Garfield Park Conservatory

Location: Garfield Park Conservatory

Date: Saturday, May 11, 2013; 9:00 am-12:00 pm

The entrance

One of my less enjoyable Chicago Cares projects had been my visit to the 'Lincoln Park Conservatory'.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  While the outcome had been fantastic and I was proud to have served, the actual process had been exhausting and the leadership could have been…more involved.  So with that experience, I do not know what possessed me to come for a similar project.  For one, I had already signed up and I also wanted to see the Garfield Conservatory – a trip that I would not otherwise undertake.  I could see the giant dome of the conservatory from the train station and it was a lovely morning as I arrived at the gates.  Besides our volunteer leader, Therese, we had Elise, who is a regular, Karen and two other volunteers.  At 9 we were joined by Sebastian, a staff member, who would be directing us this morning. 

The interior is a beautiful place

As we waited to go in, Sebastian told us about a hailstorm in 2011, which almost destroyed the glass roof.  While that in itself was dangerous, I was immensely surprised to learn that this happened on June 30^th.  That was also my first day in Chicago and while I do not remember anything of that sort happening in downtown, summer is no time to be experiencing a hailstorm!  I was impressed by the interior of the Conservatory and it looked like a very good place to bring visitors.  Sebastian told us that we would be doing ‘mulching’ this day.  He could have used Klingon and I still wouldn't know what that meant.  Well, what it meant was that we would be spreading some…mulch, around the plant beds.  We grabbed some rakes from storage and then he showed us where the big bags of mulch were located.  We hauled them on a wheelbarrow and brought them back to the area which required mulching…whatever that meant.

The tools for mulching

Therese split us into two groups, with me paired with her and another volunteer.  We started in a bed which had a heavy growth and thus required some dexterity in getting the mulch spread around the plants.  We had been given miniature scoops to use and I started reaching into the bags, scooping out the mulch and laying it on the bed. It wasn’t easy and it was tough getting into the corners and at times, we had to lift the plants up to get underneath.  Wherever we found an open area, we dumped straight from the bag, and then used the rakes to spread it around.  At one stage, I climbed into the bed – yes, I know how it sounds – and maneuvered my way into a spot where I could stand and use the scoop and a bucket to spread some mulch and then use the rake to spread it.  After a bit of struggling – and me getting filthy dirty - we managed to finish our part of the beds around the perimeter of that room and were now ready to move to the big central section. 

The 'Monet Garden'

The central section was like an island with a walkaway which visitors could use to walkabout and look at all the plants.  This was a huge area that needed to be covered and it would take us the rest of the session to accomplish that.  If I would have used the scoop, I may have celebrated several birthdays there, so I just grabbed a bag and went in.  I ripped it, created a pile and the using the rake; spread it as much as I could.  After a few visits, I had managed to cover a fair bit of area and Therese asked if I could use a break, an offer that I jumped all over. As  I walked to the rear of the Conservatory, I got to see the entire space and it was huge.  On my way back I saw an exit leading to a space called; ‘Monet Garden’ and I learned that they were trying to recreate one of Monet’s paintings.  I have not seen that painting, but from what I saw of the garden, it must be spectacular.

Here's someone hard at work

I came back and took up the mulch spreading duties for the next hour or so.  By this time I was getting close to being exhausted and was not as efficient as I probably was earlier in the day.  I feel that these 3 hour projects are a bit of a stretch and perhaps we would be better off with a 2 hour project instead.  In any case, we were beginning to see influx of visitors, some of whom were watching us with curiosity.  One little girl found our mulching to be fascinating and even wanted to spread a bit using the scoop.  Where was she at 9 am!  We labored through the rest of the session and made significant progress in spreading the mulch to cover as much of the central section as possible. 

As we wrapped up, I joked with Karen that she could call me ‘The Mulcher’, which sounds like a villain that ‘Batman’ may encounter!  I tried to clean-up as much as I could before heading to my next assignment.  While I may not return to this - or any other ‘Environmental’ projects - it had been a good experience and I had met some terrific people like Therese and Karen.  Plus I had seen the beautiful garden and had spread mulch…enough to last me a lifetime!