Astro Park Oakland

What do you get a girl that has it all? Diamonds? No, she can make her own. Island in the tropics? Been there.
Something nice, for sure. After all, Mother Earth has given us air, water and shelter for millions of years.
How about coming on down to the tot lot on Saturday, April 16th from 9am- 12pm? New mulch is arriving this week and the gardens could use some sprucing up!
Please come and help, meet your neighbors and have a good time. It is a birthday party! Come celebrate!

Most of my days at the park are now spent keeping keeping the little from eating sand, rocks, bits rubber, licking the steps and other tasty things at the park. I seem to get a weed pulled, a few pieces of trash picked up, but nothing major done. The minute I slack on my ninja-like reflexes, in pops a piece of bark, a small stone. Needless to say the park is looking a bit ragged.
I would like to put out a call for volunteers for a spring clean on April 9th at 9:30 am. I can’t promise anything fancy but I can promise a lot of happy kids, thankful plants, a huge pile of weeds and the ice cream man that comes by about 11 am.

So those of you living in the Bay Area know this already. While the rest of the northern hemisphere is locked in the throes of winter, we have been enjoying sunny, mild days. Days that are for walking and soaking up warmth. Sunglasses and flip flops emerge from under the pile of scarves and gloves, a bit like the daffodil bulbs you see sending up shoots and even blooms around town.
Last night was the annual Oakland Parks Coalition meeting at the Garden Center in Lakeside park. I was honored to speak and say a few words about all the hard work the gardeners and local families are doing to keep our park looking sharp. It was incredible to be in a room with so much positive and upbeat energy. Oakland is a fantastic, inspiring place. It was encouraging to know others are working and care so deeply about their city. It was that breath of fresh air blowing in the window, reminding all of us that there are others out there.
I want to say a big thanks to OPC for organizing the event and connecting us all to the larger picture. There are so many great stories out there! Keep up the hard work and I am inspired to go pull some weeds. It means hanging out in the sun with the smell of cut grass. In flip flops. In January.

I had started posting using my iPhone while I was in the field. I thought I was cool, hip, totally with it. Here I am, juggling two kiddos, picking up trash and getting the message out. Then I found it wasn’t posting them to the site. I needed to update and then I lost the bunch.
Ok, I’ll be honest.
There were not that many, but they were good. In a I have a three year old and a nine month old kind of way.
But I do have pictures! I did save those. A picture is worth a thousand words, right?
Now that everything is updated and running, I’ll be posting a bit more often. So stick around and maybe the sap might start flowing.

I had given up hope on any of the new plants surviving and was planning on pulling them up. When the lavender looks like this, it is time to throw in the towel.
To my surprise and to my daughter’s over abundant excitement, the “magic” beans had sprouted! The lavender needs the dead to be trimmed but there are some green tendrils poking out. Poppies are emerging in the strangest places. I am not sure what happened but it did.
I did finally solve my mystery of flattened plants. People are using the planters as seats and are rolling out their mats right over the top. As it is some of the only shade, I kind of get it.

On the outer bounds of the play area the soil is full of big fat worms, dark chucks of decomposing organic matter and just damp enough in some places to make us want to attempt a few drought tolerant plants.
After going on a plant buying spree, we ended up at the park with two trunk loads of lanvender, salva, tickweed and primroses. We made a nice dent in the outer ring and are already plotting new spots if these plants take.

While we were working last week, we got to thinking that if each person picked up one piece of trash, the park would stay clean.
It is wonderful to see parents coming to play with their children and then noticing us cleaning, pick up something and throw it away. It is nice to see how what we have done and are doing impact the people around us. So if one person remembers to pick up one thing before they leave and someone else sees them, maybe that chain reaction can sustain itself.

Between the weekly rain storms and the birth of my second kid, posts have been very slim around here. I thought I would do a status update on the park.
I have been heading over to the park weekly to hang out and play and watch the weeds grow. The flower beds around the perimeter are starting to take and last week I saw that some of the lilies are starting to bloom. The contended roses are doing the best and have added a lovely splotch of color to one section. The center garden is trampled and ragged; we are going to have to do something with it. Too many strollers and feet end up in there, so we need something sturdy… And large.
The sandboxes have escaped their boundaries again, but nothing a few strong brooms can’t fix.
My current list of projects keeps growing and now that summer is coming, I am hoping to check a few of them off the list!

The park has done an amazing job of surviving the winter. it seems that it always rains on the days I am planning to do a little gardening, but the planters are holding on and the mulch is doing it’s job.
With the tempting return of the sun and the promise of longer evenings, the park feels like the place to go. It appeared half the neighborhood had the same idea the other day and it was nice to see so many people enjoying the space.
With a little bit of work and some warmer days, the plants should start fillin out and we can really see how the park is taking off.

I am excited about the type of trash I am now picking up at Astro Park. Yes, excited about trash. When I started picking up trash it was more from people camping out at night- cups, papers, general food wrappers and other trash. Now, I am picking up a few stray coffee cup sleeves, string cheese wrappers and the occational wipe. It says a lot about how people are using the space. There have always been a lot of kids at this park but over the last couple weeks it has become down right crowded on the weekends! It is amazing to see people coming in droves to hang out and visit with neighbors, play tag with their eight year old, push their one year old on the swings or play space with their kids on the moon rock. I am happy to pick up the random coffee lid left by a parent who lost track of it while playing with their kids.