Planter Box Workshop at ADX

Today I taught my second workshop at ADX, this time solo! The topic was designing and building planter boxes, a workshop I had put together as my AmeriCorps individual development project a few years ago. I thought it would be a great class to teach at ADX so I pitched the idea to them, they proposed the idea to their network and found interest. Shortly after listing the workshop on their event page, the 5 open spots filled up in what I am told was record time. People must be getting excited to start spring planting!

We began the morning with introductions, shop safety talk and then a discussion about wood and fastener selection and the pros and cons of different options. I also talked about the importance of distinguishing the difference between nominal and actual lumber dimensions when designing and purchasing wood. Then we moved into the shop and talked about the tools needed to build a planter box and I did a tool demo. 

ADX wanted to have this first planter box workshop taught as an assembly only class so they had working members pre-cut all of the wood to the dimensions of the cut list I provided. I had each pre-cut kit of materials separated out on shop table space so everyone could pick a spot and get to work. Soon the planter box walls and floors were taking shape and then it was time to connect everything with the corner pieces. This took a bit of teamwork and by the end of the class everyone had successfully built a sturdy box to take home!

Next time I will be teaching a longer class where participants will get to cut and rip wood to length and width and then assemble the pieces into a box. They will also be encouraged to bring some of their own tools to learn more about how to use them. The class will be held again at ADX on a Sunday in March so check in with their calendar to sign up when it gets posted because spaces may fill up quickly!