The Serviceberry and a Watermelon Porch Soirée

Today wraps up my New Legacy Lab Summer Planning and Development retreat. It felt so good to have spacious time to dive deep into some of the projects I've developing -- including the Giving Plan Cohort curriculum, our offerings, and upcoming events. I can't wait to share more with you all soon!

I began each morning of my retreat by reading a passage from "The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World" by indigenous scientist Robin Wall Kimmerer. From each morning's passage, I would write a quote in my little notebook to consider throughout my work session that day. 

The Serviceberry is about gift economies and the idea that all thriving is mutual, based on Kimmerer's learnings from The Serviceberry tree. The book imagines economies as

"a system of redistribution of wealth based on abundance and the pleasure of sharing" and that "the practice of abundance is to give it away."

There was so much to consider about how we, as people with access to wealth, can think about redistribution of wealth, abundance and reciprocity, and true safety and security. 

One of the things I love about this book is how Kimmerer also shares how we can practice this shared abundance and redistribution of resources of a gift economy in simple, everyday ways. 

So this weekend, when I a source of abundance, in the form of two enormous watermelons , entered my life on the way home from the beach, I though about  The Serviceberry tree and I'd been learning from them recently. 

My Kid and our Enormous Watermelon

Knowing my little family couldn't get through all this beautiful watermelon on our own, I planned a very last minute Watermelon Porch Soirée and emailed ALL my neighbors to come over to enjoy some of this GIANT watermelon, as a refreshing and delicious celebration of abundance! The soirée was sticky and sweet and so much fun. 

Neighbors at the Watermelon Porch Soirée

In the passage I read during my final day of the retreat, Kimmerer quotes her neighbor talking about sharing Serviceberries with her neighbors. She said:

"It's not really about altruism. An investment in community always comes back to you in someway."

I know what I shared was just watermelon. But, I am hopeful that by opening my porch, my abundance of watermelon, and my little family to our community of neighbors -- as I try to open my abundance of other resources as a person with access to wealth to resource my broader communities --  something will come back around to us. As it always does.