Urban archaeology

Friends stop by to see what we're up to. Mr. R chats as Miss V takes a breather.

Miss V is one of the Footbridge Garden's loyal friends and workers, and has helped do some of the most important work: digging. Because we have a whole spectrum of debris to sift through, it's not a simple thing to put a plant in the earth. First we have to dig. And, what an experience it's been. Two different days we started off thinking it would be easy, and ended up in a sweat with many exclamations, "Look what I found!"

To give you an idea, here's a simple list of what's been in the dirt:

Lots of broken glass

A variety of perfectly intact whisky bottles - 8 or more

Rocks of all sizes

pieces of wood

old railroad parts, including stakes, bolts, etc.

pieces of clothing

syringes

knives

cement squares

19th C. cobble stones

styrofoam

large chunks of freeform cement

metal tubes

parts of bottles

batteries

bricks

and - an umbrella!

Now, the idea is to replace some of this toxic soil with organic soil. We need soil! So, any one who has any and would like to contribute, just bring it on by! I have learned that a garden is only as good as its soil. It makes sense. I'm so happy to have had the chance to bring the composted soil from Massachusetts, plus some wonderful top soil from a farm in Western MA. Thanks for all the hauling, friends.

Below, we uncover an umbrella while attempting to finish the path. What a struggle to get it out!

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