We, at Hapeville, have had a very busy fortnight. Things other than Farming Bards with very strict deadlines seem to have taken over our lives. We have been pushed and pulled in different directions, have not slept, and constantly thought about Farming Bards, with this antsy feeling of not being able to do much about it gnawing at us.

Yes, we have felt guilty and over-stretched for time, until we, the program leaders, finally got a Sunday to get together and reflect on our goals. And, of course, Farming Bards came out on top, with very verdant colors. At this point, we took what we think was an important step. Instead of brooding over what we should have done, we decided to start fresh again. We made a new to-do list to mark the beginning of Spring!

Here are some of the highlights from what we are planning on doing this month:

1)     Sell saplings at our community Spring festival two weeks from now

2)     Make flyers advertising our theatre workshop

3)     Lay out the program for the opening week of our workshop

4)     Get ready for our project workshop on the national call

5)     And, most importantly make sure that we work on Farming Bards every day of the week

We would love to hear what’s going on at y’all-s end! What do you do when you get overwhelmed? How do you get back on your feet? And, more importantly how do you keep yourselves from becoming overwhelmed? We would love to listen and learn!

Hi everyone!

As February comes to close, we are getting close to planting season. Also, at the same time, our to-do list is longer than before. We are busy planning how to secure plots of land for our gardening projects, reaching out to schools and potential partners, as well as getting the nitty-gritty of our budget organized.

Amidst all this bustle, one of the key things which we picked up from our program leader, the incredible Peter Hoy, is that we have to be able to express our vision for our organization to everyone we reach out to. Now, that to us seems like a huge task! Not only do we have to be precise on point when we are doing this (Let’s face the truth: Potential partners are not always our friends from high school who would happily stay up hours listening to our ramblings), we also have to be able to reach out to community members at different age groups—kids from middle school to high school, their teachers, personnel from our partner organizations, members in our Church community, and so on. In other words, our message should be packed tight and snug in slightly different but equally attractive bottles. Continue reading →

“Some look at things that are, and ask why. I dream of things that never were and ask, ‘why not’?”

– George Bernard Shaw

Hi everyone! We are looking forward to this year. We started it off on a good foot by hosting the Grand Aspirations January Gathering for six local programs across the country here in Hapeville. We learned how other programs have been able to effectively carry out their missions, whether it was urban farming, weatherizing homes to improve energy efficiency, or revitalizing their local communities.

Two key ideas that we have been left thinking over came up in the open space designed for discussion on the last day of the gathering. One idea was the concept of cross-pollination between the programs: What would happen if we decide to visit each other over the summer and see what our fellow programs are doing? We can learn new practices, create communities across programs, and encourage each other as we take steps to change our world! Continue reading →