A quick update

July 12th – August 10th, 2013

Calgary Stampede, Calgary AB. Photo cred – Lisa

After spending a few days in Calgary, I met up with a few friends that I’d been planting with in Ontario who’d come West to check out the stampede. We didn’t make it to any of the real cowboy events there, the chuckwagon races or the rodeo – planning and expensive tickets proved to be too much of an obstacle. We spent most our time on the stampede grounds which was a spectacle of corn dogs, cowboy hats, carnival rides, texas hold ‘em, deep fried butter, country music, and overpriced budweisers.

Tree Planting

May 10th – July 1st, 2013

Sapawe, Pakwash, and Wenesaga – Northwest Ontario

2013 Planting Crew (Photo Cred to Lisa: http://www.flickr.com/photos/liselking/)

Most of the the tree planters I know love tree planting, and won’t hesitate to let you know at the slightest sign of interest. Most of the tree planters I know also hate tree planting. They hate the sleet and snow that soaks through their steel toes and rain jackets in the cold weeks of early May. They hate the tendonitis and carpal tunnel that planting in too much hard soil brings about. They hate the relentless swarms of blackflies, the deer flies that come out in the heat of the day and tear out chunks of skin behind their ears, they hate the no-see-ums that crawl through mosquito netting and keep you up at night, they hate the mosquitos that bite through jeans and shirts. They hate the summer heat of late June that drains their bodies of water and energy.

Gone Planting

Photo cred to Maya

“I will never forget the time I took off my boot and threw it into an afternoon so thick with bugs that I could see the tunnel of its trajectory. My feet hurt. My wrists hurt. My skin hurt. Still, I know my grandchildren will see the trees and be glad I did it. I will tell them about the bugs and the bosses and it will sound like the stories of the war my grandfather told me. It was war, another children’s crusade. We did it because we had to, and even though it was hell, it had a kind of peace that was hard to leave behind. Every time.”

— Sasha Rogers (Quoted in Hélène Cyr’s “Handmade Forests: The Treeplanter’s Experience”)

There’s nothing like getting bush mail to feel loved. Write to me during the next two months and I’ll be sure to write back:

Craig Turney
PRT Frontier (Matt Camp) Box 757
Dryden, ON
P8N 2Z4