Picnic!

I had my first "event" this Sunday. Our parent organization, Turtle Island Restoration Network, had a fundraising picnic under the redwoods. There were oysters (I have now had 7 in my life and I have determined that yes, I do like them when cooked!), mussels, local beers, wine, among other assorted delicious donated food and drink. There was music - acoustic bluegrass/folk that was perfect for the setting and location.

TIRN's law intern and I created a turtle egg nest scavenger hunt for the kids that came. It was really complex but I think it turned out well. We created clues (short 4 line rhymes) that told the kid what animal they were searching for and where they should be looking.

One clue, for example, was like such:

I swim in the sea, far do I roam
but you'll find me here far from my home.
Under one of many, but all alone.
It's brown and wooden and you might eat on this at home.

The animal was a whale and the next clue was hidden under a picnic table that was set away from the others.

The kids were divided into four teams and had to pay attention to what clue they picked up at each spot, because for each team, the clues were in a different order.

I'm technically not supposed to drink alcohol while wearing AmeriFlair, but I sort of forgot and I did have a beer and a half or so... they were local and I wanted to taste them! At least I wasn't walking around drunk, or doing drugs or stealing things, some crazy AmeriCorps girl... badly representing the organization and my country blah blah blah...

So things are moving along in California. Right now my main project is native seed collection. We're expanding our native plant nursery so Heidi and I go out a lot and collect wild rose berries (rose hips, which I used to collect with my family), sword fern, elderberry, snowberry, coffeeberry, among other things. We have to clean the berry seeds after we collect them, which can be quite a pain in the ass. Leaving on the berry parts can cause the seeds to mold and go bad.

Besides that, I'm mainly waiting for Heidi (field partner) to get back from middle America where her sister's having a baby. When she returns we will be scrambling to schedule and advertise our volunteer restoration days which start in November.

Halloween is coming up and I'm stealing a past costume of the law intern's (Marjorie) - The Bachelorette (like from the reality show). Is that not current enough for people to get? A black dress and a fake rose?