July / August Accomplishments at Ching Community Gardens

By Londa Jacques

Even though our teams have been smaller lately due to the hot summer, vacations and family visits, significant progress is still being made at the garden every Saturday. 

Here's what our dedicated volunteers have accomplished at the Ching Community Gardens in the last few weeks...

July Highlights

On July 26, 32 14 and 15 year old students in the Lakeside Educational Enrichment Program (LEEP) came out to volunteer. They were a force to be reckoned with! 

The group had been well prepared and knew exactly what to expect when they arrived, thanks to the teachers, counselors, and Kathleen Lumiere's presentation at the school the day before. 

The teens formed six separate groups that tackled various projects. Two crews tackled the blackberries along the south fence, determined not to quit until they broke through to the property line. Maryn Wynne led the tire team on a trek to the northeast corner to pull out several tires and haul them 300 feet to the dumpster. 

Two more crews focused on cutting a wide swath of re-emerging weeds and blackberries for the new path. 

An eight-person crew dubbed the "tarp team" grabbed the tarps full of brambles and branches and hauled them up the driveway, calling out to their fellow team members as they went to avoid trip hazards along the way. It was clear that this was not their first team-building exercise of the summer.

When the crews broke for lunch they made a beeline for the cool, shady shed, planted themselves on their Dunn buckets, and dove into their backpacks and sack lunches. In 20 minutes, recharged, the crews were ready to go again! 

The teams had each set their own goals, and they were determined to achieve them. 

Special thanks to Mike Dunn and Dunn Lumber for donating the 40 new 5-gallon buckets.

After lunch about a dozen kids formed a bucket brigade, laying down the new wood chip path all the way to the clearing just before the bamboo clumps at the back of the property. They took turns carefully pitch-forking chips into their buckets, spreading them, raking, and stomping down the high spots, and filling in the low spots.

They quickly caught onto the "food forest" concept shared with them during their orientation. Branches of ripening blackberries were carried up to the table, the berries picked, washed and shared. 

The hundreds of apples that had fallen from the trees were picked up, put in buckets, and hauled to the dumpster, but not until many kids had sampled them, taken large bites, and declared them good! 

At the end of the day, the last group of teens waiting for transport returned to the back of the garden to the ripening Shiro plum tree, and gathered the golden delicacies to take home to share with their families, stuffing their backpacks or cradling them in slings made from their T-shirts.

Although these teenagers had been together in their summer program for only three weeks, it was clear they had bonded and formed close, inclusive, respectful relationships. With the day's work concluded, several students promised to return to help again.

August Triumphs and Challenges

• True to their promise, seven of our LEEP student volunteers have returned to volunteer!
• After months of searching, the water main has been found! 
• A new hose bib has been installed, and with the help of 250 feet of hose, we were finally able to get water to most of the parched fruit trees.

We also discovered a 9th rose among the brambles, and have the outlines of the original rose garden that we plan to mulch and feed with bone meal to strengthen their root system as they go dormant for winter. 

Although spindly, having reached for sunlight through their weedy prison, all appear to be relatively disease free, and some have put out a bloom or two.

Alas, in early August, we arrived at the garden to find our tool storage unit cut and some of our pruning loppers, a bucket of safety goggles and other hand tools stolen. Disappointed, but undeterred, the work continues... with more security and sturdier locks.

 
Permitting on the house demolition is getting closer to completion, and with fingers crossed for a September - October demolition that is expected to take 3-4 weeks. At that point, fences will go up, and volunteer work will stop until the work is complete and the site is safe. 

Volunteer

Until then, the big push is underway to get as much done as possible every Saturday morning from 9am to Noon.

Our focus this week will be to complete clearing of the rose garden area and finally reach the persimmon tree that is still surrounded by invasives. 

Work parties have a capacity of up to 15 volunteers. Private weekday work parties and tours are also being booked now. Special requests should be made via email to info@digginshoreline.org

Sign up for a work party here  https://volunteersignup.org/T97CF. Parking is available in the nearby Shoreline Community College visitor lot at the south end of the campus.

Donate

Not able to volunteer? Donating to the garden is a great way to participate. 

Donate to Ching Community Gardens here
All donations received are exclusively for the support of Ching, managed by our fiscal sponsor, GROW.

With immense gratitude to our loyal volunteers and supporters,

Londa Jacques
on behalf of Diggin' Shoreline and the Ching Community Gardens Leadership Team

email: info@digginshoreline.org
Website: www.digginshoreline.org
Texts and messages: 206-437-9118