Fen Fun is in Full Fling!!!!

Hard to believe i could string all those F words together, and have it come out clean....
Oh Well!!!!!  Sorry for no post last night. By the time i got home my fingers were too tired to type. Here is part of our happy group Tuesday morning after unloading the tractor trailer.

I didn't have time to get a pic of the tractor-trailer that delivered 3550 Wax Myrtles and 90 Willow Oaks yesterday morning. We all were to busy trying to figure out how to efficiently unload them. Shrubs and trees were mixed into the load and required many hands to untangle them. Then the first shrubs were loaded directly onto the trailers that would be going to the field.

As far as we can tell each field trailer (there were two of them) held about 300 plants. After they were filled the rest of the shrubs went on the ground in a holding area. Well they went on the ground where ever we could find room. We formed rough conga lines and just kept passing them along till we ran out. The 90 Willow oaks were unloaded by tractor since they are about 7 ft tall and the ball and all weigh about 200 lb. each. You'll see them tomorrow (if i survive another day).

 It may not look like a lot of shrubs here but there are almost 3000 of them.

So after a lunch break we started the dropping/planting operation. This is where teams of 6 people (driver, crew chief and arranger, and 4 droppers) take a trailer load out to the field. The driver moves along at about 2 mph and the 4 droppers come up to the trailer and grab some shrubs. They walk along the rows and drop them (pot and all) into the pre-drilled holes. You remember all those holes Michael drilled last week. As the shrubs get depleted from the edge of the trailer the crew chief/arranger pushes more from the center to the edge. All this time the tractor is inching along, unless someone yells to stop. Yesterday afternoon my crew dropped 3 trailer loads, or about 900 shrubs.

Here we are heading out with our second load of the afternoon. So what happens to those potted plants that are in the holes?????? Well another crew comes along and takes them out of the pots and plants the shrub. That is probably the most intensive part of the operation. Finally a Q/A person walks each row and checks for missed holes, improperly planted shrubs (green side down , brown side up), and lastly removes the yellow flags at the end of the rows to say they are done.

This morning my crew dropped 3 more trailer loads. We do have about 200 shrubs left over but they will be used for fill ins and replacements for shrubs that don't make it.

The rest of our day was spent helping the planting crews. As of this afternoon the entire 110 acres had been planted with shrubs.

So who made up this band of intrepid planters????? Many are members of the Eastern Shore Chapter of Master Naturalists www.masternaturalistesva.com.  Others were from The Nature Conservancy, Va Dept. of Inland Fish and Game, Va. Dept. of Conservation and Recreation main office in Richmond,  Va. Dept. of Forestry, Va Dept. of Environmental Quality. Now if you are reading this and were there and i have forgotten to mention you, I apologize. Just think of how tired you are right now!!!!! And remember i'm just as tired.

Tomorrow we will start the second part of our operation which will be planting trees. So stay tuned for more Frolicking Fen Follies!!!!!!!

Grenville