{"id":1869,"date":"2026-05-16T20:16:43","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T00:16:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/eastpointe-community-garden\/?p=1869"},"modified":"2026-05-16T20:16:43","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T00:16:43","slug":"when-a-rainy-saturday-becomes-the-best-kind-of-garden-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/eastpointe-community-garden\/2026\/05\/16\/when-a-rainy-saturday-becomes-the-best-kind-of-garden-day\/","title":{"rendered":"When a Rainy Saturday Becomes the Best Kind of Garden Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

A note before we get started: I spent most of this Saturday alone in the rental beds with a weed whacker, which means I missed about 80% of what actually happened at the garden. Lucky for all of us, Bill was paying attention. So this recap is part mine, part his – a little guest post, a little group-chat archaeology, all garden.<\/em><\/p>\n

It Rained. We Hung Out Anyway.<\/h2>\n

If you’ve ever stood under a shelter in May in Michigan, watching the rain come down sideways and thinking “well, I guess we’re not gardening yet,” you already know how this Saturday started.<\/p>\n

The morning was a wash. Literally. Everything was soaked, the sky was gray, and turnout was lighter than usual – which honestly turned out to be kind of perfect.<\/p>\n

For the first couple hours, we just hung out. Sat under cover, chatted, caught up. Shay brought Cola a birthday present, which was the sweetest little garden moment – I wish I’d thought to grab a photo, but I was too busy being charmed by it to remember I have a phone. Sometimes the garden party isn’t about the garden at all. Sometimes it’s just an excuse to be near each other for a few hours.<\/p>\n

And honestly? That’s the whole point.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Bill and Jen Walked the Property<\/h2>\n

While the rest of us were doing the rainy-day-shelter shuffle, Bill and Jen were out walking the garden, talking through what’s next. They spent about an hour looking at where the new umbrella should go, kicking around ideas for the swing sets out back, the area around the rear shed, and how we want to lay out the front of the property.<\/p>\n

This is the unglamorous, behind-the-scenes part of running a community garden that nobody really sees. It’s also the part that makes everything else possible. By the time they finally got the umbrella moved into place – dodging lightning and rain to do it – the weather was already starting to break.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

11:30 AM: We Got To It<\/h2>\n

The sky cracked open a little, the rain let up, and the crew got moving.<\/p>\n

I grabbed the weed whacker and didn’t look up for the rest of the day. Rental bed area, the Giving Garden, the berry section – the whole tour. If you’ve ever weed whipped wet grass for four hours, you know it’s a special kind of meditation. The kind that leaves clover-flecked boots and a slight ringing in your ears.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, everyone else was kicking ass on actual visible projects. Which is where I have to hand the mic over to Bill, because I genuinely have no idea what was happening more than ten feet from my weed whacker.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Bill Said It Best<\/h2>\n

Bill dropped a recap into our group chat that night, and it was so good I almost don’t want to paraphrase any of it. So I won’t. Here’s Bill, in his own words, with a little color commentary from me.<\/p>\n

“Jen added more seeds, we worked on the watering system together, she added more trellis. The system is all but one bed done. John you kicked ass at weed whipping.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thanks Bill. I’ll take it. The weed whacker and I have unfinished business with that one stubborn patch by the compost.<\/p>\n

“Becky helped fill the new fairy garden with the other new helper. Not sure on his name. She cleaned up a few things around the back shed. The new guy emptied out a compost bin, added old straw to one of the bins and sifted the whole pile we needed sifted.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Shoutout to Becky, who’s been a regular long enough that I think she counts as garden family at this point.<\/p>\n

“At the last hour or so I decided to work on the watering system. That shit kills my fingers and my hand strength sucks. Almost quit but Jen pushed me a little further to finish the last 2 beds for today. Only 1 bed left to finish.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is the flat hierarchy in action, by the way. Bill is the President of the nonprofit. Jen is the one telling him to keep going. Nobody’s above or below anyone else. We’re all here working towards the same goals.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Tarps and the Birds<\/h2>\n

And then Bill wrote this, which I’m just going to let sit here on its own:<\/p>\n

“As we were packing up and starting to walk away completely exhausted, I was staring back at one of the tarps spread out on the ground. Every time I look back there I see all the birds playing in all the little puddles the tarp is collecting. At first I thought the tarps might look bad, but were needed to do what we wanted. I feel they are at the moment a blessing for the birds. They are perfectly sized for them. They can drink and play all day long.<\/p>\n

As I stared I started to tear up because I was so over loaded with love for what we have all helped create. Multiple people putting their own heart and soul into this land. Helping each other accomplish something incredibly magical for all around us. We have created something that has meaning and purpose. This garden has helped me learn and grow. I have found family and friends here. I know one day it will be my time to move on but for now we will conquer. Thank you all you all have a special place in my heart.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I don’t have anything to add to that. I just wanted you to read it.<\/p>\n

Come Hang With Us<\/h2>\n

The plants are kind of the excuse. The people are the point. That’s the whole thing.<\/p>\n

If you’ve been thinking about checking out the Eastpointe Community Garden, this is your low-pressure invitation. We’re at 16425 Nine Mile Road, every Saturday from 10 AM to 2 PM, May through October. No experience needed. No registration. No money. Just show up.<\/p>\n

You might end up weed whipping for four hours. You might end up sitting under the shelter watching rain fall. You might end up sifting an entire compost pile on your first day. Or you might end up staring at a tarp full of birds and feeling something you didn’t expect to feel.<\/p>\n

However it shakes out, we’ll save you a spot.<\/p>\n

See you Saturday?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A rainy May Saturday at the Eastpointe Community Garden turned into one of the most unexpectedly meaningful garden parties of the year. Eight volunteers, one birthday surprise, a half-finished watering system, and a tarp full of birds that made our garden president cry. Here’s the recap – co-written with Bill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":370,"featured_media":1880,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","wds_primary_category":0,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":10,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federated","footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"dipi_cpt_category":[],"class_list":["post-1869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-garden-party-recap"],"acf":[],"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Eastpointe Community Garden","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/eastpointe-community-garden","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/eastpointe-community-garden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/eastpointe-community-garden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/eastpointe-community-garden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/eastpointe-community-garden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/370"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/eastpointe-community-garden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1869"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/eastpointe-community-garden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1882,"href":"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/eastpointe-community-garden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1869\/revisions\/1882"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/eastpointe-community-garden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/eastpointe-community-garden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/eastpointe-community-garden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/eastpointe-community-garden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1869"},{"taxonomy":"dipi_cpt_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/eastpointe-community-garden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/dipi_cpt_category?post=1869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}