tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4793702278130036246.post7802465314956656111..comments2024-03-28T09:25:14.379+00:00Comments on Veg Plotting: My Garden's Mission StatementVPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02732971362066784175noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4793702278130036246.post-78104280889893920032009-02-06T20:08:00.000+00:002009-02-06T20:08:00.000+00:00Frankie - I'm leaving them firmly in the world of ...Frankie - I'm leaving them firmly in the world of work too!<BR/><BR/>Pat - All is Flux could apply to the way I feel about my garden at the moment!VPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02732971362066784175noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4793702278130036246.post-9437187412843549742009-01-12T17:33:00.000+00:002009-01-12T17:33:00.000+00:00VP- Helen really got us going with the Mission St...VP- Helen really got us going with the Mission Statement - and that's a good thing. My garden doesn't even have a name although I do refer to The Rose Walk and the Lawn Bed (sometimes more elegantly known as the Lawn Grove. I liked your final tag statement about always changing and always learning. I was telling someone the other day that I hadn't ever planted asparagus because I could never decide on a spot that I wouldn't want to change. Maybe my description, not a mission statement , is All Is Flux.Commonweederhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10913336590036045901noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4793702278130036246.post-83507042275504664002009-01-11T20:42:00.000+00:002009-01-11T20:42:00.000+00:00Mission statements are for work along with health ...Mission statements are for work along with health & safety, timekeeping, pay reviews, budgets etc etc Urgh!Frankie https://www.blogger.com/profile/17922995992473118940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4793702278130036246.post-78951096688713500672009-01-09T16:56:00.000+00:002009-01-09T16:56:00.000+00:00Wow - what a lot of discussion this has caused, ju...Wow - what a lot of discussion this has caused, just like it did over at the original post :)<BR/><BR/>Thanks everyone. Whether a mission statement is very short and sharp vs. something like Helen's is often keenly debated in my experience. What matters is I'm happy with where I am with the whole thing of course. And what matters most of all is that we care deeply for our little bit of earth, with or without mission statements or names. And I know that's the case with everyone who's responded here.<BR/><BR/>Helen - I understand why you made your comment about sustainable. Having studied the photography of Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange, the US has a much more dramatic experience of non-sustainability outcomes. I believe what James is getting that is that a number of people and companies in the gardening industry are cynically manipulating the use of this word to put themselves in a better position. Just like the word detox is manipulated in the food industry.<BR/><BR/>A couple of you asked if I'd named my garden - not really. I sometimes call it VP Gardens, but usually it's my garden. Note that NAH hasn't been included so that it becomes our garden ;) Where I do see garden names on blogs, I've always enjoyed them, especially yours Frances and OFB. And Anna (FGG), your story of The Putz and what you found out about the meaning of the word was priceless!<BR/><BR/>Sorry not to name you all, but many thanks for your contributions - we've all had our thinking caps well exercised by this one haven't we? And that's what I love about this blogging and commenting lark :DVPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02732971362066784175noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4793702278130036246.post-68870884318719740452009-01-09T16:27:00.000+00:002009-01-09T16:27:00.000+00:00Well said, VP! Like you, I've had to write a few ...Well said, VP! Like you, I've had to write a few mission statements for work and hope I never have to write another. That being said, I do like your simple mission statement. It says it all for me, too, especially the part about "always learning."Rosehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01384059342847120951noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4793702278130036246.post-77747188168043045072009-01-09T01:05:00.000+00:002009-01-09T01:05:00.000+00:00I had a good time naming my garden and I guess the...I had a good time naming my garden and I guess the 10 people who read about enjoyed it too;). If you ask a 100 people next year what the name of my mission statement is..they won't remember. <BR/><BR/>Can you say my mission statement right now? Mr D says that all the mission statements he writes are common sense issues reworded a thousand ways to please the same audience but not commit anyone to anything. <BR/><BR/> I like the name of my garden. I put a ton of thought in to it. It was an accumulation of all the years I've been gardening. It too is a verb or noun or bad word according to some.