Dunbar Memorial Garden

With the exception of Kyle (the welding magician) we had a pretty lazy day at the garden. A couple of our regulars were spending their last Saturday with us - Tyler heads back to EKU to continue his reign in 4.0 status while Ellidia starts a brand spanking new chapter at Vandy so we basically lounged and talked and hugged, lamented and yes even complained.

But then there were the paver movers who just couldn't resist adding another 100 to our recycling plan. Chris drove his dads' big truck and with help from Jessica, Michael, Jamie, Gracie, Athena, Beth, Josh and Remy (the dog) - they dug through sand and gravel laughing all the way.

Serena caught us up on the happenings at Dunbar (of which we mostly disapproved, especially the "tardy sweeps") but then Chris recounted a story of the school principal coming out to the garden to pick up trash which made us smile and we noticed all our new cigarette butt cans are being used for their intended purpose so even the smokers are respecting our sacred space.

The biggest accomplishment was the installation of the Dunbar Memorial Garden plaque and Kyle's excessive hard work welding the plaque to our post. JAZ, our days' photojournalist, got some incredible shots. They'll be posted on the website tomorrow after I am in fuller possession of my faculties. This one will do for now - Kyle was using a grinder to pretty-fie the post and make everything look perfect. He accomplished that brilliantly. BTW, Kyle is one of Jesse's dads coworkers who refused to be paid for his work. But we will find a way to make him happy. Maybe he likes homemade cookies, pies, or medicinal native plants??

We did pull a few weeds (but there aren't many there anymore thanks to countless hours and incredible perseverance by our volunteers). Jim Embry showed up and recounted a beautiful tale of an educator and native plant admirer who commented that while visiting the garden she recognized many of our plants but had never seen any quite as HUGE as ours. And I said: "it's because of all the love that has been put into this soil" and I believe that with all my heart. A million patches of land have been planted with a million seeds of love, but none can compare to "our" garden.

As we packed up our gear knowing we had a big evening ahead hosting our Mindtriggerz Picnic at Cardinal Valley Park, we had to call back our paver movers who had just left without our "group shot"- young people never balk at a quick change in course so they returned long enough for us to get the photo op we deserved (even with Remy the dog).

As usual, there was much laughter at the garden and several sweaty bodies. An extra special shout-out to those who worked here then helped promote Mindtriggerz: Jaz, Miranda, Natalia, Ellidia, Serena, Chris and Jesse's dad. And Jesse's best friend Jon - who missed the garden but not the picnic.

<3 <3 <3 and moar.