Seed cleaning volunteers needed –
Hi Folks,
Join us for our annual native seed cleaning workdays next Thursday (Nov 20) and Friday (Nov 21) from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm at Watershed Ridge Park! Note that this year we have two workdays, and they are in the morning instead of the afternoon. We collected lots of seed this year, and so we will be finishing seed cleaning, making seed mixes, and getting things ready to spread in our parks this winter! Our big project this year is creating prairie mixes for 20 acres of prairie plantings at Watershed Ridge Park and Blue Heron Environmental Area. If you’re planning to be there, please let us know by responding to this message.
We will be at our maintenance facilities at Watershed Ridge Park, 1720 W. Buell Road, Oakland, MI 48363, about 1.75 miles west of Rochester Rd and 0.25 miles east of Lake George Rd, on the north side of Buell Rd. You’ll see the yellow and tan pole barns set back from the road. Please park on the lawn near the road. On Thursday we hope to complete most of the cleaning and start data entry. On Friday we will be wrapping up any last cleaning and data entry, then making seed mixes. We’re excited to be rolling out some new seed processing methods this year that will hopefully speed up the process, especially for “difficult” species.
If you haven’t helped with seed cleaning before, you’re in for a treat. You get to know our native plants in a new way. I’m excited to smell the spicy aroma of Mountain Mint and Gray-headed Coneflower wafting through the air, and marvel at the different sizes, shapes, and colors of the seed! The building will be cool (about 50 F in the heated barn), so you’ll want to dress in layers. Seed cleaning is dusty and dirty. We’ll have dust masks and gloves available, but you can bring your own if you have a favorite.
You’ll have a few different tasks to choose from, depending on your interests. We’ll be cleaning seeds with various methods, of course, but also organizing cleaned seed, weighing cleaned seed, and data entry.
If you’re planning to be there, please let us know by responding to this message. That will help us make sure we have enough supplies ready. But if you want to drop in that’s fine too. Hope to see you there!
Ben, Grant, George, and Lisa
Benjamin VanderWeide
Natural Areas Stewardship Manager
Oakland Township Parks and Recreation
4393 Collins Rd, Rochester, MI 48306
P: 248-651-7810 Fax: 248-601-0106
Visit their blog!
www.oaklandnaturalareas.com BEWARE! It’s Halloween and We’re Talkin’ SPIDERS!!!
Read Ingrid Kliffel’s excellent minutes from October Parks and Recreation Commissin Meeting
Oakland Township Sentinel 