After Dinner Thoughts � What We Learned at the Table

Encouraging kids to unplug from the WiFi and plug into nature.

Reviving the art of neighborliness, one �welcome� pie at a time.

Putting sidewalks and porches to use, every day.

Growing a garden home for lightning bugs, crickets and birds.

Those were among the poetic ideas that our guests shared at a series of recent Jeffersonian Dinners. Each was designed to foster conversation among diverse thinkers whose input might inspire our plans for Summers Corner.

As they wrapped themselves around wonderful farm-to-table fare, our guests also wrapped themselves around heady subjects. What strengthens families? What makes a connected community? How do we embrace the traditional and the new in sustainable ways?

So what did we learn?

Well, plenty, and what follows is a sampling of our insights � a few of the common themes. Plenty of others � even a few uncommon � were floated over the series of meals:

• Adults crave a world for their children in which tree forts, bike rides, lazy explorations and deep friendships are the norm. Many seek a place where children can be untethered from over-scheduled lives lived mostly indoors.
• �Southern culture� is alive and well, but could use some new champions. And for our guests, that culture is best described as a gentle neighborliness. They desire a place where established residents embrace new arrivals. They long for a place where �welcome to the neighborhood� baked goods are an invitation to set a spell.
• Families flourish when they are part of a bigger community. At the risk of sounding trite, it really does take a village. So finding ways to connect schools to neighborhoods, parks to porches and corner cafes to community gardens are all completely on point, according to our guests.
• And perhaps the biggest finding was this: sitting down to a table and talking remains a powerful way for humans to create bonds. As Ronald Reagan once said: �All great change in America begins at the dinner table.�

We look forward to changing the way new communities are born. Let�s stay connected.