OUR MESA NEIGHBORHOOD

When in Santa Barbara,
linger on the Mesa

Opportunities for our families and children

**at The Gathering Place (the strip of land of the Holy Cross along Meigs which we have been working on to become the village square or mini-plaza):
we need volunteers to help cover the area with wood chips - then spruce it up for the fall holidays with pumpkins, corn stalks, jack-o-lanterns, and other halloween decor, etc. we work there during the mesa bazaar days (wed 4-7) and on saturday mornings from 7. bring the family and help- and grandma and grandpa can just sit and watch with their positive supportive energy. others bring in plants; or adopt a vegetable bed, or plant and water.

** soon we will commence " Saturday nights at The Gathering Place" (we hope to have the tree stump furniture pieces, to be donated by the Warreckers again! , to sit on. meantime, we use picnic blankets to watch poets, magicians, music players, actors, etc. in a convivial mood of sharing the arts (no mic or amplifiers used). children are welcome to share previews or full reviews of their school performances. we encourage neighbors to walk to TGP, if possible.

**we will also have the winter holiday celebrations- CELEBRATE LIGHTS! in SB - starting with our own tree-lighting ceremony (the three oak trees at TGP) day after Thanksgiving. children can help decorate TGP again with multi-cultural traditions.

the families can volunteer to host a light party among your street neighbors (hot apple cider, eggnog, tea and baked goodies -indoor or outdoor- to share with street neighbors).

**We also hope to start the winter cheer tradition - when the children sing holiday songs (Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanza, Diwali, Shinto, Buddhist traditions) house-to-house for coin treats - children will enjoy collecting coins to buy themselves (or their loved ones) presents after their cheering rounds with neighbors on evenings during the entire december month.**

then there is the holiday cheer singing tradition for choirs and musical groups at the village hall at year's end.

this is just a heads up- you will see more on TMP's october and november issues.

please call me for questions or to volunteer: 845-6870

hi-fives, handshakes and hugs,
alice

Part of our Cleanup and Beautification Campaign, this mini-plaza is slowly coming into being. The Gathering Place is for all Mesa neighbors: a respite area for walkers from down Carrillo; a place to have a cold drink or a pizza, for a conversation group; for a book club discussion; to post your notice on the community bulletin board; to while your time by, or to just watch passersby.

Neighbors have been dropping off donations of succulents. Recently, Bob Nice and Millie& Cheri Ravenscroft helped carry water buckets and plant the succulents, donated by Liz Greenwald, Debbie Williams and Trudy Stacy.

We just got our first tree donation. Someone dropped off a pot of agapanthus the other day. We need more of these as well as red bougainvillae and drought-resistant flowering plants, potting soil (for the raised beds), succulents and gopher wires.

If you have organic waste that is ready to be added to the soil, please bring it in. We will soon have some raised beds for our fruit trees and more flowering plants, before having the vegetables.

Meanwhile, we need your free time (from half an hour or even just your encouraging presence) to help prepare our community gathering place. Call 845-6870 or themesapaper@gmail.com to donate or volunteer.

OUR FIRST FRUIT TREES AT THE GATHERING PLACE

The first fruit trees at The Gathering Place have been donated by a lovely young civic-spirited couple, Tony and Rea Warrecker, owners of Vista Tree Service, Inc.
Tony brought in five of his men to plant the trees -- apples, plums, peaches, apricot, avocados, and fig.

The entire Warrecker brood came again Saturday morning to help - with a truckload of wood chips that we began to scatter around the area.
A wonderful aroma filled the air, giving the place ambiance ( vs. being gopher infested).

Come the holidays, The Gathering Place will be the place to meet neighbors on the Mesa! Think tree-lighting celebrations.

Thanks to our generous donors like Tony, Rea with daughters Cheyenne and Sedona, we now have a real gathering place!

