New Ball Field

As you know, the record breaking rainfall last summer combined with some really spectacular big events turned the softball field into a muddy mess. So as soon as camp ended, we killed all the grass and weeds that remained and started the rebuilding process.

Normally this work happens behind closed doors… you return to a perfect field without a thought to the work that has to happen in order to make that grass grow. As I am looking for good blog content and this is a job that is consuming the full attention of our maintenance crew: you might as well take a look.

The softball field project started with locating the irrigation heads (marked by the pipes), the power lines, the control lines, and the gas lines (camp has a lot going on under the ground). Next we survey the field to locate all the low spots (where the water does not immediately run off the field) and mark everything with white lines to let us know where to put the dirt. We remove the backstop that has served us well for about 25 years (we will replace it) and install drainage lines. Then we use our new rotovator (a very expensive and very nice machine that tills up the soil and makes it perfectly flat) and level the ground to be a perfect field. Only after all that, do we sow the grass and cover it with straw. It is important we move quickly for this time of year when grass really grows well.

The bottom line: we will have an amazing softball field next year!

I will show the softball field progress over the next few weeks. it is pretty exciting for me… I hope you will like it! In addition to the grass, we will also romove some dead/dieing trees around the pavilion and replacing them with a bunch of lovely trees and shrubs. It should look really nice and will be enjoyed by campers for another 90 years!

jimboy