Last time I went on co-op, I travelled all the way out to Iowa and stayed there for nearly five months. It was lots of fun, but this time, I wanted to stay a little closer to home. I would spend my winter developing my existing skills rather than learning new ones.
From one of my first days on the job.
So working at Glen Helen Nature Preserve was just about the perfect fit. I get to stay on-campus, in a room that I’m not sharing with feline hellspawn (although I do miss the little guys), and I’m close enough to visit family every once in a while if I want. Plus, before this co-op, I’d had a tradition of taking a two-hour walk in the Glen every weekend, so I already knew the place pretty well.
I’m a temporary part of the land management crew, which means I’m doing more or less the same stuff I was doing at my last job: trail maintenance and invasives removal, as well as any other miscellaneous tasks that need done. For instance, a few weeks ago, we spent our (freezing-cold) Monday wrapping chicken-wire cages around some of the beautiful old oaks around the pond to keep the beavers out. And to anyone who might worry: the little rascals still have plenty to chew on. We just don’t want them tearing down every tree in the area.
We’ve got a good team, although most of us are pretty new. The Glen is bigger than I thought– over a thousand acres– and, considering how many folks, both within the Yellow Springs community and without, like to visit, we’ve got plenty of work to do.
Me with a deer foot that I found frozen on the ground. (I put it back.)
My first week was spent flagging native plants in Case Woods in snowy, sub-freezing weather. I bundled up: two socks per foot, two layers of shirts, and my vintage wolf pelt under the blocky black coat I found in my closet at home. All that and the hand warmers I shoved in my pockets weren’t enough to keep me totally warm, but I didn’t lose any fingers or toes, at least. Plus, it was gorgeous out there, what with the glittering blanket of snow over everything, and the air so cold I could see my breath. Birds were everywhere: lots of the seasonal juncos, as well as song sparrows, cardinals, hawks, and crows. I saw a couple deer, and a lot of deer poop, and only got lost enough to panic once.
As a kid, I attended enough nature programs to learn a little, but over the past few weeks, I’ve gotten much better at identifying invasive plants– honeysuckle is obvious, but I also know oriental bittersweet and privet now– and native plants and animals– some trees by the bark, a few new bird species, and I’m even working on the mushrooms now.
We’ve done a bit of sawing, too. They have a smaller electric chainsaw here, in addition to the larger gas ones, and to be honest it’s pretty nice. More maneuverable, and I don’t have to worry about spilling gas on myself. There’s a slope between Talus Trail and the road that is absolutely infested with invasives, so we spent some of the warmer days last week chopping, spraying, and trying not to slip on the melting snow and knock our heads into a chainsaw or a sharp honeysuckle branch.
Mystery eggs I found. (Pretty sure they’re from a stinkbug.)
Over the last six months or so, my little brother has been collecting all of the manga in the excellent series Chainsaw Man by Tatsuki Fujimoto, which I’ve read about half of. I’m struck with questions about the series protagonist. Does he ever have to sharpen his chains? Could he chop down a tree by hugging it? Has he considered wearing chaps to protect his legs from getting sawed? (Probably not.) Is there an alternate reality in which Fujimoto’s popular manga instead features a horrible long-limbed creature that never works correctly, called Pole Saw Man?
This week was the warmest it’s been since I started, which also means all the trails are muddy as hell. The spot across the Beaver Pond near the Stepping Stones was so swampy we ended up spending Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday putting in a whole new boardwalk.
Some very nice turkeytail fungus.
Or, well, my coworkers, who actually know how to build a boardwalk, did. I spent pretty much the whole time carrying planks and tools up and down the stairs. Anyone who has been to the Glen knows what stairs I’m talking about: those steep, uneven stone steps that lead all the way down into the valley from the Corry Street parking lot. I probably went up and down those things a hundred times, each time with a ten-foot wooden board or two four-foot planks or a pickaxe or shovel or crowbar braced against my hip. It’s been a long time since I’ve been that worn out. By the time I got back to my dorm on Tuesday, my back and shoulders sounded like Pop Rocks. My legs are gonna be made of steel come spring.
All in all, it’s been fun! What with the classic Ohio winter weather, I’ve had plenty of free time to spend on comics, animations, and general art nonsense too. Plus, I keep finding myself a part of new TTRPG groups. I’ll have one every day of the week soon if I’m not careful.
