On Being Dragged into Community

I keep telling my friends I am a reclusive hermit, and they keep laughing their heads off. I do suppose that being surrounded by rabid gardeners does make it pretty difficult to separate myself back out of the matrix. What do you do with a gang of giddy folk who feel the world is abundant and that everything must be shared? Kick them out? Tell them to stay home? No matter how hard I try to be a grouchy loner, I keep spotting someone heading up my driveway with a suspicious bag under their arm. The Sunshine Coast is still a pretty isolated area. When they unplug the ferry at night, we are all trapped here together, doing the best we can with the community we have. I’d say we do a damn good job. My home is in Roberts Creek, where many of the best lunatic garden nuts live, and I think we have reached a pinnacle of material and not-so-material wealth juggling. Tools, potato tubers, seeds and canning jars make a jagged but tenacious path from home to home. Skills and knowledge float overtop of that in a hazy circle, dropping gently onto the unsuspecting when they really need it.

My cupboards contain Erin’s jam and Alain’s garlic. Janet’s carrot salad is almost used up in my fridge. The woman who does my income tax threw in two free buckets of chicken manure. Harry, Adrian and Judy have all donated apple trees. Val is going to teach me how to pressure can some halibut on the weekend and Robert is coming over to help me weed. How is a woman supposed to stay reclusive in a town like this? Arhhhhh! The horror! The horror!

And as my garden assets have bred themselves into insane abundance, I have been more and more able to begin throwing a few things of my own into the mix. Surely I can part with a few strawberry plants. And do I really need 57 raspberry bushes? I am slowly prying my worried fingers off of the little green assets and pushing them into the world, and as I do so, to my surprise, some quantum type thing happens where it all multiplies and flings itself out one hundred fold.

Of course, I don’t want this to soften me up. This sharing and caring stuff gets a bit heady on a hot day. You almost have to hide behind the curtains to keep from getting free stuff on you. Oh wait. I think that’s Janet coming up the driveway with some beans. Gotta go.

From Hermit to Community Member - A Primer

1. Start at the beginning. Next time you wonder if you should lend that book to the new guy at work … well, you should.
2. Start at the back. Begin your giving with that senior down the street who won’t remember who you are. The neighbour you are trying to impress can wait.
3. Practice is a very good thing.
4. Remember that if "war" is someone wanting all the power/oil/land for themselves, then "peace" must be the state of wanting others to share in what we have.
5. Remember that if everyone in your community had equal access to food and skills, there would be fewer boogeymen out in the night wanting your stuff.
6. Don’t worry about running out of assets if you give them away. Some weird thing is going on out there. You will still have enough.
7. Don’t forget that time is a sharable asset.
8. Ideas and emotional support are renewable resources and cannot be used up.
9. Remember that community begins exactly and precisely where you are sitting right now.
10. Receive from others happily and enthusiastically.

Try your new skills out on the Sunshine Coast. We’re pretty receptive to this kind of thing. And when you’re here, please smile gently at all those folks you are passing on the street – they might be my lovely buddies (check for the bags under the arms!).

Tips for Visiting the Sunshine Coast:

We just love out-of-town company here on the Sunshine Coast, right up to about the 87th one. Then we might get a bit cranky. Our guests could make our lives easier by observing the following:

• Some homes you stay at may have shallow wells and other water issues. Check with your host before assuming you can shower every day or do a laundry at will. Some of us even take our own clothes to the Laundromat when the well gets low. Be aware, ask questions, and shower before you get here. By the way, this is a good awareness to live with. Water actually can just run out!
• Although inconceivable to some city dwellers, some of us "Coasters" have to make special trips to collect our weekly drinking water. Fill up your water bottle while you are out on day trips instead of assuming your host wants to "water" one more thirsty being.
• If you can fit one on your bike, bring a sleeping bag along. Hosts get tired of washing bedding every time the revolving door swings around. And it takes up precious well water, too!
• You are another mouth in a busy summer. Offer to bring food and to help with meals and you will become immensely popular. I just know this. I also know that inviting your host out for a meal will move you up to the "A" list. Quickly.
• And if you have a bunch of weird food allergies, please help us out by either warning us early, or bringing your own special foods.
• We have busy lives that run all through summer and we can’t stop and play with you all the time!! Please love us anyway. Mop our brows. Peel us a grape. Thank you.
• As my own precious friends know, helping with daily drudgery is another fabulous way to get popular. We get really tired of those quaint chores like splitting wood and picking peas. We love your help.