Thursday, December 22, 2011

Winter Litter Mobs

Snowberries - Symphoricarpos albus

The chief instigator might be on break in the southern hemisphere but there will be winter litter mobs and Natural Resources will be able to provide staff back up, so I hope the mobbing may continue!

The dates are: January 10th, January 24th, February 7th. Mobs last from 9am to noon. Surgical gloves are provided, so is hand sanitizer, but bring your own warm or work gloves.

Here are directions.

If you can make it please RSVP in the comments or to littermob  at  gmail  dot  com

Inge, one of our stalwart volunteers, will be sending out email reminders every pre-Mob Sunday.

Feel free to bring a camera to take over the documenting duties. Photos most welcome. So is the written word. The woods in winter. A whole other story.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Litter Mob 16 - Transparency


Mid December and in the woods you see the edges of things. You see through things. You see the shape of things.


Each leaf has fallen and lies frost etched upon another. Suddenly you realize what a small forest this is. In full summer the trees' leaves populate vertical space in so many layers that your immediate circle becomes a tall-walled room and the limits of the woods are not guessed at.

Now, standing on the flat, you can see all the way up to the ridge, through the stripes of tree trunks and the pale lacing of branches. There is no hiding. Consequently, the woods are empty. No pacing men walk to and fro, up and down, round and round. Still, we find evidence of their presence.


They must arrive at night. On a new hill, not cleaned before, we find deer hide shelters of branches and screens of dead leaves. A lot of accumulated trash.



Elizabeth's grabber gingerly pinches an improvised sex toy.


On the flat we find a spilled bag of drill bits, saw blades, screws and anchors. A construction worker's loss by theft, probably.


A piece of wasp nest lies on the leaf litter. 


I find a plant I have not noticed before. Geranium-ish?

*Update: ID'd by Marielle Anzelone of NYC Wildflower Week: Geum canadense, white avens.


Progress: I notice that Ricks' Place's 'Dick's Place' scratchiti has been healed.



We continue raising a fence across the slope to intercept desire lines. Such a lovely phrase for the paths that cause so much damage. Frank and slight Elizabeth haul the heavy roll of fencing. Paulette stabs heavy rebar posts into the steep hill before I begin to pound a dozen into the rocky soil. Elizabeth starts to wire the fence, Frank pulling on the slack. David instructs. John and Jessica come to visit. Jessica talks about the empty sign posts and about addressing the question of better, vandal-proof signage, or removing the abandoned posts altogether. My ears prick up. Progress.


Planes pass low overhead on their final approach to La Guardia. I will fly south, soon. By nightfall, at home for hours already, my body feels run over.


I hope that the Mob will continue through winter, until I rejoin it in mid February. 

Good news: We have inspired a sister Mob in Massachusetts, whose fledgling blog is The Wareham Litter Mob. Linda Redbird, a foraging friend (whose personal blog is Forage Porage) from Facebook is the organizer. If you are in the area and can help, either materially or through physical labour, please do. It is hard to find steady volunteers for this unglamourous work.


Litter Mob 16 Results:

6 bags of trash, 1 toolbag, various underwear, 1 sex toy

Thanks to David K., Elizabeth, Frank, Paulette and David our Leader.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

The stories trash tells





Mostly, in the TMI genre.

Too. Much. Information.





Bean casserole? Thanksgiving theme going on here.


Cranberry juice lying beside the beans - I counted 6 cartons.