[OSList] Community Gardens

Sun Dec 14 12:04:52 PST 2014

hi annamarie,

in our space, we have 18 plots in one large raised bed.  plots are assigned
on first-come basis.

the previous garden leader and the guy who cut the grass in the park took 6
of the 18 plots for themselves, what seemed like the sunniest and best
plots.  the first thing i did was take no plot.  one other garden leader
takes one plot. everybody's equal, nobody gets more than one plot.

the next thing i did was set up an email group.  when people ask for a
plot, i ask them to join the list.  if they don't join, they never get the
information needed to sign up.  so i ask them to take some responsibility
for their interest right away.  it's not about a transaction that they pay
their little fee for their little plot.  they have to actually show up in
the list.

then all the info goes out on the list.  everything is done as
transparently as possible.  assignments are done on a tenure basis, first
pick to returning gardeners, then in order of joining the list.

i invite/suggest tilling the whole bet together in the spring.  my wife and
i live without a car, so i ask for somebody to pickup the rental tiller,
and volunteers come out throughout the day to take turns using it.  some
don't show, and a few guys have a lot of fun giving the whole thing second
and third coats with the powertool.  some people have perennials to be
saved, and they are responsible for getting those marked for the tillers.

through the summer, the list allows folks to ask others to water their
stuff while they go away.  ask questions about various issues, who's
stealing tomatoes, what to do about the homeless guy sleeping in the park,
is he the guy stealing tomatoes?  what about tree trimming?  or what about
the big tree that shattered in the storm, the expert says it should come
down, but can it be saved?  always my thing is putting out as much info as
i have and asking what anyone thinks, and what anyone can do to contribute.
 and yes, the shattered tree has been saved for a few years now because a
couple of people on the list jumped to do what was needed to make that
happen.

we've had conflict of sorts, at least differences of opinion/agenda over
spreading weed poison in the park where the plots are.  so that required a
fair amount of space holding on the list and in relations with my
neighbors.  the neighbors were mostly willing to chip in and buy the poison
service.  the gardeners we're willing to chip in and help dig up the
dandelions, also to do research on alternative sprays.  one gardener's
father was an ag scientiest for one of the chemical companies.  so we ended
up having a lot of good information, found an organic alternative, had to
have only one nasty treatment, and the gardeners worked to dig weeds within
the area closest to the garden bed.

mostly i ask a lot more questions and feed a lot more info into the list,
our "wall" and don't hardly ever tell anyone what they need to do.  got a
little dicey in the weeds process, when a good friend and neighbor who
lives right next to the park, and led the weed poison charge, wanted and
expected me to do just that -- tell everybody how it was going to be.  in
the end, my mailbox ends up being where organic weed treatment donations
are dropped off by neighbors and gardeners.  of course, i am also the
keeper of the neighborhood contact info directory page and the neighbors
email list.  in the garden there are a set of rules posted, as guides, but
enforcement is left to the group.

i guess i should also say that this land is held by a non-profit in chicago
that holds or leases claim to 70 or 80 green spaces.  they handle
insurance, water bills, and other admin issues and contract with a
community group (the neighborhood association, in our case) and at least
three local garden leaders.  the way i came into this is that i saw the
previous leadership running a very exclusive, controlling process and
happened to meet the director of the non-profit, who mentioned that he'd
not heard from our garden leaders for years.  i helped him reconnect, but
also helped him re-write their contract with community group and leaders,
adding a larger section for "stakeholder" signatures.  expanding the
circle, if you will.  so i went around and had this new contract signed by
lots of neighbors and had a chance to talk to a lot of folks about what
they thought of the park and the garden and the neighborhood.  then the old
leader got bothered that he'd not be in sole control, and walked out.  the
neighborhood association took a while to figure out that i wasn't the
devil, but over time that's been borne out by the work i've done to engage
everyone in an open, expanding, resilient, emerging sort of process.

for my next trick, i try to get out and go take a nap for a year, or at
least get out of some of the stuff like collecting fees, assigning plots,
inviting the tiller day to happen.  we'll see!

does that answer the question?

