The top is the AFTER Picture. So happy to see these Thimbleberries doing well. This patch was blackberry heaven and after some hard work of cutting them down, taking out root balls, sheet mulching, and replanting native plants these seem to do great in their new home at Fairmount Park. Here is the BEFORE Picture from December 2017, when we planted them: And the WAY BEFORE Picture when it was still a wild patch of invasive Himalayan blackberries.
Picked up 3 trees from the 'Trees for Neighborhood' program from the City and planted them along the Rainbow Fence on Roxbury. While planting I was wearing my cape, of course.
Had to do a photo scavenger hunt at Camp Long. Six groups of 5 competed for the most points by finding the biggest tree, spider web, sign of birds, 2016/17 flagging, GSP signs, Neighborhood Bullies, madrone seed, a heart in Nature, climb the rock, make a Haiku, dance and all kinds of shenanigans. It was quite fun, but our team didn't win.
Removing Blackberry canes in the rain. Kids did great. Got a lot done. Soon there will be lots of native plants grow instead.
Got my new waders today to help with the Salmon Survey at Longfellow Creek. So excited I get to do this with my friend.
We liked this hands-on demonstration of a watershed ecosystem, the importance of buffers by planting Native plants along streams by the King Conservation District.
In the picture Tim 'distributes' chocolate sprinkles to demonstrate pet waste all across the landscape as well as other pollution. After applying rain all ended up in the creek. When we installed little sponges as buffer zones, the run off got blocked from flowing into the creek. South Sound Nature School offers a Nature Club for Genesee Hill Elementary now. It was formerly the Wilderness Awareness School running it. Porcupine (Kevin) has taken over and I am his assistant now. We are super excited and today was the first day we picked up the kids after school and had some fun getting to know them and exploring Schmitz Park together.
“Do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am — a reluctant enthusiast ... a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here.” Edward Abbey And the entire article working through the relationship between Outdoor Recreation and Environmental Activism I was wondering for a while.
My long time dream of having a swarm of bees dance at the Parade finally came true. We waggled our tiny tails to Dancing Queen and some cute nursery song. As Spring sprung Seattle Parks planting season comes to an end. The plants planted in Fall and Winter have much better chances for survival as they have good conditions to recover from transplant shock in the wet months. Planting season starts again in November 2018.
Learn more on the Green Seattle Partnership website Out of over 500 native plants we received for Fairmount Park we worked really hard over the last weeks to plant as many as possible before Spring. The challenge we faced was that the mass of invasive plants we removed took up so much space that the areas that were planned for replanting were limited. For the last 80 plants we had to branch out in the area were we haven't started removing invasives yet. Also, because of wildlife feeding on the invasives it's recommended to only take out about 25 % every year, so the new plants can take over and feed in the upcoming years instead. We got the majority of our new plants in the ground in November and January, and now the leftovers in February and March. For the next season we will maintain and remove the invasives growing back and for the dry months we will need to find a way to water the new plants. And in Fall we can start taking out more blackberries and replant with more native berries. On this Saturday we talked about the development and volunteer action the Fairmount Playground has seen over the last year and then planted a Western Yew together.
We split up the group and the older boys headed to the South end of the park to tackle Blackberries while the rest planted 10 conifers and 15 understory plants. We celebrated our accomplishments and shared what we learnt. Thank you all! |
AuthorCurious Bee. Forest Steward. Nature Nerd. Climate Activist Mom. Categories
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February 2024
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