Cohousing-L Mailing List: A cohousing moment

[Joani Blank (joani]

I sent the following anecdote to Cohousing Magazine editor, Donna for 
possible inclusion in a future issue, but thought my listserve 
friends would enjoy it too:

My neighbors Sandra and Michael really like beets, but they don't 
like beet greens at all. I on the other hand, and am so-so about 
beets but I love beet greens cooked down with lemon juice and 
butter.  The other day, returning from the Farmer's Market we're 
lucky to have weekly just outside our gates, Sandra handed me a 
plastic bag full of beet greens, saying, "It's so great to live in 
cohousing where one household's garbage is another household's gourmet dinner!"

You didn't ask, but yes, we compost here. And yes, the beet greens 
would have otherwise gone into the compost bin, thence eventually 
into the soil of our little urban garden.  But at the time she handed 
them to me they were still garbage, until, that is, they became my 
delicious dinner.

Joani Blank
Swan's Market Cohousing
"the most urban cohousing community in N. America"
Downtown Oakland, California