Dear Open Space Folks, We just got home from an Open Space on "Food & Community" held here in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia (see below for the invitation text). We had about 11 people. My partner opened and held the space and I posted a topic and participated as a convenor. So, my question to all of you is more as a convenor than as a facilitator.
The topic I cared enough about the post was: "Connecting rural producers and urban consumers". Another person posted a topic that read: "Local Food: Big chain grocery stores will not use small local producers; New inspection regulations threaten local butchers/markets; Institutional food buying sends $10 million out of the province." I'm not sure why (maybe a desire to connect), but I agreed when the other convenor suggested that the two topics could be included in one group. This small group was the last to meet and involved six people. It was clear very quickly that the other convenor only wanted to talk about and analyze the problems of local food production and discuss how to influence government policy; whereas I wanted to talk about how to (re)connect urban consumers with local rural producers in a grassroots way. I feel very strongly that this is where I can have an impact on the food & community connection. That's why I posted the topic in the way I did. The discussion turned toward an analysis of the problem for the first part and I almost left, because I found the discussion downright depressing and it wasn't about the topic I had posted. Then, others in the group, including me, helped turn the discussion toward how to connect local producers and consumers. I tried to be respectful toward the other person's concerns, but I just don't share them. Has anyone of you been in this kind of situation? I wonder in hindsight (being 20/20) if I made a mistake in agreeing to put the two topics together. As a convenor, perhaps I should have stated that there were two different topics and we should have two different groups. At the end of our small group, the other convenor stayed until everyone else was gone and told me that she felt "dismissed" (by me? by the group? I don't know...). For the entire meeting, the other participant was completely focussed on the negative. Is she a variety of space invader? Or just someone with a different approach? Is there a more elegant way to resolve this kind of problem? I felt like she was trying to draw me into an "I'm right, you're wrong" kind of discussion. I always thought that one of the virtues of Open Space is that it supports people connecting with others who care about similar things. In short, I don't feel like I dealt with this well and would appreciate any wisdom you would like to share... wendy homegrown wisdom nova scotia Text to invitation to an Open Space on "Food & Community" "It's impossible to separate food and community. Some of our fondest memories are about times when we gathered with family and friends to share a meal. There are many people in our communities who are involved in community kitchens, church and community suppers, community gardens and food banks. Some of us go to the farmers' markets every weekend and find food and community there. Some of us purchase food through co-ops or directly from local farmers. Some of us are producers of food, all of us are consumers. We all have to eat. We all have resources that can be shared - our cooking ability, our gardening ability, or our capacity to organize - that can help us connect food and community. How can we use food as a way to celebrate our sense of community? How can food connect farm folk with city folk? What role can food play in developing relationships of care with each other? Join us in an Open Space* discussion about "Issues & Opportunities related to Food & Community". *Open Space is a delightful, useful tool for any group of people who are really interested in exploring something that they all care deeply about."
