What's Love Got To Do With It? Everything.

Everyone's talking about romantic love. But what about collective love? We asked some of our favorite solidarity economy groups to talk about how they practice love, just in time for Valentine’s day.

What does love mean in your worker-cooperative?

(Photo credit: Apple Eco-Cleaning Co-op)

"Love in my cooperative is the mutual support we give each other and being able to share the best cooperative moments together as friends, comrades, mothers and women. And being able to overcome the difficult cooperative moments with love, solidarity, unity and friendship, which are the ingredients that make my cooperative grow and work. Love drives my cooperative!"

Yesenia Bucio, worker-owner at Apple Eco-Cleaning Co-op, Brooklyn, New York

What does love have to do with community gardens?

(Photo credit: Katie Temple-West)

"Community gardens are places where diverse, sustainable love thrives. Because of the shared land, cris-crossing passions—for nature, friends, family, self, and community --run deep.

An example of this that's close to my heart comes from Children’s Magical Garden on Manhattan’s LES, 1 of over 500 community gardens in NYC. Children’s Magical was originally the brainchild of housing activist and co-founder Carmen Rubio, who passed away years back. She founded the community garden so that local children would have a safe place to play. On any given day from May through December, the rose bush she planted that first year blooms on the corner of Norfolk and Stanton Street.

When a string of domestic murders assaulted the neighborhood 2 years ago, my fellow community gardeners and I were pretty shaken up. We gathered together to drink rose tea harvested in the community garden. Drinking rose hips and flowers from our shared land, we felt calmed and strengthened to continue Carmen’s mission of taking responsibility for the wellbeing of our neighborhood. So many loves were strengthened at once! And of course we need many more community gardens."

Kate Temple-West, New York City Community Gardens Coalition and Children’s Magical Garden, New York, New York

How do you experience love in your collective?

(Photo credit: AORTA)

+ my co-workers send me love notes and gifts in the mail, and sweet messages on email.
+ we all are pretty great about verbally and email-ly appreciating each other for the work that we do.
+ when we're in person, i feel like they all go out of the way to meet my various access needs, from carrying my bags, to making me food (that i can eat!), to rubbing my back.

<3 kiran nigam, core member of AORTA Collective, Oakland, California

How is love part of the operations at your food coop?

(Photo credit: NY Times)

"At The Bushwick Food Coop, we love our food! We go to great lengths to source amazing food, read all labels, and carry high quality ingredients and products.

Deciding to eat locally or organically is a step that many of us take, because we love ourselves, our families, and our communities. Cooking allows us to connect with our food and the people we feed. Love for the earth leads us to make food choices that take into account the true cost of the environment and love for the people producing our foods. And love for the community means we love to answer questions and inspire ideas for new dishes.

Cooperatives are all structured around love. If we were not passionately committeed to the store, good food, and healthy communities, we would not be here. Love keeps us going!"

Amanda Pitts, Bushwick Food Coop, Brooklyn, New York