Front Space Update

Hello Trillium Families,

I hope everyone is having a fabulous summer. With the sun beating down for the past month or so the cob has had a nice chance to dry. There are several more steps before it will be finished and there will be several chances for families to participate in that process. Below is a list of things that we would love your help with.

#1. THE COB ROOF AND BEAUTIFYING THE SPACE. On August 28th (from 9 am to 4 pm) we will be having a Front Yard work party to beautify the space and finish putting on the cedar shakes for the cob roof. We won't be doing any cobbing, but rather cleaning up the space and getting it ready for the first day of school. If you have experience with putting on cedar shakes or other kinds of roofing, (or just want to come give it a try) please join us. If you want to just lend a hand in the clean up or have some ideas for ways of making the space (including the Maryland side) sparkle and look more inviting that is great too (We would love to think about plants, a better way to organize bike parking etc). An rsvp to me would be helpful so I can get a sense of the numbers. ( I have attached a picture of the finished roof and the unfinished roof.)

#2. MAKING THE MAIN GATE A team of welders and artists in our community are working to get the metal gate ready to be hung and would also welcome new members. Contact Jon Molenkamp at jonmolenkamp@mac.com if you are interested. The gate will initially be a skeleton, which will be filled with metal designs and "scenes" created by the community. The work on the designing for the artistic part of the gate will start once school has begun.

#3. PLASTERING AND PAINTING THE COB: The intermediate class (3rd-5th) have taken on the challenging of orchestrating the plastering and painting of the cob wall and the trillium flower bench located inside the wall. This work will begin the first weeks of school and we will be inviting the community to be both a part of the plastering and the painting. Look for information about that in early September.

#4. REMOVING THE GREEN GATE: Once the cob is finished the main gate is in place, we plan to remove the green cyclone fence that separates the front yard from the back. We hope that we can find someone who would like to dig it up and take it away, but if not, we may be asking for help with that process some time in last September.

#5. NEXT YEARS BIG PROJECT!! The cob wall was just the first step in a long term effort to really make the outside and inside of Trillium much more community friendly and aesthetically magical. The process of creating the wall really brought the community together and has done wonders for the feel of the space already. I often see people stopping to poke their heads in and see what we are doing or reading about the project in the unfinished kiosk outside the gate. There is nothing set in stone for next years big project, but I would really love to see an outdoor classroom built from cob and lumber. I am putting my intermediate class to the task of beginning the process of making that happen starting in September. I would love any and all feedback. I really want this to become an even bigger community involved event than last year.

Thanks for reading and let me know if you have any questions, comments or want to lend a had.

See you in a month or so.

Rob van Nood