--

Michael Herman
Michael Herman Associates
312-280-7838 (mobile)

http://MichaelHerman.com
http://OpenSpaceWorld.org

On Sun, Dec 14, 2014 at 12:55 PM, Annamarie Pluhar <
annamarie at pluharconsulting.com> wrote:
>
> Hi! (I started to write just to Michael - but realized that others might
> find the question and answer of interest.)
>
> How does the nominal leader run the community garden in OS? Most
> particularly how does the work that needs to be done to manage the garden
> as a whole get done?
>
> I ask as secretary of a Governing Committee that came into existence when
> the original founders alienated too many people (by being arrogant and
> punitive and authoritarian) and it was decided we needed to have some
> structure and governance.
>
> 'Nuff said, interested in the answer!
>
> Peace,
> Annamarie
>
> Annamarie Pluhar
>
> Pluhar Consulting
> http://www.pluharconsulting.com
> 802.451.1941
> 802.579.5975 (cell)
>
> On 14 Dec 2014, at 11:26, Michael Herman via OSList wrote:
>
> i woke up this morning thinking about this game, thinking in a direction
> similar to paul levy.
>
> i am the nominal leader of a community garden now for four years. my
> management is deeply informed by my learning in and about open space. does
> it count as 1 or 4?
>
> i once had a client who flew me in to facilitate a meeting. we also built
> a weblog and they contacted me a number of times, over several years, with
> minor technical questions. do the meeting and the blog count as one
> together, or two separate?
>
> i taught my grandma to say "ah," as she began the active process of dying.
> she then repeated that seed syllable, a one-syllable mantra for peace, on
> every breath of her last week of life. she never opened her eyes but over
> that week completely relaxed her whole body. was that open space? what
> about up all night rocking a tiny, sick, neice?
>
> i saw some new neighbors moving in the other day. our neighborhood has a
> lot of old houses and everybody moves in and starts updating everything. i
> offered my tools and experience. if they never take me up on that
> offer/invitation, does it count? what if they just look for me at my desk
> in our front window, and wave when they see me, while out walking their
> dog? that could happen a lot. must count as only once? or maybe it
> doesn't count at all?
>
> what about three opening briefings, on three consecutive days of open space
> trainings i've done? and what about all the things that happen after an
> event, does the original opener get partial credit for things his/her
> participants open later on?
>
> to paul's point, i can ask questions like this about almost every situation
> where i facilitated a meeting in an open space way, and about many other
> situations where i was not "facilitating" anything, apparently. this is
> one of the ways i understand that we live in open space.
>
> my approach to training folks in and about open space is significantly
> focused on the crafting of invitations, in the belief that if we make
> enough invitations, over time, people, groups and good work are going to
> show up.
>
> i also focus on discovering all the different ways that whomever i'm
> "training" has already been opening space in their own lives. i don't
> think anyone could come to this work without having already done it before.
> it would be completely un-understandable to them without prior experience.
> i think people ask for training so they can do what they already know/do
> better. so i try to build on and from whatever understanding they bring.
>
> so this question of seven or more is not so easy for me. not sure it's
> even helpful. i'm more interested in questions like:
>
>    1. when did you first hear about os or ost?
>    2. what was the hook? how did you notice it might have value?
>    3. when did you notice that you'd started letting it inform how you
>    live?
>    4. what has happened since then? what difference does it seem to make?
>
> and so on. a new game? the next round? maybe. or maybe it's just the
> game Murli called OSLIST back in 1996?
>
> michael
>
> --
>
> Michael Herman
> Michael Herman Associates
> 312-280-7838 (mobile)
>
> http://MichaelHerman.com
> http://OpenSpaceWorld.org
>
> On Sun, Dec 14, 2014 at 8:47 AM, Eva P Svensson via OSList <
> oslist at lists.openspacetech.org> wrote:
>
> I have also stopped counting :-)
> But love doing it whenever it’s possible.
> :o)
> Eva
> Sweden
>
> Bästa hälsningar
>
> Eva P Svensson
>
> *EPS Human Invest AB*
