Community-  What does it mean to you?

One of today's popular "buzz" words is community.  We use it to describe our Gatherings and people come because they want to feel a part of a community.  But what does it mean?  What does it mean to Me?

To be a part of community means to take responsibility for caring for one another. It means supporting events held by the community and working toward mutual goals.  This means supporting events with your registration and whatever fee is associated with that.

Many people throw around the word community, but what they are really interested in is themselves.  "I'd support your event but it is too expensive," " Are there scholarships or volunteer opportunities."   In other words, "I would like to come if I can get in free."

But where is the community in that?

At the Mother Earth Gatherings' events we are working to build community.  We truly want people to take ownership and help support the efforts to build community!  We want to build lasting friendships and become good stewards of the land. We want to feel a deep connection to each other and Mother Nature.

For the past 20 years we have held Gatherings of one sort or another to create a family of friends!  We have tried to nurture our relationship with each other and build a base of support in order to purchase land and create a living community on the land that models a sustainable way of living. (Most of us can agree that our American Culture is superficial and not sustainable for much longer.  In fact many sense the impending struggle of our economy and culture which exhibits a very pronounced detatchment from community and Mother Nature.)

Much of our effort to build community has met with little success. We have had fun- don't get me wrong- but we have not developed the core group that works to sustain the community.

My son suggested to me, "Dad, why don't you buy the land first and then build the community on the land."  Honestly, if I had followed his advice 20 years ago we would have our community acreage and a living sustainable community by now.

So My wife Cris and I are going to work toward buying that farm and continue our efforts to build a sustainable community. We have never lost the vision of what we are trying to do. We have learned many ways not to do it! We have benefitted from our experiences and will carry what we learned forward. We hope many of you will join us in our effort to build this community!

TO us "community" is not a buzz word. It is an extension of who we are and we are willing to give our lives supporting it!  We hope to join with likeminded people and nurture our dream into a reality!

In the meantime we will continue to hold Gatherings At Silver Falls State Park.  The Family and Friends Campout has always been held during the 3rd full weekend in July. This year it is July 15th-17th (2011).

We hope to see you there!

Bob LaDu