April Showers Bring Abundance!
A few April showers did not dampen the spirits of the many participants who turned out to the Sebastopol Grange on Sunday, April 12, for the second annual Equinox Garden Box Build. Members of three of Sebastopol’s service clubs, the Grange, the Kiwanis Club, and the Lion’s Club came prepared like good scouts with tools, rain gear, and pop-up tents to work with the community to assemble redwood garden boxes with gopher wire bottoms.
Kiwanian, Jim Deis, former math and shop teacher at El Molino High School, led the crew in setting up stations for drilling, cutting, and attaching wire. Last week, Jim and his son-in-law and fellow Kiwanian, Brad Smith, had already pre-cut most of the boards to create ready-to-assemble “kits” that streamlined the production of 50 redwood garden boxes. The boxes were mostly 2’x4’ in size made from recycled redwood fencing generously donated from North Bay Fence Builders. Additionally, new redwood lumber was sourced from Sebastopol Ace Hardware and Full Circle Mills.
Participants had signed up to assist with the build or to receive a box, or both. People were integrated into the work stations and at one point there were even more willing helpers than tools! “A good problem to have,” quipped Granger, Dena Allen, one of the event organizers. As people waited for their boxes to be built and loaded into their vehicles, there was a community potluck and tables set up for folks to relax, enjoy some refreshments, and make new friends. Volunteers with trucks delivered other garden boxes to people who were unable to fit them in their cars.
The crowd was a variety of participants who had come last year, people looking to do more gardening and food production, and folks new to the community who were looking to take part in local events. To expand the offering, the Community Seed Exchange provided Fordhook Giant chard and Chioggia beet seeds as well as sunflower seeds and plant starts from Granger, Jim Wilder who offers sunflowers to the community as a sign of hope and resistance. Information was given about upcoming free gardening resources like the compost giveaway on May 16 at the Youth Annex and the plant start swap at the Grange on April 28.
Sunday’s event was a beautiful reminder of how we can all work together to serve each other and the community. By pooling our collective resources, we can enable more people to grow food and pollinators as we continue to make our home more resilient. As we were reminded recently from space, our home is a uniquely special place. Let the April showers bring May flowers and summer veggies, more collaboration and friendships between groups and individuals, and more beauty and abundance to our local area.
–Respectfully submitted by Granger Carol Henderson