The Gateway Demonstration Exhibit Garden benefited from an energetic Cal group!! On Sat Oct 4, we had 17 Cal students, and they worked hard!!! They painted the graffitied irrigation box, deck posts and painted out graffiti on the understory of the deck. Other students hammered in the heads of hundreds of popped nail heads on the deck planking. We filled 23 green waste bags, plus 4 others taken home and more than an equal amount that Fred came and picked up in two full loads of his truck to take to the Berkeley green waste center. We estimate therefore, about 75 bags of green waste total! They also de-weeded a number of the pathways and the “pebble clock patio” in the lower garden.
In addition, we had a full 30 gallon bag of litter/garbage and two 5 gallon buckets of recyclables, mostly beer bottles. These items are typically taken home and recycled or put in the trash cans by our team leaders, in this case, Fred Booker and Nancy Mueller.
NHCA treated the students to Dream Fluff donuts, coffee and tea to get them started, followed by a lunch of Zachary’s pizza to energize them for the rest of their day. They all said that NHCA was their favorite CAL Project Day event since we take good care of them as well as having such a gorgeous garden to work in. Thank you, landscape designer, Chris Hecht Landscape Design & Construction and architect neighbor extraordinaire Peter Gray Scott for the beautiful and enduring hardscape & pavilion we all enjoy today.
A special shout out to former neighbors Sue & Gordon Piper for their ability to get both gardens off the ground, they are neighborhood gems in the rough. We should also thank all those neighbors who for years toiled at maintaining our gardens, most recently Dan Conolly and Vicki Oliveira, along with many other individuals who have had a hand in the garden.
Our UC student workers were:
Prongha Talukder, lead organizer
Wesley Duong
Laura Cai Wu
Arshul
Victoria Hong
Marrissa Kwok
Denyse Chan
Teresa Le
Anna Cheng
Evie Nguyen
Catalina Quach
Sasha Marc
Raveen Noory
Javan Leong
Binderiya Battulga
Jennie Son
Chris Lin
Prongha
