Gabe LePage
URI Internship Year:
2020
Graduation Year:
2022
Degree:
MEM
Gabe LePage is a joint degree student in Yale Divinity School and the Yale School of the Environment. He graduated from Calvin College in 2016 with degrees in Geography and International Development Studies. Afterwards, he spent a year learning about Asset Based Community Development from Great Lakes Urban in his neighborhood in Grand Rapids, MI. Interested in land and the connections between a healthy relationship with the environment and people’s wealth, he moved to Florida to study agriculture as an intern with ECHO Inc, a small scale farming resource and training organization.
Gabe is happy to be in New Haven and working with URI, an organization that marries international community development approaches to urban landscape restoration and poverty alleviation. He worked with GreenSkills to plant trees and is now looking forward to supporting community groups to improve bits of their neighborhoods.
Group
New Haven Botanical Garden of Healing Dedicated to Victims of Gun Violence
Norton Parkway Pollinator Pathway
Hemingway Butterfly Garden: Mariposas del Mundo
Greenspace Log
| Date | Category | Photos | Group | Summary | |
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10/24/2020 |
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The Rainbow Park group continued to work Saturday mornings in the fall weeding and maintaining the park. |
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10/23/2020 |
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Mariposas Del Mundo Green Space group put in a lot of work this summer and fall to create a certified Monarch Waystation and butterfly garden. Starting with online planning meetings in July, followed by spreading soil and beginning to plant in August, and then expanding the garden in September, this group has a lot to be proud of. October finished up with some jubilant celebrations of all the hard work. |
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10/23/2020 |
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This log represents 4 workdays from Sept 16 to Oct 22. Nan, Sawyer and I continued to pull out invasives and stake down the deer fence. |
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10/15/2020 |
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The Shepard St Greenspace group worked on Thursday evenings this fall to clean up their street scape by weeding, spreading mulch, and planting some beautiful perennials, including liriope, iris, catmint, and hostess. We worked from Sept 17 to Oct 15. We ended with a joyful outdoor potluck. |
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10/03/2020 |
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New Haven Botanical Garden of Healing Dedicated to Victims of Gun Violence |
On this work day, we had volunteers from Career High School and Wilbur Cross High School, as well as Yale Divinity School. We worked hard planting 100s of perennials near the future entrance to the garden and watering all the plantings from the past few weeks. |
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09/26/2020 |
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The Rainbow Park team continues to faithfully spread mulch, clear the paths, and weed the garden. They have also taken up advocating for the protection of Kensington Playground, a park two block from Rainbow Park. Kensington has been recently slated for development. You can sign their petition here: https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/save-the-kensington-street-playground |
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09/26/2020 |
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New Haven Botanical Garden of Healing Dedicated to Victims of Gun Violence |
The Botanical Garden of Healing is well underway! Today we watered all the perennials we planted in the last few weeks. We cut down a lot of invasive knotweed and vines and built a short mulch path down to the water. |
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09/25/2020 |
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The Hemingway team planted many new perennials on some freshly spread topsoil in the last two weeks. 2 highlights include a back border of Inkberry and plantings of creeping phlox on the front edge. |
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09/19/2020 |
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New Haven Botanical Garden of Healing Dedicated to Victims of Gun Violence |
Today we finished up planting the Swale beds and watered all the trees and perennials already in the ground. |
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09/12/2020 |
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The crew weeded and pruned plants out of the paths this morning. They also built a makeshift doggie bag holder for Kensington Park. |
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09/12/2020 |
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New Haven Botanical Garden of Healing Dedicated to Victims of Gun Violence |
On this workday, we had YSE students volunteer for their September of Service. They worked in two shifts, morning and afternoon, to plant out most of the swale beds. |
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09/11/2020 |
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We raked out 4 yards of top soil and spread sand on top. Kat brought water in her truck and we added some from the river to keep all the plants going. After the group planted 70 plants over the last two weeks I was on break, the garden is looking very full! |
