Gone Fishin'
Brookhaven State Park, Ridge, NY
Sunday, November 20th

This was quite a mysterious Sunday! Our large crew of volunteers gathered at the entrance to Brookhaven State Park and began a lovely hike down to the ponds in question. Once we arrived, we gathered equipment from the truck, suited up in waders, and began to practice our seining. The funny part was: we weren't catching any fish. During our efforts, an elderly gentleman approached us and said that he's been watching the pond for years, and it had been teeming with frogs, turtles, and fish up until the last storm. Now there was little to nothing to speak of, aside from larvae of sorts, and a strange jelly substance. While the volunteers became disheartened about the lack of fish in our nets, state park representatives assured us that this discovery itself was very important to have made; they planned to begin an investigation on what had happened at the pond. The second part of our afternoon found us in the adjacent pond, snipping off Phragmites seed pods and scooping up invasive snails. We gathered a great deal of data that day, and the park couldn't have been more grateful!

Romping Around the L.I. Wilderness
Quogue Wildlife Refuge, Quogue, NY
Saturday, November 19th

We LOVE new volunteer locations, and Quogue Wildlife Refuge did not fail to capture our eyes, hearts, and enthusiasm right away! The wonderful Marisa took us on a tour of the outdoor facilities, introduced us to Quogue's eagle, falcon, owl, bobcat, and— er— dragon friends. Once we were oriented and excited, we took to the trails, clearing out large pieces of debris that had fallen to the forest floor. At first it seemed silly to be 'cleaning up' a forest floor, but Marisa explained to us that, in the sandy pine barren habitat, material breakdown is slow and, in an area that doesn't allow fires to burn through and clean off the forest floor, debris would gather and choke out shrubs. So, armed with that knowledge, we began hauling sticks, branches, and dead bushes out of the brush so that the low-growing plants could thrive and feed the local critters. How lucky we were, too, to be roaming around such gorgeous trails! We are all already looking forward to our next day at Quogue.

Arcadia: Closed for the Season
Avalon Park and Preserve, Stony Brook, NY
Sunday, November 13th

As one of our volunteers said, "This was a great day to come to Arcadia!" With an afternoon full of digging, clipping, and pulling, everyone went home with bags full of herbs, greens, and potatoes. While we're glad that we weren't relying on the potato crop to keep us from starvation all winter, we are proud of what our plants produced, and excited about trying new methods of growing next year. We harvested the last of the herbs and leeks, too, sending everyone home with plenty to dry and keep throughout the cold season. After planting our fall garlic along with more covercrop, we said goodbye to Arcadia, knowing very well that the next few months would fly by, and our discussions of spring planning would start up before we noticed any passage of time.

Extreme Makeover: Pond Edition- Phase I
Three Village Garden Club Arboretum, Setauket, NY
Saturday, November 12th

We knew this was going to be a long afternoon of work, but our volunteers didn't show a moment of fatigue until they took off their gloves for the day. Coached by landscape architect and TVGC member Sue Avery, we surveyed the pond and the area around it, identifying species and taking measurements for our future planning tasks. Next, we noted the location of all the invasive species surrounding the pond and got to work removing them. Figuring that the English Ivy would be easy enough to remove in the spring, we attacked the multi-flora rose towers, ending up with a gargantuan pile of thorny vines. At the end of the day, we loaded up the truck with the very obstinate rose plants and a great deal of bamboo and wood pulled from the pond itself, leaving us a beautiful, clear, clean pallet to plan for and plant natives in come springtime.

Refreshing the Pine Barrens
Pine Barrens Preserve, Rocky Point, NY
Friday, November 11th

On this blustery Veteran's Day, the volunteers joined together to march out into our local woodlands to clear up a series of trails. By 'clear up,' we mean two things: some of us concentrated on debris and growth that was or would soon be obstructing the foot path; and simultaneously, a small group kept an eye on trail markers (or the lack there of) and hammered in new blazes where ever they thought the trail could use them for easier navigation. After 3 miles and 4 hours of work, we emerged from the woods feeling fantastic about all of the clipping, moving, and marking we'd done, because even as we worked, hikers stopped to thank us for helping to make their experience in the forest more enjoyable.

Winterberry Wonderland
Three Village Garden Club, Setauket, NY
Wednesday, November 2nd

We're getting ready for winter, and what better way than to plant some winterberry? Okay, there are much more important winter-prep procedures, but this helped lift our cold-season spirits! After planting a bit of Echinacea, we swiftly dug holes, planted circles of winterberry suckers, making sure to have one male for every grouping of females, and tucked their roots into their new homes. Following up with a drink of pond water— for the plants, of course-- we excited ourselves with thoughts of large, beautiful, berry-filled bushes in just a few years.

Arcadia: This, That, and the Other Thing
Avalon Barn, Stony Brook, NY
Tuesday, November 1st

While the temperatures have been flirting with freezing point, no November chill can keep our volunteers out of their garden. We had a lovely two hours pulling up tired plants and depositing them in the compost to become next year's soil, or, in the case of our radishes, carrots, onions, leeks, and peanuts— Yes!, peanuts!-- we piled up the loot and split it fair and square before heading home. Our afternoon also had us covering the strawberry bed with straw to keep the plants warm and cozy all winter long. To tuck the empty beds in for the season, we tilled up the soil and planted Winter Rye and Hairy Vetch as cover crops so that our soil enjoyed a season of pampering after it did such a fantastic job producing our goodies all spring, summer, and autumn long. We're already excited to get next year's crops going! Only a few months...