All Congregation Grounds Day, Saturday June 27, 2026

We had a great turnout this morning, Saturday, June 27, 2026 to clean up the grounds of the Fellowship:  weeding, pruning, spreading wood chips, raking, sweeping, hauling, mulching, laughing, philosophising, and having an all around great time.

Big thanks to Alida Fisher, Hiram Wolgemuth, Hans Jordan, Wendie Highsmith, Joseph Reid, Molly Hargarten, Lisa Kahn, Steve Nelson, Elise Eller, Robyn Rathweg, Lucy Williams, Eric Williams, Chris Rathweg, David Burrous, and Billina the chicken.

Billina the chicken was at the Fellowship when we arrived and had already laid an egg.  We don't know where she came from and we contacted several neighbors to see if they knew and posted it on Next Door.  Obviously she had crossed the road.  But we don't know why. Perhaps she's looking for a welcoming spiritual home without dogma or dogs.

 

Certified habitat 154 and the plants are blooming

Coal Creek Pollinator District has certified our pollinator garden as Certified Habitat #154.  This is the garden that Cub Scout Pack 79 provided the plants for and then planted them for us last spring.  It's on the north west side of the building.  Please stop by and enjoy it.

Our raised vegetable gardens are planted!

Many thanks to the kindergarten-aged Cub Scouts from our sponsored Lafayette Pack 79 who, with their parents and leaders, planted the Fellowship's raised vegetable gardens this afternoon.  

Thanks, too, to Larry Arp who monitored the irrigation system, and Wendie Highsmith and David Burrous who joined the fun.

* Please note that parents signed waivers allowing photos of all children pictured below.  

We Recently Received Really Rough Red Rock Boulders

 

Landscaping Design Team had 10 really rough red rock boulders delivered for the gardens on the west side of Fellowship Hall.  The boulders will be strategically placed later this season.

Steve Nelson continues to work on french drains.

A Very Busy Week for the Building and Grounds Teams!

Big thanks to the following members:  Cathy Allen, Wendie Highsmith, Elise Eller, Molly Hargarten, Alisa Burrous, Larry Arp, Nicholas Scribner, Steve Nelson, Eric Williams, Hiram Wolgemuth, and Sam Henderson.  (If I've forgotten anyone, please let me know. db)

This was an incredibly busy week for the volunteers serving on the Building and Grounds Teams! 

Photos below.

• Supervising the semi-annual HVAC inspection and repairs (room and ceiling access for 28 filters, lubrication of hardware, etc. - 6 hours)
• Supervising the annual National Fire and Safety inspection.  This company inspects and repairs the fire sprinklers in the ceiling, the back flow valves (4 of them), the batteries (5) in the alarm panels, etc. (8 hours)
• Supervising the annual inspection of the irrigation water back flow device and turning on the water for sprinkler irrigation.  (Be sure and ask me about the 6' long sprinkler key fiasco.)
• Installing drip systems for the fruit tree orchard, pollinator garden and raised gardens.
• Cutting down broken apple tree trunks from heavy spring snowfall, one in the south garden and one in the raised vegetable gardens.  Tree trunks and branches were sawn into manageable lengths, piled into truck beds and driven to the Erie and Broomfield tree limb reception areas.
• Creating a french drain in the west side garden behind Robyn Rathweg's mosaic wall, to prevent flooding.
• Rescuing many boxes of HVAC filters that were hiding in the second floor attic in Fellowship Hall.
• Taking a trip to Tribbles Stone Co. in Lyons to choose 10 big boulders for the gardens.
• Organizing the office supplies closet in the main work area.
• Investigating a sticky window crank in the minister's office.
• Installing the Fellowship's newly minted archives in the Mountain View room.

It takes a village to maintain the Fellowship's building and grounds in a shipshape manner. 

You are invited to join one of our teams.  

Contact David Burrous for more information.

The Fellowship's New Pollinator Garden

 "It takes a village", and a Fellowship, and a pack, and a den, and a bunch of kids and adults who believe in service to the earth to plant a new garden of pollinator plants.

Approximately 30 cub scouts (who can count them, they never stop moving!), parents, members of the Fellowship, volunteers from Sister Carmen and Friends of Coal Creek plus our 3 presenters; came together for 2 hours to teach cubs and adults about mother earth.

Lafayette Cub Scout Pack 79, in appreciation of the opportunity to use the Fellowship for weekly and monthly meetings, donated $1,000.00 to purchase pollinator plants for a new garden at the Fellowship.  

Cub Scouts present the colors.

Pledge of Allegiance and the Scout Oath

Scout Master Derek Christensen gets the day's activities started with a singalong.

Parents and scouts are ready to get to work.

So many trowels!

Big thanks to Larry Arp who rototilled and raked the soil 
several times prior to planting.

     He will also install an underground irrigation system to                       automatically water the plants.

The scouts get started with help from Henry Gibb (left),
a volunteer from Sister Carmen.

Casey Lyons of "Friends of Coal Creek"
organized the plants and the planting.

Martin Ogle of Geo Sapiens did his presentation
under the gazebo in the Cove.

Several Fellowship members joined the different presentations.

4 teams of kids rotated through 4 different events:
planting, bees, mulch, Geo Sapiens.

The bee presentation by Taylor Hood
who maintains his bee hives on our property.
Stay back 10 feet folks!

 "To bee or not to bee." So many questions.

More planting by the next team.

Rutger Myers of Eco-Cycle, introduced kids to the
miraculous properties of mulch.
Who knew?

All done!  The cub scouts planted over 100 pollinator plants. in 2 hours.  They learned about Bees, Mulch, and Geo Sapiens, and how to plant stuff.  But most importantly, they got to dig in the dirt.  

The Fellowship is so grateful for this wonderful gift from
Lafayette Cub Scout Pack 79. 

Big thanks to camera shy Robyn Rathweg,
Wendie Highsmith, and Elise Eller
for all their support of this project.