Work Parties!

   

            I have been thinking a lot about the power of the occasional work party this last week. Because of a very rainy May and June, the school garden was not set up to move into auto-pilot when school let up. The rain stopped us from going out to work during classes or after school and it encouraged weed growth for at least a month longer than the last two years. Despite best efforts, it was a mess. A couple of larger projects (and smaller needed tasks) were not completed. A crow came in and pulled out most of two beds worth of starts. I called for help.

                The first morning, two friends showed up with weeding gloves. Where do we start? We methodically worked our way from one side of the garden to the other, pulled 95% of the weeds from the beds. Then we mulched with the bale of straw that had been sitting on the patio for a month and a half, waiting. After two hours, we stood up and nodded. Nothing like weeding someone else’s garden, one woman observed. Mission accomplished. Two days later, another group appeared on Saturday morning to tackle the future compost area. We finished clearing out blackberry vines using clippers, loppers, and shovels and covered the ground with plywood and cardboard. Two people dug out under the chain link fence and chopped out a couple of huge vine roots; one promised to come back and take out another. Someone wandered home and found the right tools to remove a trip hazard of an old wire fence.  We harvested a potato bed and sprinkled buckwheat for a cover crop. Once again, two hours of work and the area was transformed. Finally, a friend showed up on Thursday and we took out the raspberry bed which had been taken over by blackberry and weeds, pulled out the posts, and laid down a huge piece of black plastic to solarize the weeds. Five and a half very full yard debris bins later, the garden is not only on auto-pilot for the summer, but two larger projects are done and I no longer have to warn people about the lurking wires between the school’s track and the garden area.

                We all have times like this—when our lives and projects take on a life of their own and overwhelm our abilities to complete the task at hand.  It is hard for me, especially, to admit that I cannot do it on my own. I was raised to be independent and to follow through on promises made. But, occasionally, we need to ask for help.