Plans begin to hatch...

Below, my dad (green vest) and Jim Knowlan (the head of the maintenance dept. at Ross) survey the garden site and discuss plans for septic updates in the near future. Where they are standing, there are plans for a new system of cisterns to be buried within the next few months, so we are planning the perimeter of the garden to allow easy access to this area. The trees marked with red tape are tagged for removal; these saplings would eventually grow into large oaks that would extend as far into the open as possible for maximum sunlight, and shade the garden severely.

THE GOOD NEWS: my dad is a sculptor, and he has agreed to make art out of the trees we cut down to later put back into the garden. He'll mainly be transforming the root systems and trunks of these young oaks into giant pencils, which he can then paint and erect throughout the garden.

Here's an example (a lot of his work follows a pencil motif, it's not just some weird random idea he had for this project in particular, in case you were wondering. I suggested it because I thought it would be a great way to honor the trees we cut down, and the theme fit so well in a school garden). Below: Red Pencil, Indianapolis Museum of Art.

And so my dad fired up his chainsaw and began the very sad process... It felt hypocritical to be at school on a weekend hacking down trees when on weekdays I'm tromping around campus yelling at people about paper cups. Lobbying for this step in the creation of the garden felt kind of morally abject, and I had to make my dad take a break with the chainsaw for a while. My dad's excitement of being back out in the field, the roaring engine, and feeling like I was conducting the whole operation was just too intense to handle. (Obviously I got over this feeling, and we decided to try and plant trees around campus that might replace those felled that cold, cloudy March day.)

Below, Modesto works on clipping brush from the trunks, the parts my dad wont be turning into sculptures, and that I learned last weekend might be ideal for growing portobello mushrooms if we don't wait too long to use them.

The next step in this process was really quite gratifying... Below, Bill and Cian work on digging up the root balls of these saplings, which were planted while still encased in their metal caging. Judiann said it's a common misconception among landscapers that leaving this caging on the root balls of young trees will not affect their growth. In fact, she said, this caging disables the tree from ever reaching its full potential and can stunt its lifespan.

Cian and Em tip the trunk...

I found Bill in the Security office at school last Saturday, but he came right outside with me and started digging on the spot. He even had some tools stashed away for a compost bin at the southeast corner of the CWB. Finding enough tools for everyone on a given day is piecemeal at this point, especially since we don't have anywhere to store the tools, which is something we're going to have to consider at upcoming budget meetings.