Harvest is still growing strong at the Common Ground gardens. We have lettuce and tomatoes and potatoes and…you guessed it, PUMPKINS!  Seven different kinds to be exact.

Even as the weather turns cold, the fall harvest is bountiful. Enjoy these last few weeks of fall with fresh vegetables from Common Ground. Come on by and fill you bag, or basket, or trunk with garden fresh veggies!

As the growing season nears an end, and preparations begin for the next round of training and growing, I find myself pondering the idea, the human right, called dignity. This may become a series, because so much comes up when we really think about dignity.

One of Websters definitions of dignity is  “the quality of being worthy of esteem or respect.” When I think of the word dignity, the definition that forms is “the honor of personhood.” When people stop being individuals and simply become objects, whether it’s objects to abuse, or objects that compel compassion, their personhood and therefore their dignity is violated and sometimes destroyed.

Honoring a person’s dignity is seeing that person as individual of value and worth; someone who brings something unique and priceless to the world and to our lives. When a person’s value is honored, they can flourish and thrive. But, when a person is treated as having little or no value, hope, initiative, dreams, and personhood begin to fade and eventually disappear.

We have choices. I love that! We can choose to look at every person that crosses our paths as people of infinite, intrinsic value. That  simple choice on our part may make the difference between hope and despair for the individual we see. Or we can choose to not see at all, and allow the nameless faces in our lives to become objects we pass each day, with no meaning to our lives. What a loss that would be.

How does this apply to Common Ground? There are more than a hundred people involved with Common Ground in one way or another. What a great place to engage dignity! What a great place to practice seeing the unmatched value in each individual. What a great place to GROW!

Here’s to honoring dignity.

It’s great for Common Ground to help our trainees learn job skills that are recognized in the U.S., navigate the employment maze and simply converse in our unique American form of English. We are fairly driven by the longing to help those with the least among us become financially independent and flourish in our community.

But there is something each and every Boisean can do. We can see our international refugee population as people, as potential friends, as human beings with hidden treasure to be uncovered. Sometimes it takes a little effort to climb over the language barrier. Sometimes it takes a little patience to wade through the sea of shyness years in a refugee camp may have created. Sometimes a single kind word unlocks  the door to a beautiful new friendship.

My heart was crushed the other day when a friend, who has been enjoying a friendship with a gentle Burmese couple, shared a conversation they had. The Burmese dad, who was a pastor in his country and in the refugee camp, was explaining about day-to-day life here for them. Talking about grocery shopping, he said sadly that people seem to try not to get too close to them. “They think we are dirty,” he said sadly.  I wanted to cry.  Most people probably don’t think they are dirty, but that’s the conclusion a seasoned Burmese pastor came to. It is our natural tendency to give someone who is “different” a wide berth. But the message it sends can be discouraging.

When you hear someone speaking in a different language or see someone dressed differently, perhaps you could take a moment to give them a smile, say a cheery good morning, simply see them. Hey! maybe we should just do this with everyone…the world could use a few extra smiles these days.

It’s that time of year. Harvest parties. Pumpkin pie. Pumpkin carving contests. And boy! do we have pumpkins – big ones, little ones, reddish orange, orangish red, white yellow, knobbly green ones (although some  would call these gourds).

Gourd or pumpkin? You decide.

We’ve got the pumpkin for you. Come on down to the Common Ground garden and check out the pumpkins. And while you’re here, how about  some potatoes, a bit of lettuce, cucumbers, zuchinni and maybe a tomato or ten?

 See you soon!

  Actually, there have been many “odes” to sunflowers. Sunflowers are inspiring, encouraging, positive plants that tend to bring out the “happy poet” in folks.

The sunflowers sprouting up in the Common Ground garden seem symbolic of our refugee’s lives and what we are trying to accomplish.

