Blake St Pocket Park is a lush, hidden gem in Beaver Hills. At its entrance, neighbors are immediately welcomed in by the murals, herb garden, and food pantry that Patrice and her family maintain. This year, we primarily worked on the stone dust pathway that winds through the front of the park and leads back to a lovely stone bench and open field at the rear of the park. Patrice and her family clearly love the park and their community, reflected by the high level of care that they put into maintaining this inviting space.
Susan, Nia, and I at the end of the workday - in awe of how beautiful the park looked!
06/29/2024
A light drizzle started as I arrived, but when I asked Nia how she felt about it, she shrugged and said, "That's fine, a little rain won't hurt anyone." As I got into the back of the truck to pull out tools, I spotted Susan making her way over to the park with a big smile on her face, excited to see us and work on the park! Before starting to weed, I demonstrated how to use the scuffle hoe on the stone dust. When I raked away the weeds that were pulled up, everyone was astonished at how easy it was and how clean the path looked afterward. Nia continued to use the scuffle hoe on the path, while Susan began weeding the area, and I (Yvonne) started off-loading mulch into a wheelbarrow. Around this time, Chris McDaniel stopped by—I was ecstatic to meet him as I had heard a lot about him. He was recovering from eye surgery, so instead of weeding, Nia showed him how to use the scuffle hoe and he got right to work! Around this time, Nia's father, John, came by after Nia called for his help. He immediate got to work and offered to shovel mulch. Vicson, whom Susan and I met and invited while he was biking to work last week, joined us too! He also volunteers at nearby community gardens. Vicson mentioned he couldn't stay long because of work, but he immediately got to work shoveling mulch into the wheelbarrow for us. With the powerful and quick work of Vicson, John, and Nia, all the mulch I brought was off-loaded, and almost the entire front of the park was mulched! Susan was worried because she couldn't weed as fast as they were mulching, but she was already doing a phenomenal job. Vicson helped on the path for a bit before departing for work. While Chris started to bag up loads of weeds with Susan's help, John and Nia continued to scuffle hoe and rake away all the weeds—the path was looking so clear all the way to the back of the park! I carefully tackled the task of removing some poison ivy. Susan's husband, Henry, also stopped by to say hi! Chris left to get some rest, and John left for basketball practice. By the end of the workday, Susan, Nia, and I were astonished at how much we had accomplished—we didn't expect to get so much done! The park was glowing! Join Susan and Chris next week at 2 pm to beautify the park!
MaintenanceSusan and Yvonne after mulching the park!
06/22/2024
After a week of heat, the rain from the previous night gave way to a beautiful sunny, but cool morning! Susan walked over to the park with a bag of her gardening supplies, excited to steward our pocket park. We started with some weeding, pulling weeds and saplings right out of the moist soil. Oak saplings, tree-of-heavens, Norway maples, and other invasive vines and weeds were being yanked left and right! Susan and I were so grateful to be outdoors and working after both recovering from injuries that had kept us inside for a long time. While we were tending to the garden beds towards the back of the park, Henry (Genese's husband) stopped by to say hi. Susan and I pulled various weeds and vines as we made our way back to the front, including poison ivy and stickyweed. With some mulch added at the front of the park, the space looked well-cared for by the end of the workday. Join us next Saturday from 9 am to 11 am!
MaintenanceMia pruning overgrown vines!
06/08/2024
It was a bright, beautiful morning when our volunteers came to the park, ready to tackle the overgrown invasives that had crept in. Genese, our previous site leader and sister of the current site leader, was back for the month and couldn't miss working at the park with all of us! (She's now Dr. Clark!!) A while into cleaning up the park, Lee arrived, pulling an excited youngling, Indy, on a cart to give some more love to the front of the park. Patrice pulled weeds from all directions, while Mia worked hard pruning the vines that had overgrown the beautiful mural. At the end of the workday, the group went around flyering in the neighborhood, inviting people to join us in beautifying this pocket park. Join us next Saturday morning from 9 am to 11 am!