All hands on deck! Come at 10, come at 1, or come anytime to pitch in whatever you can.

Join us for this spontaneous “pop up” volunteer workday on Hay Creek Hills Farm! We’ll haul buckthorn and brush into piles on the remnant prairie and oak savanna restoration EQIP site. You choose your spot: flat top or steeper, more challenging slopes.

Burnthorn has already been cut. It just needs to be pulled away into piles to give plants underneath more sunlight as soon as possible! SO MANY plants are popping up already in previously shaded areas–we’ve even spotted wild monarda (aka beebalm) in an area that was covered in aspen and buckthorn a year ago! Evidence of the once-open prairie we’re working to restore to its former glory!

WHAT TO BRING
Gloves, long pants and sleeves, tick spray, hand pruners if you’ve got them, and your preferred snacks/lunch. Beverages and snacks will be provided as well!

CONTACT:
RSVP to Wendy via EMAIL only if you can make it.

LOCATION:
Next to 30718 Hay Creek Hills Dr., Red Wing, MN. MAP HERE

Please text Wendy (612-930-9786) when you arrive if you need help finding the location on the farm (we’ll be out at the remnant goat prairie on the far SW corner).

On May 2 and May 3, Gita Ghei is looking for up to 10 people to help at Red Oak Woods, 45 minutes from the Twin Cities and on the western edge of Red Wing a minute off Highway 61. Gita will be making the first pass on 4 acres of the 4th year of her first EQIP grant to mechanically remove 3” and larger buckthorn trees. For these two sessions she will be asking people to stay as close on the deer paths as possible, and employing the critical cut method – topping / sawing off the trunks at eye level, stripping any open leaves below the cut, and covering them with supplied marked plastic so she can find them in the fall.

Full directions and a meet and greet will take place before starting, so you do not need to know anything about taking out buckthorn if you would like to try! Since we are working close to parking areas, you do not need to come for all of the hours, but will need to arrange with Gita for your arrival time. 

As a thank you, Gita will be giving info on where to look for morels after you have volunteered. If they are not plentiful yet, you will receive a rain check to come find morels and nettle tops further into May.

Please join in the fun and get to know the Red Oak Woods, the critters and plants will thank you for your efforts! 

On May 2 and May 3, Gita Ghei is looking for up to 10 people to help at Red Oak Woods, 45 minutes from the Twin Cities and on the western edge of Red Wing a minute off Highway 61. Gita will be making the first pass on 4 acres of the 4th year of her first EQIP grant to mechanically remove 3” and larger buckthorn trees. For these two sessions she will be asking people to stay as close on the deer paths as possible, and employing the critical cut method – topping / sawing off the trunks at eye level, stripping any open leaves below the cut, and covering them with supplied marked plastic so she can find them in the fall.

Full directions and a meet and greet will take place before starting, so you do not need to know anything about taking out buckthorn if you would like to try! Since we are working close to parking areas, you do not need to come for all of the hours, but will need to arrange with Gita for your arrival time. 

As a thank you, Gita will be giving info on where to look for morels after you have volunteered. If they are not plentiful yet, you will receive a rain check to come find morels and nettle tops further into May.

Please join in the fun and get to know the Red Oak Woods, the critters and plants will thank you for your efforts!