I do a few–okay a lot–of things that are inefficient, frustrating, and absolutely not cost effective. Christina here, with the things we do for community.

Things that if I were to put a price on my time, say minimum wage or the going pay for a tutor, teacher, or curriculum designer (all jobs I’m qualified for) I would realize that what I am producing is in dollar value probably about 1/80th of what I could be making.

Here are some things that I do that, in terms of money, are a very poor return on investment.

I work for two to six hours a week in the community garden. When you add my labor to that of other volunteers, it probably adds up to over 500 hours of community labor. If you paid us all federal minimum wage, we’d have to harvest over $3,000 worth of produce in order for our work to break even–and that’s before expenses. Recently we’ve been bringing boxes of onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, okra, beans, eggplant, and peppers to the Common House and just giving them away to the community for donation.

And every week when it’s time for my morning shift, I ask myself, is it worth the time? Shouldn’t I be doing income work instead?

But the value of those work parties is so much more than just the per-pound price of an onion. I get to spend time talking and catching up with friends. For some reason, weeding a bed together always leads to deep conversations. I also get to pass on what little knowledge I’ve gained as a gardener. I know enough to know what I don’t know, but I do know how big beans should be before being picked, or that you need to place tomatoes carefully in the box with the stems off so they don’t bruise. And then there’s the taste. I haven’t willingly eaten a store-bought tomato in years–and I don’t plan to any time soon.

Another weekly event that can often be “inefficient” and frustrating is the weekly Village Council meeting. The other day, I spent 90 minutes in a room with 28 other people in order to start talking about maybe making a major change in the village. If you do the math again, that meeting “cost” something like $271.88. And that’s assuming that our time is only worth the minimum wage in this country. That is one expensive meeting. Especially considering that no decisions were made, no major insights were gained. We spent most of the time naming values and needs that we are bringing to the topic.

For some people, that’s a waste of time and not productive enough. And yet what did we gain? We gained a deeper understanding of what matters to our neighbors, connection with the people who live beside us, and maybe a little inspiration for taking on this big change.

Something else I spend time on (though, to be honest, none in the past month since I’ve hit the yearly stage of totally neglecting my personal garden) is growing flowers. My younger self would have thought this a true waste of time and effort. At least I can eat those onions. And I don’t even cut myself a bouquet as often as I would like. But right now, looking out my window as I write, I can see birds and insects buzzing around, eating seeds, spreading pollen, and even though my garden looks like an overgrown jungle, it’s still nice to look at.

If I add up all the unpaid work I do in a week–from helping a friend wash dishes, to cleaning the Common House, to being a liaison to a new resident, to writing this column–it’s a lot. And I also understand that it’s a huge privilege to be able to do that work. The income that I make when I get to that paid work is enough to cover my expenses, and I don’t have to work 50 hours a week just to make ends meet.

As annoying and frustrating and obviously inefficient as life here can be, I do wish everyone had the privilege to make the kind of decisions I get to make. To spend their time growing flowers or meeting with neighbors or doing what matters to them–even if it’s not efficient or cost effective.

---

• September 21 - October 5: Dancing Rabbit Visitor Program (6 spots left)
• October 17 - October 20: Ecovillage Weekend (9 spots left)

---

Christina Lovdal Gil just completed a term as a member of DR’s Village Council, our village governing body and is a regular contributing writer to this newsletter.