> *Co owner Genuine Contact Group Inc*
> *Medlem i Beyond Performance Group*
>
>
> *"Verksamhetsutveckling genom människor skapar långsiktigt välmående
> företag och organisationer"*
>
> Anåsbergsvägen 22, 439 34 ONSALA
> Besöksadress; Norra Allégatan 8, Göteborg
> Tfn: 0300-615 05, Mobil; 0706- 89 85 50
> www.epshumaninvest.se
> Skype: eva.p.svensson
> Facebook sida: EPS Human Invest AB
> twitter:@EvaPSvensson
>
>
> *"Jag kan inte lära dig något. Allt jag kan göra är att ställa frågor till
> dig, och låta dig själv finna svaren." Sokrates*
>
> 13 dec 2014 kl. 18:05 skrev Gray via OSList <
> oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>:
>
> Um...I've facilitated, at this point, a little over 60. Smallest was 8
> people on Maui. Largest was about 375, in Chicago. Been doing it since
> 2007.
>
> And I say "um..." Because I am still learning, still figuring it out, and
> still hear Lisa Heft in my head saying "be more invisible, Gray..."
>
> —
> Sent from Mailbox https://www.dropbox.com/mailbox
>
> On Sat, Dec 13, 2014 at 10:34 AM, Daniel Mezick via OSList <
> oslist at lists.openspacetech.org> wrote:
>
> Hmmm, the the Lurker Game proved interesting.
>
> ...lots of seldom-heard-from voices! Quite a deep level of experience
> being reported!
>
> So interesting ... so much depth. Seems like something to ...
> *explore....*
>
> So: if you want, *you are cordially invited* to play ... let's call it
> the OST-7 Game:
>
> ========================================
> *The OST-7** Game*
>
> *The Goal:*
> Get a collective idea of how many people here have actually Facilitated 7
> or more OST events in their lifetime. Put another way: what is the depth of
> practical OST facilitation experience across the entire membership?
>
> *The Rules:*
> If you have Facilitated at least 7 OST events, consider replying with
> "hey" ... or optionally, with absolutely anything else you might like to
> say, for example: where you are located, last time you did one, your hair
> color, etc
>
> *Tracking Progress:*
> Watch the thread to track progress, by: # of replies, # of countries, #
> of OST events, replies per unit of time, # of people with red hair, or
> absolutely any other measures you like
>
> *Play:*
> 100% optional. Play if you like. If you've done more 7 or more and prefer
> to just watch the game, that's OK too.
>
> ========================================
>
> Notes:
>
>    - For this game, "OST" means something like this:
>    http://www.openspaceworld.com/users_guide.htm
>    - This is for Facilitating only; consider replying if you've
>    Facilitated at least 7 of these events in your lifetime.
>    - Please reply by clicking [Reply All] Or [Reply List], so the thread
>    stays together, under the same subject
>
> Steps to Play:
>
>    - Click [Reply All] Or [Reply List]
>    - Reply with "hey" or with absolutely anything else you might like to
>    say
>
> You are invited. What might happen next? Let's see...
>
> Daniel
>
> --
>
> Daniel Mezick, President
>
> New Technology Solutions Inc.
>
> (203) 915 7248 (cell)
> Bio http://newtechusa.net/dan-mezick/. Blog
> http://newtechusa.net/blog/. Twitter
> http://twitter.com/#%21/danmezick/.
> Examine my new book: The Culture Game
> http://newtechusa.net/about/the-culture-game-book/: Tools for the
> Agile Manager.
>
> Explore Agile Team Training
> http://newtechusa.net/services/agile-scrum-training/ and Coaching.
> http://newtechusa.net/services/agile-scrum-coaching/
>
> Explore the Agile Boston http://newtechusa.net//user-groups/ma/
> Community.
>
> ------------------------------
>
> OSList mailing list
> To post send emails to OSList at lists.openspacetech.org
> To unsubscribe send an email to OSList-leave at lists.openspacetech.org
> To subscribe or manage your subscription click below:
> http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
> ------------------------------
>
> OSList mailing list
> To post send emails to OSList at lists.openspacetech.org
> To unsubscribe send an email to OSList-leave at lists.openspacetech.org
> To subscribe or manage your subscription click below:
> http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
>
> ------------------------------
>
> OSList mailing list
> To post send emails to OSList at lists.openspacetech.org
> To unsubscribe send an email to OSList-leave at lists.openspacetech.org
> To subscribe or manage your subscription click below:
> http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20141214/d20821e3/attachment-0003.htm>