By Grainne B Furlong
Engineers from the companies GRAHAM, and Curtins arrived to spend some time communing with nature!!
Their mission - to create and paint wooden garden edging and planting them into the community garden at Bloemfontein Road. After introductions, Maria, Green Project SB coordinator and volunteers presented the story of the Green Project SB, and our mission is to make our neighbourhood more green and pleasant for all.
Teams Curtins and GRAHAM quickly set to work creating wonderful wooden garden edging from scratch. Wood had to be cut, planks to be measured, pegs to be nailed, trenches to be dug, the ground had to be broken and brows to be sweated. This took most of the morning except for the sweating of brows – this took the whole day!! They also visited our sister garden in Adelaide Grove currently going under renovations (opportunities for another volunteer day??)
Once our volunteer carpenters had finished creating the edging, mini trenches were dug and this proved to be quite challenging as the soil was very dry, but it was no problem to the teams. The wooden edging was then secured into the soil.
The materials used were made from recycled materials from GRAHAM and Curtin's building sites. Thanks to the wonderful support and delivery coordination from Ivor Brown and Costas Petrides we couldn’t be in better hands with their great commitment and passion for community involvement all materials were delivered on time with the best cutting possible to facilitate their assembly. Green points all round.
There had been a shortage of hammers, but luckily Valdas came to the rescue – he brought three different types of hammers in his pocket!!!! Now that’s what we call being prepared.
The teams worked brilliantly in the sweltering heat hardly stopping for a break such was their enthusiasm. The Green Project provided homemade lemonade and ice creams to help keep everyone cool!
Louise and Natasha chief colour co-ordinator chose the willow green paint which blends in nicely with the garden giving it an even more calm and relaxed feel – great choice. Tom provided us with excellent gardening tips which we’re keen to try out. Olivia, Louise Rukudzo and James found the experience very therapeutic and added to our oasis of calm in White City.
It’s a far cry from creating buildings on computers, but the team aced it using their skills to create the wooden garden edgings with ease. If they tire from the office, there is always a job in landscape gardening.
Both teams enjoyed their day away and being at one with nature!!
We have been asked a lot where we got the garden hedging planting from, maybe it will be a new business line for your company? 😊
Looking forward to seeing you all again in future
And a very big thank you from everyone@ The Green Project.
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