This afternoon I had to venture into the forest of Pacific Spirit Park for a Biology 121 field trip. Honestly I didn’t expect there to be field trips involved in my first year of uni, but it happened anyways~
Our job was to help plant local plant species into an area that was cleared of invasive plants. We were put into pairs, handed fluorescent yellow gloves and a shovel, and off we went.
I learned today that I don’t function well in intense rain. I also don’t really know how to operate a shovel effectively. I would make a wonderful botanist.
(this looks hella blurry I now realise, woops)
We planted baby Douglas Firs, Bitter Cherry trees, and nearly got to plant a Hawthorne, which looked very threatening with all its borderline dark red thorns.
After much struggle, my friend and I managed to plant 8 trees over the span of 2.5 hours, which was pretty impressive in my book. There were rocks and plant roots EVERYWHERE, and that made our lives so much harder. Being in the rain and being surrounded by dirt, I quickly gave up trying to keep my new raincoat clean (much to my mother’s dismay) and just watched as my black coat/leggings and rain boots got attacked by mud. Somehow I even got dirt on my shoulders, I have no idea how that happened.
Despite the gross weather, I quite enjoyed this field trip. It took 3 hours out of my Saturday, when I really should be studying for my 4 upcoming midterms (HA RIP ME), but it was a new, fun experience. There was a satisfaction I got after my friend and I finished planting a tree (honestly I think she did more work than me, you da best), and it was also kind of fun to have an excuse to play around with dirt and use a pickaxe (rocks and tree roots are annoooyyyiinngggg). We even got brownies and chocolate for a snack. That is always welcome.
After I finish washing myself in a washing machine, I better go back to prepping for midterms.
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