Well today felt strange…after several years of not seeing the ponds full of water, the planting crew (John H, Chatt, Lisa, Glenn and John E.) planted deep water species in the deepest part of pond 8–first pulling 130 pots and sprig material from the above-ground ponds.  Meanwhile the seedy crew (Marilyn, Gail, Dick, Diane and Sherian) worked over more seed.  Thank you to Cullen for collecting all that seed!!

Wow…today was a wash-out!  But NOBODY is complaining about rain.  🙂  This meant we (Gail, Dick, Lisa, Diane, Ray, Glenn and John E.) were relegated to seed duty.  Good work for rainy days.  Cullen and Chatt braved the rain (with Lisa part-time) and sprigged material in the potting shed.  Thanks to the crew for being a weather-tolerant bunch.

Today was a lovely brisk day to host our volunteers from NRG Energy.  Sixteen employees came out to plant wet prairie grasses and forbs in the Vasey Treatment areas (deemed safe by our Natural Resource Ranger, Kelly Norrid) in Pond 17 (Phase 3).  The crew plowed through: (pots) 14 Guara lindheimerii, 11 Euthamia sp. ,  8 Solidago sp.,  40 Helianthus angustifolia, 18 Arnoglossum plantagineum, 6 Lobelia puberula, 3 Eupatorium spp., 31 Tridens stricta, 5 Aristida sp., 64 Juncus diffusisimmus, 60 Rhynchospora indianolensis, 31 Saccharum giganteum, and 30 Saururus… Read More →

  Today, we were lucky again! We (Dick, Marilyn, Ray, Gail, and Glenn) hosted YES Prep North Central students, as like our YES Prep Brays Oaks students, we used our first “workday” with the students to give them an introduction to Sheldon Lake State Park and the restoration work in which they will participate this semester.  The students had a chance to do a short work project: either making seedballs, or sprig grasses for future plantings.  Meanwhile, the Digging Crew (John E., Diane and Chatt) headed out to… Read More →

We were kinda mellow today for a workday….Seedy crew (Dick, Gail, Ray and Glenn) worked on the Hibiscus pods and finished cleaning that seed.  And that was after Ray, Gail and I sprigged the Gulf Muhly.  Meanwhile the Collection crew (Cullen, Chatt, LeAnn, Diane and John Egan) ventured out to gather new plant material for an upcoming workday with NRG Energy.  Thanks to all for your hard work (and tolerating allergies!)

Today, we hosted our first student workday at the park for the new school year….and YES Prep Brays Oaks was the lucky winner! AgriLife provided the introduction lecture to give a sense of place and purpose to the students.  Following our opening lecture, the Park Rangers (Tom and Laura) did a tour with smaller groups of students.  This introductions (we hope) gives all the students a perspective regarding the Park and the restoration work that the kids will be involved in for the remainder of the year.  Go… Read More →

Today, our illustrious seedy crew (Ray, Glenn, Gail and Dick) worked on cleaning the Hibiscus pods and in the end, we totaled about half a pound of pure seed in a bag.  That’s impressive if you know that the bag where the pods were original “hanging out” was a full size grocery paper bag.  Nice job, y’all! As for the planting crew…they did collection as well as planting for the day.  625 Spartina spartinae sprigs found a new home in Pond 10…and a bunch of Hydrolea ovata were… Read More →

The crew (Glenn, Bob, Lisa, Marilyn, John Egan, Chatt, LeAnn, Diane, Dick and Gail) had their day cut out for them!  Per our new directive…we are trying to provide two fronts of work:  sprigging/seeding and planting (or pausible facsimile).  This week the sprigging crew has bump-ups from Tom Solomon’s greenhouse (Thank you Tom!!) to prep and the planting crew travelled out to Pond 10 for some muddy pond therapy.  489 plants later and the day was complete (with pumpkin cupcakes!)

  Today, we invested our time at the potting shed and Pond Cormorant….Spriggers (Dick, Glenn, LeAnn, and Diane) worked on separating and couting Spartina spartinae collected by Cullen Ondracek earlier in the week.  Once counted and neatly repacked into buckets, the Planters (Lisa, Bob, John, Chatt) who were later joined by LeAnn and Diane. installed 630 native plants into Cormorant.  Fantastic job, y’all!

This week because of the rain, we were able to get some plants in the ground at Pond Cormorant.  John, Chatt, Cullen, Bob and Lisa ventured out to get some of the pulled pots from the above ground ponds planted.  This was AFTER they cleaned out the one above-ground pond that was desperately in need of getting “turned over”.  We are at our limit for space in the grow out ponds and we still have Lizard Tail at this point.  However with a clean pond, the spriggers (Maryilyn,… Read More →