Place: Forest Gardens
Date: 11 July 2011
Hours worked: 3 hours
We arrived at the Forest Gardens a bit after 2 p.m. and went to sit in the shade while Barry sat with us and explained what the garden's purpose was and how it was set up. The other Ashley, Katie, and Barry went off to get tools while Professor Walker passed out waters for us to have. A bit less than 10 minutes later, they returned with the tools and we headed to the center of the garden. Barry explained what needed to be done and everyone took up on their tasks; the other Ashley and Katie worked on the edges, Cecilia, Brandi, and Paige went to go rake the grass field, and Amber, Shaakira, Professor Walker and myself set ourselves to weeding. Occasionally, one of us would find a strawberry and eat one. After a bit, Jane arrived and we took a short break during which Professor Walker passed out a candy everyone enjoyed. Jane spoke to us a bit again about how the garden is set up and which trees are which fruit, etc. We got back to work, and during the rest of the time we continued to weed and pick strawberries. Amber and Shaakira left early due to their allergies acting up, and Jane, the other Ashley, and Katie cut flowers for us to take home with us. After we finished, Barry told us about an event for his friends to help them stay in the country happening this Friday, and then we took off.
My thoughts on what happened are mixed. I did not look up the website of the Forest Garden before we came, so I was expecting something more like a botanical garden or even perhaps a greenhouse, and I thought that "Forest Garden" was simply the name of it. I learned that is it actually a recreation of what parts of a forest would perhaps be like. I was still prepared for the work, since I knew it would be ourdoorsy kinds of work, so that part would be fine. I was happy when we found the strawberries and tasted them, since they were actually quite delicious. I just felt a bit too hot when we were simply sitting in the sun listening to Jane speak, and then frustrated when it seemed like I wasn't accomplishing anything while pulling grass. I was somewhat intrigued but also slightly disgusted when I kept finding slugs and snails, each one bigger than the preceding. I also felt surprised how late it had become when we finished working, not realizing we had been there for so long. I did not necessarily acquire any new skills since I do garden work back at home all the time, but I did learn that wild strawberries are indeed safe to eat, as I did not know that before. I also has a raspberry from there, and it was quite good too. Also, I noticed not many people actually came to the garden, at least until later in the day so perhaps it is a good place to come for business people after they are finished with their stressful work day and need a break. While we were working there were perhaps a total of 5-8 people who came through the park, but when we started to leave a lot of people had come and sat under trees, or walk their dog, or just go on a peaceful stroll.
As I have observed over the past week of being here, warm, dry weather is an abnormality and it seemed that even though there had been many people out and about on the streets, there were still not many people in the park. Perhaps that means that even though the Mancunians say they care about the environment, most are being all talk and no action, per day, since not only on the nicest day they do not go visit a beautiful park but other indicators show that as well, from all of the trash off on the sidewalk and street. I believe that Barry and Jane are very passionate about the work they do, but that perhaps they need more pub for the garden since it seems many people do not seem to know nor put use to it. I just hate to see them obviously put so much work and effort into something they care about so much and then have the people they are doing it for not give a whit.
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