I Thought That's What I Was Doing

As many of you know, I’ve been greatly inspired by my StumblePal Rodney‘s attempts to green his community and provide free food for its citizens. So inspired that I thought I’d try something similar in my own ‘hood.

There’s an acre of land directly across from my apartment (I can see it through the tomato plants growing on my windowsill) owned by a local development company. Twice in the 9 years I’ve lived here, it’s been bulldozed with the intention of building a small condominium, and twice those plans have been abandoned. They’re paying almost $1.5 million a year in taxes for it to sit vacant.

I approached them with a proposal to let me garden it. I outlined my intention to develop my gardening skills, share the bounty with my neighbours, and leave the site as I found it. As I’ve been depressingly underemployed since the current economic woes began, I’ve been crossing my fingers that this would be something to give me a lift.

I needn’t have bothered. The guy answering the phone made it clear he thought this was a waste of his time, and was quick to reject the idea, muttering something about “liability issues”.

I called back, happily offering to sign waivers, agreements, whatever he wanted to make them feel comfortable.

(Deep sigh) “You’re unemployed right now?”

“Yes.”

(Dismissive tone) “You gotta find something to do.”

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