Sunday sprang bright and cool with light breezes chasing one another across Sandra Estey’s back yard, which is a bit more than twenty acres of recently soil mined silt and gravel. Her house has stood on the flat for decades and no doubt witnessed flood and famine aplenty. Sunday though was about regeneration, and an enthusiastic crowd of people and dogs (of course) gathered for food and work in a fashion that would be familiar to the old house from pioneer days.
This was the second year we have been working on a native stock tree nursery there and the first year for outplanting of the rescued stock we began with last year.
The turnout was great with new people we haven’t seen before and some regulars we seem always to rely on. The Fredericton High School Environment Club arrived thanks to efforts by Elizabeth Sheppard and Shawn Dalton. Our interns, Suzanne MacKinnon and Abbey Bartlett returned, as well as nursery director, David McLaughlin, who’s preparatory work and supervision added a greatdeal to the success of the day.
A surprise delivery of still warm (and lighter than air) biscuits from Sandra‘s Mum, as well as Diane Fraser’s killer mini muffins added a bit of epicurean bling to the ploughmans’ fare of burgers, corn on the cob and delicious chilli.
Many hands do indeed make light work and so by days close at about four o’clock, well over three hundred two to four foot trees were in new homes , with compost and water enough for a good start on what we hope will be a long life as members of the McLean Flat natural forest.
To all those who came and helped, I extend my personal thanks, and an open invitation to come again, to visit, and if the need arises, to call on us to plant trees on your property anywhere along the river.
Please browse the full gallery of photos and as always, we invite comment.
– Paul McLaughlin, President
To view/download a prepared PDF of this text, along with photos, click here.