The company where I work partnered with a non-profit organization and invited all employees to help clean up a local greenbelt this week. I wasn't sure whether I wanted to participate, but after seeing some great weather in the forecast last week, I figured some time outside (while still getting paid) would be good, and signed up to help out last Monday.

I went with about 15 other employees to meet with members of the Nature Consortium, which is in charge of the project to restore several acres of land near the Duwamish river. I don't know the full story, but the area has been overrun with invasive plants and so the Nature Consortium is trying to restore it to how it used to be before human settlement.

We started by potting some baby trees that were loose in a bucket. They were going to be planted, but apparently it is too late in the season to plant them so they'll be saved for next year. Then we mulched the side of a hill, which was probably my favorite part, though it was also possibly the hardest. Then we had to dig up some invasive blackberry species and remove some ivy, which can add a lot of weight to existing trees and cause them to fall over in strong wind.

It was 4 hours of hard work, but I really enjoyed it. The weather was great and it's really cool that my company sponsored this community service activity.