3 minute read
I started another club. Well, it’s more of an ongoing meetup with different folks joining in every week. But it’s also kind of a club.
An errands club.
A grocery shopping errands club that is exploring one option to our current unjust food system.
What?!
MARKET MEETUP
Starting in February 2025, we are trying a(nother) new thing here. Why? Because I want an errands friend! And from the memes I’ve read on the internet, it sounds like I’m not the only one.
Our current system (economic, social, whatever you want to call it), gives us very few hours to do all of our errands and maintain connections with friends and family. So I thought about combining the two.
Do an errand, hang out with folks, keep going.
This is your invitation to pause in the middle of your (sometimes) hectic weekend in between running from one errand to the next. Pause and have a conversation about whatever you want – but also maybe about why we’re here and why it’s important.
WHY THE MARKET?
Selfishly, I go the farmer’s market every weekend to buy some of my groceries for the week. I started going in the summer to pick up my CSA (more on that here), and I really enjoyed it! So I have continued the habit.
There is something very special about buying local produce and meat, especially knowing that it disrupts the corporate food chain. Not Ladylike is embracing our “political” foundation this year, and focusing on creating a thriving, equitable future. And that means we have to actually do it, build it.
And everybody eats food! What a great place to start.
WHY JOIN A CLUB?
I have been running clubs since I started On Saturday We Hike in 2020. And I always had kind of an idea that they were a good idea, that giving people a consistent “third place” to just meet other people was important (especially if you didn’t already have access to this).
But it wasn’t until I watched the Join or Die trailer that I got a smidge obsessed.
Join or Die explores the research and findings of political scientist Robert D. Putnam who has been documenting the effects of American’s decline in club joining. And whoa, it’s a big deal y’all. Clubs expose us to other folks in our communities (and their perspectives) that we might never meet otherwise. Clubs force us to have conversations and resolve differences, or make big decisions as a group. Face to face is important!
He actually links the decline in clubs to the decline in democracy in the US.
Mind blown.
Small community commitments can create big results. Much can be accomplished by meeting for just one hour per week over the course of a year. Whatever goal you might be looking to achieve in your area, you’ll be amazed to see what a committed group of people can accomplish when meeting regularly and moving in the direction of your goals together.
Join or Die newsletter, January 14, 2025
FURTHER READING AND RESOURCES
Learn more about Market Meetup here (and then consider joining us!)
Not Ladylike Community 