May third was a big day for Build It Up and the residents of Whispering Meadows! Volunteers from BIU and ETSU joined residents for a day of building raised beds and hauling soil. As all big-day events go, there were some interesting last minute maneuvers. For instance, the property owners decided to relocate the garden to an area where the grass doesn’t get mowed often (see below for more detail).
We didn’t have a mower on hand, but dozens of kids from the neighborhood jumped to the rescue and gleefully stomped the tall grass down. It was a hot day, though, so things quickly devolved into fort building with our cardboard–as you can see above.
Meanwhile, the adults were busy with the power tools, cutting boards, drilling guide holes and screwing the beds together!
After the beds were placed, we took a lunch break to keep energy levels up. A big thanks to local grocery chain, Earth Fare, for donating some food for our event!
Once we’d lunched, we got to work moving our soil mix from the parking lot to the beds—as there was no way a dump truck could make it to the garden area, the work was done all with one pickup truck and the power of our hands.
By 5pm everyone was tuckered out, but 25 beds were on the ground and more than two dozen adults and children were covered in dirt and sun. It was an amazing, inspiring day and we’re definitely looking forward to our upcoming workdays throughout the month.
For even more pictures, see the album on our Facebook page!
Leave A Comment