Open Space for a Community Supported Agriculture project

[Wendy Farmer-O'Neil]

Hi Jamie,

Just a word of encouragement and a story to support big dreams.  I  
opened space on my little island for a related dream.  A group of  
folks had a chance to buy 26 acres on which they wanted to create a  
community commons.  There had been a lot of informal meetings and some  
structured facilitation, but nothing had really ignited it to the  
point that needed to happen in order to produce the land use documents  
needed to get approval from local gov.  I offered to help with an OS  
event.  They went for it and we opened space for about 60 people over  
3 days.  I had a volunteer civil engineer (who wanted to get trained  
in OS, so nice trade) to help with the mapping aspects and support  
folks understanding of how various features might work together.  By  
the end of the time, they had a solid plan, an actual map that could  
go to the government for approval, had identified community leadership  
for all major projects--and--wonder of wonders--no insurmountable  
conflicts!  You have to understand that, like many small places, my  
island has many longstanding feuds along with more recent hurts and  
challenges.  Folks were amazed at how many of these found some healing  
during the OS and how others were not an impediment to collaboration  
and progress within the open space.

That was four years ago.  Now we have a thriving commons that is  
steadily becoming the centre of community life here.  The core group  
has managed to move through numerous legal and financial challenges to  
the point where the governance and maintenance of the commons is truly  
held by the commons.

In other words, business as usual for open space.

Set your sights high, Jamie.  Magic happens.  Keep breathing, trust  
who's there, and remember it's not about you ;).

Blessings,
Wendy

On 27-Jul-10, at 1:16 PM, Jamie Colston wrote:

> Hi Everyone,
>
> I am running a open space on the Sunday 15th August in Bath and  
> require some help. This will be the first open space I would have  
> run having only done a full day workshop on it. I feel happy being  
> able to hold a space and winging it to a certain extent and would  
> really appreciate some support in the guise of a co facilitator if  
> anyone is near Bath or feels like this is something they could help  
> me with. The project is a CSA and Transition Bath have just secured  
> a year memorandum of understanding for a 6.5 acre piece of land on  
> which to build community around this project with the aim of a long  
> lease on low rent if it works. My aim is to see what is there in the  
> community on the day and where it could go.
> My details are below so please feel free to give me any tips or  
> offers of support.
> Many thanks
>
> Jamie x
>
> Jamie Colston
> Building a sustainable future through inspiration and action
>
> H: 01225 851377  M: 07909 442006 E: jamiecolston at gmail.com
> FB/Linked In/Skype: Jamie Colston  Twitter: spearthwarrior
> Blog: http://inserviceforsocialchange.wordpress.com/
>
> Critical Mass Ride Saturday 26th June, (the last Saturday of every  
> month), 1pm, Kingsmead Square
>
> Transition Bathford www.transitionbathford.ning.com
>
> A member of Transition Bath www.transitionbath.org
>
>
> * * ========================================================== OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU 
>  ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change  
> your options, view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html 
>  To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist

Wendy Farmer-O'Neil
CEO Prospera Consulting
wendy at xe.net
1-800-713-2351

The moment of change is the only poem. -- Adrienne Rich





*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20100728/9b3785a5/attachment-0016.htm>