The day is barely half over and already our group has planted around 450 trees, seen more than 20 gators, been on two air boat rides, and gotten some good old farmers tans. We fought through thick trees, mosquitoes, and even a snake or two. Today we worked at the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge near Lake Pontchartrain planting trees. After riding the air boats out to a marshy area, we all unloaded and split up into pairs. One person was in charge of digging a hole and the other was carrying the trees and in charge of getting the tree into the ground. In order to spread out and plant all the trees we had to make our way through thick areas of trees and brush. We all came out with scratches, cuts, and a lot of mosquito bites, but for the most part had a great time.
We have all had a great time so far working together and getting to know each other. Yesterday's work day was exhausting but so much fun. My highlight was watching my classmates single-highhandedly pull trees out of the ground with their bare hands and no shovels. How empowering to be able to grab onto a tree trunk, push it back and forth, and just pull it right out of the ground. Watching Bri take control of a 30ft tree all on her own was by far the best part of the day for me. The boys dominated probably 10-15 massive trees as well. It got difficult sometimes to even feel like we were making a difference because there were so many invasive trees to get rid of, but after stepping back and looking at what we had accomplished, I was pretty darn proud of our group.
Our evenings are mostly just spent laughing. Laughing and eating junk food. With this weather, accomplishing what we have, and getting to do that each evening, I couldn't even dream of asking for a better trip. I feel so spoiled. But so blessed.
No comments:
Post a Comment