Filed under: Random musing / rants
Hello, it’s been a while, so will probably go backwards whist I remember what’s actually been going on. Just got back from a wee break on Eigg and Muck. A nice pause for reflection. There’s more on this at Josiah’s blog if you want to know about these lovely wee Isles. It was interesting to visit a community that you know where it begins and ends, like the 26 people that live on that Island. Living in a city like Edinburgh it’s so difficult to know what your community is, if you have one, I often wonder if I do. Are you my community? Whilst away we were reading a book by Alastair McIntosh called Rekindling Community. It has a check list for building community, these include:
- Turn of your tv
- Look up when you’re walking
- Garden together
- Have pot lucks
- Start a tradition
- Learn from new and uncomfortable angles
- Share your skills
The list is way longer but you get the idea. Start a tradition is my favourite, but I’m still trying to think of a tradition worth making. They are all things that are good to do, the idea that these days we need a checklist is a little depressing, but it comes from the fact that we no longer have a common understanding of what community is and how we should behave in one.
I’m not sure where I’m going with this so I’ll stop, I’m a little scared that I’m supposed to be a community gardener and I’m pretty much a community virgin. We try to build community at GMM, and me particularly at the herb garden, doing a lot of the sort of things found on Ali Mac’s check list. Sometimes I think I see glimpes of it, but it feels far away still.
I also learnt a new skill whilst on Muck, to make a rug on a peg loom. Mine was made from mainly wool from a black sheep and two stripes of a white sheep. It’s very easy but looks pretty good, you don’t need to card or spin the wool, just tease it straight from the sheep. When I find the relevant cable I’ll put a picture on here but it’s still in a box! I’m ready to share this skill if any of you want to make such a rug, all we need is a peg loom and a sheep fleece!
I also went around to a complete strangers house and was invited in for tea, the first time this has happened to me in Scotland I think. The lady who ran our b and b told me to go around as she was interested in herbs, we sat chatting for about an hour in her kitchen, towards the end of this I remembered to talk about herbs…
