Monday evening I had the deep pleasure of attending the kick off potluck for Headwaters Farms’ 2023 community garden. Led by Linda and Tony Armstrong, we 20 or so folks piled serving plates and bowls on the counter, pressed nametags on our chests, and got down to the business of meeting the folks we would call our gardening community this spring-summer-fall. About half were returning members, several of us were newbies. We spent nearly three hours together learning about one another’s dogs, family heritage, who had moved from where how many years ago, how we knew Headwaters, and what had drawn us to sign up for this community garden adventure.
A community garden is as close to the perfect activity as I can think of. For one, having a reason to gather besides just chatting over drinks builds relationships and makes one want to come back week after week. This is also part of why I love playing team sports and singing in a choir. Also, I love to garden for a few months each year, and then I get really bored and don’t want to do it anymore. A community garden with a weekly commitment will keep me coming back and will make the job much more fun than when I’m kneeling in my own garden all alone picking weeds in the scorching sun.
Other reasons I’m looking forward to this community garden:
I’ve got lots to learn and I am not a fan of trial and error. I would make a terrible scientist, as I can’t stand wasting money and time on projects that may not succeed. This also makes me an overly-cautious gluten free baker, because I’m not willing to buy expensive ingredients to test and alter recipes that have at least a 50% chance of failure.
I love having dirt under my fingernails, and bringing fresh green onions and arugula and tomatoes and basil into the house. I love the feeling of full body fatigue after a few hours of hard work.
And I am a normal, lazy human being who shrinks away from the scorching heat of mid-July, who gets bored and makes other plans, who doesn’t want to weed all by myself, and who doesn’t know what to do with half the vegetables that come home in a CSA box. The community garden will push me to do it anyway, which I know from experience is always the best thing for it, and I’ll only take home the vegetables I want so I know they will get used and appreciated.
Plus, isn’t there something delicious about a mid-March evening spent talking about summer?!?
Upcoming Workshop
Songwriting Workshop: All about song structure
for beginners and those with some experience
Mon Apr 17, 6:30-8:30pm
Cold Springs Hall
Registration $40
From a past workshop participant:
”Thanks for the workshop. I had fun and learned a lot. The time flew by.
Even though I've written quite a few songs and played out a few time in bars and open mics, your workshop opened my eyes to new ways of approaching songwriting.”
This workshop is 75% sold out! Reply to this email with questions or to register.
Featured Song - World’s Strongest Man
This song came out just over a year ago, and to celebrate the anniversary I created a lyric video using Janita Wiersma’s original artwork as the background.
When I wrote my debut EP, In Spite of Everything, I asked Janita to create a piece of art for every song on the album. It was one of those moments of deciding to create what and how I liked and not worry about whether other people would get it. It might be the artistic decision I’m most proud of in my life, because it is full of beauty and meaning, and brings me so much joy.
Some of the other art pieces can be seen at shannonlinton.bandcamp.com (when you click on the individual song you’ll see the album art). All of the artwork can be found in the lyric and art book I created with Janita’s art matched to the lyrics of the songs that inspired them. The book is also available on my Bandcamp site and at any of my live shows.
xo
Shannon
Hi there,
Again, you've written an enlivening piece about an ordinary spring activity. Lovely, reassuring and inspirational.
You rock!