Fall Workday changed due to rain on Saturday
The latest forecast says there will be steady rain on Saturday between 9am and 12 pm. After discussions it was decided that the best day to reschedule to would be the this coming
Sunday Dec 4th at 1 pm which would allow some time for lunch
for those attending Meeting for Worship.
Annual Fall Workday at Plymouth
Sunday December 4th
Starting at 1 pm
Come when you can, for as long or short of a time as you can
Our calendar year is rapidly coming to an end with the approach of 12th Month (December). Historically Plymouth has welcomed in this month of many activities with a community day to attend to the needs of our land and buildings. Our tradition has been to come together on the first Saturday of December because by that day most of the leaves have fallen, Thanksgiving Holiday has passed, and it occurs before the school activities leading up to the winter break. We have found over the years that the most important part of this day is not the number of leaves that are moved, gutters cleaned, or gardens set right for winter, but the time spent leaning on a rake or against a tree getting to know a new friend or playing with children. These cherished opportunities together deepen our sense of community.
Like all good traditions there are the aspects that may never change and other aspects that have always been morphing into what is most meaningful for the current time. The joy of the hospitality of hot soup and fresh bread, plentiful deserts and good conversation on a cold December day is timeless. Indeed, there will be plenty of good hot food to gather us together as work outdoors winds down. The goals of the work outdoors however continue to change with the needs of our community. Most important though creating that space for people to come together and get to know one another does not change. Secondary to that is the work that we have set out to do. For years that has been to clear away the leaves. Long ago it was done using donated bed sheets, heavy army surplus canvas tents cut into tarps and bamboo rakes. Over the years the quest to clear more leaves brought in the newer plastic tarps, trucks and eventually leaf blowers. In recent years however there has become more of an awareness of the roll that leaves play in the ecology of out land. We have always composted the leaves and used them in the gardens, play yards and graveyards. But leaves provide much more than compost. The decline in birds and pollinators in our area and across the country have enlightened us to the role that leaves have in providing habitat and food for birds and pollinators during winter months. This link to the Academy of Natural Sciences will provide a fuller introduction to the importance of allowing leaves to be on our property. https://www.anspblog.org/leave-the-leaves/
Last year we began the discussion of limiting the areas that we rake on the property while still meeting the needs of our Meeting and School community. The school community needs to have the leaves removed from in front of classrooms, so they are not tracked into the classrooms. The deep piles of leaves that accumulate on the play yards or across the outdoor classroom areas need to be removed so that the grass can grow thereby reducing the area of mud that is played on and brought into the classrooms. These raked areas are a smaller portion of the property than what was once raked, leaving more area to support the environment in the winter months. During this upcoming workday we will remove leaves from around the buildings, in the playground and between the buildings in Journeys end as well as from the roofs and gutters. Chestnut Hill Meeting will remove the leaves from their graveyard.
We seek not to remove every leaf from these areas but rather concentrate on the smothering piles that kill the grass where the children play and/or drag them into the buildings. For the health of the people working to move the leaves and the environment that we all share, we ask that gas powered leave blowers not be used due to the noise, exhaust emissions and dust/leaf mold that they stir into the air.