Day 5 -- July 13, 2017

Volunteer Day: Umatilla Native Plant Nursery

Pendleton, OR

I think volunteering has become one of my favorite parts of this trip. Today the White Swan crew and 4/9 Heritage students spent time at the Umatilla Tribe’s Native Plant Nursery. They work to grow plant species that can then be reintroduced to this area of the state, reintroducing plants that are in danger or have been depleted.

It was hot and dirty work, but we had a lot of fun working there. We did a lot of different things, including pruning potted Dogwood trees in order to move them out of the greenhouse, planting tiny seedling into cones, and ‘sticking’ cuttings of tree branches into cones in order to grow new trees from them.

Dogwood Pruning. In order to move and help the trees grow stronger,
we pruned back branches on a whole bunch of dogwood trees.

With all good things, these tasks became a competition – which Mr. Clinton and I dominated (probably a given, since we were the adults going up against teenagers). We all worked hard and felt good about the work we did, which is pretty important when it comes to getting teenagers into volunteering.

Sticking. After cutting the growths, we
then started the sticking process, putting
the cuttings of the branches into soil to grow
in the greenhouse.

Dominated. Myself and Clinton were tree
cutting machines. Our competition were not
super committed, but our win was important
nonetheless.

But as awesome as the plant nursery was, highlight of the day: Glass Art. Loveda Red Elk’s (Winex’s mother) is a glass artist who opened up her studio to us and allowed us to create pieces to take home. And while I am no where near becoming a glass artist, it was really cool to get to work in a new medium. Even if it was much less forgiving than working with fabric or paint. I’m excited to get the final product in a few weeks after she fires them.

Glass art. My piece before going into the kiln.
It's interesting, and though I can't see a future in
glass art, it was really cool to make.

Pre-kiln. This is the first group's mosaic glass. Everyone had a blast, and it was really cool to see how everyone's style shined through their art.

Yoga time. Yoga is something that I have very little experience in, but it was so cool to get the opportunity to try it with the whole group.

It is such an honor to have so many things shared with us. Winex shared her passion for habitat restoration, Loveda shared her art, Acosia shared her passion for yoga in a private session, and everyone that Winex introduced us to throughout our time here has been so open to us, letting us learn as much as possible. It’s really wonderful to be so welcomed and embraced by previous strangers.