Secure in gopher baskets and surrounded with new soil, the new trees were planted in the swiss cheese-like terrain that had laid idle for some time.	Tony Warrecker of Vista Tree Service, Inc. not only donated the trees but planted them as well. He brought in five of his men on Friday, August 14, here shown at work.	Tony and daughter Cheyenne with from left, Rafael, Leonel, Juan, Robertoand Joaquin.
Tony and Rea Warrecker with daughters Cheyenee, 2, and Sedona, 5-months, came back Saturday morning to work! The other volunteer was Irene Presley from downtown who brought in more of her juicy vine ripe tomatoes and helped spread out the wood chips.	Rea and Sedona picked up trash	Cheyenne, Mommy's little helper, was having fun with her little bucket
Rea with Sedona, who smiled and cooed while mom raked and carried chips. Then, apparently enjoying her mom's movements, she fell asleep on Rea's chest.
The Warrecker family - another gem on the Mesa!	Janelle Limon and friends from Cliff's Room came with pitchers and cups of iced water for the workers at The Gathering Place. Thanks!	Tony brought in a truckload of wood chips.
Determined to help transform the place, barechested Tony doused water on the newly-planted trees.	Greg Bastian of Wilson Printing on Hollister Avenue in Goleta, which donates all the wood pallets for The Gathering Place.	Justin Head is another willing Mesa neighbor helping with work at The Gathering Place. He is shown here unloading the wood pallets for the raised vegetable beds.
New Mesa residents: Molly Fay and Stephen Scrafford, here shown enjoying lunch at The Gathering Place, recently arrived from their hometown Birmingham in upstate New York to study at SBCC.	Andrew Pinnock of Borton came by briefly and helped wheel in a cartload of wood chips to TGP.	A young man who enjoys gardening
TGP can use more young people like Andrew - come and volunteer an hour or two on Wednesday afternoons or Saturday mornings	Raking away...	Trenton Caine of Juanita was passing by Wednesday morning. We asked if he could help move some chips. He did before we came back in the afternoon. Trenton came by again to chat with the Mesa Bazaar group.
Terry Fountain (left) brought in more succulents- great Spanish swords that are perfect for fencing off TGP. Here she is shown helping Marie Chu carry the big wood pallet towards the food garden area.	Irene Presley takes the bus from downtown every Wednesday afternoon, always with bounty from her garden for the Mesa Bazaar, and Saturday mornings to help at TGP.	Jim Bess had a whole morning to finish the raised bed he adopted. Cindy Weber drives from Hidden Valley to bring plants and help in any ongoing work.
Rea Warrecker with Cheyenne and Sedona at work --here shown with Fr. Ludo and a parishioner	Sedona is always pleasant while Mommy's at work	Having fun at TGP
Cheyenne with her Daddy (Tony)	IRGP team with Wayne and Shirley Tustin, another very active Mesa couple	Sedona, our adorable little baby volunteer!
Cheyenne by the new bird feeder that her family brought in recently, now hanging on one of the oak trees at TGP.	Cheyenne watches over Sedona while Mommy rakes and Daddy brings in wood chips	Josh Cobb, a Red Rose Way neighbor, came to help bring in wood chips for over an hour one Saturday
Colin, David and Jason (L-R) with Karen Romofsky, showing off the grapefruts from her backyard. The young men are friends who were passing by and got curious about TGP. We've just booked new volunteers who happen to be musicians too. They will be joining the first group of artists at the opening of "Saturday Nights on the Mesa," an evening of free performances for neighbors and visitors alike. Another neighbor from Oceano, Bandon Luerh helped set up the benches.		Our TGP regulars from left, Irene Presley, Fely Gentry and Chona Pinnock with new volunteer Josh Kane, from Mesa Annex.
Renate Franquet of Mesa Annex, a member of the Holy Cross Parish Council, worked hard - watering the trees and here, spreading the wood chips with Fely.	Fely protects the poppies.	Irene takes five after spreading wood chips. She came in with more plant donations. Many neighbors drop off succulents to add to our garden.
The hardworking volunteers -filling up the SHIFCO seniors' vegetable beds with more mulch (L-R) Renate, Fely, Chona and Irene.	Fr. Ludo de Clippel chats with the TGP volunteers and Alma Ruth Vaja (center), president of the Holy Cross Parish Council who came to check out our people's project on the church property-- thanks to Fr. Ludo's civic spirit!	Josh cut the wood pallets in half for the regular sized beds- compared with the bed for the elderly volunteers behind him.
Josh at work	Irene Presley from downtown is a loyal supporter who comes regularly to work on the garden- and always with goodies to share!	Josh Kane of Mesa Annex, a busy financial advisor, who has committed to share a portion of his time every Saturday to help in the garden- he moved a lot of the wood chips.
and started sawing wood pieces for the vegetable beds	....wheeling the chips into the social area and the garden	...greeting newcomers-here with Christine Johnson, new in town from Maine.
...with wife Aoke, a pastry chef, here by the apple tree	Millie Ravenscroft of Borton comes and help too--like watering the plants.	Our regular volunteer on saturday morning is Josh Kane, a busy financial advisor who takes time to give to the community. He wheeled in about 20 wheelbarrows full of wood chips to prep TGO from the first Mesa Young Talents art show.
Josh spread the chips	The Gathering Place patron brought in the first street stumps as seating at TGP.
John Gentry put in the light cables and spruced up the hedge.	Liz Ponko volunteered to weed before the art show.
Tony Warrecker putting up the lights on the oak trees.		And after the three hour work- voila! Here Tony is shown by his energy-saving smart car with his company logo.