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09/09/2020 |
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Nan Bartow and I walked the fence pulling invasive vines and repairing the deer fence. |
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08/22/2020 |
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New Haven Botanical Garden of Healing Dedicated to Victims of Gun Violence |
We planted 2 rudbeckias, 4 hostas "elegans," 2 coreopsis, and 4 agastache beside the sidewalk. We also spread another 6 bags of pine mulch, cut down a lot of Japanese Knotweed, bagged up some garlic mustard seeds, and cleared some vines off of surrounding trees. The work finished with a fire truck showing up to water the trees and fresh plantings. |
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08/22/2020 |
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Today, the crew at rainbow park planted 4 fall blooming asters, spread some stone dust, and spread some mulch. They continue to weed and enjoy the beauty of Rainbow Park. |
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08/20/2020 |
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3 volunteers came out to clear the overgrowth on the pathways and to cut invasive vines and multifloral rose off of the deer fence. We made a lot of progress! |
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08/19/2020 |
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3 volunteers came out to prune some oak trees that hang down over the sidewalk on Division Street. |
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08/19/2020 |
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Shepard St got a lot done this summer, with 2 planning meetings and 7 work days. A lot is thanks to new volunteers and neighbors to the green space, Claire and AJ. Claire began working as soon as it was warm outside to remake a perennial bed, add container vegetable gardens, and install bird feeders and bird baths. Claire put in a lot of work to amend the soil. When the Greenspace program officially began, Jody, Claire, AJ, and Tony were ready for big plans and a lot of work. They trimmed all the bushes, mulched the entire space, cleared the invasive species, and planted over 100 Liriope (4 in plugs). The green space looks wonderful, and the group, in partnership with Addie the block watch captain, is looking to work with neighbors on the streetscape as they just received a new sidewalk. |
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08/15/2020 |
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The group spread mulch this morning and continued to clean up from last week's storm. |
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08/15/2020 |
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New Haven Botanical Garden of Healing Dedicated to Victims of Gun Violence |
The Victims of Gun Violence Greenspace group came out in force today to weed around last years perennial plantings and to spread mulch. Several volunteers took turns with a hand held weed whacker to remove a large area of Japanese knotweed. We cleared a view to the river and liberated a Sweetgum that the group had planted last year. At the end, we had another visit from the fire department to water all of our trees and plants. |
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08/14/2020 |
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Friday morning, 3 volunteers did post-storm cleanup chores in the Brownell, Hobart, and bridge beds--removing storm debris from beds, pruning some tree limbs, and picking up trash along that stretch of the mall. One volunteer was going to return with water for the plants in the bridge bed planted earlier this season. |
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08/13/2020 |
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This stalwart group came out on a hot afternoon to prune deadwood off of a Ninebark shrub and plant 2 rose bushes, 3 lavender, and 3 Tickseed Coreopsis. We added a small amount of compost and mulch to cover over areas we disturbed. Bumblebees were bouncing between flowers already present. The garden by Quinnipiac and Clifton is getting richer by the week. |
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08/13/2020 |
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Nan and Joan worked with me over 2 weeks at the Beaver Pond Urban Oasis to remove invasive species from the deer fence and fix it where it had been pulled down. Nan and Joan also pulled out mugwort, cleared the edges of the trails in the oasis, and covered an area of garlic mustard with cardboard. |
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08/12/2020 |
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The team at Newhall and Division did maintenance on 9 street trees on Wednesday, rebuilding soil donuts, mulching and watering. |
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08/08/2020 |
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Volunteers came out the last two weeks on Saturday morning. The first week was spent spreading compost, weeding, and enjoying the serenity of the park. The second week was filled with removing a large branch that fell in the back of the park. We removed a lot of wood! |
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08/08/2020 |
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New Haven Botanical Garden of Healing Dedicated to Victims of Gun Violence |
