A Pot Luck Picnic for the Human Soul

By Kathleen Downey

New Eden Collaborative and Transition Newburyport hosted their first Local Flavor Community Potluck Picnic this past Sunday at First Parish Church in Newbury. A beautiful garden backdrop, a canopy of trees that swayed gently in a subtle breeze—carrying the Celtic sounds of two talented, unostentatious musicians—people from the immediate community and afar, a sociable dog named Chloe, and lots of amazing food prepared with locally grown, fresh organic ingredients all coalesced to set the tranquil summer scene. A flock of 14 resident chickens happily dust-bathed in their pen, and a pair of white ducks cooled themselves in a shallow wading pool.

The communal event, intended to highlight the possibility—and necessity—of creating a healthy, sustainable environment through agriculture, clean energy, awareness, and mindful action offered attendees the opportunity to meet and mingle, ask questions of the event’s organizers and learn about the grass-roots initiative known as the Transition Movement, and of course . . . eat.

There’s something special to be found in the simple act of sharing delicious food that is both nurturing and healing. Says Erin Stack, New Eden’s garden coordinator, “We want to empower people in a healthy way.” She describes the New Eden Collaborative (comprised of organic gardeners, “eco artists,” and local community supported agriculture [CSA] farmers) as “stewards of earth and spirit,” and she would like to see this philosophy widely embraced throughout communities across the country—and the world.

According to Conrad Willeman, one of the event’s organizers, the Transition Movement provides the platform for an urgent message of community concern—and hope—for our environment, the climate, the air we breathe, and the food we eat. Transitioning from a cavalier, harmful lifestyle to a consciously practiced healthful lifestyle that allows people, and our planet, to thrive is the goal of this movement. Willeman says that as a society we can no longer afford to be wasteful and treat the earth as an endless, self-replenishing planet—it’s not. He warns, “We have become totally dependent on a fragile system that cannot sustain us.”

One of the precepts of the Transition Movement is permaculture. “Permaculture,” explains Willeman, “is specific to an individual location and is a method and philosophy that seeks to maximize a site.” Of Transition Newburyport he says, “We are learning as we go,” growing what he optimistically calls perennial vegetables. He motions to the lush gardens of New Eden, which so beautifully exemplify the permaculture concept.

I make my way to the richly appointed buffet table and fill my plate with samplings from the brightly colored vegetable entrées, piquant salads, broccoli and cauliflower pakoras, and a thick slice of freshly baked bread. As I pass by the dessert table, I make note of the local pies and beautifully adorned fresh fruit before I take my seat upon a wooden bench, balancing my full plate upon my knees.

The rustic benches are informally but deliberately arranged in a semicircle to encourage conversation and conviviality amongst the evening’s “pot luckers.” Transition Newburyport’s Elizabeth Marcus introduces herself and talks about the movement’s important role in growing local food, practicing clean energy production, and cultivating a more sustainable world through a “neighbor-to-neighbor” shared vision. Marcus uses her neighborly reference as a segue for us to introduce ourselves.

Richard Rosenburgh, of Middle Earth Farms in Amesbury, tells us that his farm has been operating as a local CSA for thirty years. He introduces a young man and woman who are helping Rosenburgh farm this summer through the Multinational Exchange for Sustainable Agriculture (MESA). The young man’s father is the foremost organic grower in Peru.

Eliza is here to learn more about local, organic food. Gille is here to discover a “healthier path.” A gentleman named Mike jokes that he’s here simply to “eat good food.” Virginia says she came for the “fellowship.” But Trish best captures the prevailing sentiment of this evening, saying that it’s exciting to return to an earth-centric philosophy and “heartwarming to go to an event, even if you don’t know anyone, and feel the sense of community.”

With the evening winding down, I want to visit the chickens and ducks one more time to bid them farewell. Stack accompanies me. She explains that members wishing to partake in eggs must share in the birds’ daily care. But the chickens, nor the ducks, will ever become entrées. “Absolutely not!” she assures me (I am relieved!). Rather, Stack says that the birds’ presence helps to cultivate empathy across species. (I learn that Stack has adopted three chickens as pets.)

Though the message of the evening has been serious, the mood has been friendly and relaxing.

I say good-bye to the chickens and to the ducks, and to Stack and all the other pot luckers, and leave feeling happily sated, restored, and hopeful.