A couple months ago, a guy walks into our office and exclaims, “I was just sent here by our mutual friends at NSEA to help you with some trail work!” It was a delightful surprise. Turns out it was legit too! The guy, pictured below at left is the Division Manager for Young’s Market Company, Kirk Johnson. He followed through on his promise and brought his crew from around the region to help out with our Fairhaven Park Stewardship project. 

The people came from all around the area including Kirkland, Snohomish, Arlington, Mount Vernon and Ferntucky. 😉 

After a walk in the woods and a bit of Trail Talk with Todd, Kirk and Crew dug in. The task at hand was invasive species removal including blackberries and buttercups. We were out to protect our plants that we had put in the ground with Perry’s Planting Party. Along side Kirk was local boy, Bill Caldwell. Bill and I had the chance to chat before we got started. He grew up “across the street” and had fun stories to share of Fairhaven Park from the perspective of a kid and teenager from yesteryear. It’s always fun to hear the personal stories! 

As I was introducing the day ahead to the crowd, explaining how the Bellingham Traverse led us to adopt this spot, Jen (Tofte) Jones spoke up and proudly pronounced, “I did the Traverse the first two years!” It was fun to reconnect. Thanks Jen! See you soon. 

This crew had some style and knew how to have a good time. Here’s Phil Ryan rocking the purple shorts! He was our Mulch Man of the hour! 

As Kirk and Bill labored in the background, Bob Bliven takes a break. Mick Michelutti works diligently with encouraging conversation. 

Nicole Newcome was all smiles as she took care of the plants we care so much for! 

Karen Nelson got the award (if we had one) for getting after the blackberries! By the end of the day, she proudly showed off her war wounds. Turns out we also have a local mutual friend- go figure! 

KC Heacox was one of the valuable crew that went after a fresh patch of blackberries just outside the fence of our little plant farm, just off the trail. 

Justin Branam ran the bucket brigade removing the pesky (but yummy) blackberries we were intent to expel. 

“I love working outside and getting dirty!” Shannon Cook was a delight as she removed the blackberries with a smile! 

She also gave some love to our plants, helping this little one stand up with a crutch! 

Our mobile sound system for the day was Philip Isaksen (whose dad lives here in town and yes, we’re friends). With the appropriate shirt, he joined the train of bucket brigade, bringing mulch up to our special spot off the trail. 

We were all delighted to be outside, but Josh Minnick really shined. Here’s his write up of Charity Day on his blog, Good Talk Josh. Yes, we had some fun together and made new friends. Hope to see you soon too, Josh!
ps- iLike your sense of humor. 

Jake Justice did just that. He granted justice to our trees that were planted in protected cages, clearing out the competition! 

While we were working a couple deer strolled through too! This is what the cages around our trees are intended to do, protect them from these local herbivores. 

All in this together! Thanks to the Young’s Market Crew for cleaning up our plant farm! Great group. 

We cranked out a lot of good work in 3 hours! We’ll look forward to seeing you all (and more) again next year! 

~Todd