By Sherry Zitter and Chris Collins
Grassroots Central Mass has begun sponsoring two types of skills shares: a quarterly teaching workshop and a monthly community teach-and-learn gathering.
On April 26th, the newly formed Skill Share group met on the Southbridge Common for a seed swapping event. It was a warm sunny day, perfect spring weather for an outdoor gathering of experienced and novice gardeners alike. We arrived with folding tables and chairs, packets of seeds, and an assortment of young plants ready to be transplanted.
The event was open to all, and several curious members of the community stopped by to chat and grab some seeds and seedlings. Not all of them agreed with our ideals and goals, but we offered them seeds anyway, and they stayed and chatted for quite a while. Events like these are a great way to make our group more visible to the community, in a non-confrontational way. Perhaps the most important seeds that were planted were in the minds of those we met that day.
Our first monthly community gathering on May 28th featured a variety of activities, from patching jeans to sewing leather palms onto beautiful homemade mittens, to a demonstration of bootmaking to macramé lessons. Some high-end crocheting and knitting took place at the Council on Aging weekly handcraft group at the next table.
The monthly gathering will alternate between Brookfield and Southbridge. The Skill Share activities will resume in the Fall and the dates for them will be posted in late August on our Grassroots Central Mass website and email platform. If you have a skill you would like to share, please contact Sherry Zitter and she will add you and the skill you plan to teach to our Skill Share document.
