We are excited to report great progress on the various projects we have been working on under the grant we received from the City of Madison Neighborhood Grants program. Neighborhood volunteers constructed a picnic table, which has been installed in the green space at the bike bridge on Whenona Drive. A roost box for bats was donated, and erected on a tall pole in the Butterfly Garden. One wren house was donated and is hanging near the fence at the west side of the green space. We also received a very large donation of bark mulch from City of Madison Parks, and have used this to cover the bare dirt under the ramp, as well as to mulch all the trees and shrubs. This has immensely improved the overall appearance of the space. Two beautifully illustrated information signs for the Rain Garden and Butterfly Garden are in the final design phase. One Leopold bench is being constructed, and we are looking for volunteers to build a second one from pre-cut lumber. And finally, message boards have been placed in three neighborhood locations: along the SW Bike path near Odana Rd, Nakoma Park along Nakoma Rd, and WhenonaDr near the gardens and bike bridge. These have preliminary notices posted now. We plan to use these to post general neighborhood information, as well as notices of events and activities. All of these activities are intended to build a sense of community in our already wonderful neighborhood!
We are incredibly grateful for all the volunteer work that went into these accomplishments. Since April we have tallied 148 volunteer hours! In addition to funding from the City, we received generous monetary donations from immediate neighbors as well as from gardening volunteers from further away. THANK YOU!
