Cooperation

A lot goes into the creation of a garden space.

Logistics is a big part of it.

The hanging garden required soil.  I required help getting it into and out of my car. The salesclerk at Home Depot put the bags in the trunk.  A young woman in a UofA sweatshirt took pity on me in the school parking lot, re-parked her car, and wheeled the bags I'd dumped onto my dolly all the way into the lobby.  Perhaps, in a pre-perforated lifetime, I might have managed it myself.  This week, not so much.

The rest was up to the Garden Club.

Balancing the load by hand seemed simpler than moving the bags themselves.

Pushing required three or four hands. 

Making the curve around the empty planter led to a mini-disaster. 

Having learned their lesson around the planter, the Garden Club used momentum and a lifting motion on the bags to make the turn toward the garden itself. 

With the end in sight, their gazes were uplifted. 

The girls got the heavy lifting done, depositing the bags at the entrance to the garden.

Their work was done.  They ran back to the playground, feeling very proud of themselves.

The next day, after the kindergarten girls tried and failed to move one of the bags to a more relevant location, these two he-men bent, counted, lifted and moved it without being asked. 

There are so many lessons to be learned.

There are so many ways to help.

There are so many opportunities to get very dirty.... to eat scallions.... to plant seeds and seedlings.

As always, you are all invited to drop in, any Wednesday over lunchtime.