Dunbar Memorial Garden

Today we undertook the task of reclaiming the garden from the herbicide horror wrought last week by the grounds maintenance staff (and yeah, we know they are only following orders). "Roundup" or some derivative thereof had been sprayed along the edges of the patio, the old horse fence behind the garden, the long wall against the school, and a variety of other places and spaces that made no sense but certainly spraying around our butterfly puddling area guaranteed no lepidoptera action there.

Jaz returned from her trip to Costa Rica with a wonderful bag of sand for the butterflies so she and Katelyn (yeah for returning students!) set to work to remove all the dead grass and expand the area with mulch in the hopes that we can reclaim the ground for its intent and purpose and maybe keep FCPS from additional sprayings. They did an incredible job and worked their butts off.

Grace, who is learning to be a farm girl because at Amherst she is supposed to be one (since she's from Kentucky) invited her friend Katie to join us so while I took pictures of herbicide damage Jesse's dad set them to work cutting cardboard and hauling woodchips to place around the shining sumacs that Hannah's family had planted earlier this spring. I got really paranoid this week that FCPS might decide to inch closer with their spraying so we got
to work blocking off more area in the garden to eliminate turf and expand our area.

While James sat on mah bukkit, I filled the ooze tubes and helped with hauling wood chips and in between discussed with Grace how she might become more knowledgeable in weed eating and tractor repair. It reminded me a lot of how when my parents moved us to Kentucky from Pittsbugh we barely understood the "slang" of rural Kentucky. Yes we wear shoes and yes we produce children without blue skin and who know the difference between physics and metaphysics.

As we sauntered down the hill to nab a few pavers from the pile to hold down the cardboard, three "military choppers" passed above. We laughed that we were being watched since we are all a bunch of militant "greenies." Randomly off in the distance were three helipcopters and a buzzard as though Tevis Shwa were chasing them away.

James relieved the mulch gals and hauled his share of wood chips while Sarah and I took a few minutes to pull grass from between pavers. We missed Tyler and Natalia and several of our regulars but got a lot of work done and enjoyed meandering through the garden in all it's endless glory. The constant wind and cloud cover helped make it all possible and I'd like to think it was Jesse, approving of our "methodology." We learn so much together

Before we ceased work today we also hauled a nice pile of the LFUCG compost to place around the 1/2 barrel and around an old pin oak and a school spotlight. Our plans and ideas continue to grow with each great mind that joins our own. I sent James off with the camera at one point and said "please get some pics of everyone working" and found extreme lulz in the pic he caught of Sarah with her rake. It's as if she is daring any one to mess with our turf. Formidable I say. Perfect, i think, Jesse was all about the lulz and we had that today.

It is always hard to walk away from the garden becase we are always coming up with new ideas and weeds to pull. Now that we have less mucho mulcho and beutiful hands to move it, we stand a beautiful chance to continue to alter the landscape, and repair the ignorance of others.

Volumes of love to our workers. To those who do good work - to those who remember why we do what we do. Our love is planted here.
<3 <3 <3 <3