D-Town Farms Immersion at The Commonwealth
On Thursday, September 1, Sweet Water Foundation welcomed team members from Detroit’s D-Town Farms to The Commonwealth for a hands-on immersion through which deep connections were made through collaborative farming, carpentry, and conversations. Read more about the immersion.
The Sweet Water Foundation team welcomed D-Town Farms for a one-day immersion focused on Routine, Ritual, and Reflection in an effort to build connections between organizations and share techniques, practices, and stories. As is the Sweet Water ritual, the immersion began in a circle under the Learning Tree where the SWF and D-Town Farms teams introduced themselves, their backgrounds and interests and each organization shared a brief history, including decades-long connections. After the morning meeting, the teams paired together to carry out daily farming routines on the SWF Community Farm and continue the conversations and connections.
Lunch featured a farm-to-table meal of rice and beans, SWF chard & kale salad, and carrot cake using produce from the Community Farm. The ritual of breaking bread together with food harvested collectively kept the connections flowing.
After lunch, the D-Town Farms team experienced the alley transform into a workshop as the SWF team set up for an introduction to carpentry and deconstruction, and a building workshop to construct the Interlocking Pony. Throughout the day, the group had been using the interlocking ponies as seats and seen them in action around The Commonwealth. The interlocking pony is a simple carpentry project that can be used in a multitude of ways - individually, it can be used as a seat; interlocked, they can be used as a table, to hold a sprinkler on the farm, and as a bench. By the end of the workshop, D-Town Farm visitors had built two interlocking ponies ready to find new life in Detroit.
The day culminated with a reflection session in Civic Arts Church where members of both teams expressed gratitude for the opportunity to make new connections, strengthen existing connections, and share practices. All agreed that the day represented new beginnings and seeds of regeneration were planted for fruits yet to come.
