Sustainable Wellness featured on Patch.com

See my recent feature on Patch.com!

Living in a "Thriving Community" (Rule #3 & #6)

Seattle's Salmon Bay "micro-hood" is thriving with a true neighborhood feel right out of the 50's or 60's.  This small community within Ballard is part of the City of Seattle, but a world away from the grit, tension, and fast pace of downtown.  Communities like this sometimes happen by accident and sometimes are nurtured, but those that seek this experience (which is becoming less and less common) wouldn't trade it for the world.  Years ago I organized two similar communities that are still a highlight of my personal community endeavors.  On alternating weeks, a group that started with 4 hiking and mt. biking enthusiasts turned into a weekly ritual for a group of 25+.  On week would entail a Friday morning sunrise hike to the top of Spencer's Butte in Eugene Oregon, equipped with headlamps, down jackets during the winter, and cook stoves.  As we sat at the top of the Butte watching the sunrise, we prepared a simple breakfast of oatmeal and fruit.  This eventually turned into a build your own omelet bar and pancakes as more joined in and brought backcountry cooking innovation.  Friday hikes then morphed into an alternating Saturday morning pancake potluck followed by a solid morning of mt. biking on local trails.  What made this so satisfying was never having a shortage of people to hike or ride with by connecting people who otherwise would never have met and allowing people to find new adventure buddies of similar ability levels.  In a completely unplanned and unstructured capacity, we created a thriving community by nurturing a group with common interests...adding in good food didn't hurt either!