Working Day 5! ~ 6/10/23 ~ Mulching and adapting to the flows of the garden!

Last collective working day was great!

We were honored by the visit and help from Erica and Ruby they brought really good vibes and energy with them.

The morning started with the traditional chat over biscuits and coffee and then we proceeded with a round of litter picking (over many weeks of performing the same task, the amounts of litter keep on becoming less and less. Good work!).

When we went to the garden we encountered quite an unexpected situation: two gardeners where cutting down the old willow tree that overlooked the children's playing area of the park. We got quite upset about this and we crossed through the thick obstacle course formed by the piles of cut willow branches to ask them what was the reason for the cutting. They told us that the willow was rotting inside and this posed a danger. After talking to them, we realised that by dragging the willow branches through the park, they also severed most of the nightshades and other species on that side of the garden. We took a breath and accepted that things in the garden just happen, they'll grow back straight and stronger.

During the trash picking, we encountered again the remains from someone who might have been sleeping in the garden. We decided to pick everything up from the ground and place the items inside the waterproof shopping bags.

Our plan for the morning was to focus on building insect hotels/shelters from the trash that we had gleaned and accumulated after every trash picing rounds at the beginning of the working days. This plan was quickly set aside when we encountered the cutting down of the willow tree. After having a good chat with the people wielding the chainsaws (who were super freindly and interested in what we were doing with Shared Grounds), we asked if there was any possibility to collect some of the wood or residual mulch that they would chip the tree into, and to our luck we could have it all. They even cut the trunk in smaller pieces that we could roll along the path to make them into a set of chairs around a matching table in the deep corner of the garden. We also agreed that after mulching the tree, they would leave it all in the park for us to use and bring back to the garden.

We also planted some of cut branches from the willow to see if they would root into the ground. We had no big hopes for this to work out but it was worth to try it out at least!

It was nice to go with the flow of the day, and change tact, responsively, given what arose, alongside embracing the decay of the tree and their generosity in gifting us extra mulch for the path, our delux table setting, and top ups to our takkenrillen - nothing leaving the site, so no extra energy going into moving the willow's remains elsewhere. Instead they can stay with us a little longer.

We ate lunch after all the rolling, shifting, collecting, on our fresh and sweet wooden hideaway in the middle of Shared Grounds, gezellig!

Sweet photos of the day from Kate, Guillem and Ruby.