Asking My Open Ended Questions

This week for business class we had to come up with open ended questions to get our community engaged. The questions I came up with were: Do you have the resources to sustainably grow a garden?, How can you use gardening to improve your life?, Are you motivated about sustaining yourself?, How can you use agriculture to help your community?   My questions did create the response I was expecting because they initiated a conversation. Through speaking to a variety of people I was able to gather different perspectives, beliefs, and opinions. Most importantly, I was able to reflect upon the feasibility of my future C.A.S project. Topics such as having the necessary materials and tools to be able to begin sustainably producing their own food became a crucial point in conversation. I was able to realize that in order for this project to be most successful I will need to focus on gathering materials for those who do not have them. The questions did give me insight because they made me realize the largest problem with food sustainability in Guanacaste is the lack of resources. In a country where a large portion of our community goes through a form of struggle to send their children to school or pay for food made me realize that it is going to be difficult to find the funds on their behalf. In essence, this gave me the insight and allowed me to expand my thinking and realize that in order for food sustainability to evolve, more funds will be necessary. The questions gave me insight in filling multiple gaps in our community but most importantly, teaching the importance of a healthy, balanced diet, sustaining yourself, and a new source of income/ or a possible way to reduce spendings. By posting online tutorials on how to sustainably and self sufficiently produce your own food, I hope to be able to fill some of these gaps. The questions definitely made my audience think of the larger issue because it made them realize multiple things, such as; the way they spend money, the food they are consuming, and overall the importance of sustainability and producing environmentally friendly foods. My favorite question was “How can you use gardening to improve your life?” The reason why it’s my favorite question is because of all the possibilities. After doing research for my project I’ve found a lot of different and unexpected benefits that come from gardening. Hearing everyone’s responses to my question got me excited to share all of these amazing things with my community.