Kosciusko was abuzz with Earth Day-related activities Saturday.
Nearly three-quarters of the Mayor’s 40-member Youth Council fanned out during the yearly Great American Cleanup, themed “Clean Your Block Party.”
Some picked up trash along area roads while others planted flowers. Yet another group helped set up for the annual garden seminar.
Later in the day, I headed to the Kosy Pocket Park to cover the annual Garden Seminar. Speakers Rebecca Turner and Dr. Cindy Ayers supplied loads of encouragement toward everyone eating better, locally-raised foods. They made us all feel like we could be miniature farmers using small planting boxes and that it would be fun and simple to use what we grew – or picked up at local farms and farmer’s markets to live healthier lives.
Ayers, in particular, focused on the importance of encouraging young people to go into farming for the benefit of all of us. She is such a believer in the cause that she sells single acres of her Jackson farm to farmers-in-training for $1 after they complete their first year there. While the individual decides what to grow and keeps the majority of the profit,, everyone on the farm works all the land together. This endeavor fosters learning and creates community.
While it was great to see this community service in action, we shouldn’t wait for special events to help out. It really wouldn’t be all that hard to clean up Kosciusko and keep it beautiful.
One ongoing opportunity is to join the Keep Kosciusko Beautiful Committee. The group has been dormant in recent years, but the mayor is hoping new resident interest will allow it to make ongoing contributions across the city. If you are interested, stop by city hall.
But there are individual actions we can all take as well.
We can support local farmers by buying what we can at farm stands and farmers’ markets.
We can keep our own little corners of the city clean.
When I used to drive my son to school every morning, I would see an elderly man walking along a roadside where there was no sidewalk. Turns out he always had a plastic grocery bag in his pocket and as he came upon trash, he’d slowly bend down, pick it up and bag it for later disposal.
So, whether you’re able to make a long-term commitment to an organization, or your best effort is to carry a trash bag with you when you take a walk, we can all do something to help.
