Dunbar Memorial Garden

Torrential downpours with a side of thunder kept us from working at the Dunbar Garden today - but mere puddles and flash flood watches could not keep us apart! Jaz and James helped Jesse's dad set up the Mindtriggerz Training Lab then came by the house where soon to follow came Tyler, then Christopher and then finally, Sarah who entertained us with her dancing feet and tales of stalkers and everything in between from her Ball State experience.

Tyler had his own tales of lulz about some not-so-bright student on the EKU campus who tried to take a cell phone pic of a skunk but who found out that was NOT the smartest thing to attempt and Chris provided a cd of pics taken recently at the garden and so since we missed our "Gracie's" presence today, well, this photo seems appropriate to include in our post :P

She had a lot of fun playing in the water but rest assured, she did manage to do more than dance in droplets last Saturday - she washed down all the picnic tables and besides looking beautiful and perfect and young and happy, she added her own touch to making the garden a beautiful place to be. <3

While we got nothing "done" at Liverpool today the house was filled with the sounds of laughter - and we convened on the lab to help Jerome break down in record time. Then he bought us all lunch! W00t. It was and always is good to be surrounded by our particularly wonderful collective, even though it's always better AT THE GARDEN. Oh well, we'll try again next weekend.

Jerome and Jaz delivered a couple of computers to a couple of families that prior to today didn't have one so "work" did get done. It always does, even when we are not paying attention (or seemingly just having fun).

<3
Jesse's Mom

Updating the blog was put on hold (or rather, I got caught up in a game of "FarmVille" as well as cleaning computer components for Mindtriggerz) but we'll back space and get caught up!

Last Saturday we convened on Ms. Eller's art room to help bring to fruition a project her art club began but was unable to complete. One of the original "Horsemania" horses had been donated to the school and students collaborated on a design and decided to use broken tiles to decorate it. With assistance from SEVERAL Beta Club students along with their wondermous sponsor teacher Ms. Davis as well as our regular "crew", we pretty much saddled that pony (sorry, couldn't resist). Having completely forgotten my camera, Rachel thankfully shared a few of hers. It was a great day of great collaboration among caulk guns filled with glue, hammer meisters who broke the tiles, and some of us (ME) as an observer. We pounded and adhered away and left with dusty fingers and a horse making great strides to finding a spot in the garden soon! We'll continue working over the winter on this project - a million thanks to Ms. Eller and all our "artistes" (even the ones who didn't pose for the camera!).

So this week we moved back out into fresh air and sunshine to prune and sweep (thank you, Serena!) and throw bamboo stake javelins (Chris and James, thank you very much). We had a small crowd including the aforementioned as well as Katelyn's younger sister Lindsay who brought another future Dunbar student, her Beaumont Middle classmate, Kirby. They are now officially known as "the pruner twins" - they did a remarkable job on some sunflowers, beardtongue and random stray dead branches. After Gracie's major/minor issue was resolved with a little help from her friends, Chris fetched some extra pruners from his house and we all set out dead heading - this time being careful to collect the seed heads from the oxeye sunflower so they potentially won't sprout all over the garden next spring. Oh, and Gracie cleaned all the picnic tables and did a little romping in the water while she was at it. :)

On several fronts today I was reminded how very important our connecshuns are - not only in this space but in each others' lives. I am thankful to these young people who are my family. I would do anything for each one of them.

A special shout-out to Serena's mom who showed up at the end of the day with some homemade hummus and Baba Ganoush for yours truly. I appreciate every chance I get to nurture and feed these young ones, what an incredible bonus to have that returned!

Chris promises a few pics from today to add later - Jesse's dad has my camera tonight since while he and Jaz delivered THREE MINDTRIGGERZ COMPUTERS this afternoon, they forgot to bring it back. Rather, Jerome did. Boo!

Peace and love and flowers. <3
Jesse's Mom

Every Saturday someone at the garden finds money and we joke about the coins being payment for all our hard labor. Today I found a shiny penny, which might well be a good reflection of the volume of work I got done. Ha!

While I knew that Sarah would be in from Ball State to join us, it was GREAT to have Tyler back in from EKU. w00t! Katelyn brought along her younger sister Lindsay who will attend Dunbar NEXT YEAR and a mixed bag of our usual suspects came to work as well: Serena, Gracie, James and Christopher. Miranda showed up a little late but that was due to her baking a delicious zucchini bread (with chocolate chips) as a belated birthday treat for Serena (who just turned 13 - NOT).

It was hot and sunny at the garden and as Sarah pointed out, while attempting to dig up a weed, very dry! Even with the heat, weeds got pulled, plants got pruned, pathways got swept, the butterfly puddling area received some special love - oh and yeah, Chris's VW bug got rocked (don't ask, I don't know why).

While I was a total DOINK about using the camera today, Grace had her own and we're hopeful she'll share her pics with us! The garden is so well-established now and relatively weed-free which makes it is so very nice to be there and enjoy all our work without feeling compelled to hustle the way we did this spring and earlier in the summer.