Sunflowers are amazing in their potential. From a single sunflower seed comes a plant that may produce as many as 2000 more seeds.  When I talk with our trainees and the refugeess who help us in the garden (and eslewhere in the valley), I am often struck with the immense potential I see in them. It’s so easy to look at a little sunflower seed and never remember that it contains everything needed to produce a beautiful, seed-rich sunflower. All it needs is a place to sprout, a little nourishment, a little care, encouraging sunshine, and a bit of time.

That’s all refugee immigrants to the valley are asking for - a little nourishment, a place to put down roots and grow, a little care in the growing, welcome and encouragement, and a bit of time to let it all come together. They will pursue growing, if we will just help a bit.  The joy is in seeing them blossom!

There’s another interesting fact about sunflowers. They are not just one big flower.  Sunflowers are made up of  1,000 – 2,000 individual flowers joined together in a single base. Sunflowers do not exist or thrive, except in community.  The refugee understands this and you will find they are always helping each other navigate the strange path called “life in the U.S.” But more is needed. For our friends to grow and thrive, they need to be welcomed as part of our community, joined together at one base. Perhaps the base is mutual respect. Perhaps it’s a shared purpose. Perhaps it’s simply the joy of friendship.

Finally, there are a lot of beautiful varieties of sunflowers. Some are shorter; some are very tall. Some are wild and produce many small heads. Some product a single large head with thousands of seeds. They are yellow, marroon, orange. All are worthy of a chance to flourish.

We can learn a lot from sunflowers!

Community of sunflowers

Great things happen when a group comes together to serve…..people have fun, the load is lightened, and our international team is hugely encouraged.  I’m continually amazed that people would take a day from work or their families help the Common Ground crew.  And yet, Zion’s Bank proved yet again that the power of community is truly overwhelming.

We harvested a huge load of produce for the food bank, inventoried pumpkins, and worked on conversational English.  And amidst the ‘tasks getting done,’ connections and friendships were made.  Devi, as usual, taught us all things we didn’t know about the growing process and the art and science of agriculture.

Sometimes it’s nice to get away from the daily grind and get involved in something bigger–let us know when you want to get involved!

Tomatillo

You’ve seen them in the produce section. Those little, green, tomato-looking fruits in their own little jackets. But have you tasted them, or cooked with them, or explored their many uses?

Did you know that the Common Ground garden tomatillo crop is flourishing? Being culinarily challenged, I had my first tomatillo experience this week. The guys let me taste one and sent me home with a bag full of them. Yay! Now…what do I do with them?

Did you know that tomatillos are a main ingredient in salsa verde? According to my expert staff at Google, tomatillos are the verde in salsa verde. Who’d a thought it? Of course, you probably knew that! Did you know tomatillos may have been mentioned in ancient Aztec writings? You can even make marmalade from them!  Basically, you can use tomatillos is most recipes that call for tomatoes, just be aware that they have more “zing” than tomatoes and a crisper texture. Some folks like them in stew, and I actually enjoyed chomping on them raw.

Why all the enthusiasm about tomatillos? They were a new discovery for me. You may know all about  tomatillos, but maybe we’re growing something you’ve never tried before. Why not pop down to the Common Ground garden and see what you can find?  And, just for fun, take home a bag of tomatillos.

For all you tomatillo experts out there…what are your favorite recipes? We’d love for you to share them with us in the comment section.

I spent a little time talking with Devi and the guys at the garden this Tuesday. It wasn’t an easy day for me, and I went hoping to give a little encouragement, thinking…if I was feeling challenged, my friends had much more difficult situations.

DEVI

And it is true, our trainees and workers from Bhutan, Somalia, Burma and several other countries face huge challenges. Life is hard and we talked about some of  frustrations. But what touched me was the way Devi’s eyes lit up when he told me everyone from our second class of trainees is employed. He may be the master farmer, but Devi’s passion is definitely for his fellow refugees.

This is great news. It’s easy to get caught up in national and global controversies, disasters, predictions, etc. But when it all comes down to it, it’s the difference we can make for one person, one community, one nation, one planet that has the greatest impact on us all.