Community Garden = Bundle of Sticks

What does a bundle of sticks have to do with a community garden?

Let’s step back a bit, and I will explain.

Last year, my youngest son came home with a short play script from an Open Circle meeting he attended in Mrs. Sherlock’s kindergarten class at Oak Street Elementary School.

The play was titled A Bundle of Sticks.   It was about a man and his 4 sons and a problem they were having (fighting amongst each other) and how a solution brought them together.

Read it for yourself:

(click to enlarge)

That paper from school did not go in the read/recycle box at home.  It went into my raggedy community garden binder, a collection of dreams and lists and examples of community gardens that had yet to be shared with anyone. 

My takeaway was that the bundle of sticks could represent any Big Problem for any project.  It was not about arguing; it was inspiration about solution-finding. That one person could not possibly break a bundle of sticks alone.

One day in May of last year, after having finally connected with a group of folks who had future community garden dreams as well, I re-opened my folder and saw the play.

What we had here was a really, really big bundle of sticks.  A full truckload of sticks.  How could we possibly make a real community garden? Even more, get one done in less than a year? Where in the heck would we even begin?

By giving out that truckload of sticks.

One twig at a time.

to everyone and anyone who extended an open hand.

And then everyone broke their stick,

(or stick after stick after stick)

Until that Huge load of sticks

Turned into a pile of broken sticks

Which, in turn, became

This:

Thank You to Everyone who broke sticks with us, or for us.  

Look what you have helped create:

 

What’s your particular bundle of sticks?

For more information on Open Circle:  http://www.open-circle.org/about_us/schools.html