While the weeds were sparse, the litter was not. Blargh. Mostly cigarette butts thus the title of this weeks' post. I can say that while I didn't perform any major hard-labor, I did fill a plastic bag full of butts. So, while the crew disbanded to go about their lively weekends, I spent some time tonight making signs that say "Our Plants Don't Smoke" and am hoping to have a few extra "butt cans" in the garden before the students return after the long weekend. I did get a photo of the bag o' butts but Blogger is being a butthead so will have to return at a later date to post the pic.

Miranda sat with me after everyone else had left and we shared stories and aspirations for gardens all over the campuses of Fayette County Schools. She is an incredibly vibrant and intelligent young woman with so many forward-thinking ideas. I am very much looking forward to working with and helping her this fall and winter and she will appease some of the withdrawal that has arisen with so many of our "garden volunteers" who have left for colleges far away.

Natalia headed back to Michigan this morning with her rattlesnake master in tow and was sorely missed today. As was Grace who already posted that she misses the heat now that she's in Massachusetts. Love to them and all who spent so many Saturdays making this sacred space even more special. WE MISS YOU!

Next weekend we'll be spending time in the art room with the wonderful Art Teacher Ms. Eller. I have every intention of doing a better job with the camera duties - and every intention of doing whatever we can this fall and winter to keep the spirit of the garden and all it means upfront and center.

Love, love and moar love.
<3>

After a one-week hiatus (for Mindtriggerz), we got back to the garden today and really did nothing but talk! Actually, that was just me.

I cornered Miranda and Serena to find out how the Dunbar Garden table fared at Open House and then to bounce ideas and projects off their incredibly wonderful minds. Many plans are underway and there is much plotting, planning and planting to be done. Details forthcoming.

Jamie's mom came by today and helped Katelyn and Serena pull weeds. Natalia sharpened the pruners and went to work on the showy sunflower that decided to stop showing off. The farmification of Grace Li, while not complete, advanced to level 8.2 while she postponed packing for Amherst to stroll around the ironweed with her weed digger in hand! This was the last Saturday for both Grace and Natalia so of course they were ushered off in style with a rattlesnake master to adorn their campus living abodes (Michigan and Massachusetts, respectively). We will sorely miss their beautiful faces and hard working hands but know they will return next summer and in the interim be "learning and stuff" - a piece of our hearts will go off with these incredible young women - hurry back!

And Jamie's mom kept weeding. Love you, Suzie!

James and Josh and Gracie set off with sandpaper to rough up the wooden benches in prep for an additional coat of stain. I just kept talking but did manage to spy the first Monarch Caterpillar of the season (that we know of) and grabbed the ghetto cam to catch a pic. The beauty of digital photography is that even a cheap camera can occasionally get a great shot, which I dare say this one is! I have decided that Mr. or Mrs. Future Monarch Butterfly was intently reading the "Please do not leave litter in the garden" sign. Either that or he/she was dodging the flock of goldfinches that were nibbling sunflower and purple coneflower seeds.

We saw a great blue heron today that seemed to be a n00bie - it kept lighting on utility lines and seemed to have a head just a little too large for its body. It was randomly funny and in keeping with garden lulz - a pair of monarchs were mating in reckless exhibitionist style and it's always fun to see what the birds, bees and butterflies are doing when we are and aren't around.

With the exception of the weeds that came up easy as the summer rain this morning afforded, we enjoyed a small crowd and a lazy day of being together and goofing off while Jerome and Jaz tended the Mindtriggerz Training Lab and set about bringing five families closer to their own home computer(s). Saturdays (caturdays) are the days Jesse's dad and I most look forward to - we are eternally grateful to all who help us do what we can for our love of Jesse.

<3

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.

We called our session at the Dunbar Garden today the "Pre-School Edition" as we spent most of our time making the place look uber lovely for the advent of school next week. Fortunately, among our ranks was one of our favorite Beta's (and Dunbar Senior) Serena (just back from a trip to Lebanon) along with recent graduates Kirsten and Katie who demonstrated major weeding skills and got covered in a lot of sand as they worked along the main paver pathway. Our artist in residence JAZ put the final touches on the newly painted and decorated picnic table while a crew including James, James, Beth, Dawson, David, Tyler and randomly whoever else - worked hard to dig out additional pavers to save from the landfill. I believe the count was at 184 more.

Our divine miss Sarah spent a good portion of the afternoon weeding in our soon to be "native shade garden" and was joined by Tyler at some point as the climbing temps caused most of us to want to be out of the SUN. Beth, with a little help from Jesse's dad, dug a perfect hole to set the iron post that will soon display our beautiful bronze plaque that describes our reason and purpose. It's a heart-wrenching plaque and makes us all cry but while the work at the garden has been filled to overflowing with laughter and love, it is important I think that others know and remember why this incredible space is here. And for whom. And for a love that has no other place to go but filling an area with flowers, sweat, tears and yes, even a little blood. Blargh!

