Volunteering

Volunteering turned out to be all that we had hoped! The project is restoring natural vegetation and we’re happy to be able to help. We’re working with a group called the “Re-Veg” team … as in re-vegetation. Ash has been our guide. He recently graduated with a degree in Environmental Sciences, but he is largely self-taught in plant biology and we find him to be brilliant and dedicated. We spent the first days transplanting. That is … as plants grown from seed outgrow their containers, we laboriously (and delicately) replant them in larger containers. There is enough replanting, watering and reorganizing to last the rest of the year.

Angie sporting "Target Volunteers" t-shirt

First, mix soil with puffed volcanic ash, fertilizer and a wee-bit of H2O

Gentle with the seedlings!


Whallah ... Re-potted yellow campher seedling!

We transferred 250 in one day ... that's enough yellow campher for all of Hermitt Road restoration in 2010!

Cacti

To shake things up a bit, today we ventured out into the “field” to collect the seeds/spores. It’s pretty cool to see the full lifespan of the plants. The Re-Veg team will care for the plants for years in their container pots and then for two years after they are planted in the ground. We look at the park with a different lens after seeing all of the work that goes into the “Planting a Good Idea” signs throughout the park.

Look close ... you can actually see the pollen on this bee!

Jake in the "field" collecting seeds/spores

Jake & Ash collecting seed/spores