Happy New Year from Rock Wall Garden!
On this last day of 2024, we’ve been thinking about the events (Rock Wall Garden events, that is) of this last year.
January: We said goodbye to Dr. Scott Tripp, the builder and innovator behind the place we call Rock Wall Garden. He left a tremendous legacy in work and education, and we will cover more on that later. His name will always be remembered with deepest gratitude.
February: Just weeks after Scott's passing, his wife Judy looked out the window at daybreak and saw the roof of the greenhouse gone, taken off by the gale-force winds of a Pacific storm in the night. Judy was committed to replacing the plastic as soon as possible, and that gave us a ray of hope that we could rebuild after storm season.
March: Rock Wall Garden got to be part of an Easter event at the farm! We provided a solar lantern craft among the activities kids could choose.
April: We did a Gnome House workshop on the ground floor of the barn, allowing kids a wheelchair accessible area to work with their families on a project that ended with lunch!
May: In a heroic barnraising event the Stewart-Tripp coalition replaced the plastic and the greenhouse was back in business! We welcomed Peer Project back to the farm to field test a new family activity: Hand milled cornmeal Johnny cakes over an open fire!
June-July: Planting, watering, weeding. We did experiment with hosting a couple family workshops, but turnout was sparse, so we focused on growing produce.
August: Fought an epic losing battle with grasshoppers such as the valley has not seen in years. Then came the ducklings...Brian and Judy's brother built them a coop that looked like a tiny RV inside when Brian finished it out. Jessie and I even varnished the woodwork, LOL! End of grasshoppers in the garden.
September: Steven East made a name for himself (and Rock Wall Garden) selling our famous seedless orange watermelons door to door along with other produce. Tomatoes were coming in fast. We shipped them out equally fast by hosting a pizza event where kids did a scavenger hunt that ended in making fresh pizza sauce and mini pizzas. The greenhouse smelled amazing!
October: The return of fall brought the annual cider pressing with Peer Project, the class from USU. This year we added a blacksmithing activity hosted by Brian and Jimmie. When the students were not cranking the cider press, they were taking turns on the hand cranked forge blower making the coals glow red hot!
November: Rock Wall Garden came indoors, hosting a beeswax candle-dipping event upstairs in the barn loft. This was a cozy activity, with popcorn and hot drinks added. The children played or made candles while the adults visited and honed their candle-dipping skills. We met some great new friends!
December: We took Rock Wall Garden to market when we rented a space in the Jingle and Joy Holiday Market here in Richmond. It was a fair amount of work getting the craft kits ready for sale, but quite amazing to stay in one spot for most of the day! Most of our events involve a great deal of walking and organizing everything.
So we’d just like to wind up by saying, “Thank you so much!” for supporting us this last year - and we look forward to seeing you in the new year!