Gardening for Pollinators, Forest Heights Pollinator Patch
On Sat Oct 2 2021, WRN Teens had an afternoon work project that took us away from our usual SpruceHaven territory for the first time in a year and a half! We were invited to do some weeding (can you tell we love all kinds of outside work?) in the Forest Heights Pollinator Patch in Meadowlane Park behind Meadowlane Public School in Kitchener. It was a busy day as we were covering morning salamander monitoring as well, so we called in some help from Teens parents. Several kindly joined us and it was fun to have a family event and do our distancing in family groups.
Forest Heights Pollinator Patch is the creation of Giselle Carter whom some of our Teens know as the coordinator of WRN Kids, and Amanda Farquhar. The garden is maintained by neighbours and the students at Meadowlane School. They are proud to be part of rare‘s “1000 Gardens Project.” Check them out on FaceBook!
Our job was to remove less desirable plant species to make space for a hundred or so new arrivals to be planted by classes the following week. There were lots of weeds to go around and as always, the Teens put their brains and muscles right to work. In two hours, we had filled several garden waste bags, freed up lots of space, and learned about what plants pollinators prefer and which tend to take over.
Thanks to Giselle and Amanda for the invitation and patient explanations and to the hard-working Teens, Teens parents and Teens adult volunteers. Special thanks to Teen Nicole who came out and worked hard both morning AND afternoon!
Marg Paré
WRN Teens coordinator