By Andrine de la Rocha

Hello, Grove Friends!

Here in our third summer, the Grove is looking incredibly lush. As the shrubs grow to fill (and overfill!) their allotted areas, the vegetative contours of the Grove are starting to really look the way we imagined them when we first began. The Willow Dome is rebounding well from the bizarre massive water-main flood of last summer, and we seem to be attracting not just bees but dragonflies and birds of many species. Thank you so much for all your incredible help in making our dream a reality.

Now we’re thinking about a few equipment upgrades, and hope y’all might be able to kick in a little financial support.  

When we first began watering the Grove, we dragged our expensive hose across the street and discovered that auto traffic ruptured and destroyed the unprotected hose.  For the last couple of years, we’ve protected the hose with four 2” x 12” boards which are huge and heavy (as our Watering Heroes can attest to). They’ve done a great job, but are splintering, cracking, and breaking under the stress.

We’d need some actual hose ramps to protect them, which should both a) do a better job, b) last longer, and c) be much easier to drag out into the street and back. The ones we looked at are black rubber with a bright yellow lid, rated for 20-30 tons per axle, which should stand up even to the garbage and delivery trucks that occasionally traverse the hose.

Six 3’4” pieces, at $46 each, – 8% bulk discount, free shipping, = $254. 

The tripod for our sprinkler has done good service, but one of the legs is broken: the clip that holds it in extended position no longer works. Replacement tripod = $40

We also need a couple of bags of concrete to set the ceramic bird/bee bath in place, AND one of our really good hoses just broke at the hose bib last week and needed a repair kit = $19 which brings us up to a total of about: $325.

It would help so much if you felt comfortable with tossing a few (or a lot of) bucks at the project. Please use https://www.patreon.com/BoiseEliotNativeGrove to become a monthly Patron and/or make single donations through our PayPal account here: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/NativeGrovePDX

There are about 150 people on our email list at this time, so if each of you threw say $3-5 at us, we could cover these costs. If you want to give more or cover the entire cost, we’ll name the hose ramps after you, and sing your praises every time we water the Grove. On the other hand, if you are willing to set up a monthly payment with a shout-out and adopt-a-plant perks, click on the Patreon link here:  https://www.patreon.com/BoiseEliotNativeGrove

Our Patreon and PayPal launch has so far attracted ELEVEN brave contributors who will have trees, shrubberies, and bee-hotel rooms named after them!

We’ve met several of our goals with these pioneer patrons and as such will be able to 1) purchase new bee-straws for the bee hotel, 2) purchase supplies to fix the hexagonal bench and install the birdbath, and 3) help pay for the water to keep the trees and plants alive! As those first funds arrive, we’ll get those things on the schedule. Until then, keep spreading the word and saving the world.

Also! Please share these links and tell people about the Grove and come visit and take pictures and post them and tag us and just help people find out about us and enjoy this miraculous place we’ve created together.

Thanks as ever for your ongoing support, physically, emotionally, spiritually, financially, and psychically. We hope to see you soon in the Grove (all masked up) and in the World (safe and distanced), and in the Streets (don’t forget to Vote!)

Much Love,

Andrine & Howard

P.S. Full disclosure: we were able to borrow the funds to purchase the hose ramps, and we’d like to pay that back to the generous person who fronted us the funds.