Day 1: clearing out

The Shawsheen River runs through Balmoral Park.  Towards the back there is a pond (well sometimes, right now it's pretty dried out and has a lot of growth and mud!).  A few years ago we used to be able to walk around the pond on a short trail. 

Yesterday, Zack and a friend tried walking the trail and it was all overgrown, they could only get about halfway through.  And that's how this latest project was born - Zack said "let's clear it out"! 

So today was Day 1.  Zack made up a kit consisting of gloves, rakes, clippers and loaded up the wagon.  He recruited some help of mom & dad, sister Abby and friend Leo from across the street.  Then was onto dressing for the occasion - long pants & soccer socks to prevent bug bites and poison. 

We travelled with our kit over to the trail and got to work!  The tools of choice:

• Dad made a machete like tool from a branch and hacked his way through.
• Zack and Leo traded on and off with small hand clippers and a rake.  Rake was great for hacking as well!
• Abby had a broom and swepted up behind the boys.
• Mom was in the rear with long handled branch clippers cleaning up anything remaining.

The kids made a few discoveries today...

1. the path seemed very overgrown, but the dirt path was still there, we just needed to cut through a LOT of branches/bushes/etc. 
2. also, there is a lot of poison ivy (Mom made a mental note to pick up some weed/ivy killer).  
3. they found deer tracks in the mud where the pond normally would be.
4. a hockey puck most likely lost during the winter when the pond is transformed into a hockey/ice skating rink.
5. they found the end of the trail and decided it would be fun to start at the end next time and try to meet up.

The kids decided the next step would be for Mom to do some spraying for ivy on the portion of the path we already worked on and they would start clearing from the other end so they could work while she was spraying - must be efficient!  Also, lots of ideas for marking the path, decorating the path, making it fun to walk through will be thought out.

Zack liked this website that helps describe how to make a path.