Mitzvah Project Journal

When I was told that I was required to do 13 hours of community service work for my Bar Mitzvah, I was a little intimidated. I had (and still have) a passion for making my environment greener and the air cleaner by planting more trees. I didn’t know where to start with this idea. But luckily, with a little research we found out about a great initiative called MillionTreesNYC, which is part of New York Restoration Project.  Here’s what I’ve done with them so far. I hope to do lots, lots more.

4/17/10: 3 hours, planted 1 lilac tree in a front yard, located in Jamaica (St. Albans), Queens. Had lots of fun, favorite part was digging hole. Event sponsored by JetBlue, NYRP, Clear Air Radio, Home Depot, and others. 350 volunteers, 6 people in my group. Group leader’s name was Paul Williams.

Facts learned about trees:
• Hole must be 3x size of size of pot
• Mulch is used to insulate soil; keeps soil warmer in the winter
and cooler in the summer
• Mulch must not touch tree because it will rot it
• In the first 2 yrs of planting tree, it must get 25 gallons
of water per week
• Tree must not be planted in the shade of another larger tree

5/13/10: 2 hours, cared for cherry and crabapple trees by the Harlem River Drive, outside of Swindler’s Cove. Used to be a dump, was turned into a beautiful park. Worked with NYRP gardener named Alex. Cared for trees by cutting off dead branches, and clearing out airspace so that air could circulate. Found worms and caterpillars.

6/11/10: 5 hours, helped set up for sleepover for neighborhood families at Swindler’s Cove. Helped set up tents and prepare dinner. Met two falconers named Lori, (it might be spelled Lauri, I don’t really know) and Talon. Talon was about 13, and Lori was her mother. They had about 5 or 6 birds. I got to hold one. They were very nice people.

Also got to eat fava greens from the fava bean plant from the garden. (Delicious greens!)

Got to eat dinner there. Had a cheeseburger. Left around 10:00 P.M.

10/2/10: 3.5 hours, planted one oak tree on the side of a street in Coney Island with Mom, Dad and our friend Joan. It was great; digging was the hardest part. We had to keep moving and adjusting the hole because we discovered some sort of buried stone or concrete pipe right where we were digging. Group leader’s name was Tony. Our small group leader was named Sarah. Maybe 100 volunteers in all.