Community Corner

Eagle Scout Building Compost Bins at Heritage Garden

Woodinville's Heritage Garden in the Sammamish Valley is getting new compost bins, thanks to Eagle Scout candidate Paul McIntosh.

 

While cycling along the Sammamish River Trail, Paul McIntosh spotted Woodinville’s Heritage Garden and decided that was where he wanted to do his Eagle Scout project.

“I was interested [in the garden] and thought I could contribute to the gardens' projects. When I was told that they needed a compost bin, I knew I would be up to the challenge,” he said.

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McIntosh is a junior at Archbishop Murphy High School in Everett and a member of Boy Scout Troop 0622 in Bothell. While he said he does enjoy looking at gardens, he typically does not enjoy the "gardening" part. “I prefer the finished product; I'm looking forward to fresh rhubarb sauce from our own garden very soon,” he said.

Gardening chores aside, McIntosh said he does think issues regarding the environment are important and in the summer of 2011, he worked for a week with the Boy Scouts Order of the Arrow restoring trails in the Mt. Rainier area. “I love the outdoors,” he added. “Scouting provides ample opportunity to work in and for the environment.”

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That’s why working at the Heritage Garden appealed to him, being able to work in the outdoors. The three-bin compost structure he chose is a design from Naturopathic Gardening:  A Basic Gardening Text for Students of Natural Medicine by Jenn Dazey, of Basytr University, according to Trish Knox, manager of the garden.

The hardest part of the project was developing the project plan,” McIntosh said. “I was given an idea regarding the type of compost bin needed at the [Heritage] Garden. I had to define the measurements, construction details, materials lists and cost estimates. I obtained a donation of wood for the compost bin.”

Keeping his volunteers safe was equally important, he added. On April 22, McIntosh and his crew completed the project. “I am glad that the compost bin project is finished,” he said. “I learned a great deal about how to develop a good plan and lead a project to completion.”

Eagle Scout is the highest rank in the Boy Scouts organization, to achieve the life-long rank, a scout has to earn 21 merit badges and demonstrate leadership in his troop and well as show scout spirit. McIntosh said he comes from a family of scouts, his grandfather was a Boy Scout and uncles and cousins are Eagle Scouts as well.  “I have always planned to work to achieve this rank. I plan to earn the Eagle Scout rank later this spring,” he said.

The and is adjacent to 21 Acres. Its focus is as a demonstration garden spotlighting crops Woodinville pioneers may have grown. The garden was designed based on text from the 1897 Grange manual.

 


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