Experience Community Through Urban Farming

The ‘Books to Action’ series co-facilitated by Life by Design NW partners Multnomah County Library and Hands On Greater Portland creates a unique opportunity to engage both body and mind in a community service project related to intriguing book topics. A spirited group of volunteers recently spent time working on an urban farm after reading a book about the breakdown and revival of the American community.

The power of one man’s vision turned his father’s 16-acre dairy farm in Southeast Portland into an amazing community resource. Today, Zenger Farm is a working urban farm and a center for environmental education and community events. This is exactly the ‘revival of community’ that Robert D. Putnam calls for in his book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. Putnam presents in great detail how we have become increasingly disconnected from family, friends, neighbors, and even our democratic structures. Imagine: Americans are even bowling alone!

The antidote to this social meltdown, writes Putnam, is cultivating the bonds that bring us together in shared purpose to serve our communities and the land on which we live. He calls on America to reinvent itself in a civic sense. Portland leads the way with innovative opportunities to create connection, community and a sustainable way of life.

Inspired to directly experience the power of creating connections while serving the community, members of the Books to Action group spent several afternoons digging at Zenger Farm and next-door Tideman Johnson Park, projects organized through the Boomer Initiative at Hands On Greater Portland. These projects support Zenger’s legacy of involving community members in the environmental stewardship of the land. Check our calendar or contact us for current Books to Action events.