Posted on 20th November, 2019
I have a delightful dream. The sky is robin's egg blue and clear as far as the eye can see. The birds are singing the sun is shining. The breeze is ever so soft and warm.
In the dream, we are out for a family walk. It's Thursday evening, and we are walking to the farmers market in the center of town. I love Thursday nights. There is always live music, fresh organic produce, and vendors selling delicious food.
Call me silly but I can feel the difference in the foods I pick up at my neighborhood farmers market.
As I look around, I see the world has changed. There are more people walking and biking around than when we first moved in. Most kids walk to school. They get extra credit on volunteer hours because they volunteer to walk and reduce our traffic and pollution.
Kindergarteners began the growing of little sapling trees and these were tended to with love and studied as part of science throughout the grade school years. Each child keeps his own sapling alive from year to year throughout elementary school. Part of graduation from 5th grade is to give back to your community. As the final class project, they plant the trees they have raised. Planting them along the path of the stream through town eliminates any extra water usage. In the Fall, families have the option to purchase a tree cutting permit. Select trees will be tagged for thinning, and families have an option to cut down their own Christmas tree. All the money raised from trees goes back to our schools.
Composting is now part of the science program at schools. A lot of lunch garbage is being recycled into dirt and fertilizer.
Not everyone embraced the first neighbor to have their own beehive. More and more beekeepers cropped up among us, and now we are known for our "Honey of the Hills."
Every home has solar and collection for rainwater. Many yards are partially devoted to growing produce. My neighbor raises chickens. At first, I thought they would be noisy and messy. The cooing and clucking blends into all the other sounds of the neighborhood. Kids giggling, dogs barking, and the general buzz of the sounds of nature.
We take pride in our community and our Green way of life. It wasn't without effort and intention that this community became what it was, but you might say we came about organically!
This dream sounds like a little utopia, but then dreams are like that, aren't they? I believe you have to have a dream before it can come true. My dream is neighbors taking care of neighbors and everyone taking care of the earth. Would you like to know more about my dreams? I invite you to read my books.