The creek is sick and needs our help!

“Don’t concern yourself with the money. Be of service … build … work … dream … create! Do this and you’ll find there is no limit to the prosperity and abundance that will come to you.” Earl Nightingale

Not all, but for some endeavors, this is absolutely true.

It started with sharing with Wendy Sangster, the Community Conservation Planner with the Missouri Department of Conservation, that we wanted to help restore the creek that runs on and adjacent to our Eco Art Garden. As stewards, we want to do all we can to restore the ecosystem around us. Wendy introduced me to Jacobo Barriga. Jacobo is the Stream Team liaison in the KC Region, at the Anita B. Gorman Conservation Discovery Center. We shared our vision, and goals to help restore the creek, so now Jacobo is helping us create an official Stream Team! Our plan is to set up a station to monitor the creek’s health, perform water tests, remove trash and debris, and plant native plants beneficial to the creek banks. We asked Jacobo if he was ok with us documenting this process, and he said he’s totally open to pictures and video, even offsite in the laboratory! So, be on the lookout for more content as we move forward with our Stream Team and the Creek restoration. To learn more about this or to join our Stream Team Contact us at streamteam@rootedandreaching.org

One of our sponsors gifted us 2 complete wooden Bee Hive Boxes Today! A big thank you to Kansas City Urban Farmers Coop! Make sure to check out all the great work they’re doing. Bees play a crucial role in maintaining the biodiversity of ecosystems and supporting wildlife. We won’t be using these to harvest the honey the bees make but they will make great bee houses and will complement our pollinator garden, which we will be starting soon! #phaseone #learntheland #amongst_friends #ancientwisdom #beefriends #earth #grounded #backtothefuture #goodenergy #growingagain #peaceful #loveartnature

Bee facts:

1. Bees are vital pollinators that help plants reproduce and are responsible for pollinating over one-third of all crops worldwide.
2. Bees can see ultraviolet light, which helps them find flowers that have nectar and pollen.
3. Honeybees communicate with each other using a dance called the “waggle dance,” which tells other bees where to find flowers. They also use advanced mathematical concepts like trigonometry to convey direction and distance information to other bees in the hive.
4. Bees can fly up to 15 miles per hour and travel up to six miles from their hive to find food.
5. Bees are declining due to habitat loss, pesticide use, and climate change.

I was talking to someone about making a compost bin for the garden a few days ago. Today, I woke up at 4 am and couldn’t go back to sleep. So I went outside for some fresh air and magically these storage gates were sitting on the curb. I strapped them to the truck and went to the land. There are no neighbors close to the land, so I went crazy clearing more bush honeysuckle and winter creeper for a couple of hours and cleared an area for the bin. I screwed the sides together and went back to cutting and moving logs to start making a perimeter. I focused on clearing the opposite side of what I did last time, the garden path, and the perimeter. Not sure the pictures do it justice but it’s slowly coming together. #phaseone #learntheland #amongst_friends #ancientwisdom #earth #grounded #backtothefuture #goodenergy #growingagain #peaceful #loveartnature

We reached out to the Heartland Conservation Alliance and the Missouri Department of Conservation for guidance, and so far they’ve both responded with enthusiasm and support. We met with Wendy Sangster, an Urban Forester & Community Conservation Planner who works with the Missouri Department of Conservation and the Anita B Gorman Conservation Discovery Center. We shared our vision for the garden, championing creativity, and having a sense of reverence for the natural world. We’re creating a garden on a vacant lot that has a ton of trees. We walked the woods for 30 to 45 minutes, while Wendy, shared her wealth of knowledge on conservation. She identified bush honeysuckle and winter creeper as the main invasive species we need to moderate. These two species smother and suffocate native plants by outcompeting them for resources such as sunlight, water, and nutrients. Encouraging native growth is crucial to creating a hospitable habitat for all our nature friends, above and below the soil. Our next step is to get a tree study or tree inventory.

Everything great has to start somewhere. Well, its time to start removing trash and invasive species. This is a large part of our phase one. One of the biggest problems with vacant lots is people view it as a place to dump trash. So we have our work cut out as far as cleaning it up. These are just a couple of pictures of how much people have been dumping in the neighborhood. We hope that cleaning up the trash, installing trash containers, recycling bins, and putting up more no dumping signs will discourage this activity. We also believe that people will get familiar with our presence working on the garden and not want to leave trash behind.