We had a good group and a morning that started cool and quickly warmed up. Our work site was Joe's wall of brush where we've been recently and we made another big dent by the end of the day.
We burned just one brushpile, slow to start but eventually a big blaze as we loaded heaps of honeysuckle, bittersweet, and assorted fuels on. This is truly a gnarled, weedy place and I must tip the cap to chainsawyers, brush-cutter, and the rest of the volunteer gang for their unrelenting effort.
Hidden Pond Woods West Sunday April 14
Faced with brisk winds, rising temps (to 80 F. by afternoon) and dropping humidity, Kris chose to forego brush-cutting and burning. Instead, we did a combination garlic mustard pull, trash pickup, and wildflower scouting walk, which turned out quite well.
We found a couple callery pears and a patch of lesser celandine that needed attention, and got a good sense where to go next month when our focus will be on garlic mustard again. Thanks to first-time Palos volunteers Brea and Grant, who showed a great eye for garlic mustard and collected bunches!