Our service outing at Woodstock Park had three Explorers Groups onsite, which started with a bit of the expected social awkwardness given their age span (2nd grade - 7th grade), which we quickly transformed into fun energy by playing a rousing game of Everybody's It. Called into a circle, the elder Explorers were tasked with presenting safe and appropriate tool use, which they demonstrated effectively and efficiently. Well done, crew! Speaking in front of a large group is a life skill and you nailed it.
The question "Why are we doing this?" came up in our circle and a young Explorer asked, "Do we have to?". This isn't an unusual sentiment given that service outings can be hard work, and a child may be more inclined to play. We often demonstrate why we Explorers do service with a "fill your cup" activity, but this time we asked a simple, "Who likes wild animals"? Of course, everyone raised their hands. And so we launched into our projects knowing that we were helping the wild animals who live in this park.
With this relevant and heartfelt inspiration, we tackled our projects and removed invasive plants like nobody's business. It was a huge We Not Me situation, and together we inspired each other with our work ethic. These Explorers have discovered how satisfying it is to physically work hard towards a goal, and complete their mission. The Blackberry Barbarians (their name) ruthlessly attacked, raked, and pulled out huge 1 1/2" thick blackberry canes, and digging up the biggest-ugliest-gnarliest root balls. We put them on display in our root ball museum, which was a mossy horizontal branch in a nearby tree. :) We mentors forgot to take a photo of the whole gallery, but ask your kiddo about their personal conquest. We endured many scratches and pokes from those sharp thorns, and gained resiliency by working through those challenges to our physical bodies.
The other teams focused on invasive plants that were crowding and hogging nutrients from native plants, trimming lots of holly and pulling out bags and bags of Stinky Bob (Herb Robert). All teams stayed on task, enjoyed their work and put in a solid three hours. Was your Explorer tired that evening? They certainly earned some sore muscles!
A few determined Explorers went back to their project even after our outing wrapped, just to see if they could get out a massive root ball of a holly tree. They gave it a real go, but it became clear that different tools were needed -like a saw or maybe a jackhammer. It's a BIG root ball. We'll be back...
It was a sincere pleasure to watch these elder Explorers mentoring a younger group. They Widened Their Circles socially and worked hard, providing guidance and support when and where they saw a need. Thank you, Swallowtails and Silver Salmon/Spotted Owls. Proud of you! Alligator Lizards, way to bring your "A" game! You've made a great start in helping wild animals in this park.
Here's the online photo album of our day. Sorry, there's not so many photos, we were busy working and the time flew by!
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