In
the muck at Kopachuck
It was too cold
outside, too rainy and gray.
Did we really have to
go out there today?
It's cozy in here,
nice and warm in my room.
Is the plan to go out
into that stormy gloom?
"Yes of course -there's
a place, come with me and you'll see
today they are going
to plant new baby trees."
Plant trees, you say?
On this cold rainy day?
Outside in the park? Brrrrrrrr - no way, go away!
Just
believe me, you'll see all the fun there will be
getting muddy and
dirty planting shrubs and new trees.
Now finish your
pancakes, we can all walk together.
We are not afraid of a little wet weather!
So
out we went into the dirt and the muck
over the hill to the
park we call Kopachuck.
And
when we arrived we were amazed to find
a whole bunch of
people planting plants of all kinds.
There were cedars and
hemlocks, vine maple, snowberry;
some indian plum - over 300 to carry!
Then
more people came - scouts, kids and families
wearing hats and
gloves, dressed in old dungarees.
What
a sight to behold in the rain and the cold
from the very young
to the almost too old.
They
chose their plant and looked all around
for the perfect spot
to dig in the ground.
The Ranger had shown us
just what to do.
"Dig the hole
deep enough and plenty wide too.
Then
loosen the roots and fill in with loam
so your tree will
grow tall in its new forest home".
I
began to imagine how my tree would grow
How tall would it
get, how high would it go?
A
feeling of warmth then came over me
as gazed at the
ground at my wonderful tree.
Then
I looked around to see such happy faces
working in nature at
one of their favorite places.
And
somehow I knew that many years from today
I would be ever
thankful I was part of this day.
Linda Gough, March 31, 2012
Replanting
day at Kopachuck