Plants Need Help

Tom Sawyer’s Life Lesson

Mark Twain’s brilliant story about the Adventures of Tom Sawyer shows that “to make someone covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain.” Tom Sawyer, when his friend asked why he was not distressed about having to paint his Aunt Polly’s fence, simply said, “I don’t see why I would be, you don’t get to do this everyday.” Within a few hours, every one of his friends was vying for the opportunity to paint the fence, even paying him in kind (apples and precious pieces of string) for the privilege.

Well, we have some difficult things to challenge you that are also important enough for you to want to take on the challenge.

What are we talking about? Keeping 180 trees and a pollinator garden alive and thriving during a dry spring and summer is both difficult to attain and important to beautifying our neighbourhood. We are also trying to recover the abandoned former parking lot at Pontiac and the Park as a future tree planting site. Your contribution can make a difference, by taking on responsibility for a few hours in our watering schedule or by doing other tree or earth moving care. We have a pretty good system in place, but need more helping hands.

If this amazing opportunity to bring biodiversity into the neighbourhood is something you want to be part of, contact Daniel Buckles (dbuckles@sas2.net) for a brief orientation and access to the online schedule. The project is an initiative of the Champlain Park Community Association.