Comments on: Community Engagement - Gardening in the Front Yard http://hildygottlieb.com/2007/10/16/community-engagement-gardening-in-the-front-yard/ Practical tools, support and inspiration for changing the world Thu, 21 Aug 2008 22:38:19 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Hildy http://hildygottlieb.com/2007/10/16/community-engagement-gardening-in-the-front-yard/#comment-3606 Hildy Tue, 11 Dec 2007 04:35:15 +0000 http://hildygottlieb.com/2007/10/16/community-engagement-gardening-in-the-front-yard/#comment-3606 Welcome, Cathi. So nice to have a fellow front-yard-gardener (in all ways...)on board! Hildy Welcome, Cathi. So nice to have a fellow front-yard-gardener (in all ways…)on board! Hildy

]]> By: Cathi Tillman http://hildygottlieb.com/2007/10/16/community-engagement-gardening-in-the-front-yard/#comment-3604 Cathi Tillman Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:30:54 +0000 http://hildygottlieb.com/2007/10/16/community-engagement-gardening-in-the-front-yard/#comment-3604 Thank you, Hildy! I am new to this site and this immediately caught my eye. As an avid gardener (with a front garden, no less!) who is constantly being engaged in conversation with passers-by, I have come to appreciate the raw honesty of our interactions and the transparency of the relationships that are formed. The totally volunteer organization that I run is indeed modeled after that type of relationship-building practice- honesty and transparency. We are able to maintain our organizational practice because we are small and very mission-driven. I sometimes shudder to think of the challenges to this philosophy of practice if we were to become larger and more bureaucratic. We'd have to move the garden to the back and plant hedges in the front! Thank you for your insights and I look forward to visiting this site for inspiration and fellowship. Thank you, Hildy! I am new to this site and this immediately caught my eye. As an avid gardener (with a front garden, no less!) who is constantly being engaged in conversation with passers-by, I have come to appreciate the raw honesty of our interactions and the transparency of the relationships that are formed. The totally volunteer organization that I run is indeed modeled after that type of relationship-building practice- honesty and transparency. We are able to maintain our organizational practice because we are small and very mission-driven. I sometimes shudder to think of the challenges to this philosophy of practice if we were to become larger and more bureaucratic. We’d have to move the garden to the back and plant hedges in the front!
Thank you for your insights and I look forward to visiting this site for inspiration and fellowship.

]]> By: Hildy http://hildygottlieb.com/2007/10/16/community-engagement-gardening-in-the-front-yard/#comment-2322 Hildy Thu, 25 Oct 2007 15:56:17 +0000 http://hildygottlieb.com/2007/10/16/community-engagement-gardening-in-the-front-yard/#comment-2322 I am laughing, Bonnie, because my thought upon reading your comments was, "Bonnie is always so thoughtful about things!" Imagine the fun of our doing a presentation together one of these days! We are in California right now, doing workshops with (of all ironies) the various local and regional Fire Safe Councils. And the theme in every one of these sessions, generated by the participants themselves, has repeatedly come back to a need for more engaged communities. Your thoughts, combined with theirs, has led me to pen a few more posts on the subject, including the 11 Ways to "do" such engagement (coming up soon!). It does indeed require that we think differently. But as the Buddha said, "We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we create the world." HG I am laughing, Bonnie, because my thought upon reading your comments was, “Bonnie is always so thoughtful about things!” Imagine the fun of our doing a presentation together one of these days!

We are in California right now, doing workshops with (of all ironies) the various local and regional Fire Safe Councils. And the theme in every one of these sessions, generated by the participants themselves, has repeatedly come back to a need for more engaged communities. Your thoughts, combined with theirs, has led me to pen a few more posts on the subject, including the 11 Ways to “do” such engagement (coming up soon!).

It does indeed require that we think differently. But as the Buddha said, “We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we create the world.” HG

]]> By: Bonnie Koenig http://hildygottlieb.com/2007/10/16/community-engagement-gardening-in-the-front-yard/#comment-2321 Bonnie Koenig Thu, 25 Oct 2007 13:03:56 +0000 http://hildygottlieb.com/2007/10/16/community-engagement-gardening-in-the-front-yard/#comment-2321 Hildy - You're always thought-provoking! but this one especially made me stop and think (and prompted me to write!) about this different way of looking at how our organizations can reorient their thinking to more actively engage with their communities. Many do some of this almost systematically -for example by sending spokespeople traveling and out to speak in the community - but few think about how lots of smalll actions, that naturally introduce parts of themselves into the wider community, can make such a difference. It comes down to a change in mindset (like so many things!?)...are we comfortable quietly gardening out back (and just inviting those we choose to come visit us)? or do want to do more gardening out front (encouraging many we do not yet know to come and start a dialogue with us)?! Thanks for sharing this story! Bonnie Koenig Hildy -

You’re always thought-provoking! but this one especially made me stop and think (and prompted me to write!) about this different way of looking at how our organizations can reorient their thinking to more actively engage with their communities. Many do some of this almost systematically -for example by sending spokespeople traveling and out to speak in the community - but few think about how lots of smalll actions, that naturally introduce parts of themselves into the wider community, can make such a difference. It comes down to a change in mindset (like so many things!?)…are we comfortable quietly gardening out back (and just inviting those we choose to come visit us)? or do want to do more gardening out front (encouraging many we do not yet know to come and start a dialogue with us)?! Thanks for sharing this story!

Bonnie Koenig

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