Making the Best Better: Canoe-nity Garden WORK Day!!!

If you've been following this here ol' Summer Camp blog, you know that we've been dreaming of our Canoe-nity Garden all winter long, and now that spring is here, it was time to take the garden out of dreamland, and put it into reality!

All the pieces had come together:

We had our soil, generously donated by the Scotts Company!

We had our lumber, generously donated by Lowes of Newton!

We had a bunch of other supplies...

Generously donated through a gift from our great friends of Camp, the Kuehn Family...

And from supporters like YOU who donated to our Campfire Council's Gofundme Campaign!

(And in fact, supporters like you can STILL support by donating to our Campfire Council's Gofundme Campaign as we're continuing putting the finishing touches on the garden...) 

And of course, we had our very own Lakeside Louie of Dreamscape Designs, our architect of the Canoe-nity Fence, foreman, and boss for the day!

And Saturday we added the final piece to the puzzle...

A team of volunteers!

Our tasks were many!

And varied!

Things like:

Doing whatever Louie said. Mostly that. 

But also things like:

Moving stuff!

Things need moved to make a fence. That's just a fact.

Things like digging holes!

Many, many holes.

Deep holes!

Digging holes with machines!

Digging holes with humans!

Digging holes with humans and machines working together!

Thanks, machine.

Thanks, human.

Things like supervising!

Things like taking breaks!

Ahh. Breaks.

Things like getting back to work after breaks!

And after all that work...

The fence...

Was starting to look like a fence!

(Don't you think?)

So we thought we better actually put the fencing on it.

That way the fence...

Would look even more...

Like a fence.

And IN the fence...

It was time for the Canoe-nity Garden to start living up to it's name...

As we moved in...

And set-up...

Our canoe planters.

The fence team...

Then...

Put on...

Some finishing touches...

Took a breath...

And celebrated...

A job well done...

As Sunday morning...

They turned the project over...

To...

The gardening team!

Yes,

Sussex County 4-H's own...

Summer Blossoms Gardening Club...

Came on in...

To fill up...

Our canoes...

With soil...

Perfect the layout...

And turn our fenced in Canoes...

Into...

An actual...

Real-life...

No-longer-just-dreamed-up...

-And-talked-about...

-And-planned-for...

-But-Actually-Existing...

Camp Garden.

A Camp Garden...

That is now...

All ready...

To grow!

Special thanks to Lowes, and Scotts, and Dreamscape Designs!

Thanks to Ocean County 4-H, and all the 4-H Camp staff and camper volunteers on the fence team!

Thanks to the 4-H Summer Blossoms on the GARDEN TEAM for this round of planting, design, and set up and for their continued stewardship of the Canoe-nity Garden!

And thanks to the WHOLE CAMP COMMUNITY, who has been clamoring for a
4-H Camp garden for so long, and now finally has one. This will be a great laboratory for our gardening class this summer, a source of herbs and vegtables for the Dining Hall, and just the first step in the many opportunities the project will bring our campers for years to come.  If you haven't supported the project yet and would like to, it's not too late! Our Campfire Council's Gofundme Campaign is still going on: Lakeside Louie has more great plans to complete our fence, we have more boats and rowboats to fill and plant in, and this is only the start of our Canoe-nity Garden. Donate to help us get to what's next!