Before I start this off, I need to say something about my last post. The very last paragraph was misleading. It seemed to show that I am actually the sole provider of Franklin's lunch, clean clothes and general well being. This is not true. In fact, when assignment deadlines loom before me, I can rely on D to take up the slack in the parenting department. He is the main maker of meals in the house - breakfast, lunch and dinner. He's also the one who has been doing the laundry lately as well (granted, I still re-fold every towel he folds. Otherwise, we'd only have space in the linen cabinet for three towels). In fact, as far as partners go, D is the grand master in my eyes. Even during our 9-hour car ride home when Franklin was only what you could describe as "giddy and fanatic", he was cracking jokes and making me laugh.

So, everyone raise his or her glass/coffee/beaker to D.

Okay, back to my insignificant ramblings...

There are people across the way from us who have prime gardening space. This is what it looks like right now:

I have asked permission from half of the space to garden and I suspect that the other half will not care what happens to it either. Things are getting a little late but I figure we can still turn over the soil and plant something nutritious for the earth. Wouldn't be nice for it to look like this?

I'm such a dreamer.

Looking at this unused space reminds me of purple pen's analysis of parenting as a reflection of your gardening habits. I understand that most of what she's saying is with her tongue firmly in her cheek, but it reminds me of how powerful gardening can be for people who have no prior experience of a nurturing environment.

The Lifecycles board I used to belong to, and felt inadequately prepared for, has an extremely good program for teaching children to grow their own gardens at school. I so much wanted to be apart of this. They so much wanted someone else to be apart of this - someone with clout and connections I suspect. Unfortunately, clout and connections are not I.
I bowed out somewhat awkwardly and now I wish to at least volunteer. However, their volunteer support is dismal. In fact, a year before I became a board member, I applied to volunteer three times and no one got back to me. Yet, I'll try again.

Funny enough, speaking about volunteering.... I'm currently researching for a paper on identifying and developing strategic issues for volunteering in Canada. I'm looking at how to increase the number of volunteers and volunteer hours by 10% over the next three years and how to minimize the barriers preventing individuals from volunteering. The basis on the paper is the "Environmental Scan on Volunteering and Improving Volunteering" by the Canadian Centre for Philanthropy in 2001.

If anyone has ides or experience in this matter - or have something to say about their volunteering experiences, email me! I'd absolutely love to hear what you have to say!