Victims of Gun Violence kicked off our maintenance for this year by clearing up broken branches from the tropical storm, weeding and mulching 5 trees, and clearing Japanese knotweed. The fire department volunteered a truck to help water the trees. We thought we would have to bucket water from the river when they received a call, but they returned shortly. Someone was only burning oil off of a grill behind their house. We watered the 5 trees with 25 gallons each and headed home. |
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08/07/2020 |
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Two neighborhood leaders helped me unload mulch from the truck at spread it at the Arch St Greenspace on Friday. We also picked up trash left by people hanging out in the park. The leaders of this group are showing a bold tenacity in making this park a kid friendly, safe space. |
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08/06/2020 |
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Residents of Arch St met with Chris Ozyck of URI and Frank D'amore of LCI to discuss putting up a fence at the front of the greenspace. Residents are frustrated by drug use and dumping in the park, making it unsafe for children and families. |
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08/06/2020 |
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Clifton St has has expanded the Quinnipiac Garden near the boat launch to over take more of the movable area and prep it for planting. They spread about a 1/2 yard of mulch and a 1/4 yard of compost and planted 2 pink "Pow Wow" Echinacea. |
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07/25/2020 |
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4 volunteers teamed up this morning to care for Rainbow Park--weeding and cleaning up. They have put up a sign discouraging folks from bringing their dogs without leashes. Dogs have been running around and breaking plants. With all the beautiful flowers blooming, we don't want them trampled. The picture is of the old sign in 2009. |
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07/21/2020 |
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Jody Kelly read to 8 pre-schoolers this week, and they were remarkably well behaved. They even had a visit from Jody's cat, who sat and listened to the story with them. |
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07/18/2020 |
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2 Rainbow Park volunteers came out to weed and maintain the park. It's looking great! |
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07/16/2020 |
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Last Thursday, 2 volunteers weeded and mulched the east Hobart bed. Another went deadheading on her own at the bridge bed Friday morning. |
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07/15/2020 |
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During the CoVid crisis, 1 volunteer who lives near the Clifton Street River Gardens has stepped up to keep weeding the flower beds that the group installed last year. She has put in a lot of time over the last few months to keep the boat launch looking good. |
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07/14/2020 |
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Jody read again this week to local preschoolers. They have a chance to walk around the Greenspace before sitting for story time. |
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07/11/2020 |
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This log summarizes 4 workdays on July 11, July 4, June 20, and June 13. This group has faithfully met every Saturday morning over the last several months to weed and care for the park. Thanks to their faithfulness, it is looking great. |
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07/09/2020 |
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Last Thursday night, 5 volunteers worked on the Norton St bed. The many 5 foot tall pokeweed invaders taking over the bed were dug out. Tough work in view of the size of their roots, but gratifying. Less dramatic weeding and carving out of "vinca-free" spaces around the 4 azaleas also took place. One volunteer moved on to the Ellsworth St beds to deadhead day lilies and purple salvia. |
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07/08/2020 |
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Nan and Joan provided me a virtual tour of the Beaver Ponds Urban Oasis in the afternoon, showing me the wide range of native plants in this protected space--including Beebalm, Butterflyweed, White Pentstemon, Black-eyed Susan, Spicebush, and many more. The Oasis is a pollinator playground. The picture shows volunteers and interns from last year who helped make this Oasis what it is. |
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07/08/2020 |
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As the GreenSpace season gets going late this year, 1 volunteer goes out everyday after work for 30 minutes of picking up trash. |
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07/08/2020 |
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Shepard Street GreenSpace group met via zoom this past week to welcome new members and plan for the coming summer. We enjoyed hearing each other's stories and gifts related to care taking a GreenSpace. Neighbors are excited about up-keeping the space and planting for bird and pollinator habitat. |
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07/07/2020 |
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On Sunday, 3 volunteers finished raking out the west Boulevard bed and trimming back the Russian sage. The much-reduced levels of traffic on Boulevard make working at those beds much more pleasant than during normal times. |
