Seeds, Seeds, Seeds

I went to the library--as is my habit--back on Saturday, November 16, and read the Chicago Tribune.  There was an article on the front page about a project in Riverside sponsoring an annual event, the 1000 Tree Seed Planting project.  It all started with one man, Tom Sisulak, who spends a lot of time collecting seeds for trees.  He then organizes volunteers to plant them, to help populate the area with native tree species.  His goal is to plant 1000 seeds every year.  I was intrigued by this project, and took note of the information at the article's end about participating.

So this morning, I went to the Riverside United Methodist Church to join the effort--which was another opportunity to be in the absolutely lovely village of Riverside, just saying.  This church has sponsored this project since 2007 as a way to care for the environment.  They expected about 60 volunteers, up from about 15-20 last year.  120 people showed up, many because of the Chicago Tribune article.

The event began with a few remarks on trees and their environment from Tom and Riverside's Forester, Mike Collins.  I certainly learned a lot about different types of trees from Tom and Mike.  The church's pastor also made some remarks and offered a prayer.  A couple of representatives from the Westchester-based Native American organization Midwest Soaring made some remarks about doing good for the environment, and played a flute song for us.

After getting information on the logistics of planting, we organized into groups and scattered to various sections of the wooded areas along the sharp bend in the Des Plaines River in the southwestern part of Riverside.  It was a cold day, but I felt my hands warming up once I got working, clearing ground, digging holes, putting the seeds in, and covering them up.  I was out there for about a couple of hours.  After I finished with another couple, it was back to the church for chili, hot chocolate, and cookies.  And before leaving, we all got a certificate for participating.  In the end, all of us volunteers may have well planted 2000 seeds.  And Tom has a collection of about 5000 more in storage at the church.

It was great to participate in this effort.  While I am skeptical about alarmism surrounding global climate change, I am definitely eager to pitch in and help do something good for the environment.  The seeds we planted today will get readied by the environment over the winter for sprouting in the spring.  They'll grow up into large trees along the Des Plaines River's banks for the next 100, 200, even 300 years.  These trees will benefit the environment in many ways.  And we were there to help nature along, just like many critters do, such as squirrels.

To read the Chicago Tribune article about the project, see this link: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-tree-planter-20131115,0,2204113.story

And here are some pictures: http://galleries.apps.chicagotribune.com/chi-photos-planting-1000-tree-seeds-20131116/