Now that the sun is steadily holding sway (if not necessarily steadying the temperature), NeighborSpace staff and volunteers have been out in our parks cleaning, weeding, planting, and enjoying. On April 17th, a class from Meadowood Education Center in Woodlawn joined us at Powhatan Park. NeighborSpace shared information about the importance of trees in the (urban) landscape and demonstrated proper tree planting technique, then the Meadowood students and staff got to work. In the span of a morning, they weeded one bioretention pond, pulled invasives from the wildflower meadow, and planted four new native trees: 1 Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis), 1 Fringe Tree (Chionanthus virginicus), 1 Red Maple (Acer rubrum), and 1 White Oak (Quercus alba)!
Later in the month, NeighborSpace staff and board members spent Earth Day morning working with neighbors and friends to clean up litter in Tollgate-Wyndham Preserve in Owings Mills. Managing to narrowly dodge some heavy April showers, over 15 volunteers spread throughout the preserve, removing trash and debris. Among the garbage removed were tires, springs from a mattress, two bikes, a pillow, two different types of folding chair, a rubber baseball base, dozens of plastic bottles, and hundreds of shards from broken glass bottles.
However, even among all of the trash, treasures could still be found. NeighborSpace Board member Marsha McLaughlin found a dollar, “missing a corner,” she said, “but still good!” On one of the trees near the stream, volunteers found a spectacular collection of fungus (any mycologists want to weigh in on the species?). And throughout the morning, children could be heard exclaiming about finding animal bones. They are not pictured because we are fairly certain said children took the bones home. Souvenirs!
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