Join pesticide-free-park group; final DIG of the season
2021 Report from Lyons DIG DAYS, pesticide-free parks group
Common behavior in our culture is to grab a coffee upon waking.. work, workout with eating.. and congregating in the middle. What if you could do all those things (except make money) with one simple activity: gardening?
I love walking into my home Food Forest, bringing along a family member, and finding a snack along the way; all while getting my blood and breath moving. That’s what Lyons’ DIG Days (DIG stands for Doing Immunity Good) accomplishes as well, with fellow Diggers meeting in Lavern M Johnson Park, by the zipline every month.
Volunteer Lyons Diggers had their first Friday of the Month in April, with our last Day being this weekend, October 1. May and June had a consistent turn out, but with summer months bringing only your most loyal Diggers. Activities included: laying cardboard, pulling bindweed, removing cheatgrass, refreshing mulch and more. Hopefully next year we can have a truck load of mulch delivered for a larger group, to have a Perma Blitz ending with evening beers verses the morning coffee.
But we’re not complaining, every trip this year offered plenty of park visitors to engage with. Last month, there was Pete, a visitor from Boulder, who couldn’t express enough how nice it was that his family could enjoy pesticide spray-free parks. While I was at it though, he wanted me to do something about dog doodoo bags and fix the water feature. I think I said twice that I don’t work at the park or have that kind of clout. Or the guy from Arkansas who thought I was crazy for weeding since “you could just spray.” When I brought up the cancer rates, he just replied, “Yeah, I know.”
Getting to know the Town Park staff, fellow Diggers, and especially the patrons, made the two hours of Digging in the park enjoyable.
So come join us for our last DIG Day on October 1st in LaVern Johnson Park, around 9:45 a.m. Kids are welcome. Bring your gardening gloves and coffee cup. Or join us next year – stay tuned for news about next year’s plans.
If you want to stay active in the pesticide-free movement, I encourage you to help the Weed Posse (another Lyons weeding group), or take a Permaculture class from the group making a Community Food Forest (Project) in town near Town Hall, or watch “In Habit,” a permaculture documentary.
Permaculture has given me hope for our ability to turn our resource-destroying culture into a resourceful, healing one.
………………… Tess McDonald DandyLyonsBrigade@gmail.com
