Capital Crusaders Slay Fence During Annual Day of Service

Where would the community garden movement be without college students?  Yesterday was Capital University’s Crusader Day of Service and they came to the Stoddart Avenue Community Garden to slay dragons.   We made huuugggee progress on our new fence.  They also watered, and mowed and weeded and harvested 60 pounds of fresh produce, and picked up a little litter in the two block area around the SACG.

On Friday, Ken – our fence guru and jack of all trades -- emailed me that he could not come.  Wah.   How were we going to complete the fence without Ken?  I thought about going over Friday to get a jump on the project, but then remembered that we needed to paint the pickets before attaching them.  I packed up my car and made some cookies to feed the volunteers. I also emailed Capital on Friday encouraging them to send us more students if they had them.  

They responded that the SACG would be getting only six for the morning.  When I arrived on Saturday, Sabrina and Amy were already there and I set up the refreshment station and went to borrow Cathy’s drill in case mine died.  The kids arrived on time (which is always refreshing) and I gave them a brief history and tour.    There were more than double the amount of students promised.  That was very, very exciting.   I teased them about their t-shirts quoting JFK instead of Martin Luther (particularly since this is the 500^th year of his kick-starting the Reformation).

One volunteer was assigned to Sabrina to water the entire Garden.  In three hours, they watered the food pantry plots, the neighbor plots, the strawberry patch, the fruit orchard, the blue berry bushes, some flowers and the flower beds across the street.  Our only fellow mowed our lot and the Block Watch lot next door (both of which were pretty shaggy).   I asked another student to trade off so that she could mow the block watch lot across the street.    Two students wanted to pick up litter.  In three hours they had filled one bag.  (There were lots of other Capital students picking up litter along Main Street . . . . ).  Amy led a group of students in weeding.

I assigned the rest to painting our pickets and post toppers.   Unlike last month, I put them in the shade on the sidewalk (and out of the way of our mower).  We spread out a tarp and went to Urban Connections to pick up our supplies.  Ken wanted me to buy them roller brushes, but I would never spend our few dollars on something that we would only use one day.  I grabbed two students to help me attach the final two stringers to the fence.  Luckily, they had already been painted by the OSU students.  However, Ken had not yet cut them down and I had not thought to bring a saw.  Curses!  I had to rush home and cut them down with my circular saw (and pick up my level) and rush back.  We had measured the new length based on the existing stringers.   However, it turned out that, despite mine and Taylor’s best efforts, the posts were not truly vertical.  The top of the posts were closer together than the bottoms.  So, even though I had been conservative with my cutting (and had brought along a hand saw in case I did not cut enough off), the long stringer was now three inches too short.  Aiiyaiiiyaiyaiyai.    Everyone is looking at me, so I had to think fast and decided to screw a piece back on and then screw that piece to the post.  It worked.  Whew!  Crises averted.

We also had to cut back a rose bush and some flowers to attach the springers.  Then, it was time to start attaching pickets, one at a time.  Once the mowing was finished, I asked her to start bagging the corn stalks which Sabrina had trimmed out that morning.  Two students were assigned to pick our beans (because they take a long time).  Then, I assigned another pair to pick our tomatoes and another student to pick peppers.  Then, I assigned three of this crew to picking kale and collards (and showed them which misshapened leaves had aphid issues).  Once that was finished, Sabrina lead three of them in cleaning out the pole bean row because the crop seemed to be finished for the year. 

There was also a group of Capital students volunteering next door at Kimball Farms. Truth is, it turns out that our extra kids were supposed to be next door.  Oops.  However, Pastor Brown did not arrange for any water or goodies for his volunteers (who were clearing out all of the raised garden beds) and so they came to the SACG to drink our ice water (to the point that we ran out).   He also did not arrange for any yard waste bags and so the kids had been instructed to dump the vines and stalks, etc. into area dumpsters.  Eee gads.  This would NOT endear us to our neighbors, so I intervened and provided yard waste bags (that had previously been donated by Keep Columbus Beautiful) and told them to stack them near our compost bins (so that I could carry them out to the curb in 10 days).

Although our morning started off quite nicely, it began to get hot around 11:30 and I could hear the kids discussing their lunch plans.  (No one seemingly wanted my cookies.  Their loss).   They were slowing down from our fast pace earlier in the morning.  Although we were about five feet short of completing the fence, we started to put away our supplies and pose for some group photos (including of the volunteers from Phi Sigma Sigma).

We did not have any adventures with bees or snakes.  But, when I grabbed a tarp to surround the rose bush while we attached pickets behind it, the many spiders living in the tarp got a lot of attention and camera time. 

Sabrina and I tidied up after they left and I delivered our food pantry donation.  Then, it was back to the Garden to water my own plot.  I’ve been on vacation and hadn’t had a chance to water my plot since our heat wave started 10 days ago.  I also went to purchase some industrial strength exterior glue to attach our post toppers.

Neighbors Barb and Frank stopped by to admire the progress on our fence, ask about the status of our Free Little Pantry and express appreciation for our mowing and watering the  Block Watch lots.  As part of the City's support of land bank lots, the Block Watch used its allocation to purchase fertilizer for our fruit orchard.   I explained that we had only six volunteers so far to support the Free Little Pantry, but showed them where it would be placed if we move forward.

Before I left for vacation, I found a tomato horn worm on my tomato plants.  I hadn’t noticed any damage (which is odd considering how large it was).  It had already been infested with parasitic wasps (which lay eggs on these worms, which will then be eaten by the nymphs when they hatch).  It wasn’t moving much, so I have a feeling it was about to die.  I dumped it in the trash.

Our flowers are looking swell.  Again, I have let our cosmos take over our paths.  They do not get this big at my house, but they become the size of shrubs at the SACG.   We cut them back (and save seeds for next year) when they die back.

One of the OSU students who volunteered last month emailed me later in the afternoon about whether he could bring a group to volunteer on Saturday mornings.   I could certain use help cleaning up the Garden as we wind down for the year.  We do not close until the second Saturday in November, so there will be a lot of work to do between now and then.

I also took photos of the progress with our fence and emailed them to Ken.

Our fence looks swell.  Ken has volunteered to finish it off.  We might have some volunteers to help.  Or, I'll attach the toppers tonight a few pickets every week until it has been completed.