June 2010 Archives

I had a short, but good conversation with a local chef the other night at a party. I jokingly asked him when he's going to start a restaurant in Three Rivers, which I'm sure he gets a lot. Turns out, it's his dream (in retirement?) to start a free restaurant: customers will enjoy healthy, expertly prepared food in a beautiful setting and pay what they can. Turns out he's also considered Huss as a location. "This is exactly the kind of project we want to see happening there," I told Rob. It's so ridiculous, it just might work--which seems to be a running theme.

So during our board meeting last Friday, when board members scattered throughout the school to read and reflect and pray, I ended up in the room where we've imagined a community kitchen. I could hear dogs barking through the broken windows and an occasional "ploop" as water dripped through the roof and into a plastic bin. A red and black sign on the window reads PEEK TUO to me, but to those who "should" be on the outside, KEEP OUT. I long for the day a sign can sincerely say, PLEASE COME IN. Sitting on the formica-topped desk that is the detritus of an institution that no longer serves this neighborhood directly, under a roof that's determined to sag in all the wrong places, that day feels very far away. And yet, it doesn't feel impossible. A sink in the corner reminds me that this room was once alive, with a controlled flow of water--that substance that is such a critical source of life.

In this room, hope is being able to peel the paper off the windows because we want people to see what's inside. Hope is a rooftop greenhouse where children and adults alike can learn how to grow fresh food year round and be nourished by the fruits of their labor. Hope is a vision of abundance for those in this neighborhood who rarely set foot in a kitchen because there's simply no food there to cook, much less eat. Hope is a multi-colored image of people from various economic backgrounds sharing conversations over a meal that satisfies all five senses. Hope is as small as a drip of water that, beyond our efforts can become a rushing stream...and hopefully, it won't be coming through a hole in the roof.

God help us.

Each June, the Three Rivers Area Chamber of Commerce sponsors the Water Festival, a three-day event with carnival rides, live music, fireworks, crafts, children's events and SO much more. This year, for the first time, *cino had a presence with the non-profit booths to publicize what's happening at Huss School, including the community garden. The garden folks put together an amazing display, including huge stand-up veggies and some of their very own monstrous radishes that everyone kept mistaking for beets!

Rob, Paul and I had a good time hanging out in the park for a couple of days introducing people to the vision for the old school. One thing Paul found interesting as he talked with folks at the booth is that everyone knows where Huss School is, which affirms what a landmark building we've inherited. We acknowledge that the task of stewarding an historic building with so much community memory invested in it is a special task indeed, requiring a lot of care and community involvement.

We also witnessed some of the negativity that has plagued the second district neighborhoods--too many people simply have no hope for the place and were surprised when, for example, we said we hadn't had any vandalism to the community garden yet. We look forward to inspiring imaginations to the contrary!

One of our projects for this spring and summer has been figuring out how to convert a portion of the four-acre property around Huss back to wild space. We've tried to delineate the area with clear boundaries so that our neighbors won't just think we're neglecting the land, but even then, we're still getting some quizzical looks: so you're not going to mow it?

Well, we are mowing a portion of it. We have a path that goes around the entire back property for walking, an area carved out for a fire pit and a large lawn in the back corner for softball, soccer and other activities. We're also mowing the front yard and around the community garden.

But there are many advantages to letting a portion of the property go wild, including...

• Creating a habitat that's friendly to small animals, birds and insects (including butterflies!).


• Using less fossil fuel and time to maintain an area that wouldn't get adequate use as a lawn.


• Cultivating a beautiful space with visual diversity full of wild flowers, grasses and trees.


• Reducing erosion and runoff from the property with plants that have adequate root systems to absorb rain water, improving water and soil quality.


• Improving our link to the past at an historic property that would have been oak and hickory prairie centuries ago.


• Establishing an outdoor classroom where people can learn about native plants, including edible species.


• Accessing grant programs that support native plant projects and education.

We realize we'll need to be intentional about communicating our intentions in a culture where trimmed lawns are the norm, but we look forward to building relationships around innovative possibilities for a neighborhood that straddles rural and urban environments. We also look forward to the unique teaching space such a landscape will create, helping us all learn how to better care for and appreciate our native environment in an area so rich with beautiful plants and waterways.

Resources for Michigan native plants:

• Michigan State University Native Plants project


• Native Plant Species and a Landowner's Guide from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment


• Michigan Native Plants Database from the Native Plant Nursery in Ann Arbor


• Wildflower Association of Michigan

As we work to turn the rectory where our *cino interns are living into a space of hospitality for them and for other volunteers who come to Three Rivers overnight, we're finding there are some items we could use, which are listed below. Please get in touch if there's anything you might be able to contribute.

We're very excited about the potential for the house and the community that grows there to be the seed of what is to come in the residential space at Huss School. And we're thankful to the folks at Trinity Episcopal Church for making it possible!

KITCHEN
Dish pan
Serving dishes
9 x 13 pans
Cookie sheets
Colander
Drinking glasses
Ball jars
Mixing bowls

BED & BATH
Pillows
Bath towels
Hand towels
Wash cloths
Twin size bedding

FURNITURE
Kitchen chairs
3 twin mattresses/box springs
3 twin bed frames (or bunk beds)
Living room chairs
Couch

Last week, four of our six *cino interns moved into the rectory of Trinity Episcopal Church, just a short walk down Main Street from my and Rob's apartment, and a short bike ride from Huss School.

At the moment, Johnathan is working at his paid internship with White Yarrow Farm while the rest of us are enjoying the cool early-summer breeze flowing through the VG-R aerie at 37 N. Main. Liz and Marian are collecting quotes for the daily asterisk (sign up here to receive the fruits of their labor via e-mail every week day), while Paul is getting started on grant research for the Imagining Space project. Now playing: The Middle East.

Last week was a patchwork of arrivals and re-arrivals and getting-started sorts of tasks. We...

• Moved furniture and belongings to and fro.


• Cleaned the rectory and arranged it to look like a home.


• Started to stock the rectory pantry.


• Shared our first Friday evening meal together--homemade lasagna, breadsticks, salad (picked and prepared by Johnathan), rhubarb crumble (local rhubarb with Marian's neighbor's recipe), English tea (prepared by Paul).


• Attended the Sunday service and annual workday with Trinity Episcopal.


• Chipped in at the Triple Ripple Community Garden at Huss.


• Started the training process at World Fare with Marian, Paul and Johnathan.


• Walked, biked and drove around town to become more familiar with the place.

This afternoon over lunch, we'll have our first official meeting as a staff to continue fostering a cohesive sense of purpose, building relationships with one another, communicating and assigning tasks--and of course, nourishing our bodies with fresh, local, delicious, homemade food! One of the items on our agenda will be figuring out how to document this intern experiment in a way that welcomes you, our readers out there, into the story, so stay tuned for more to come...

On May 22, 18 folks from Englewood Christian Church in Indianapolis--9 adults and 9 children--made the trek up to Three Rivers to spend a day getting to know our city and working at Huss School. Interestingly, the church finds itself in the middle of a similar project to ours, having recently taken ownership of an old school building next to their church that they are converting to 32 rental units for neighborhood housing. So, not only did we get a lot of work done around Huss School, we also learned a lot about the things Englewood has been doing to both raise funds and renovate their property. It was a great day!