Community

“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”
  - Mother Theresa

"Heroes didn't leap tall buildings or stop bullets with an outstretched hand: they didn't wear boots and capes. They bled and they bruised, and their superpowers were as simple as listening, or loving. Heroes were ordinary people who knew that even if their own lives were impossibly knotted, they could untangle someone else.  And maybe that one act could lead someone to rescue you right back."
-Jodi Picoult


“The single greatest lesson the garden teaches is that our relationship to the planet need not be zero-sum, and that as long as the sun still shines and people still can plan and plant, think and do, we can, if we bother to try, find ways to provide for ourselves without diminishing the world."
- Michael Pollan

        *  Blogger is being wonky today with typeface, I apologize for the annoyance. 

 

  My husband and I are just a small part of an incredible group of volunteer citizens who are collectively restoring Parmelee Farm  so that this once dilapidated town owned farm can be a recreational and educational gathering place for generations to come. So many people have shown their generosity with their time and skills, and I can't describe accurately how wonderful it feels to see all the accomplishments of these good hearted and visionary people, and to contemplate all the possibilities for the future.  No one here is a Rockefeller.  It's blood, sweat and even some tears that are getting this job done, and a whole lot of heart. 

   Community.. we all need it. If you are able in any way to get out into your own community and give of yourself in any way that feels comfortable to you and your lifestyle, I recommend it highly. You give of yourself a little, and you are paid back in spades, I promise.   In these troubling times, when it is so easy to feel powerless and overwhelmed by all the bad news we are bombarded with daily, the truth is we can indeed be the antidote, each one of us, in little ways, taking small steps.

 

Updates on Parmelee:  Due to a STEAP grant, 

the farmhouse has been restored and is the new home of the Historical Society.

 

What was once a Turkey shed is now being refurbished as a pavilion

for future events for the community - weddings, farmers market, dances, etc.

Many local contractors,generous civic groups and citizens have stepped up to get the job done.

The Little Free Library is a big hit...

..and it all started with the vision of a certain resident, who created the Community Gardens..

still in bloom on this late September afternoon.

 

Many of you, my blog friends, have been giving to your community already in the many different ways that this is accomplished. Some of you have raised foster children and made them your own, some have taken in stray animals that needed your care, some of you have donated your time or money to your own communities - the library, a hospital, the Goodwill Store - ...  I could go on and on.  

 

My hat is off to you, my friends. Together we all make a difference, never forget it, and keep on truck'n. 

 

It's a new day, all.  Make it a good one ~