The First Beds are Made

It was a long day of labor today, much longer than any of us thought it would be, but we’ve got 4 big planting beds ready for seeds and plants.  As we were cutting up pieces of scrap metal and stacking leftover bricks and broken concrete to make planting beds which will soon be filled with nourishing and life sustaining food, I realized how appropriate this was for God’s Garden.  After all, we worship a God who redeems junk and turns it into beauty and life.

Today would not have happened without the generosity of those who lent their strength and sweat (and even blood!), as well as some leftovers they had laying around – Doug Stewart, Jennifer Elshire, James Johnson and his sons, Dylan, Grant, Blake, and Noah.  I feel indebted to all of them, and I’m grateful to be in the company of such people.

The trailer full of rich earth

Friday evening, Doug Stewart got his giant flatbed trailer out of storage, and took me and my family to Living Earth Technologies to pick up three yards of dark, rich, aromatic gardening soil, which we parked at the garden site to await the big work day.

Jennifer Elshire brought the metal this morning and we got straight to work on building the first bed out of bricks while we waited for James Johnson and his sons, who were at his house loading up huge chunks of broken concrete.

The most difficult part of the work was scraping the grass and its roots from the ground. Without this step, the shorter beds will soon find lush, healthy grass growing among the lettuce and radishes. Each person pitched in on this job for as long as their back would hold out, and then the job would pass to the next victim.

Sonia digging up the grass

We completed the first bed, which was made with bricks held in place with rebar, and moved on to the second bed.  Three of the walls were formed from recycled parts of metal lockers, and the third wall was made with more bricks.

Dylan and Grant build the fourth wall out of brick

The third bed was constructed from big and small chunks of broken concrete, the leftovers of a patio James has replaced with a deck.  It was during the construction of this bed that Blake demonstrated his dedication to this garden by shedding blood, when he scraped his hand on a sharp edge of rock.

Gloves kept Grant's hands safe from injury.

The last planting bed is shaped like a circle, and was made from the corrugated metal that Jennifer was able to donate.  We wanted to elevate this one so that people who have bad backs can have a planting bed that they can work without straining their backs.  We built the walls of this one first, and filled it halfway with the remaining concrete chunks, then filled the upper half with soil, which required James and Dylan to lift wheelbarrows full of dirt over the wall and dump it in.

A wheelbarrow loaded with soil

At the end of the day, everyone was tired, sweaty, and dirty.

James takes a break.

Again, huge, heartfelt thanks to everyone who was able to pitch in.  It was a lot of work, but don’t worry if you weren’t able to make it today – there’s lots left to be done!

From left: Sonia, Blake, James, Noah (crouching), Dylan, Grant, Chris (Jennifer had to leave early for a birthday lunch)