We met early on Saturday morning and started with an opening circle to review our plan for the day and our service ethic. The Sea Stars defined what "invasive species" are, and why we spend our precious sunsiney days removing them. Thankfully, the Sea Stars were full of their Attitude of Gratiude, and were ready to Walk Their Talk by working hard to help the Lake Padden ecosystem.
From there, we met with Rae from Greenways and learned more about our tasks for the day. We then split into two crews - the blackberry removers and the weed pullers. Our blackberry crew worked tirelessly to remove this invasive species from a small hill right near Lake Padden. This team was critical in preventing this hillside from being overwhelmed by blackberries. While the blackberry team worked, the weed pullers brought an overgrown zone back to life. They pulled cleaver, scotch broom, dandelions, grasses, and plantain to make room for red flowering currants and salal. Greenways is hoping to keep this space full of native plants to prevent people from walking off trail here and eroding this hillside. After this big effort, our group took a break in the shade, and returned for a final push to get this whole zone mulched and protected from future weeds!
We broke for lunch and giggled in the shade as we ate and relaxed for a few minutes. After our lunch break, it was swimming time! The girls changed and almost everyone took a dunk in chilly Lake Padden. During our swim, we explored the Lake's shoreline, and after our dip, as we lounged in the sun, Holly told our group a story about pollinators and flowers. We learned about the different parts of the flower and flowers' adaptions.
To bring our crew back to meet our parents we played Bear Chase-- A game where we all pretended to be salmon avoiding a hungry bear. We finished our day with a closing circle where we shared our attitudes of gratitude. Another special day for the Sea Stars!
To see a photo album of the day, click here!
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