The first hot day of Spring saw us spades in hand under the baking sun. Sunscreen formed a second skin and my main facilitating job took the form of hydration police, although yelling “I don’t want any fainters!” seemed to elicit giggles rather than a rush to icy drinks.

With the imminent arrival of a crew of 50, facilitators became team leaders with 10 bodies a piece. The metres of mulch pit path ahead of us would allow no time for a casual 50+ intro circle no matter how interesting their “favourite tree” or “how many blitzes they attended”. Facilitators Nikki, Carly and Jess got down to the the important business of stretches and back friendly spade technique; I marked out the paths.

Head facilitator roughly translates to cheer squad captain and I planned to have a hoarse voice by the end of the day, we wanted spirits to remain high, as why would you sign up for hours of labouring if there wasn’t some fun involved? The kids sure had a blast with Fuchsia making amazing birdscares including a pretty fancy scarecrow. And I like to believe lots of new friends were made, and people bonded over being “team grey water mulch pit” and “stinky decomposing cacti area” (some people are born heroes!).

After a lovely lunch, a more relaxing afternoon was spent planting out the mandala intensive garden beds and listening to Nikki do a workshop on fruit tree planting, which to her surprise (and no one else’s) had rave reviews. It’s always great when people share their knowledge, what is second nature to some is not always the case for others and people really love to take something new home with them after a long day. Team Dylan chook strawyard looked pretty pleased with themselves and their were lots of lingers way after the official day’s end, always a great sign!