Spiky Bushes of Death (Or Not)

Zoë and me pretending to be cool

Part one of our volunteer work resulted in Auriana, Zoë, and I working at the Tule Ponds. I recommended the place because the work focuses on nature and keeping the environment clean, which are both high on my list of priorities. When we arrived, we and a larger group of college kids were lead by the supervisor to an area covered by blackberry bushes. We were told to dig out as much as we could in the two and a half hours we had to clear space for a new path. The supervisor explained to us how to go about pulling the roots out, and then left us to work with only gloves, shovels, rakes, and hedge clippers to help.

Zoë, Auriana, and me standing in front of the bushes

From the start, it looked like a daunting (and painfully thorny) task that would never get done, but once we got to work, we started making some progress quicker than we had expected. While the other group of people worked on the right side, Auriana, Zoë, and I started on the left. The branches had sharp thorns on them and it was hard to find roots to dig around at first, but later we got the hang of it and it turned out to be kind of fun (though I feel bad for the girl with short shorts that had to walk into the middle of the bush.). By the time we were done, we had cleared out more than half of the area. We walked off the site feeling pretty accomplished.

I actually thought the whole thing was really fun. It wasn't too hot, we had lots of shade, the ground wasn't ridiculously hard to dig into, and it felt good to pull out giant roots from the ground. It was extra satisfying to see the end of all of the thorns that seemed to love attacking my legs. I enjoyed the work for the improvement of the environment. Zoë might have had a little too much fun with the rake (and I definitely had too much fun with the hedge clippers), but in the end it was a satisfying experience that left me feeling proud of our work.