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Weekly task list 6/19/24

1) Branches/sticks
     After the gust of wind a few days ago, there's lots of Siberian elm branches. These can be picked up and put in the dumpster or, if small enough they can be broken up into small pieces, in the brown bins. Very large branches (like the kind long enough to stick out of the dumpster) may need to be collected and hauled to the dump, but I haven't seen a ton of those, let us know if y'all see them.

2) Lawn mowing:
    Reminder! Mike Wason, our faithful lawn mower, will be leaving town this Sunday and will be gone basically all of July, so we need someone to take over weekly mowing!!

3) Weed whacking and general hand weeding
    Weed whacking: west berm along Utah Street, wild area near Mary's land and the swale
     Hand weeding: a long east driveway and especially by the Cheyenne street entrance

4) Siberian elm saplings: can you identify them?
     Siberian elms are invasive and incredibly prolific, with saplings sprouting up all over the property. We could always use help removing them (digging them up if they're small, using strong pruners to cut at the base if larger) but we also need help identifying them to the community. If you're knowledgeable, can you put up yard signs or some sort of tag next to the Siberian elm sprouts? That way people know what to remove!


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6/12/24:
This week, I'd like to focus on getting help watering vulnerable trees. Most trees have (or will soon have) irrigation set up, but this isn't sufficient for newly planted trees or trees in clear distress from drought. We have identified said trees (minus the ones I know are already being taken care of by a community member) with a red tag, and given blue tags to vulnerable trees that are very near a unit that could adopt them. 

Please, take a look at this link with all the pics and locations (I can't upload all the images to email) on this wiki page:  https://wiki.wasatchcommons.com/books/landscape-committee/page/trees-that-need-extra-hand-watering-updated-62024

If you want to adopt a tree (or are already taking care of it) please reply to this email. If you'd like to adopt a tree but aren't sure which one, you can come to our walkthrough this coming monday at 8pm, or talk to myself or vicky.

Units 5, 9, 18, 19, 22, and 16... please look at the bottom of the doc for the BLUE tags, which are close enough near a unit that the unit owner can adopt them.

The goal for the walkthrough is to write the NAMES of adopters on the tags, and I will also send out a list of adopters. This person is responsible for watering 2x a month throughout the warm season (roughly june-september), that way we don't have to track who watered what tree each week.

We still need several spots adopted, please check out the adopt-a-spot spreadsheet and attached map to take on a spot. 
  Adopting a spot means helping to weed it and remove siberian elm sprouts (if you don't know which ones those are, ask me or other community members!), and notifying the community when you need help weed whacking it / if it seems the water is having issues (ie seems very dry/ there is a broken water line) 
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1K2uxEH2Mpuuy82ZLr_4_IrWP9Qu4rJEhOU7GqL12g2s/edit?usp=sharing

^Anyone can edit this link, but if you have issues with editing it, let me know.

Other tasks:
   -Weed whacking. Areas of concern: Everything south of the east garden, between the swale and Mary's land, the west berm (particularly on the side on Utah street), near the duck pen behind unit 5. 
  -General weeding/attention: spot 12 (by the Cheyenne street entrance), and along the east driveway (spots 11 and 13)
 -Mobility limited tasks: we have many, many siberian elms around the property, but not everyone can identify these elms. If you can identify elm trees, mark them with a yard sign and/or take a picture and send emails to the community. 






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6/5/24
f you haven't already, please sign up for an adopt-a-spot here: https://wiki.wasatchcommons.com/link/351#bkmrk-https%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.

 WEED WHACKING
  a- We need weed whacking around the wild area by the swale  (ie the large drain between the east garden and Vicky and Mike's unit), the west berm, and along the east driveway. 

     b- Weed whackers themselves
              We have several weed whackers in the workshop, and I don't know to what extent they are functioning. Some are against the far wall by the rainbird panel, some are close to the door near the ego battery chargers. Can someone test them and report back how well they work ? The best weed whacker, the Ego one, is Ben's that he kindly lets us borrow. The landscaping committee has budgeted to buy two more weed whackers, and we need to know which ones to keep and which ones to donate/recycle.

-clear a space in the garage on the wall by the lawn mowers so we can easily get to the rainbird irrigation control box for the east side water (see attached pic)

-There are several ego battery chargers against the back wall in the workshop, if you have the ability, it would be great if someone could mount all the battery chargers to the wall so it clears space.

-As always and forever, help us keep the siberian elm saplings in check with a strong pair of shears. 

-Newly planted trees will need watering assistance through the summer.
   Thank you to everyone who helped provide supplemental water to the trees! The established trees will do all right with the irrigation system, but small trees that aren't established need supplemental water (1 hour with a hose, once a week). 
  Is there anyone who would lead a walkthrough, maybe after potluck or ACM or cafe, to identify trees that need watering? And that way we can get people to "adopt" trees and help water them through the summer?

I'm excited to include a task list for community members with movement restrictions! Everyone is a valued contributer, regardless of your physical ability. Your knowledge and help communicating about necessary work are incredibly helpful.
     Here are some ideas, I'd love to hear suggestions:
-mark trees with a yard sign or some other marker that need to be given supplemental water through summer, help find someone to adopt them all summer, and communicate a list to the community
- make a physical print out of the adopt a spot list and put on clipboard/bring to ACM or potluck to get people to sign up/then adjust the digital copy to match (anyone can make edits with the link)
 -newbie landscaper/wise advisor partnership: offer to consult/advise someone newer to landscaping care. Help them evaluate the spot for what needs work, potential plantings, mulch options, etc.
- make paper copies of the task list to distribute to the community
-take cuttings of plants in your yard/around the landscape and either offer them to the community or nurture the cuttings in a pot until it's an appropriate season to plant them in the ground
-can you identify plants? Send an email with pictures identifying Siberian elms saplings or weeds OR make a yard sign that says "I'm a Siberian elm, remove me" and place it next to saplings for removal (bonus: we can reuse this visual marker!)
   -if walking is doable: lead a plant identification walking tour after cafe or acm
  -help take notes and minutes during a landscaping work party and/or mtg
  -help communicate and coordinate on going tasks like supplemental tree watering, weed whacking, weeding generally, application of epsom salt to stumps, and Siberian elm sapling removal (tip: include WHERE and HOW to do these tasks)
 -At work parties: learn and what tasks need to be done and help explain to participants how to do them, advertise about the work party, purchase materials with the community credit card, bring refreshments, take notes to summarize what we did for documentation purposes

Shout out to Mike Wason and Mary for all your work mowing and weed whacking! Also to Robin and Jorge, who removed many troublesome siberian elm branches from the wild area.

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