Digging in the Dirt
Sometimes you just have to do what calls to you…even on a random Tuesday morning in December. Such is what happened for me last Tuesday, December 1.
I was going about my morning routine (feeding the birds and changing their water, tending to the pugs, laundry, and checking email to get all caught up before really getting into what I needed to do that day) when I read an email from Madison Ohmen with the North Carolina Wildlife Federation about a volunteer opportunity to help plant some native plants in a permanently-protected Plant Conservation Preserve (PCP) in Durham.
The only snafu was that it started in 3 hours from when I read the email! I tried to shrug it off and just stay on track with “My To Do” list. But I couldn’t stop thinking that this would be so interesting, rewarding and educational. The weather was amazing. And the plants had been grown by the folks over at The North Carolina Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill (one of my favorite organizations).
So….
I signed up!
I finished my coffee, wrapped up a few office items and walked the pugs quickly then head out the door with my garden clothes, a hori hori knife , a bucket, some gloves, and a big thermos of ice water.
The directions said to park on the roadside shoulder. Upon my arrival, I saw a small group of folks headed down into the woods. Not to worry, Madison was waiting patiently for a few straggling volunteers to arrive. She cheerfully led me to the group where we did some quick introductions and then got to planting!
While we planted, Lesley Starke, the NC Plant Conservation Program Director, chatted about the work that they have done over the prior 10 years of this very piece of land to remove invasive plants and to restore the land to it’s prairie days. Today was perhaps just another drop-in-the-bucket workday toward the ultimate goal of restoration, but not one taken casually or with any sense of frustration in the amount of work it can take to reach a project’s full potential. Their cheerful wit and enthusiasm for a day spent doing this kind of work was truly contagious. (Even if you did not originally want to be there, by the time you left, you would have changed your tune!)
As part of the founding board of Triad Wild! I really was curious to see how this planting would be executed. Our mission today was to plant 500 little native plants in the woodland preserve in only 2 hours! I wondered if this could truly be done?!
Well, we did it! And it was actually quite easy. The magical puzzle piece was that the Bot Garden had loaned the dedicated staff of the North Carolina Plant Conservation Program two of their drill-powered augers! The site had been scouted ahead of planting day to decide which species of plant would go where and then we simply carried the flats of small plants to their new homes, dropped them in the holes that had just been dug before our very eyes, and tucked them in nice and tight with the rich, dark soil of the forest. After planting, the staff of the NCPCP used their backpack water packs to give them a drink and we lightly covered them back with the leaf litter we had gently moved before planting them.
As I headed back to Greensboro that afternoon I could not help be thankful that I had read that email in the nick of time to lend my help. I met a lot of wonderful folks who just enjoy doing good deeds for our planet. And I look forward to seeing pictures of this planting down the road and knowing that our efforts helped create more pollinator habitat along a corridor in Durham.
Next up….similar volunteer-based plantings in the Piedmont Triad as we get this fledgling community chapter of the NCWF up and running. I hope an email soon finds its way to you in a timely manner! You’ll be glad you joined in, I promise.
Robin Davis
President, Triad Wild!
December 2021
