On Saturday, April 18th from 9AM-1PM at 4th Street Farms, we celebrated Earth Day with 30 volunteers by installing new flower beds, chipping the paths, readying the beds for spring & removing graffiti from a raised bed. We gathered for lunch at 12:30PM at Godman Guild. Here are some photo highlights from the day:

It was a bright and shiny perfect morning when NBC4’s Tom Wood and Green Columbus Founder Tad Dritz stopped by to highlight Earth Day activities throughout Colunbus and invite everyone to participate everyday in making sustainable choices like reducing water consumption, eating local,  planting trees & native plants.

Meanwhile, we gathered card board donations from Whole Foods. Unbleached cardboard makes a great (and free) water permeable weed barrier. We top it with wood chip and eventually it will all compost down into good soil. In the meantime, we are diverting it from the waste stream and it keeps down the weeds for a season.

While Isiah from Whole Foods loads up the card board, Kevin breaks it down and removes any tape, so we can quickly line the paths and cover with wood chip.

Arthur, a United Way volunteer on Team Chip, found a snake friend in the wood chip pile. Such a garden delight!

With the snake safely set free in a rock pile, we continue to load chip, using every available wheelbarrow.

We laid 1.5 tons of wood chip in a little over an hour before running out. We’ll get more wood chip & finish the job in the next few weeks. Doesn’t it look lovely?

While Team Chip slung cardboard & mulch like champs, Team Flowers stocked up on lovely hardy multi-season perennials with help from Gina at Lowe’s Home Improvement store. All generously provided by United Way of Central Ohio.

Team Flowers got busy digging out cement debris & weeds. Then, they laid edging, brought in soil, planted flowers & mulched the entire l-shaped beds in the alley next to the compost bin. 

Isn’t it beautiful? What a great job and it’ll make the whole space much nicer!

With Team Flowes & Team Chip in the background, Team Art set out to address graffiti on one of the cement raised beds. Using stencils, they designed a scene that moves from rain to sunny body of water and includes birds, fish & a cat.

While Teams Art, Chip & Flowers worked in the main garden, Team Pretty tackled the front flower beds removing litter, dead grass & weeds.

Just wow!  Team Pretty truly dominated!

Wrapping up, we took a group to visit the chickens & look for eggs.

Totally amped on all our great projects on this wonderful day, we headed off to lunch.

Thanks to United Way of Central Ohio & Godman Guild’s Blue Bow Tie Catering, we all shared a delicious lunch together. 

So much fun all around! Thanks everyone!