No Deer Allowed!!!

From the CGS Facilities Director John Gilbert:

I got a call from Larry Schmidt at 7:00 AM this morning, letting me know that there were four deer at the new garden, but that they were OUTSIDE of the mammoth deer fence.

Jeff Cothern later confirmed the story to me, but corrected Larry’s count, changing it to five. But, Jeff also assured me that they were all OUTSIDE the deer fence that can be seen from the space shuttle.

Great work!!!!
JG

A Garden to Last Many Years to Come!

Tucked away on the outskirts of Kansas City lies an organization that brings hope to countless lives. For over 40 years the Community of the Good Shepherd (CGS) has been serving adults with disabilities. Approximately 50 adults live at CGS, and many more actively participate in the great day programs that CGS provides.

After meeting with the amazing staff and residents at CGS, we realized that this is a special place. We also quickly learned that their greatest wish was to have a garden. They wanted to produce fresh fruit and veggies and also allow the residents to join in on the gardening fun. What a great opportunity to Grow Change -> Create Hope!

Our Burns & McDonnell + Spaces Inc. team became thrilled at this great opportunity. The excitement and desire to help was contagious. We were grateful to have Kansas City Community Gardens on board to help with planting and garden design and Turner Construction to donate their time and materials to build the facility director's dream shed. How cool is that?!?

The first day we assembled a team together to begin creating the raised beds for the garden, and it was snowing! How are we supposed to garden in the snow? Our determined crew worked hard through the weather conditions, ate some pizza, and worked some more to get 14 raised beds constructed. The next work day was our big day, and it turned out to be a beautiful one. We had over 20 people participate to continue building a garden, storage shed, and truly create change! Volunteers were all over the place: digging post holes, shoveling soil, putting up the fence, and most of all, having fun. Of course we could not have done it without residents Jeff and Larry, overseeing the work and manning the water and snacks tent. Before long a garden appeared before our eyes. Now it was time to get dirty and do some planting. It was a fantastic sight to see the plants in the beds, and witness the growth taking place.

CGS will continue to provide their wonderful services for years and years, and residents will come and go, but the bounty of the garden will live on for years to come.

FOR MORE PICTURES, PLEASE VISIT OUR SHUTTERFLY WEBSITE @ bmprojectchange.shutterfly.com

Another Lovely Workday

After a very cold and gloomy start to this Saturday, the sun decided to grace us with it's presence and it turned out to be a great day. Our main tasks for the day were to finish two gates on the fence, and to dig up a path to the main entrance. The path was a strenuous task, but the eager crew got down and dirty and finished it out. They put down a weed mat and mulch will soon be placed to make it match the existing path next to it. After some trial and error(s), the gates came together, and thankfully they work! This will hopefully keep the deer and rabbits out, until they figure out how to work the latch!

The group after finishing up the path!

Look! A Garden!

Our first big group workday was a great success! As you can see abov there wasn't too much out there before we started working. When everyone arrived on thatbeautiful morning, there were only a few stakes in the ground.

The wheels soon began turning though! 24 post holes were dug for our 4"x4" fence posts to go in. At the same time volunteers started hauling all of the raised beds into place, and leveling them out (or close enough :) ). Once we got all 14 beds in place and level we started hauling dirt. The dirt pile/mountain soon started dwindling as eager voulnteers began carting their precious cargo up the hill and too the beds. Ben Sharda from KC Community Gardens gave us some great tips for a handy dirt dumping method with the wheelbarrows, which was pretty slick. Even with the mid 80s weather, the team soldiered on and got all the beds filled.

Check it out! it's got plants!!

Meanwhile the fence crew was chugging along getting all the posts plumb and in their holes, and compacting the soil at the base. Then we nailed two layers of the 4'x16' cattle panels to the posts. Take that deer! We also had to add some chicken wire to the bottom to keep those killer rabbits out too!

In order to keep the weeds down we placed cut to fit rolls of carpet face down in between the raised beds. This will also keep it from getting too muddy. Ben from KCCG showed back up around this time with the prized posessions - seeds and plants! We got some of the residents involved in the planting and watering, and they all looked like they were having quite the time!

The fence

We can't wait to come back next weekend to finish up a few things and hopefully see how our plants are coming along!

Dirt, Dirt and more Dirt!

Our workday this past weekend was a great success! Holes were dug, fences were erected, beds were placed and wheelbarrows were loaded/dumped and repeated! More details and pictures to come!

All Good in the Garden!

Team BMCD/Spaces is off to a great start for April. Despite the late March/early April snow (and walking uphill both ways) the team managed to get together to build 14 - 4'x12' raised beds that will go into the garden we're helping build at the Community of the Good Shepherd. We can't wait to get them in there and get to planting! Hard to imagine things growing when it's still snowing this late. But alas, the sun will come out tomorrow. Anticipation is building for an epic workday that will hopefull place these beds and get an anti-deer fence erected to guard the oh so delicious vegetables that we hope to see growing soon.