We had agreed that we would need to get the facilities dump truck and back hoe tractor to do the excavation. I would let the warden know what are plans were and get his approval for use of the facilities equipment. We figured that it may take us about 3 days to complete the project, and I was concerned that the barn wasn’t in the best condition. We would need to be careful when excavating. My helper was very confident he could remove all the manure and dump it into the truck without damaging the barn. My job would be to get all the approvals from our supervisors, secure all of the equipment we would need, and finally, get the wardens approval of our plan to excavate the barn. Driving a dump truck full of manure to be dumped into what would become the prison garden was the easy part. So I thought.
The warden when I spoke to him was all for our plan and he had total confidence in our ability to accomplish it safely. He signed off on us using the facilities equipment which would be useful when requesting the equipment. Our supervisors knowing the warden had signed off on the project gave us their blessings. We set a date and I called the journalist to make sure it was a good date for her as well. She was happy to hear it was going to happen. I assured her that all the manure would be removed in a matter of three days, and my helper would grade the inside of the barn making it level again. She agreed on the date, and the amount of time we would need to have access to the barn. I was able get our facilities Director to give us access to the equipment. The equipment was a tractor with a back hoe attachment and our dump truck. We would pick them up by 7:00am and bring them back before we left for home at 4:00PM. If we had any problems we were to notify the control center immediately.
We picked the equipment up as planned in the morning of our first day. Our maintenance mechanics made sure everything was in working order and both had full tanks of gas. We planned to go straight to our job cite by way of a country road which was more like a two lane highway with gravel shoulders on each side. We would drive the shoulder all the way to the farm. My helper headed out with the tractor and had his emergency lights on. I followed behind him with my emergency lights on. It took us about 20 minutes to reach the barn. Once we reached the property the journalist made sure the horses were secured in another area of the farm and would not hinder our operation. With the back hoe he made quick progress starting in the furthest corner from our entry way. The manure itself was compacted in between layers of hay and would be a gold mine for the garden. The first day we filled two dump trucks and the barn was only a quarter completed. Some areas had as much as three feet of this compacted gold and I wanted to get every bit of it if possible.
To Be Continued…. In honor of Black history month I can think of no better way than to post a song I heard in concert by Motown’s one and only Stevie Wonder. The lyrics are most relevant for today’s world.
Mathew 22: 36-40
MJ-Way 