Saturday, April 23 was our first Stewardship day of 2016 in Ben Nobleman Park.  It was a bright sunny day but rather cool.  We all came dressed in layers and as the morning grew warmer, we shed our outer layers.

There were so many leaves and garbage in the pollinator bed that it took us 2 full hours to at least make the bed look reasonable.  We filled ten bags of garden waste for the City to pick up.  Now, you can see our beautiful daffodils swaying in the wind, the red and yellow dogwoods have been cut back and the bed is now ready to inspire visitors in the months to come. 

A couple of experiences for the day – a father with his two young girls came over to watch us rake the leaves.  I asked the older of the two girls if she wanted to help.  Well, when the older sister said OK, of course the younger one wanted to help.  And not only that, Dad picked up a rake and helped us as well for at least an hour.  Then Mom came by and helped putting the leaves in the big bags.  I mentioned that we were doing Stewardship again next Sunday and if she and her family wanted to come and help again, we would be grateful.  If they come, I will ask if they want to be part of Stewardship. We are always looking for people to come and join us on our beautiful stewardship mornings.

The other notable experience, for me at least, was the number of snails that we uncovered under the leaves, and they were all slowly moving around, leaving their trail of “goop” behind them.  I have never seen so many moving snails before, all on their way to wherever?

All in all, a great day and with rain coming this week, the bed should be more beautiful than ever.