The morning was cold and the dark clouds threatened rain, but the sun decided to show itself for the last half of this highly productive work party with alumni from Phillips Academy in Andover, MA. The event was set up as part of Andover’s Non Sibi Day, which according to their website “was established in 2007 to connect alumni, parents, students, faculty, and staff through local community service projects or events.” This year, Phillips Academy alumni now living in the greater Seattle area chose to work with Nature Consortium and help out in the greenbelt. During the first half of the day we removed Himalayan blackberry, thistle, andbindweed from an area that had been planted and mulched last year. We uncovered little Doug firs and saved a lot of salal from encroaching blackberry in a 4,600 sq.ft. area. At noon, Amy Denio came out to play the clarinet for us and we switched tasks to digging up root balls for the last two hours. This group was highly motivated and I was very impressed at the amount of work that got done at the end of the day. Check out the before and after!
