I have been busy as a bee in the backyard and enjoying every moment I can get out there. Unfortunately, there haven’t been as many moments as I might like. Easter weekend brought with it a day to give back. I joined several beautification-minded St. Louis souls and volunteered at Castlewood State Park on Saturday morning to maintain the natural beauty of the park, help preserve the Kiefer Creek watershed and plant 800 native trees, shrubs and perennials.

The project was part of Operation Wild Lands, a project of the Open Space Council. The OWL project is a community based project that organizes volunteers to help maintain public lands throughout the St. Louis region. Wildlife habitat improvements include cleanups, trail development and maintenance, planting, educations events, etc. It was a lovely morning to get out, get some fresh air and share with like minded souls. Castlewood is a bit of a hike (no pun intended) from my house and I know it as a park that is good for mountain biking. I would go there when my son–who is now 27–would participate in mountain biking racing events as a teenager. The park also has nice hiking trails, ball fields, fishing, swimming and more. One thing I will say is true about Missouri, the state has a really wonderful park system.

But I digress.

My job was to help place the plants. Easy enough and it allowed me to spare my back for my own garden labor later that morning.

What I enjoyed about this experience is that there were volunteers of all ages who came out. There were retired professionals, volunteers from the Audubon Society, the Coalition from the Environment, Monsanto Company, area school districts, a Boy Scout troop, Truman State University and more. The saying “Many hands make light the work” could not be more true.