21 August 2015

Dear Friends of Spring Hill Cemetery,

Yesterday Spring Hill welcomed us with fog and lovely cool conditions. Last week had been very hot in Sebastopol, so it was a relief to find it so pleasant. Four of us arrived 8:30 for a weed whacker safety lesson given to us by Regional Parks (first two attachments). We were joined at 9 by the rest of our group. Seven of us gathered in total for our tasks of raking, whacking, and hauling off debris (last picture).

In an effort to control the invasive ivy, poison oak, and berry canes, we are conducting a trial to see if a weed whacker could help. After the training, Jim worked on a test section (see third image). This was an area rife with ivy, berry canes, and vinca. We will be monitoring the patch to see just what whacking does, longer term. It might be a technique we apply next year to other problem areas of the cemetery.

On arrival we found our paths covered in dry leaves and strips of bark. The current drought conditions seem to have caused more and earlier leaf drop. As seen in the fourth picture, much of our time was spent in taming the paths and returning them to their usual, tended condition. We also tackled the decaying tree stump in the Zilhart enclosure (fifth picture). Although we weren't quite able to remove it this time, we will apply more elbow grease to it next time, and hope to have it out soon. Our plan is to replace it with another, small, decorative native tree - perhaps a California redbud.

Our next, and last 2015 workday, is scheduled for November 20th. Several of our "regulars" are unable to make that date. Let me know if you think you will be able to help on November 20th. If I am unable to come up with enough volunteers for that date, I may try to shift it, so please let me know as soon as you can.

We will be requesting 2016 work dates from Regional Parks soon. As usually, we will plan to start back up with work days in February 2016. The experts are predicting el nino influences on our weather next year, which might lead to much more rain. With this in mind, I plan on requesting an extra workday in the spring as well as an extra one in fall, as I am hoping I will need to cancel one or two due to rain (the cemetery and all of the area desperately need the precipitation, so fingers are crossed....).

Hope you all are thoroughly enjoying the summer.

Best Regards,

Sue

Attachment #1
Training

Attachment #2
Jim with practice whack

Attachment #3
Whacked Test Area

Attachment #4
Patsy and Sally Raking

Attachment #5
Stump

Attachment #6
Group