by Michelle St-Germaine
As I had a milestone birthday last year (I turned 50), I treated myself to a week in Paris alone and spent many hours in beautiful parks, contemplating life. In addition to this trip, I took a retirement course (yes, they exist!) and was pleased that I am on the right track financially.
However, I found out that successful retirement planning also includes planning how I want to spend my time. What do I want to DO when I grow up? The life coach at the seminar had an interesting approach. “Ask yourself: What did I enjoy most when I was a child?”
- I spent all my time in nature, most of the time alone.
- I dreamed about being a zoo keeper.
- I spent a lot of time building tree forts, which was a segué to my career.
- I later developed a love of gardening and bird watching and continue to be fascinated by all animals.
I am blessed in many ways: health, family, and a stimulating career (sometimes TOO stimulating as with many careers) and, as I plan to retire in 4 years, I have started my search for my new calling (or at least a hobby I enjoy), which led me to the Fletcher Wildlife Garden.
Prior to my first guided walk with Sandy, I had only visited the garden once. Offering my help, I was first assigned to removing Burdock, but quickly got addicted to removing Dog Strangling Vine (DSV)! Ha!
As I am not available weekdays for now and enjoy spending time by myself, I particularly liked the idea of “owning” a node of my own: an area I could take care of on my own schedule.
After “cleaning up” an area of sumac that DSV had choked out and killed, I had only intended on controlling the spread of its seeds this year by pulling down the vines before they flowered. However, I was fortunate to recruit some helpers: two regular volunteers plus one time help from four others. This summer, we managed to remove all the DSV by the roots in a large area and fill in the bare areas with 2 Serviceberries, 5 Shagbark Hickories, 1 Red Osier Dogwood, 1 Hackberry, 1 pine, 1 White Spruce, 1 birch, 1 Weeping Willow, 3 Wild Raisins, 1 rose bush, 16 Ostrich Ferns, 7 White Snakeroots, 3 native white clematis, and 15 Zigzag Goldenrods.
I’m looking forward to watching this area grow and taking on another project next year.
With this new hobby, I have discovered a highly effective stress reliever, a kind of meditation, in which I lose track of time. And depending on my mood, I can either aggressively hoe at the roots of DSV or delicately clear the path for a new oak sapling while watching the Eastern Cottontails, groundhogs, American Red Squirrels, Eastern Gray Squirrels, American Toads, Eastern Gartersnakes, and numerous bird species enjoy my patch as I do. I also practise my audio bird identification and discover new frog calls while I work away.
This may be my new calling. If not, I will enjoy the journey.
Fabulous work and great read. Thanks.