A dog is a great conversation starter! So is an infant in a stroller.
One of the things I woulds treat the sales people who worked for me at West Marine was to walk past a prospective client/customer with a clip board and just say hi and continue walking until you are about 10 feet away. Front a shelf or make believe you are using the clipboard to take inventory and then look back at the customer you just passed and say, "Do you have any questions?"
99 times out of 100 they will say "yes" or start to tell you about their project, hangover, miserable mother in-law, et cetera.
There is some physiological term for this phenomenon that escapes me at the the moment. However, in essence you already introduced your self with the first "hi." Then acting like you are working on a project makes the customer feel that you are not a used car salesman and truly want to listen/help them.
Anyhow, this is the technique I use to reach out to neighbors.
> Drive/walk pass wave
> Drive/walk pass again, wave
> Drive/walk pass quick intro "Hey, I live in the log cabin on XXXX Rd. My name is John. Can you recommend a
logger that I can buy a Tri-Axle of logs from?" If it is a guy. Women I might ask, "I need to by some seedlings
for my garden. Who would you recommend?" You get the idea.
> Depending on how talkative they are, then the conversation will just take on its own direction. Flow with it