Once a quarter Mr. Pierce plans a weekend “Family Fun Day.”  This past weekend the event was held in the garden, for a workday and BBQ.  Simply amazing what many hands can accomplish!

Rangers at Heise Park dumped off a load of woodchips (seen in the background) which were loaded into wheelbarrows…

Photo courtesy of Scot Copeland

…and spread around the entire garden by kids and adults all afternoon.

Photo courtesy of Marisa McFedries

We removed an old raised bed, with rotting wood and gopher-punctured lining:

Photo courtesy of Scot Copeland

Photo courtesy of Scot Copeland

We built a brand-new, gopher-lined box: (Redwood and 1/2 inch hardware cloth)

Photo courtesy of Marisa McFedries

Moving it into place took a small team:

Photo courtesy of Marisa McFedries

Putting the dirt back in, plus buckets of compost we harvested earlier:

Photo courtesy of Marisa McFedries

Finished with peas planted and mulched (the prickly pinecones are supposed to deter creatures):

Turning bins and sifting finished compost:

Photo courtesy of Scot Copeland

Whole lot of weeding goin’ on:

Photo courtesy of Scot Copeland

Photo courtesy of Scot Copeland

Marisa leading a heroic effort with the kids to remove rocks from a future planting area:

Photo courtesy of Scot Copeland

A new family to Julian joined us for the day, and we all got to know each other a little bit more:

Photo courtesy of Scot Copeland

Finishing up with a BBQ:

Photo courtesy of Marisa McFedries

And very last: spontaneous music at the end of the day, just as we were losing light!