Gardening and Water Solutions by Alyssa Schiff

In the past two weeks, the different garden groups have begun planting.  My group (Erosion control/Rain garden) have planted some violets and blood roots in our spot.  The blood root is very cool because their stems are super pigmented and very orange.  Gardening has been a little challenging especially on a hill, as we have to make sure the plants won't just wash away during heavy rain.  To prevent this, we used some sticks to fence in the plants and stop some of the water.  This was difficult, as we had to make sure that the sticks would actually stay,  Zach then decided to reinforce these sticks with rocks from the brook and so far, the sticks have stayed.  After we had put all of our plants into the ground, we were faced with a new challenge: watering the garden.  Michaela and I decided to be a little adventurous and face the shallow stream head on.  As Michaela ducked under the bridge's railings on her stomach, I held her ankles (as I am so obviously very strong, this was completely safe).  Michaela dipped our little garbage bin (our water bucket) into the brook and pulled out some smelly water, but water none the less.  Then, we abandoned the idea of doing this every time our plants needed water, and went for the much more practical strategy: clambering down into the brook and exploring a path of rocks to get a good amount of water.  Of course, Michaela and I being incredibly clumsy, almost fell in on multiple occasions.  Finally our garden was watered, the feeling of satisfaction set in and we set off for next period with high hopes for our garden.