While Mollie studies about trees in Virginia, I decided I should plant them in New Hampshire! Today, I had an opportunity to join a work crew affiliated with the Connecticut River Conservancy and plant red maple and silver maple seedlings. I left my house at 1115 - it was pouring rain and I saw lots of accidents during my drive to Piermont (via I-91, US-5, VT/NH-25, River Road and NH-10). It took me a little bit of time to locate the site for the tree planting (Winsome Farm) but I managed (after driving through a lot of mud) to park at the top of the hill where the coordinators had told me to meet them (1145). I then tentatively walked down to a big field near the Connecticut River, where I encountered a group of people who were busy planting the trees. About a month ago, I’d paddled by the same spot as I explored downriver from Bedell Bridge State Park. I'd arrived later than I’d planned but, luckily, got to meet the CRC lead just as he was leaving for the day. I was the only volunteer who actually showed up - it had been pouring most of the day, so I don’t blame anyone for passing on this gig. Most of my other colleagues were from the NorthWoods Stewardship Center, located in the Northeast Kingdom (VT), and were being paid. Of course, they were very glad to have extra help and quickly took me under their wings. Several members of the hardy group showed me the best way to plant the little maples so they had a chance to survive & thrive. This meant getting muddy! The soil, which was probably farmed for around 250 years in the alluvial plain, was dark and rich (lots of earthworms) and got on everything - the rain didn’t help. There was digging, breaking up the soil, positioning and filling in dirt around the tender roots, crawling, tamping and testing for stability - whew! We took a few “breaks” to unload several hundred small evergreen seedlings in small plastic planters. Everyone formed a fire-line and got an amazing workout as we moved the pots. Then it was back to planting the hardwoods - all told, I probably put about 30 trees in the soil during the 4.5 hours I was in the field. The rain stopped right about the time we finished working (1615) and I’ll admit that I would have kept going if they’d let me. Everyone told me they wished I was coming back again during the next four days of their visit but, sadly, I was supposed to be working the rest of the week. I drove home (using the same route, sans rain) and arrived at my condo by 1700. Even though I only got one day planting trees, it was great to be part of this project!
