Monday, March 25, 2013

Sprouting

Welcome to Wortley Food Commons, a movement sprouting up in the Old South neighbourhood of London, Ontario.

We're starting with four areas of focus. Future posts in this blog will detail our plans of action in each of these areas.

Grow.

We want to plant gardens. Big gardens, small gardens, greenhouses, gardens in backyards, gardens on boulevards and public spaces, gardens everywhere. We're excited about the innovations in food production that are happening and becoming accessible these days. Who knows what's on the horizon of local food for us....fish? bees? fruit trees?

We have a deepening sense of how disconnected our relationships are to the land and the food we consume. We're concerned with the impact of our lives on the earth and on others who inhabit this planet. We want to change this, and recognize that change begins with us.


Cook.

We want to cook together. We want to cook what we grow, but we also want to revitalize the traditional practices of communities cooking together as source of knowledge, connection, and sharing resources. Once a month, we gather to cook with as much local, organic food, as we can find. Like everything, it's a work in progress.

Share.

We want to invite others to be a part of this new thing. Whether it's sharing produce from our gardens, operating "take what you like" gardens, forming networks of gardeners, or sharing seeds, we envision a neighborhood that lives life with a greater degree of health and connectedness. We believe that sharing has the potential to transform economies and people's lives, and we're beginning by sharing our food and our table.

Learn.

Many of us are nearly new to raising our own food. We want to learn together by doing, and from the experiences and skills of people in our neighborhood. This is a journey about food, creation-care, community, and living a deeper, more connected life. We're only starting out, but we're excited about all that we'll learn along the way, and the friends who might help us.