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4793702278130036246.post-70615185028664713092009-01-08T23:57:00.000+00:002009-01-08T23:57:00.000+00:00I think you came up with an excellent mission stat...I think you came up with an excellent mission statement colons and all! It works very well for you. Having studied mission statements in college but not having worked in the business world perse since I was always military, I actually found the exercise of writing one for real a good mental activity. Sure made me think. The name part of the post was much easier though. btw I may have missed it, but do you affectionately refer to your garden by a pet name?tinahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17415302577518111227noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4793702278130036246.post-65785108181663779402009-01-08T23:48:00.000+00:002009-01-08T23:48:00.000+00:00Crikey Veep'sMission statement? :(Great post you h...Crikey Veep's<BR/>Mission statement? :(<BR/>Great post you have written here - and I did go and read Helen Yost's original post. Lots of food for thought.<BR/>Me - I am an artist and I garden - 'nuff said.<BR/>KAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4793702278130036246.post-77293231411631953172009-01-08T21:32:00.000+00:002009-01-08T21:32:00.000+00:00I think your short statement says it all VP. That...I think your short statement says it all VP. That's about as close to a mission statement that I could ever come up with too. :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4793702278130036246.post-77806066047601460542009-01-08T19:41:00.000+00:002009-01-08T19:41:00.000+00:00Thanks for that VP, with the editting thingy. Act...Thanks for that VP, with the editting thingy. Actually there were no tabs. So I messed about and deleted the last post by accident. But bobs your uncle every thing works now! What they was I do not know.Solhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00809314184012834659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4793702278130036246.post-88229487258954250532009-01-08T18:57:00.000+00:002009-01-08T18:57:00.000+00:00Seeing as word verification is mormonin I felt I s...Seeing as word verification is mormonin I felt I should add my three pen'orth for what it's worth.<BR/><BR/>Wow what a contraversial topic VP.<BR/><BR/>My garden (our garden) doesn't have a name but some areas of it do. There's the prosaic like 'The Orchard', but one area has been known for years as 'Mum's Vision' but was last year dubbed 'The Secret Garden' by a visiting friend of my son. This name I rather like. An embroidery group that I used to belong to was asked to write a mission statement. We found it very tricky, we all said but we do it because we love it.<BR/><BR/>I don't think that 'mission statement' is the right term for this - perhaps more of a 'raison d'etre'?<BR/><BR/>I need to get out in the garden as much as I need to eat, sleep breathe and laugh. So maybe I should confess to being a gardening addict. Should I set up Gardeners Anonymous? No, I don't think so. Good heavens - if we were all weaned of our addiction there would be no sustainability left! (That bit is for James with whom I agree wholeheartedly on the sustainability front).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4793702278130036246.post-34338057091271080192009-01-08T18:35:00.000+00:002009-01-08T18:35:00.000+00:00Oh please! Why the heck does a garden need a 'miss...Oh please! Why the heck does a garden need a 'mission statement', which at best is something corporations and governments come up with as propaganda! xxAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4793702278130036246.post-3091608425346092942009-01-08T18:08:00.000+00:002009-01-08T18:08:00.000+00:00I enjoyed your well written post. I like what came...I enjoyed your well written post. I like what came to you. I have not come up with one, but it is interesting to think about. <BR/>I think whatever I come up with it would have to be very direct. I would not want make my garden more than it is. It is jyst a city garden on a hill (although my beloved teahouse is really just a shack, so I do not mind a little sillyness)<BR/>:)<BR/>PhilipPhilip Bewleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02593795071070337798noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4793702278130036246.post-83192255058473755242009-01-08T16:30:00.000+00:002009-01-08T16:30:00.000+00:00Veep, I, too, have spent many hours (hours I'll ne...Veep, I, too, have spent many hours (hours I'll never get back!) in work bureaucracy wrestling over mission statements, so my reaction was similar to yours when I read about it in Tina's blog. To me, "garden" is primarily a verb, not a noun, and verbs don't need mission statements! The noun part of it is what happens as a result of the verb. I need to garden as meditation, relaxation; it's what I DO. It's what I HAVE to do. <BR/>P.S. Thanks also for your wonderful offer of seeds for my swap, but no people anywhere outside the U.S. have signed up! :(Monica the Garden Faeriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06369882350990949968noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4793702278130036246.post-23752583658884887832009-01-08T16:03:00.000+00:002009-01-08T16:03:00.000+00:00Hi