The Sad Tale of the Eagle Project

Ten years ago, in the spring, our second son, named Jan, was a Boy Scout.  He had earned his Life so  he was eligible to work on his Eagle Project.  I wasn't really thinking about doing it because he was only 14 and it seemed like we had lots of time.  But a member of the Boy Scout Committee got an idea for a project and she decided that this should be Jan's project.  She was not someone you could say no to.

The project was related to a memorial to Japanese POW's which was located on some school property near the local junior high and elementary school.  This memorial was on a corner and did not stand out in any way because it was small and it was surrounded by grass.  This woman thought we should put a little garden in the area around it, thereby making it more distinctive.

Before we did any work back in 2007

So we did, not really knowing what we were doing or how to get it funded. We designed a garden that we hoped would work for that area.  We took out the grass, putting in some plants that had been donated by a nursery.  We made a path and covered it with gravel from someone's house (not exactly high quality.)  I remember very clearly that we finished the weekend before I delivered our 9th child 4 months early.  I guess it was good we got it done because I had no time for helping with projects for a year or two.

Taking out the grass

Putting in edging for the path and raking out the mulch

Stage 1 complete in the spring

Putting the gravel on the path

After a year or two, I had another son, Garrett, who was ready for an Eagle project.  We realized that the first Eagle Project hadn't gone quite far enough because weeds were a major problem.  So we raised some money and bought some decorative rocks and added some more plants and that helped the project look better.

Unfortunately the project was not maintenance-free.  Every summer we would need to go over there as a family for a service project and spend some time weeding.  I had not anticipated that--we somehow had the idea that the custodians at the two schools would be able to help maintain it.  But that was unrealistic and so it became the Bergesons' project to maintain.

It was frankly a losing proposition.  We have our own large yard to maintain and my husband was too busy to spray the weeds at the Eagle project very often with Roundup which is his favorite method of dealing with weeds.  (And it works well if you can stay on top of it.)

This summer we were gone a lot with two weddings and a big trip and my husband was gone even more with Scouts and other travel.  So we didn't go over more than about one time and the weeds really took over.  It looked pretty bad and we cringed when we drove past it which was every time we went to church.

Meanwhile, another Scout who lives right next to the Eagle project decided to make it his Eagle project.  He made up a plan and asked our permission to work on it.  The plan looked good and we said go ahead since we obviously weren't doing anything with it.

So this fall, they took out all the plants including the weeds and all the rocks and the path and everything.  It was a little bit of a shock to drive by and see it all gone.  About a month later, they laid sod.  I was hoping they would do something more with it like put in some rocks or plants or something but they didn't.  They just put in grass over it. So now we're back to where we started almost exactly ten years ago.

All the plants and path and weeds, etc. removed before the sod in September

The Eagle Project, back to the way it was before we started.  The monument isn't very noticeable.

I have to admit, it felt like a failure to me, like we hadn't really done it right to begin with.  But I have to remind myself that it was a good learning experience for everyone, especially me and my Scouts.  As I look at the pictures, I can see that there were a lot of good things that happened.  And our family had lots of service opportunities weeding the Eagle Project, although my children definitely didn't love doing it.

And I also have to remind myself that landscapes are not forever.  Just as you have to renovate buildings and houses, you have to renovate landscapes.  I find plain grass to be incredibly boring, but it is definitely lower maintenance.  The monument doesn't stand out at all which is too bad.

So there is the sad tale of the Eagle Project.  As I look at the pictures, I think maybe it's not so sad.  My two boys earned their Eagles and we can feel good about our whole family working together and creating memories.