Gardening Party

I can't believe I have no pictures, but it really should be no surprise. Once a party is underway, I'm not much of a host. I take no pictures, offer no drinks, do no cleanup. I'm a mingler once people arrive and neglect all other duties. Luckily, others took up my slack. Without Yvon as my sidekick, it wasn't a guarantee. I fully expected to be hanging around with Rosa at the end doing dishes and cleaning.

So, our Community Garden and Seed Party went really well. Rosa usually hosts a seed exchange in the spring for friends in her own home, but we decided to open it up to the community because there were a few other things we wanted to talk about. And over the last two years we've been wanting to make a difference in our community, not just in our own lives and yards.

About 25 people showed up to talk about their gardens, what they'd like to see us do together (like perennial exchanges, guerilla gardening, sharing yards and putting food into public spaces). We ate good baking and drank coffee together. A City of Edmonton employee came with door prizes. Two writers from a very local paper were there as well. I'm anxious to read what they thought about the evening.

Here's why I thought it was a success.

• Strange people showed up. Not so strange maybe, but strangers to me and to each other. Random community members who've never been involved with our community events or gardening in the past.
• People from all generations were there, including a little baby who was very cute and sat beside me.
• I had fun. And that's a good thing.
• And other people had fun too.
• People didn't hesitate to share information on what they'd like to see. And one young lady even volunteered to organize a gardening club. Yay!

But I think the best thing was that one young lady met an older lady there who turned out to be a direct neighbour. The two of them have agreed to get together in the young lady's unlandscaped yard and share advice and ideas once the snow reveals what's underneath. I love the way that worked out.

Not knowing exactly what my vision for this community is, it's hard to measure success. However, I do know that new friendships were formed and that has to be a step in the right direction.