing across the parking lot, I was put in mind of a white tide rising unimpeded until it crashes upon the beach, in this case the piles of snow from earlier storms, sending a spray flying, in this case a spray of ice crystals. With more snow and high winds predicted overnight I was pretty sure travel would be difficult to impossible by morning.  I contacted those who I had heard were coming to the meeting and asked them to stay home and put a cancellation message on the church voice mail.  But because I had placed flyers throughout the community and at the food pantry I wasn't sure the word of cancellation would get around.  So I headed for church a little after eight this morning.

            The drifting in my driveway was just shy of the limits of my car.  The town roads were passable.  The church parking lot from a distance did not look too bad.  However, the snow shoals of yesterday had grown by several feet; a direct assault on the front door was impossible.  An overland route to the front door, around a tree and behind the snowbank, was possible and this in turn allowed me access to a side door, locked from the inside, on the West side of the building where the wind had swept the icy sidewalk clean. Once opened, a little salt on the sidewalk made for fairly safe entry into the building. A few minutes later the coffee pot was on.  Access and coffee are about all any Lutheran church needs for a meeting.

            One brave soul, a close neighbor, showed up right on time.  We had a delightful meeting.  We talked about what the Commons is to be.  Certainly the garden is a main component of our work.  It will, as said elsewhere, be a link in the food security chain of our community, planned, planted, tended, and harvested by a community of diverse volunteers for the benefit of our food pantry and citizens without easy access to fresh produce.  But the garden has always been only part of the mission of Katie’s Commons.  There is also an educational element.  We will offer educational opportunities related to food issues, e.g. food preparation and preservation as well as seed saving and basic gardening skills.  Recently it occurs to me that there is yet another component that has always been there, but needs lifting up: community building.  A third volunteer opportunity, therefore, in the Commons is hospitality.  We talked about these pieces of Katie’s Commons, discussed funding and possibilities for grants (we have received a grant of seeds from Seed Savers Exchange and have applied to Kitchen Gardeners International for a monetary and supplies grant), and the immediate goals we must focus on, such as beginning to construct raised beds by Easter and planting in late May.   Our first meeting raised some interesting questions and generated energy to move things forward. I also received affirmation that valuable knowledge, skill and experience resides in the community, far beyond the personal resources of any individual.  It takes a village to care for the common good.

            We will try for a general community meeting again on February 8^th.   Gardening, if nothing else, teaches one patience, especially when dealing with the weather.