Volunteering Again!
/The nature center isn’t open at Howard County Conservancy’s Mt Pleasant but there are more people visiting with the spring weather. So – the plan until the nature center can open again is to have an outdoor greeter on Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday…and I volunteered last Sunday. It was a very enjoyable 2 hours. I had a table and chair set up near the parking lot across from the kiosk.
I was surprised at the number of people that were there for the first time…needed some orientation to the place. Right before my shift was over, a girl scout troop arrived and wanted to do a non-meadow hike; I highlighted the trail map for them - through the forest to the skunk cabbage wetland. And there were people that have come for years (and volunteered). The children of one family did cartwheels on the slope near the parking lot before heading out for their hike. A child with his grandfather already knew their way to the picnic area for their lunch. Two women arrived with their own camp chairs and walked to a picnic table near the community gardens…talking for an hour or so in the sunshine. I asked people as they headed back to their cars if they saw something interesting and got a range of answers. A small child pointed out some rocks. Some birders had seen a merlin capturing a meal. One child had searched for ‘stages’ that would work for musical performances – standing on the top of the large silver maple stump was his favorite.
The parking lot had 25-35 cars for the whole time I was there – so a very worthwhile time for a greeter to be around.
There was about 10 minutes that were ‘slow’ and I walked toward the picnic tables to take some pictures – pine cones in a tree top…and macro of pine bark.
Then my daughter called for a quick chat…and after a few minutes the activity picked up again. There wasn’t a lot of time sitting around. I have 4 more of the outdoor greeter gigs lined up; they are all weather dependent (if it’s raining…we cancel!).
It’s good to be getting back into volunteering in the outdoors at Mt Pleasant!