VP! I love your mission statement: short, sweet...Hi VP! I love your mission statement: short, sweet, and to the point. But like others here, I've crafted far too many corporate mission statements to want one anywhere in my private life. "Let it be!" is my thought on that. However, I come from a long line of Southern (U.S.) gardeners, and Southerners are name-happy. My grandparents' farm is Beechland; my parents' Colonial home is Mile End. My favorite ancestral property was called Simms' Grief (I dread to think); and my own home place is, and always will be (as with Frances), Hawk's Haven. It is my refuge and my nest, and we are blessed with resident hawks of the avian variety, as it happens, as well. Thanks for a thoughtful and typically delightful post!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4793702278130036246.post-78297841946274249832009-01-08T15:16:00.000+00:002009-01-08T15:16:00.000+00:00VP, I've added you to my blog roll!This message is...VP, I've added you to my blog roll!<BR/><BR/>This message is for JamesA-S<BR/>When I was a child, all the talk was about the depression...for something to have happened in the late 20's and early 30's, yet in the 50's and 60's, it was still on the forefront of every elders mind. <BR/><BR/>Last year, our area of North Carolina suffered the worse drought in 100 years. We were very close to having water brought in just to SURVIVE. It was an eye opener for everyone here who tills the earth. I witnessed first hand what soil looks like dry, as in dust bowl days dry. We are now, for the most part, a sustainable community,I am a sustainable gardener.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4793702278130036246.post-31313673766103154422009-01-08T14:10:00.000+00:002009-01-08T14:10:00.000+00:00The whole idea of one's garden having to justify i...The whole idea of one's garden having to justify itself by having a mission statement makes me very slightly spooked but then I I have spent my entire life running screaming from that sort of corporate stuff. <BR/>I like your statement because it is admirably short, pithy and does not include the word sustainable.<BR/>If forced then my statement is: <BR/>Gardens are for gardening.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4793702278130036246.post-7001249677313981592009-01-08T13:54:00.000+00:002009-01-08T13:54:00.000+00:00i also think that the phrase "mission statement" i...i also think that the phrase "mission statement" is what unnerves people so. having a descriptive phrase/definition of what you want your garden to be or be regarded as, can help some retain a sense of direction (what to buy, where to place) as opposed to being so overwhelmed with choice as to not to be able to do anything at all.petoskystonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01633621111274495078noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4793702278130036246.post-39939867028889611962009-01-08T13:32:00.000+00:002009-01-08T13:32:00.000+00:00Hi VP, commas and colons, oh the humanity!I agree ...Hi VP, commas and colons, oh the humanity!<BR/><BR/>I agree with you about the mission statement for my own garden too. Fairegarden is a state of mind, which I guess could be a mission statement? I have moved many times and will move again, I believe, so the name Fairegarden is the name of wherever I am digging at the time.<BR/><BR/>FrancesAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4793702278130036246.post-91667091649506835932009-01-08T13:17:00.000+00:002009-01-08T13:17:00.000+00:00Sorry VP, this is completely nothing to do with yo...Sorry VP, this is completely nothing to do with your post, but I have lost all of my icons on blogger when I go to create a post, I cant add any pictures etc<BR/><BR/>Arrrggghhhhhh I think I am going completely mad. I have even been on the trouble shooting thing at the top that says HELP. I have added a thread, but no response as yet. It says in the FAQ to go to the compose button press that and it will sort itself. I cant find a compose button only a create?<BR/><BR/>What am I doing wrong, oh great and wise blogger buddySolhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00809314184012834659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4793702278130036246.post-58193855705573677632009-01-08T12:16:00.000+00:002009-01-08T12:16:00.000+00:00I agree with Victoria and you - I still inhabit a ...I agree with Victoria and you - I still inhabit a world where there are length discussions over the use of certain words and so the idea of a mission statement for my garden was repellent. My garden is just that a garden - not a business, or a corporation.Helen/patientgardenerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02164036792673009326noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4793702278130036246.post-82925584469549611682009-01-08T12:04:00.000+00:002009-01-08T12:04:00.000+00:00VP .. You know I am not long on words and get to t...VP .. You know I am not long on words and get to the point quite quickly .. except when I ramble on about an official fudge day .. I'll move on from that, for now.