Namesake
What it is in a name? Alot basically. I have spent many years in marketing developing names for products and services. But none was more personal and more painful than when we began to think about a name for our company. We wanted a name that stood for who we are and what we are trying to be. A name that spoke to values and wore it’s heart on it’s sleeve.
Gary Snyder, in “The Practice of the Wild” describes the commons as “the contract people make with their local natural systems.”
Our company name, Common Digs emerged in part from this idea. Not specifically, exactly or literally the commons, but more an idea, feeling or desire of the idea of people working together in an unwritten contract that honours and protects but also uses, benefits and learns from it’s natural systems. The give and take relationship that provides service while respecting and caring for the space we are in.
We want for a commons for our children, for our future - a place where they are free to forage and go off the path; a place where they are free to explore, play, dig, build forts, climb trees, trees they will come to know, not by name but by their character; a safe place to be still and take refuge from the busyness of the real world; a space they will come to love, appreciate and be driven to take care of; a space that will become a part of them. We want for a community of people that embrace these ideals as well.
It is a romantic idea. It’s an idea that we can try to live up to. It’s an idea that begs for social justice, for equality and creates a space, an opening that allows for and encourages diversity and multiple perspectives.
And Digs. Well that’s just fun isn’t it? Kids love to dig in the dirt. Dirt and kids digging is common across all countries, religions and ways of life. Digs has slang for place or home. Dig is quintessential in agriculture, anthropology and archaeology - unearthing history in a way. It’s also a verb – a taking action word.
That’s what we’re doing. We’re digging in. We’re taking action. There’s no big business plan. No huge capital or overhead. It’s an organic endeavor. We are just finding ways to take meaningful, spirited action to connect ourselves and others with their natural world - to dig in and see what comes up.
We hope you will dig it and dig in too. Join us in our endeavor, or in an endeavor of your own that strives to create a more beautiful, more generous of spirit, more equal place for ourselves and for our children to grow and to be. ~ Lisa