Awesome Dawson was in charge of placing our three "Pesticide Free Zone" signs and in the process cut his finger on the metal sign but thankfully had a bandaid in his vehicle (my kind of guy!) Everyone was enamored of the cute lady bugs until Jesse's dad opened his mouth and said "But they aren't spraying for pests, they are spraying herbicides around here" which basically resulted in us all saying shut up and things like that.

Lest I forget to mention, the wonderous young David was our photo journalist today capturing the pictures of our work. Beth has an incredibly smart and sweet younger brother who has proven to be an asset to the garden and is apparently so smart in math that he's enrolled in a "zero hour Magnet math class" at Dunbar even though he is just entering 8th grade at Beaumont Middle School. In my book, that pretty much r0x0rz but what makes me even more proud is the fact that these two siblings are so preciously close and intertwined. This is how "family" should be. Obviously, we love them a lot.

And the rest of our crew - our regulars and our random workers. Everyone's effort has made this a beautiful, safe and wonderous place.

JAZ helped me scrub down all the picnic tables (as well as corraling the cup plant and staking a few sunflowers) and the group moved all the picnic tables into a tidy row and then I obsessed over using the leaf blower to clean off the patio. It looked so pretty and spiffy-fied that surely the kids returning to the Dunbar campus this week will notice. I hope they do. I hope they are in awe like we are. I hope they will revel in the flowers and dance among the rattlesnake masters.

Mostly I will hope that they wonder, remember, consider a few kids named Josh and Jesse and Hannah. Because they are why we do what we do. And why over 150 folks have participated in the garden. Expansion is inevitable. Love there will be endless. As the goldfinches and monarchs and even the random kitteh that wonders up on many evenings will continue to munch on seeds, drink from the cup plant and be glad there is space there for them too. There is a space and a place for us all. We will stand amazed every Saturday when so many young people wonder in and pitch in and instead of sleeping in, will work with us.

That is the greatest demonstration of love. As Jesse would say "fo realz" and as Hannah's fingerprints linger there, and as Josh's life expemplifies, because it started with him. "What would we be without wishful thinking" and I wish they all see us now.

<3>

Sarah did the math and said we had TWENTY-FIVE people at the Dunbar Garden today and every hand was so appreciated - especially since an early morning email from Dunbar's principal gave us permission to recycle the balance of pavers mounded at the bottom of the hill.

Our newest and most extremely special garden n00bie, Wil, was reclaimed from Gulf Shores, Alabama and reintroduced to Dunbar in a very sweaty and productive way. With his help and that of James, Jerome, Tyler, Beth, Dawson, David and Chris FOUR HUNDRED AND EIGHT pavers were dug out, packed tight and loaded into a pickup truck guaranteeing they will never end up in a land fill. Major butt-busting notwithstanding!

Wil's connection to Jesse (among other things) made this day a really incredible one for myself and for Jerome (et al). <3>We hope to see him on many other Saturday's as well as the spaces in between.

While Sarah weeded and Jackie started painting with the help of her beau, Jaz, Arlene and others - Grace and Katie hid behind the sumacs and lulzed in the sun. Buckets and bukkits of sand were hauled from the low zone and brushed with love across the freshly weeded pavers. We all moved stepping stones in preparation of the students returning in a matter of days - because of the phenomenal growth at the garden our "peace sign" pathways had to be altered to prevent damaging natives that will have to be relocated this fall. Incredibly, folks kept appearing and what to our wondering eyes should grace the horizon but Lucy, Kelsey and Sarah (a beautiful visitor from France - bonjour!) and what a day. What an incredible, remarkable, perfectly-people-packed day.

Personally, I felt like I served little purpose but managed to get my one-on-one time with my home girls (and a few of the home boys) and am thrilled Kelsey is going to Transy and even that Lucy will be my "peace babe" at Peace College in North Carolina and that I got to hug Kendrell (and everyone else) and absolutely relished the look on Jerome's face as he was grabbed from all sides, spinning Sarah and Tyler and Crystal Beth and there is no better place than this one, because it is a greenie love-fest no holds barred.

Audrey brought her precious Ashton (in from Florida) as well as her pal Sarah then Miranda arrived all aglow and if I have failed to mention anyone, forgive me, because I really was completely overwhelmed (and still am) by our tour-de-force. We missed the heck out of Natalia off on her trip west with her family but her relentless paver weeding is obvious, apparent and loved. We hope she has fun. We look forward to her return in a few weeks.

While our attempts at a group photo epic-failed due to our continued "incoming" reinforcements, I do think everyone left today not simply tired but also knowing what good work they managed and maybe, I suspect, a tiny bit infatuated with not just this space, but with each other. I know I am. Fo' realz, as Jesse would say.

Fo' realz.


Love, love, love. I promise to post teh other photos tomorrow on Jesse's website and a few on Facebook. For tonight, I am just too plumb "whooped."

<3
Jesse's Mom