<BR/>I have been reading about this "mission statement" thing .. and like you I feel an overwhelming urge to "let my garden be as it wants to be" no ADMINISTRATIVE attachments EVER> <BR/>I'm not criticizing the gardeners that wish to do this .. I'm just expressing an opinion to leave gardens be as they be ! .. Having said that .. I have one constant experience with my garden .. it allows me to dream and scheme and love it to bits and quite frankly, others may admire it .. but it is for me, and me alone. Something that is very hard to find in life. So I am a happy person because of the gift my garden gives me : )<BR/>Phew ! That was long winded !!CanadianGardenJoyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18130452541076704075noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4793702278130036246.post-55623143780975282892009-01-08T11:54:00.000+00:002009-01-08T11:54:00.000+00:00Hi VP,I couldn't actually give our garden a missio...Hi VP,<BR/><BR/>I couldn't actually give our garden a mission statement or a name without running it past the senior management. I got in enough trouble calling my blog 'Gary's Garden! I think the nearest I have to one is the sign I put on the gate to the veg plot, ' sow it, grow it, eat it'.<BR/><BR/>GaryGaryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05565371216691963227noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4793702278130036246.post-59496979408869222632009-01-08T11:46:00.000+00:002009-01-08T11:46:00.000+00:00The gardens we create mean different things to dif...The gardens we create mean different things to different people, and different things to each of us at different times of our lives. For 40 plus years, I've puttered along in the gardens I created or cared for, first as a child full of hope and surprise as I watched my first seeds sprout. Then as income to help pay my way through college. This followed a 20 stretch where I gardened for a release from my very hectic, high impact career regularly working 3,000 hours a year as a vice president for an engineering company. At the time, it wasn't my mission to make a statement in my garden. We wrote mission statements at work as well. But they didn't bother me. I was the one who threw out the concept and let the detail people work out the dotting of the "i's" and crossing the "t's". I knew where I could add value and where I couldn't. As such I excused myself from further comment when it came time - either physically or mentally, depending on what I could get away with;-} If I had chosen to write a garden mission statement back then, I would have reflected on something poignant in my life at the time. Today, still as a business women fortunate to work in the business of gardening, my garden is still release, but now I have more time to reflect on it. Perhaps the term "mission statement" is the cause some anxiety. Unlike being in the corporate world where business mission statements are effectively written by committee, your garden is your own. It doesn't matter if one writes a mission statement or not; or even if one gives it some serious consideration, there is no doubt every gardener has thought about their garden in terms beyond the mulch snuggling next to a plant that will bring them joy in the spring. <BR/><BR/>In the end, VP, you wrote a very nice one. I will only post it with the others if you want me too. My post is food for thought. I wrote my mission statement one day, just recently, when I watched the birds take flight as I traveled down my garden path. The moment moved me. It moved me to want to write about what my garden meant to me; how I wanted it to be viewed. From there I analyzed it. Don't shoot me, I have an analytical mind, but I'm a concept person, not a detailed person. That's the power of these types of posts. The concept person throws out the concept and the process to make it happen, the detailed person takes it and refines it. We need both to make it happen. We need both to make the world happen.<BR/><BR/>As I look back on my experience, I've learned one very important lesson - never say never.<BR/><BR/>The last thing I ever wanted to do was to cause anx, but I do hope gardeners will garden groundly.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4793702278130036246.post-32274268066094021392009-01-08T10:37:00.000+00:002009-01-08T10:37:00.000+00:00The phrase 'mission statement' came up regularly i...The phrase 'mission statement' came up regularly in the public sector too and likewise was the source of heated debate which left me cold. I have always thought that it applies to organisations rather than individuals. Like Victoria I have the same allergy when it comes to the phrase. I do have some principles behind the way I garden but it's all in my head. As for naming my garden I think that I would only do that if I opened to the public. <BR/><BR/>What I have decided after picking up my weighty tome is that I need to get a new dictionary - my 1993 dictionary does not have an entry for the phrase 'mission statement' :)Annahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10794392333038962798noreply@blogger.com