Bayfield community members put the last application of clay plaster on a straw-bale toolshed this week in anticipation of the grand opening Sunday of the community garden of which the shed is part.
Celebrants will gather from 1 to 5 p.m. in the garden at the Pine River Library, 395 Bayfield Center Drive in Bayfield.
The 17,000-square-foot garden was barren land in May when work began, said Judy Poe, head of library development services and community liaison at Pine River Library, which is the sponsor.
“We have a living library,” Poe said. “Our motto is ‘We connect people to possibilities.’”
The garden has 24 raised beds, a 22-foot greenhouse to grow plants during winter and the 15-foot by 15-foot toolshed with a living roof.
The roof, which has only a slight pitch, is covered with pumice and potting soil in which prairie grass and succulents grow, Poe said.
“We have a beehive on the roof,” Poe said. “It’s connected to the library by a camera, so from the library you can see what’s going on inside the hive.”
The toolshed stores tools for gardeners, Poe said. But it also functions as a lending library, loaning gardening, carpentry and mechanic’s tools to the public.
“We’ll buy tools, but we hope that community members will donate ones they no longer need or use only occasionally,” Poe said.
The toolshed was built through six Saturdays by volunteers, Poe said.
Emily Reynolds, who spent a year in Japan to learn ancient clay techniques, is finishing the toolshed with a lime plaster.
She is not finishing the toolshed in Japanese style, which is a different technique, a different method of application, Reynolds said.
The garden project, overall, used local materials and local tradesmen, Poe said.
“Our project wasn’t built for the public,” Poe said. “It was built by the public.”
daler@durangoherald.com
If you go
Pine River Library’s “Living Library” grand opening from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday in the garden at the library, 395 Bayfield Center Drive, in Bayfield.
