2013 Projects

Successes at 2013 Brentwood Park Fall Workday

Posted on November 24, 2013 by zachanderson

At 9am on Saturday, November 9, almost 70 volunteers gathered at Brentwood Park to participate in the eighth Friends of Brentwood Park’s biannual park workdays.

In addition to friends and neighbors, we especially appreciated the assistance and support from Boy Scout Troop 49, which sent 7 youth and 5 adult volunteers to help out. We are also grateful to Tacodeli and Genuine Joe Coffee for their donation of caffeine and tacos and to Austin Parks Foundation for providing tools.

Volunteers contributed over 200 hours worth of labor and performed much needed repairs and maintenance at Brentwood Park. Projects included:

Gravel trail: Boy Scout Troop 49 and additional volunteers worked under the direction of D’Anne Williams, our local PARD landscape architect and neighbor, to repair washed out areas resulting from the rains of the past two months. Volunteers distributed 2 cubic yards of granite and constructed berms and other improvements under D’Anne’s direction.

Tree planting: Randy Wilson, our newest leadership volunteer, led the planting of 19 saplings on Brentwood Elementary property and in the north section of the park. Waterboxxes were installed to help maintain the saplings over the next two years. The boxes are a newer technology that minimizes watering and mulching needs for young trees. You may have seen them along Burnet Road and local area bus stops. We have several available for an at-cost donation of $30. We’ll show you how to plant it too!

Mulching: Mulch reduces soil compaction, adds nutrients, and helps maintain moisture around trees. We mulch every workday as a way to maintain tree health in Brentwood Park. This year, volunteers distributed almost 20 cubic yards of mulch to approximately 30 trees throughout the park.

Flower Beds: Phil Tomlin and Hedrich Michaelsen, one of FOBP’s founders, led over a dozen volunteers in weeding and mulching the flower beds along Arroyo Secco.

Volleyball Court: Dave Shulder continued his tradition leading a group of volunteers to pull bermuda grass from the volleyball court and sift debris from the sand. This year, they removed approximately 15 lbs of bermuda grass and gravel from the court.

Thank you to the dozens of volunteers who came out to make it all happen! Finally, we very much appreciate the assistance of Kathey Ferland, who has helped out every year by monitoring the volunteer tables and making sure everyone gets signed in and pointed in the right direction.

Over the next few months, we will be planning for It’s My Park Day 2014, scheduled for March 1, 2014. Please step forward if you have an idea for a project, would like to lead a work group, or are otherwise interested in helping us organize.

We hope you will enjoy your visits to the park even more as a result of this labor of love, and we hope you can join us for future events and workdays in Brentwood Park!

Join Us! Fall Workday 2013

Posted on October 14, 2013 by Susan

Dear Neighbors,

The Brentwood Park Fall Workday is confirmed for Saturday, November 9, 9am-12pm!

Projects will include:

  • Plant saplings along the south side of the new trail by Brentwood Elementary using Groasis Waterboxxes

  • Erosion control on gravel trail

  • Volleyball Court clean up and border maintenance

  • Flower bed weeding, cleanup, and tending the plantings

  • Sandbox area and playground area maintenance


Genuine Joe and Tacodeli have generously offered to caffeinate and feed volunteers.

So that we can plan accurately for food and project management, please register at:

http://brentwoodparkfall2013.eventbrite.com/

Thank you,

Denman on Madison

Trail Complete • Fall 2013 Workday Planned

Posted on September 17, 2013 by Susan

With the new park trail finished mid-July, it’s time to grab your shovels and rakes and save the date for our next event!

Friends of Brentwood Park Fall Workday

Saturday, November 9th, 9 a.m. to noon

This is our 5th year to hold a community workday. The project will be announced once we have permission from our partners, Austin Parks and Recreation. We are anticipating needing 40-50 neighbors that morning and will provide more details as the plan develops.

The rain date is scheduled for Sunday, November 10th.

Thanks for everyone’s support!

IMPD—Mission Accomplished!

Posted on March 16, 2013 by Susan

The 2013 edition of It’s My Park Day at Brentwood Park took place on Saturday, March 2nd, under cool, clear conditions. Fifty+ volunteers convened in the park to participate in a variety of tasks to help prepare the park for spring and the inevitable long, hot summer ahead.

Our volunteer group was bolstered by 22 hard-working residents and staff from Benchmark Recovery Center, one of the It’s My Park Day sponsors. Chip Pate, Austin Parks Foundation board member and neighborhood resident, participated as a volunteer. Jeff Larsen of Austin Parks and Recreation visited us as we gathered prior to the start of the workday. We started work at approximately 9 a.m. and were complete by 11:30 a.m.

In addition to the delicious snacks provided by It’s My Park Day presenting sponsor Wheatsville Co-op, volunteers also enjoyed breakfast tacos courtesy of Tacodeli and coffee courtesy of Genuine Joe Coffeehouse.

