What started off as a barren, straw grass area, is now planted with baby tree plugs of pine and spruce. As we drove away from our block for the last time, it was so cool to look into the land, and see all these little green trees, reaching up out of the ground, as if celebrating their new home, ready to start growing.
Treeplanting is such a strange life. While riding in the van back into town the other day, I was asked: "what gets you through the day?" This is quite the question, as planting is not easy. In fact, it is most challenging on the mind. Physically, your body will adjust, but it is all about your mental status and not getting stuck inside your mind. So, what gets me through the day? A few things.
~Music is for starters. (Don't you worry, I keep the volume turned low, just in case I happen upon a bear...neither of us (bear and self) need a surprise). What's been on my playlist? A smorgasbord of mixed compilations made by friends, albums that have been highly recommended by others, a few random selections that have been hit or miss, and some old favourites that you can never go wrong. What I have discovered? Songs that I know and love to sing along to, are not the best songs to plant to. Why? Well, honestly, I can't help but want to stop planting, take a tree out of my bag, and treat it like a microphone, and serenade the wilderness with my off pitch notes! Though I love a good song to sing, it does not help get trees in the ground.
~Second, the challenge: plant more trees than the day before. Yes, this sounds like a really lame game to play, but it is amazing the motivation and challenge that this entails. Think about it. Each day is 8 hours, the challenge, up the ante every day. This could entail one extra bundle of trees, half a box, or even a full box! This is tricky, but what I find, is it is a goal to reach out for. It changes my mentality of "what am I doing?" to "what can I do today?".
~Drink lots of water. This is also a great challenge. Each day I bring with me 5L of water. On a good day, I drink 4. It is my endless hope, to finish all my water by the end of the day and not have to request the van to stop on the way home for a pee break/ wet my pants.
~Not worry about my speed. This sounds a little weird, coming from my first reason, and may be hard to explain...but I'll try. Let's see. Speed is an interesting concept. There is a lot of comparison between planters. Sometimes it's inspiration, other times (probably most times), it just becomes a pissing contest. It's easy to get cause up in this. The moment you begin to think about needing to speed up and put in more trees, inevitably, the opposite happens. Fumbling begins, trees start flying, the ground seems to become one giant soil-covered rock, morale drops and on the rare occasion a shovel goes flying, (typically not on accident). So what I have learned? Let it go. Don't fight with the land, don't grovel over things you cannot control, don't worry about what others are planting. Rather embrace the task at hand with patience and a good heart. With that being said, it is still important to push and challenge oneself...hence my personal challenge.
~Lastly, have something to look forward to. Out here, a hot meal is a dream. Fleece pants to put on, feet out of boots, toes wiggling in the evening air: the greatest feeling under the sun. A bed to lie down in: AMAZING!
So here we go. The town of Hinton, now a lingering memory. We're now further north, in the bustling town of Grand Prairie. Tuesday, contract number two begins. Ten days of work remain for me this summer, then onto changing gears once again. But that's another story. Stay tuned!
No comments:
Post a Comment