Summer in Seattle is a busy time of year for many of us. It’s generally when ALL of our out of town friends and family come to visit to take advantage of those few precious weeks where weather is guaranteed to be, well, Summery. It’s when vacation getaways are planned to explore the mountains, go to the ocean, or attend the myriad number of festivals in our region. There’s also plenty of stuff going on in our own neighborhood and with our own home projects that we feel stressed to cram it all in.

As the Summer grew on, so did those darn weeds in the median on 14th. I knew someone needed to get out there, but those Summer days were too precious to be spent doing a chore, right? How could I make this into something fun and ensure that the work still got done?

In comes Darlene,  my friend and neighbor from across the street. Her  Summer had been just as busy as mine, which meant we badly needed some “catching up” time. In lieu of chatting over a coffee, we decided to spend an hour weeding in the medians on 14th instead.

We donned our gardening gloves, grabbed our tools and a yard waste can, and headed out down the street. What could have been a chore, turned into a great time catching up, plus we got the added benefit of making our neighborhood look so much nicer!

So, the next time you find the time to catch up with friends or neighbors, I encourage you to do what Dar and I did, by spending a little time together giving back to the community.

Inspired? Then consider signing up with a friend to become a planter steward. We’re kicking off our program on the evening of October 14th with a presentation on weeding and pruning by Cass Turnbull from PlantAmnesty (location TBD). In the meantime, if you feel like doing a little weeding in the medians, contact me and I’ll hook you up with tools and a nifty safety vest like the one Darlene is sporting in the pic!