It’s My Park Day is an annual city-wide event put on by Austin Parks Foundation, in cooperation with the Austin Parks and Recreation Department. Over 2,000 volunteers participated in over 100 parks throughout the city.

Projects completed in Brentwood Park—

  • Mulched 35 trees, primarily around tennis court and near basketball court, plus a few in the northeast quadrant that were missed in February.

  • Removed approximately 12 bags of bermuda and thoroughly weeded 10 young trees.

  • Sifted volleyball court sand to remove fine debris.

  • Weeded, mulched, and trimmed sign bed (facing Arroyo Seco) and divided and transplanted some perennials (photo, upper left).

  • Constructed and installed new butterfly bed around the base of the relocated purple martin house and planted bed with host and nectar plants for butterflies (photo, upper right).

  • Weeded, mulched, and trimmed perennial beds on the south side of the pool. Volunteers removed 7 or 8 lawn and leaf bags of material. It was a little late in the year for trimming, as plants were already budding.

It’s My Park Day—It’s Almost Here

Posted on February 13, 2013 by Susan

Show your pride in your park by volunteering for It’s My Park Day at Brentwood Park, Saturday, March 2nd, 9:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. This annual city-wide event is a production of Austin Parks Foundation in cooperation with the Austin Parks and Recreation Department.

Registration is limited to 50 people this year and only registered volunteers are eligible for the free, commemorative t-shirt and other goodies, so sign up soon!

Here’s what we’ll be working on at Brentwood Park:

1) Landscape around the relocated purple martin house.

2) Weed, trim and mulch the pool area beds.

3) Continue work on weeding bermuda grass away from the trees planted in 2010 that have been on irrigation.

4) Mulch trees in the southwest corner of the park around the tennis court area.

5) Volleyball court sand screening.


Remember to wear closed toed shoes and long pants, bring a water bottle, and dress appropriately for the weather. Bring work gloves if you have them. We will provide some tools, cotton gloves (for those who forget to bring gloves), and drinking water.

We rarely have enough tools to go around, especially wheelbarrows, so please bring your wheelbarrow, garden rake, pitchfork, and/or shovel marked with your name and phone number, so we can reunite tools with their owners should they become separated.

If you would like to bring a child, please carefully consider which project you choose. Children must be with a parent at all times.

In case of rain, projects will start one hour late. If rain persists, projects will begin at their original start time on Sunday, March 3rd.

For more information, send us an email.


It’s Here—FOBP Grow Love! Fundraiser

Posted on January 25, 2013 by Susan

Friends of Brentwood Park is sowing and growing love in the community this spring!

We have wrapped sets of 5 heart-shaped seed bombs to offer as a gift in exchange for each $15.00 suggested donation.

Each lovingly produced seed bomb contains native grass and wildflower seeds—the perfect gift for your family’s park enthusiast, gardener, and/or community activist.

All donations from the Grow Love! fundraiser will be used to build a park trail this spring. (More about the FOBP trail project here.)

Come see us at Crestview Minimax, 7108 Woodrow, Monday-Saturday, February 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.

Seed bombs also are available direct from Emily.

Fundraiser • It’s My Park Day • Purple Martin House

Posted on January 17, 2013 by Susan

Friends of Brentwood Park needs your help to meet our fundraising goal by contributing to our first-ever Grow Love! Seed Bomb Fundraiser. The funds will go to build a trail in Brentwood Park. The seed bombs are made of clay, compost and Blackland Prairie Mix seeds from Native American Seed Company. For a suggested donation of $15, donors will get a package of 5 seed bombs as a thank-you gift. The seed bombs will be available through Emily Wilson or through Friends of Brentwood Park Monday, February 4–Saturday, February 9, 2013, at Crestview Minimax, 7108 Woodrow Avenue. The seeds are native to this region and will sprout fall or next spring. Just throw and grow! Please help build a trail, Grow Love!, and turn your yard or public space into prairie.

Please save the date of Saturday, March 2, 2013, for the It’s My Park Day workday at Brentwood Park. Come meet your neighbors by participating in a neighborhood park improvement project and earn a free t-shirt. It’s My Park! Day is the biggest annual park workday. Sign-up will be announced soon.

The Renald Ferrovecchio Memorial Purple Martin House has been relocated to the open field in the northeastern part of Brentwood Park. Shortly after it was installed last spring, Austin Parks and Recreation informed us that the original location was in an area programmed as a multi-purpose playing field and needed to be moved. During the move, which will be executed by Danny Sinclair of Purple Martin Propagators, the house will be cleaned to get ready for the purple martins’ return. The new location will be better for park users, allow the caution tape to be removed, and allow for some low plantings around the base of the feature.