Let’s see now. Monday is food preservation night. Wednesday is Community Dinner. Thursday is work party plus prep for weekly CSA food distribution, Friday? Oh yeah, Friday is party night . .
We’ve deliberately steered clear of filling Tuesday evening with something as well. Despite the fact that we really need another pod meeting, given that we have two new people, Dan and Arielle, who have yet to “lead” one of the weekly Community Dinners. To that end, podmate Leah emailed this missive today, as a result of my wondering, upon return from my weekend at Oakwood Center: Who’s the lead for Wednesday’s dinner? And where is the publicity for it?
As we start up community dinners, I just wanted to make sure we’re all on the same page.
Lead is responsible for deciding the theme and communicating that both externally and internally.
We’ve learned that the lead should provide a main dish or dishes that will adequately provide for ~10-15 people or more based on any RSVPs.
The other podmates then volunteer to provide dessert, drinks, salads, and other staples and sides to round out the meal, sometimes based on specific request (lead picks out certain recipes?) and other times in accordance with a theme,and sometimes just with whatever is on hand especially during harvest.
Communication Duties for the Lead
Internally: send an email to podmates and regular attendees (i.e. Mariella and Katarina – who regularly attend and bring something), preferably the weekend before with the theme – so the rest of us can plan for our contribution and have time to shop for any ingredients.
Externally:
A. NextDoor: everyone should have access to this
B. Facebook: Green Acres page – put out public announcement the weekend before AND a reminder a day or two before. Ask someone else to do it if you don’t have Facebook.
Green Acres listserv: send typed up announcement to Ann.
Word of mouth: Invite friends, family, etc.
Logistics:
The meal is held in the house of the lead and/or on the patio.
Prep: The lead cleans the kitchen/dining area or the outdoor patio area and sets up extra chairs, silverware/plates, etc.
The lead is responsible for quality control on the cleanup afterwards. They are welcome to ask for help, but ultimately the lead is responsible for seeing the dishes are clean, floor is swept, extra chairs are put away, tables are wiped, etc.
Everyone should clean the mess they made when preparing their own contribution to the meal.
Feel overwhelmed? Ask a friend/family member/regular attendee to be your co-lead for the meal. This helps others outside Green Acres to feel that they also have ownership in our community life.
These expectations have been developed through discussion, by trial/error, and evolution.
This evening, while in the midst of food preservation, Arielle said that what she’s going to do as the lead this week is make a pot roast, and ask that others bring whatever in their family tradition feels good to them. She will email me a formal invite, which I will send out to the email list.
Here, this evening, a few photos from tonight’s preservation session with Brie, Arielle, Dan and Rebecca (and dogs, and cats, and Bearded Dragon Orin): canning tomatoes, drying squash, and I’m not sure what with the already dried herbs.
Meanwhile, Brie sports a brand new teashirt. (She works at Lennie’s Pub.)
Rebecca’s puppies Amos and Nico snooze contentedly . . .
Arielle’s bearded dragon Orin continues his meditations . . .
And puppy Shadow tries, and almost succeeds, in making himself so invisible I won’t make him come home.