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07/07/2020 |
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1 volunteer helped clean out the leaves from the Brownell Beds |
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07/07/2020 |
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Jody Kelly began reading with preschoolers once a week for the month of July today. First the 2 year olds and then the 3-5 years walk around the corner to hear stories from Ms. Kelly in the Shepard St Greenspace. |
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07/02/2020 |
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Last Thursday, despite muggy conditions, 4 volunteers came to work at the Hobart beds. The western bed was both weeded and mulched; One volunteer pruned cherry tree limbs hanging down over the sidewalks; another deadheaded purple salvia; and a third started weeding the eastern bed. Currently blooming in at least one bed we tend: day lilies, Russian sage, the first echinacea, Gaillardia, maybe the first of the Blackeyed Susans (but the flower faces seemed more like Gaillardia to me), spirea, Shasta daisies, gloriosa daisies, gaillardia,golden marguerite, and the yet to be identified third tall yellow daisy-like flower in the bridge bed. |
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06/27/2020 |
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Last Saturday, the faithful caretakers of Rainbow Park spread 4 bags of mulch around the park. They weeded planted areas and enjoyed being outside. Thanks to the Rainbow Park crew for keeping such a wonderful little community space near the corner of Edgewood and Dwight. |
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06/25/2020 |
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Last week 4 volunteers weeded and mulched the beds at Brownell St. They also pruned a few low-hanging branches of the cherry trees. One innovation this week was using a tarp rather than a cart for efficiently hauling the mulch. Day lillies are blooming along the mall-and not much else. The Bridge bed, however, has a lot in bloom including Shasta daisies, Golden Marguerite, and Gloriosa daisy. Drive along the Edgewood mall to see this groups great work. |
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06/18/2020 |
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Thursday, 2 volunteers weeded and mulched the two Pendleton beds. 2 other volunteers have watered the new plantings in the bridge bed and Ellsworth beds, respectively, a couple times in the past week and a neighbor has again permitted us to use her water tap to water Ellsworth. Thanks to everyone for your work! |
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06/04/2020 |
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4 volunteers planted a flat of perennials from the city's gardener in the bridge bed and did some weeding. The perennials planted were 6 foxglove, 5 scabiosa, and 5 solidago shortii (a cultivated member of the goldenrod genus). Fortunately, we got about a half inch of rain in the next day or two. Currently blooming in beds somewhere along the mall are purple salvia, blue hyssop, potentilla, and purple columbine. The day lilies are budding, but not yet blooming. |
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05/28/2020 |
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On Thursday, 4 volunteers weeded the west Boulevard bed for about 30 minutes before the drizzle sent us home for the day. One also did a bit of pruning of a few trees in that block. |
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05/21/2020 |
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Last Thursday, 4 volunteers picked up trash, weeded, and did a bit of tree pruning at the Ellsworth St and Boulevard east beds. Another came out to say hello to us and compliment the appearance of the beds. |
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05/07/2020 |
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2 volunteers pruned trees on the mall, starting at Pendleton and moving toward Boulevard, while 3 others weeded the East Pendleton St bed. |
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05/03/2020 |
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Last weekend work was at the bridge bed, One volunteer raked the leaves from the bed on Saturday and on Sunday 3 volunteers pulled weeds and removed stems from last year. |
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04/25/2020 |
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On Saturday we had a large group to clean up the Hobart St. beds. 6 volunteers came out to work. 2 were there first, with the mulching lawnmower to decimate leaves removed from the beds. Exceedingly effective method, but the dust is rough on the sinuses. One volunteer grabbed a hoe and moved off to finish weeding at Brownell. The rest raked and deadheaded at Hobart. |
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04/19/2020 |
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On Sunday, The East Edge gardeners had a great turnout for the work session with 5 volunteers. 2 volunteers had already cleaned up the Norton and Ellsworth beds before last Sunday, and provided a big boost to making surprisingly short work of spring cleanup at the Boulevard east bed. They moved on to Brownell to do a bit of weeding there before they all dispersed. |
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03/26/2020 |
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2 volunteers cleaned leaves from the two Brownell beds on Thursday afternoon for an hour. |