June Cutting at Lane Street

It's June, so it's time to do some cutting along the RecPath at Lane Street.  The stretch along the Land Trust Meadow is one of the most scenic areas of the RecPath, but it also grows like crazy in early summer.  We're also entering a early Hot & Sticky spell in the weather, so we've got that going for us.

Fortunately, we had a good turn out of volunteers, so we got everything done before it got silly hot.

Helpful Trail Tip: Bring lots of water to drink on these work parties, and don't leave your canteen in the car.  Bring it with you too.

The RecPath follows the edges of the meadows with the Means Brook floodplain on the other side.  It's a prime area for robust edge growth.  The hay and thorns starting to encroach on the RecPath were trimmed.  Some invasive species were removed, and sightlines improved going around some of the curves.

The raspberries and other plants were in full bloom.  One of the benefits of coming to this work party were the trailside snacks.

Mike & Terry also fixed holes in the decking on the boardwalk.  Some of the screws were reluctant to come out, but luckily Terry had his tool kit in his car.  

Mike let Terry try to fit all the parts back into the tool case.  Maybe we'll get him a Rubik's Cube for next time; it might be an easier puzzle to solve.  

The boardwalk looked good by the end.  There's some great viburnums and shrubs flowering along both sides, and unless you like wading deep into swamps this is one of the easiest places to see these plants.

 There was a nice patch of Mayapple at the end of the boardwalk.

The meadow hasn't been mowed this year and there is a mix of meadow grasses and wildflowers that are attracting a lot of butterflies and birds.  It doesn't show in the photos, but if you walk along the RecPath and stop to look from time to time you'll see a lot of activity in a very pretty meadow.

There were a lot of folks out enjoying the RecPath.  We'd like to thank the neighbor who offered to get us doughnuts at Royal Bakery.  We'll take you up on that next time.  Thanks to everyone who came out to help:  Matt, Terry, Bill, Luis, Graham, Mike, Terry & Mark.  It definitely helps to have a lot of hands on a job like this.