The Wednesday Garden Crew

Thanks to everyone who came out for the Spring Awakening and Plant-Forward Potluck a couple of weeks ago. The event got us off to a terrific start maintaining and improving our grounds for the season.

It was a spectacular, fragrant spring day. Each breath was a tonic.

Susan Ostreicher and her daughter Esther, uppotting

Among the things we accomplished: uppotting hundreds of plants for our Native Michigan Plant Garden and uprooting bags and bags of Sticky Willy.

Sticky Willy is an invasive, tangled weed that clings to everything but also has medicinal properties.

Still, as there is always plenty to do, the Ground Committee is launching a new bi-weekly “Wednesday Garden Crew” initiative to keep us out there during the growing season “while we solve the problems of the world,” as committee co-chair Phil Barr put it modestly.

Starting on Wednesday, May 13, and continuing every 2nd and 4th Wednesday throughout the summer and into autumn through November, we’ll gather out by the garden shed at 9:00 am to work the earth.

These are all the dates for 2026: May 13, May 27, June 10, June 24, July 8, July 22, August 12, August 26, September 9, September 23, October 14, October 28, November 11, November 25.

Linda Klimach, Phil Barr, Susan Weiss

Each session, we’ll spend a couple of hours together planting, trimming, and working on the grounds while chatting about what else we can do to improve the grounds and involve more people from our congregations.

At our first meeting next Wednesday, we’ll keep working on restoration of the front entrance garden, building on what we got done at the Spring Awakening.

We’ll continue to work on other ongoing projects such as an irrigation system for the native plant garden and the paver path along the sanctuary egress.

Get in touch with Phil or just show up to help on any or all of our Wednesday Garden Crew meets.

Please also reach out to Phil if you’re interested in helping put that Sticky Willy to use by making tinctures and other potions.

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Phil Barr 734-7174040 pbarr.gardener@gmail.com