Creating Community - The Permaculture Commons

Drop in and join us for coffee and community, every Monday morning from 9-11, at the Ypsi Food Coop cafe. Feel free to show up, look for the permaculture book on the table and/or ask anyone who's gathered if they are part of the permaculture group! These gatherings tend to include a few "regulars" every week who will welcome you at the table, and often a few newcomers. If no one has gathered there yet, feel free to sit with a coffee and hang tight, someone should come connect with you soon! There's parking in the back of the building if you need it.

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What is our idea behind building a “commons” in permaculture? Well, we suspect that one of the main barriers to building meaningful community around shared values is the loss of simple and accessible common spaces. The need to constantly organize, schedule, host, and plan an agenda or educational event means that the cost to even begin to engage is somewhat high. Often the labor involved falls to a few individuals, which isn’t really sustainable in the long run. We need a better social design to help decrease the barriers to connection with others. We plan to engage with this issue in the following ways:
· Simplicity! This gathering has no agenda other than to be a relaxed and low pressure way to get to know each other better and connect around our common interests. Just show up!
· Rhythm. We think that having something like this happen on a weekly basis will mean we can plug in more often without the logistical overhead. It also gives us a chance to more naturally build friendships with folks who show up week after week!
· Self-organizing/Collective Ownership. We can all bring our individual offerings to a space like this! Part of this design is to encourage collaboration and personal leadership. Feel empowered to bring your thoughts and ideas, books you are reading, whatever feels alive in you! There can be many opportunities for spinning off and developing meaningful projects and initiatives.
· Small-scale and Replicable. If this experiment builds social momentum for us, it can easily be propagated into other spaces and times! This is not meant to meet all the needs for connection but can be a model for us going forward.

We look forward to seeing you there!