It’s tax season, and one of my other jobs, a reluctant bookkeeper, is taking more time out of my week than it does the rest of the year. I should be filing 1099s right now, but I’m taking a little break to write about BCE this week. I just looked through the photos- both mine and the ones taken by the young scientists on the research phones- and it’s making me smile. I’m sure tax season is deeply fulfilling for some professionals, but for me, it’s more of a tedious necessity. Quite a contrast to my day hauling these wild creatures into the woods, handing them axes and saws, and hoping they learn something.
I titled this blog with the same name I call my business because when I looked at the photos from this week, it reminded me of why I picked that name. What happens when you take kids outside in freezing weather, challenge them with purposeful tasks, and also let them be free? Hint: it’s a different vibe than when they spend all day inside on screens or doing homework.
Okay, okay, enough philosophical musings. If you’re reading this, you probably want to know what we did this week! Don’t let the pictures fool you, we worked hard and got a lot done. This team established TWO plots in one day, including crafting the ten stakes to mark the plot corners and selecting the site of the meadow plot. We set a deadline for the end of the month (why is everything due at the end of January??) to get ACOs installed in five plots for Ruani’s herptofauna project, and he can’t place ACOs in plots that don’t exist. (If you don’t know about ACOs stay tuned, I’ll go into detail about that in a future blog.)
We completed our morning science tasks and sit spots, discussed epicormic branches and what pH actually means, created stakes, practiced tree species wood ID, and then used the new plot tool to lay out two 1/30 hectare plots with sides aligned with the cardinal directions. In between, there was much silliness, and we played the balance game for the first time this year. And now the photos!
Those were my photos; the rest I found on the research phones, in no particular order…
Okay. Back to those tax forms.
Delightful!!!