David’s Cash for Grass Project

Today the big dump truck came with 8 tons of rock: 6 tons of mulch and 2 tons of river cobble to form artificial stream beds in the drainage areas.

Being a sunny Saturday afternoon, all the kids in the neighborhood came out as soon as they heard the runble of the truck booming down the street. The truck thundered right up to our house and dropped its 8-ton load right on the driveway.

Then the kids went to work, six in all. They eagerly grabbed wagons, buckets, and tools and all jumped in to help move the rock around. And to play “king of the rock pile”.

Rock Princes and Princesses - L to R: James, Emele, Rose, Sabrina, Jenna, Calvin

The mulch will have to wait for the plants, but the cobble was ready to go in right away. Within two hours, the kids and I had placed all two tons of the cobble, while my neighbor laid the entire border for the driveway strip using the Petrified Seashore I had brought home the other day, more than compensating for the little work I had to undo to include his bit in the project.

Taking Shape; Calvin lies on top of the rock pile

Kid-layed Cobble

Oh, yeah, also I went first thing in the morning to see All-Things-Wild Genelle at the farmer’s market to get more native plants. That was another $200. It would have been more but I am being budget conscious and buying the smallest size available of everything. They are plants. They will grow eventually, right? All the kids went this time because they wanted to see Genelle and talk to her again, even though they all had to ride home awkwardly in the minivan while sharing their seats with a large number of assorted native plants.

I finished the day by actually planting our first new plant, the “Dr. Hurd manzanita” I bought last week.

The First New Plant - Dr. Hurd Manzanita