I was reminded on Friday why it’s important to take time for community. My friend Holly (in the photo above) often hosts potlucks at her house, AKA “The Franklin Farm,” on Fridays. Vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, and local are encouraged. In short, it’s a place where foodies and hippies can relax and enjoy good food. It’s usually an eclectic mix of people, and you never know who’s going to show up.
Lest you be misled by the term “Franklin Farm,” I should mention that Holly doesn’t live in the country. She and her husband Massi (below) intentionally chose to live in the city, in a neighborhood that is one of the poorest in Grand Rapids.
From her website:
the franklin farm is an intentional community in grand rapids, michigan on “the eights.” there are two homes (four apartments). we are looking for not-necessarily like-minded individuals. however, if you’d like to join us here are some thoughts:
1)we live in our low-income community for a reason. those reasons vary, but wanting to actively love the neighborhood is necessary.
2)we are passionate about passionate people. we’re looking for folks we can learn from, grow with, support. passions such as poverty and equity, social justice, environmental sustainability, local economy, and community development (and all the subsets thereof) would probably fit well at the farm.
3)we are called the franklin farm because we believe (among many other things we refuse to lose faith in) that local economy, sustainability, and really good food are an important and joy-giving part of life. we’re doing a little experiment here in our urban context, and will be turning all our lawn into a gorgeous abundance of food-producing plants, trees, and bushes (and probably a lot of weeds along the way). if you are interested in growing, storing, creating, or eating homemade foods, we’ll probably get along really well.
the franklin farm is not, unlike some intentional communities, a big house with everyone sharing one bathroom and one kitchen. we each have our own spaces, but we get together to share a meal once a week and we spend lots of “porch time” together. this summer, we’ve turned our yard into garden, as a way to become more sustainable and be able to feed ourselves well in the process. you don’t have to be a farmer or a gardener to join us, but if you do enjoy such pursuits, we’d be happy to have you come along for the ride!
Guess what, they DO have an opening! Check out the Franklin Farm website for details if you’d like to live there, and participate in feasts like this:
If you can’t cook, you can always pick something up at the Wealthy Street Bakery:
And also take in some of Holly’s artwork.
I have to admit, though, I don’t get to Potluck Fridays as often as I’d like. I’m usually too tired after working all week and just want to go home and veg. I’m always glad when I DO go, though. She’s inspired me and I’m going to try to convince DH to let me turn our unused front living room into a dining room so that we can have potlucks and dinner parties of our own.
How about you? Do you have potlucks or dinner parties with friends?
Yes, we do, as a matter of fact!
Tonight we are having some of our dearest friends over for Shrimp Pad Thai and homemade baked eggrolls. Dessert will be some kind of rhubarb crisp. I LOVE to entertain and most of the time it is a potluck sort of gathering.
Tonight tho, our guests only have to bring the wine!
Didn’t spot you at the Fulton Mkt this morning! We were there by 10 and out by 11. LOVED IT!!!!!
I love bring-and-share meals; in fact I’m having a picnic like that on Tuesday. It’s always great fun and you get to share the workload a bit.
wendy! thanks! here’s hoping your little “plug” brings some great folks our way!
it was good to have you for potluck friday-i haven’t been having them as often as i’d like recently either, but hopefully we’re back on track now…
We turned our front room into a dining room, too, with an 8 person square table. I love it! Come over and check it out sometime. We enjoy sharing meals with friends but don’t do it nearly often enough.