What a day! Mother Nature decided to bless us with absolutely perfect weather today – that sweet spot where you might need a light jacket in the morning but plenty of folks are still rocking shorts by afternoon. When I hopped in my car this morning, the thermometer read about 60 degrees, and honestly, it couldn’t have been more ideal for a garden party.

Shay and I rolled up to the garden around 11 AM after I wrapped up some website projects. We came armed with our brand new wayfinding sign that we finally got printed at work, and I was excited to get it installed and help future visitors navigate our little slice of paradise.

The Great Wayfinding Sign Adventure

The day’s big project was getting our new wayfinding sign up and running. Jeff jumped in to help me install it, and we turned it into a full community consultation – getting all the volunteers to come out to the parking lot to weigh in on the perfect placement. After some democratic deliberation, we decided to use an old tree stump as a counterweight and built a frame around it to attach the sign.

The result? It looks fantastic! Now when folks visit the garden and we’re not around, they’ll have a clear guide to our mission, how to connect with us, and what each section of the garden is all about. We’re planning to add QR codes to each garden section sign that’ll link to special landing pages on our website with detailed info about the plants and growing techniques. It’ll be a dynamic educational tool that we can update yearly – pretty cool stuff!

The Mystery Dinosaur Discovery

Here’s something I almost forgot to mention – while Jen was cleaning up one of the sponsor beds near the front of the garden, getting it ready for fall crops, she made an unexpected discovery. A dinosaur!

Now, before you get too excited, we’re talking about the tiny plastic variety. Someone has been secretly planting little dinosaur remains throughout our garden beds, and kids (and apparently adults!) find them while they’re working. Watching Jen’s face light up when she unearthed her prehistoric friend was priceless – proof that you’re never too old for a good garden surprise!

Community in Action

By the time I started working on the sign, Bill and Jen were already deep in Giving Garden mode, harvesting away with some great tunes keeping the energy up. Coley was out there with them too, and the whole scene just had that perfect Saturday morning vibe.

The Pickle Boys from South Warren made their very first visit to our Eastpointe location! Their mom Cat brought them by, and they dove right in, helping us harvest beans and potatoes. I managed to snag a great photo of them working alongside Glen during the potato dig – there’s something special about watching different generations work the soil together.

Speaking of our South Warren friends, all the vegetables we harvested today are heading over to their garden party tomorrow, since our usual weekly produce stand is on pause due to the 9 Mile Road construction. It’s beautiful how our two gardens support each other!

Surprise Sushi Delivery

Here’s where the day took an unexpectedly delicious turn. Stephanie was stuck at work and couldn’t make it to the garden, but during her lunch break, she went above and beyond. She stopped by Sushi Zone on 9 Mile (one of our awesome neighbors down the street) and grabbed sushi for the entire volunteer crew!

I’m pretty confident this was our first-ever garden party sushi experience, and while I didn’t partake myself, judging by everyone’s reactions, it was absolutely incredible. This is exactly the kind of thing I love about our community – how our volunteers constantly go out of their way to support each other, and how local businesses like Sushi Zone become part of our extended garden family.

Harvest Highlights and Learning Moments

Today’s harvest was absolutely phenomenal – we brought in 58.45 pounds of fresh produce! That brings our 2025 total to 953.81 pounds donated to the community. Just looking at these numbers compared to where we started makes my head spin with gratitude.

We had an especially exciting moment with our onion harvest. This year we tried something new – growing them in a grid system about 2 inches off the ground. The onions grow up through the grid, and here’s the cool part: normally when an onion plant starts to wilt and fall over, that signals the onion to stop growing. But the grid holds the plant upright, so the onion doesn’t get that signal and keeps on growing! Watching this technique in action was fascinating, and I’m already dreaming about the BLT with fresh garden onion I’m going to make for lunch.

Our detailed harvest included beans (6.52 lbs), eggplant (1.25 lbs), melons (8.50 lbs), onions (10.02 lbs), potatoes (23.52 lbs), and tomatoes (8.64 lbs). Plus Tomato Bill stopped by with a gorgeous 4-pound cantaloupe from his own garden that he generously shared with everyone – the aroma alone was incredible, and we also harvested two smaller cantaloupes from our own beds.

Behind the Scenes Heroes

Melanie was an absolute lifesaver today, spending her time rebagging all our yard waste. Her husband Steve swung by, and together they loaded everything into their vehicle to take to their house since their garbage day is Monday. I got a hilarious photo of Melanie with most of her body inside a lawn bag – the dedication of our volunteers never ceases to amaze me!

Meanwhile, Shay spent most of her day working on artwork for our upcoming art show. Speaking of which, if you’re reading this and haven’t marked your calendar yet, our second annual art show is Friday, September 12th from 6-8 PM (rain date September 13th). Last year we had about 100 pieces of art displayed throughout the garden, and this year’s show is shaping up to be just as incredible.

What’s Coming Up

Tomorrow (Sunday, September 8th) we’re hosting a garden potluck at South Warren Community Garden from 10 AM to 3 PM. This is a special opportunity for the community to come out and enjoy the space without any expectations of manual labor – just good food, good company, and good vibes in the garden.

The Bigger Picture

Days like today remind me why we do this work. It’s not just about the 953.81 pounds of food we’ve donated this year (though that number makes my heart happy). It’s about the connections – Jen finding joy in discovering dinosaurs, the Pickle Boys experiencing their first Eastpointe garden party, Stephanie going out of her way to feed the volunteers, and all of us working together to create something beautiful and meaningful.

Every Saturday brings new faces, new stories, and new reasons to believe in the power of community. Whether you’re a master gardener or someone who’s convinced they kill every plant they touch, there’s a place for you in our garden family.

Our Saturday garden parties run from 10 AM to 2 PM every week at 16425 Nine Mile Road in Eastpointe. No experience necessary, no registration required – just show up ready to learn, laugh, and maybe discover your own garden dinosaur along the way!

Ready to join our growing garden family? Find us at urbanseed.info or follow Urban Seed – Eastpointe, MI on Facebook for weekly updates, harvest numbers, and probably more dinosaur discoveries.