Pre-moveThe Ballard P-Patch had an unexpected surprise this summer: we were the grateful recipients of a solidly constructed 4 foot by 12 foot garden shed, generously donated by a lovely family from the neighborhood. The family was redoing their landscaping and no longer needed the shed. We could have it if we moved it before the landscaping contractor showed up with his bulldozer.

With the tones of the Jeopardy countdown timer song ringing in our ears, a broadcast call was put out for a shed moving party on Saturday, May 28th. Under very welcome blue skies and sunshine, a dedicated and determined crew showed up, and what an adventure we had! We faced some challenges because the redesign of the landscaping had already been started and we were extremely limited in our working space. And…we had an incline to conquer. The Ballard P-Patch was very lucky that Walt Banecki offered the truck and forklift from his business, Walt’s Organic Fertilizer Company, as well as his expertise in their operation. Since we had a short timeline to work with, we had worked out several scenarios for getting the shed moved. When Walt stepped up we had an excellent and elegant Plan A, which increased our odds of being safe and successful in this task.

Once at the P-Patch, more hurdles arose. The ground was still very soft after our cool, wet spring. It wasn’t until we got the forklift to the garden that it became clear that driving it onto the paths would sink the wheels, like a car in fresh snow. When we discovered that the pathways in our Patch were too narrow to get the shed to the location we had selected for its new home, a new site was selected and prepared and a retaining wall was built. Finally, we were ready to put our new shed into its forever home at the Ballard P-Patch. One of our former gardeners was able to provide us with a small crane, which made the final positioning amazingly easy.

Thanks to our outstanding crew who responded to the call: Shawn Mincer, Sean Taylor, Matt Hals, Carol Barber, Dobbie Boyington, Carl Chard, Len Eisenhood, Lisa and Garth Arnold, Kelly Ryan, Roy Bueler, Tom Kintzi, and anyone else who may have come and gone without me being aware of you. A special thanks goes to Kate Folchert who secured the donation and for being the hostess extraordinaire, plying us with coffee, cookies, lemonade, snacks and enthusiasm galore. We can’t thank everyone enough for your contributions to the cause. All in all, I think everyone had fun. Most important, we were safe (one person’s shoe not withstanding)!