The average Calgarian was definitely not spending the weekend of May 29th outdoors. Waking up on Saturday one couldn't help but feeling a little bewildered; temperatures near zero, snow covering the ground, more snow falling, where the heck are we? Calgary of course. Any other place the day would have been a complete write-off. But Northern Hill's residents had committed to build a community garden and build they did.It was an epic effort by all, a day I'm sure that won't be forgotten for many years, a day where every single participant gave their all. Every time I looked around people were hard at work and of course having a little fun as well. After 3 odd years of living in Calgary Suresh is still wondering why people think Calgary weather is so much better than Edmonton? Luckily he had Sunny, Marianna, Brenda and Kate to help with warm spirits and show him how to use a drill. Just jokes, I think we can safely say that we are all on the verge of joining the professional drillers union.
Perhaps we were all just as lucky that John and Heidi came prepared, surely helping to thaw every one's bacon at one time or another. They had a second home built by the time the day got underway; complete with event tent, trailer, chairs, heater, and probably even the kitchen sink if we looked hard enough. Attila and Eleno found another way to keep warm, building beds at a frenetic pace, continuously testing their own record time of 15 minutes per bed.
Paul and Lisa were trying the same method to keep warm, but were unfortunately paired with a third party that was more interested in soaking up the atmosphere (that's my attempt at an excuse for slowing them down, sorry guys). While Rory (a volunteer coming all the way from Bankview) was questioning his commitment to check out what a community garden was all about, he still had a great time and "learned a lot". He too was slowed by my preoccupation with the ‘atmosphere’.
Perhaps no one had a better way of keeping warm than Elizabeth; I didn't take an official poll, but at a mere 5 million layers of clothing I think she holds the record. It really makes me wonder what she does when its winter? Jeannine had to be especially brave as she tackled the most difficult job, the money collector; come on out freeze your butt off and then give us money? Marlene exemplified the no quit attitude shared by the group, even though she showed a little later than most you had to practically wrestle the drill from her hand to get her to take a break.
Wendy, our community association president, had her whip cracking...just kidding, she took some great pictures and was swarmed when she and Elizabeth appeared with goodies in tow (or maybe that was just me); provided by our very generous sponsor's Sobeys and Tim Horton's. Yay for sandwiches, fruit, coffee, and tea.
Some found other ways of dealing with the weather. Genny and Kristin were having a competition to see how quickly their toes could turn blue; which Brenda and Rigel must have thought looked like fun because they decided to try with their fingers. TJ was helping John keep warm by requesting a few extra precision cuts. Sounds to me like perfection offers a few bonus perks. Cheryl was only able to help with the setup and cleanup (hmmm...how did she wiggle her way out of this one). However she was able to snag us another event tent from Moxie's to help us keep warm and dry (well at least try) so I guess we can let this one slide.
And of course there is our fearless leader Joanne, calm, cool (perhaps more cold that day), and collected. I like her ear muffs, they must help keep the copious amounts of details in her head. Maybe thats my problem, I gotta get some ear muffs. She has taken a rag tag bunch (I can at least speak for myself) and helped us accomplish something wonderful. No one could have done it better. Our heartfelt thanks, our community is lucky to have her.
I think Michael and his daughter Leona echoed how we all felt at the end of the day when he remarked (and I'm paraphrasing because I have the memory of a sparrow) at how surprising it was for a community effort to accomplish so much, in so little time, with most people being complete strangers.
In all it was a great day and an amazing experience. We built and placed 24 beds in 3 hours. I think it looks fabulous already and we've only just begun. Now we can look forward to a break in the weather when we can start sewing some seeds and enjoying the outside, not just the people we’re sharing it with.
Planting
The weather appears to be getting better for the Northern Hills Community Garden members. It only rained one of the days on planting weekend. But as usual spirits were high and people were eager to get planting, especially since Kate offered refuge during the rain on Saturday. The orientations for all gardeners went well and now everyone is ready to watch for their first sprouts.
That is if you were patient enough to plant only seeds, some just couldn’t wait and needed to see some colour in their beds; Sunny’s plot definitely has a head start (I may have to beg for some scraps while I wait for my own veggies). All in all the area looks great, and there already has been an overwhelming response from residents of the area.
The variety of plants is amazing, and I can’t even tell what they are since most are still in the ground; I can’t wait to see what pops out of the earth. But word going round is that Michael’s plot will be one to watch as he has sewed some heritage grains.
Lisa’s son has what I call the perfect recipe for gardening; equal parts planting and sitting back in a lawn chair enjoying the park (I probably add in a little extra sitting myself). Carla and her son were driven by their rabbit concerns and have constructed a fence that I’m sure if they marketed in the neighborhood could keep them busy for years. I may have to ask for the blueprints as my wife seems to lose a third of everything she plants every year.
Elizabeth seems to share this same fear of rabbits. She returned on Sunday to check on her Saturday’s hard work only to find that every single plant had been eaten…Oh no wait! The rabbits were only playing a trick on her; instead of eating everything they just moved all her plants two plots over. That seems odd, maybe it wasn’t rabbits after all; could it be that someone (name begins with the letter E) had a little trouble reading the garden map (that she made) and planted the wrong plot? Either way the garden looks great and everyone had a great time.
Hope to see you at the garden.
The community garden would also like to extend their thanks to the following organizations which supported our construction through donations or discounts. Without their generous contributions we would have been challenged to get this off the ground.
City of Calgary, Parks
Sobey’s
RONA
Home Depot
