Blackberry Bushes and Irrigation

It's my second week here in San Francisco working with the Presidio Trust. I feel as though I have already been here for a month! We have been so busy working and "getting things done," (which is AmeriCorps "motto." I'm sure you will be hearing that a lot from me) that I feel as though the time has been flying by. I am loving the work that we are doing and it's really cool to see all the work that has been done after finishing a project.

The type of work that we are doing here in the Presidio is environmental conservation and restoration. We are working to beautify the parks all around the Presidio. Our projects can vary from day to day, but it's usually a lot of labor intensive work. Some project that we have completed so far are: Removing sod, planting plants, installing an irrigation system, and then filling the site with mulch. This project took us a few days to complete. It was really cool to see the day to day changes as well as the end result. It felt very rewarding to know that we all completed this project and it looked awesome! Here are some pictures of the work that we did. The pictures progress from start to finish!

 Before we started the project.

 Removing the sod so we can plant. I got to work that blue machine...it was fun

The planting begins. We got to plant two redwood trees...hopefully they will grow to be humongous!

 Putting in the irrigation system to give the plants a drink!

All DONE! I know the plants don't look like much at the moment, but give them a few years and they will have taken over this spot!

Like I said before, it's really neat to see all the progress you have made at the end of the project. It gives you a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that you got the job done! A lot of our projects have been like this so far. Another project that we had was to remove Blackberry bushes. We got rid of it all in a day! 

Before we started. My teammates being goofy! Behind them is all Blackberry bushes with thorns! 

 Working hard in the California sun!

We found so many bottles in the Blackberry. One in particular with a birth certificate in it. It's hard to see on here, but it's from 1969 and he is from Rochester, MN of all places. I had offered to take it back to MN with me to return it to him. My team got a good laugh out of that one :)

 Lunch break! Almost done!

Removing Blackberry is tough, but would you complain with this view? I wouldn't!

Done! There was a wall behind all that Blackberry!!

So far it has been great weather here to work in. Sunny days with just enough cool breeze from the Ocean. This is not at all what I expected from what people had told me. I guess this type of weather has been rare these past two weeks. I'm sure it was all because we are here :)) Today we started seeing the more typical San Francisco. Lots of fog and drizzly rain! More to come I hear! I guess it's better than all that snow. I have been thinking about everyone back in Minnesota...I even made a sand angel at the beach that made me feel more at home :) I can't wait to come home for Christmas break and make a real one in the snow! Miss you all.

♥ Kristen

Below is a link to the blog that my team, Bluno, is making as well. It will be written by different members of the team from time to time. You should check it out!!!!!

http://chroniclesofbluno.blogspot.com/ 

San Francisco

Hello again! Like I promised I will be writing a lot more now. I am currently living in San Francisco for my first round project. Throughout the year each team has 4 projects/rounds. We usually call them SPIKES. Our projects will usually lasts about 6-8 weeks. After we are done with our round, we come back to campus in Sacramento for a transition week so we can talk about our project and debrief.


My team, Blue 1 or BLUNO as we are affectionately called, are lucky enough to be stationed in San Francisco, CA. We arrived last Thursday and are staying in The Presidio right by the Golden Gate Bridge. Below is a picture of The Presidio. I live in the military barracks somewhere in the bottom right corner.

We are in dorm type housing. We all have our own rooms, share a bathroom with 3-4, and share a communal living area and kitchen. We also get internet and cable. I have been told that we have it made! I guess normal SPIKE housing is not this good. There are other teams that are camping in tents for 6 weeks, or staying in a two bedroom house with 12 people and having to sleep on cots. I’m sure our next round won’t be so glamorous.

We are working with The Presidio Trust to help restore and beautify the park all around The Presidio. It will be a lot of manual labor and I’m sure it will be tough at times. I really can’t complain though, I get to work with a gorgeous view of the Golden Gate Bridge and the ocean everyday! It’s amazing! We are also going to get to do a historical restoration project on Alcatraz. I am so excited to visit Alcatraz and get to work on something there. The presidio is a great place to live. There is so much history here and I find out something new every day. I will post some pictures of the houses and buildings that are around here, as well as my housing.

I am having a fun time exploring San Francisco in the week that I have been here. We are very close to the Golden Gate Bridge and me and some of my team walked there and then walked across the bridge!

 Me under the Golden Gate Bridge

 Walking accross the Golden Gate Bridge. There was a rainbow after a little bit of rain.

We also got to go to a free concert. AT&T were giving away free Maroon 5 tickets to promote their new phone. We waited in line Monday mornig and got tickets to a show that night at the Fillmore. It was a great show and it was a very small venue which was nice as well. We were nice and close to the band. Below are some pictures of them preforming!

I will be sure to update you all on what I am doing. I will post some before and after pictures of the types of projects that we have done so far sometime this week. I will be in San Fran until December 15th and return to Sacramento before coming home for Christmas break. I am going to be coming home for Christmas on the 18th and will stay until January 1st. I am very excited to come home and see all my family and friends. I miss you all!     

♥ Kristen



It's Been a While

Hi everyone! I know that it's been a long time since I have written anything. I have been really busy the past month during training. The whole month of October has been trainings for me. Some are helpful/useful, where others are just common sense and sometimes hard to sit through. Some of our trainings have consisted of CPR/First Aid, disaster training, tools and safety. Usually the trainings are all day, or we will have multiple trainings that will fill the day. On our days off (usually Sat. and Sun.) we would just hang out at the dorms or go and explore Sacramento.

 Theese are the dorms where I was staying in Sacramento.

This is me when we went out to explore the city.

We didn't get to do alot service projects the first month while in training, but we did get to go to Camp Mendocino. Located in a 2,000-acre beautiful redwood forest three and half hours north of San Francisco, Camp Mendocino is an outdoor education and environmental awareness program. It focuses entirely on the character and leadership development of kids from disadvantaged circumstances. For nearly 80 years, Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco has been providing this creative, fun and supportive camping experience for youth ages eight to 18. At Mendocino we did a lot of team building as well as one day of service. For our day of service we got to dig water trenches, so the water would run off the road and into these ditches. Ironically enough we were digging the trenches while it was raining. It was denfinitely hard work, but it felt good to get out and "get things done."  Below is a few pictures from the camp.

 View on the way up the mountain.

 Redwood Trees.

 Me, posing on a big redwood.

 Getting ready to rock climb and do the ropes courses.

The ropes course! So fun!

I am having a great time and experience out here in California. I am seeing things I never thought I would see and I'm doing things that I never thought that I would do! I miss everyone back home and am still adjusting to living almost 2,000 miles away and living with 10 other people. It's given me a great deal of independence that I needed to learn at some point or another. I still have a lot to learn in these next 10 months and I am more than eager to learn everything that I can. I will write again soon, promise :)

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."   - Mahatma Gandhi

♥ Kristen