In November 2008, volunteer Dakotta, of the High Mountain Sustainable Project, and myself came out to build the sanctuary compost boxes in preparation for a garden in the future.
The ground around the perimeter fence is nothing but fill dirt. But, in spring of 2009, we got serious and 96 wheelbarrow loads of compost, manure and top soil later…
And man o’ man, was last year’s garden successful!
But it just keeps getting better! This year, we’ve built up the trails around the beds so that the soil stays nice and warm. We are also in the process of tearing down the straw compost boxes and replacing them with wooden ones.
We’ve also added more beds around the south side of the building so that the chimps can get a closer view of what’s growing in their garden!
Royal City’s Cloudview Ecofarms have donated tons of starts for this years garden, including broccoli, kale, cabbage, onions, and lettuce.
Because of all of our hard work this year, I am now officially calling myself, Dakotta, JB, and volunteer Denice the “Garden Committee”. With the help of all these individuals, we’ve landscaped the area around the chimps’ outdoor area, which will soon also include more garden beds of fast-growing veggies, like carrots, lettuce, kale, etc…
Can’t wait to show you all the finished product! We’ve come a LONG, LONG way, baby!! Thanks so much Dakotta, JB, Denice, the awesome folks at Cloudview Ecofarms, and everyone one else that has contributed. You guys are awesome and are helping us provide the chimps with fresh (and enriching) food!
Fantastic! I LOVE every member of the garden committee!
Jackie, Dakotta, JB & Denice and all other contributors, wowee-wow-wow!!! Everything’s looking great, I’m sure all of your activity kept the chimps entertained. I love seeing fresh-grown vegetables, when you all pick veggies do the chimps watch? I know gardening is a hard job and your hard work pays off. Cloudview Ecofarms, beautiful website by the way, your donations make our chimpanzee friends very happy.
Wow! Jackie, Dakotta, J.B. and Denice, you’ve been hard at work! It even looks much different from when I was there on Mother’s day! Way to go and thanks for what you do every day for the CE7!!
Wow!!! That is so AWESOME!!! Thanks so much to the Garden Committee for all of your hard work for the chimps! I sure wish I lived closer so I could help! And how wonderful of Cloudview Ecofarms to donate all the plant starts!! 🙂
I am all too familiar with how much LABOR goes into all the things you’ve accomplished – hurray to the Garden Committee for their commitment! I’m sure watching you provides a lot of enrichment to the chimps, and if they haven’t already, I’m betting they’ll soom make the connection between what you do ‘out there’ and what ends up in their meals!
LOL – I had a daydream a while back about racing down the outside of the enclosure a fast as I could, tossing fresh-picked cherry tomatoes into the openings in the mesh as I raced — and being followed by a herd of squeaking chimpanzees, madly scooping ’em up and chomping as fast as they could. Hee – it took quite a while to explain to my friends what I was laughing about.