This is a really nice activity to do in your neighbourhood. One person or a group of people can decide they want to hold a regular event for the community, either in a shared space, in an urban garden or in their own garden. Everybody brings along some food and drink to share, in this way all the people make a contribution.
It becomes an opportunity to get together, exchange gardening experiences and get to know each other better. It can also be an opportunity for new people to become involved with the communal space. It can be as simple or as extravagant as you like. Why not have some cooking demonstration or show a film about gardening.
Go for it!
Objectives
To bring the neighbourhood closer together, to talk about gardening and exchange experiences, to talk about subsistence.
Facilitating communication between the garden and its neighbours, eventually working through any areas of conflict and integrating the garden into the life of the district.
Materials
- A suitable space
- Posters for advertising
- One or more tables
- Some chairs
- Maybe some cooking equipment
Implementation
- Have a suitable space in mind.
- Decide what you want to do for the event.
- Clearly define your “target participant” and advertise well in advance of the event – think about key persons to pass on the information in your area (for example shops, social centre or other local organizations, if you want to attract people who do not usually come to the garden). Create a poster and put it up in your chosen locations, if you know people on email, use that too to pass the information on.
- Provide some drinks and some “lite-bites”.
- Provide rubbish bins (think about selective recycling, composting, reduction of waste. It is important to give really clear and obvious instructions for everybody to participate in the correct way).
- Clear up afterward.
Evaluation
Have a discussion afterwards about how the event went. Could anything be improved? Are there any other activities you would like to hold as part of the brunch?
Consider the number of people participating and obtaining informal feedback from them; think about how people might “stay in touch” with the garden afterward so they can participate if the event is repeated.
Tips
- Try it in different urban spaces or gardens.
- Make sure you have everything prepared in plenty of time.
- Make sure your advertising is well done, in the right places and enough time in advance.
- If you are in a cold country, how about having a brazier to warm people up.
- Provide shelter from the rain!
- Try to link the brunch to a gardening activity, so that the participants can see the garden in its real daily life, in this way the event may be better attended.
