Saturday, May 23, 2015

A thank you to our hardy gardeners for coming out on this beautiful day to tidy up the gardens at the Oaklette Bridge along Indian River Road.   Six volunteers turned out on this Memorial Day weekend, weeding, mulching and planting flowers at the gardens at each corner of the bridge.     The crepe myrtle planters were weeded and the sidewalk cracks were cleared.   The bald cypresses and American hollies in the median were also pruned and mulched.    Thanks to these volunteers the gardens are looking gorgeous!


Thursday, May 7, 2015

Upcoming Events in May and June

We got a lot of activities going on over the next month - hikes, our monthly meeting, gardening, Clean the Bay Day, and architectural tours.   There's something for everyone and we hope you come out partake in the fun.   We do particularly need volunteers of our Adopt-A-Spot gardening on May 23rd and Clean the Bay Day on June 6th.   Come on out and help make our community better!

 On Saturday, May 16th, from 9:30 am to 11 am, there will be a guided hike along the nature trail and through Indian River Park.  Meet at the park entrance at Rokeby Ave. and Main St. (2001 Rokeby Ave.) and learn about the history of the park, the native trees and plants in this century old forest on the Indian River flood plain, and its value to maintaining the health of local butterfly, bird, and wildlife populations.   

Thursday, May 21st, 7 pm is our next regular meeting at Oaklette United Methodist Church; Jackie Shannon from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation will be telling us about Oyster Gardening and Oyster Restoration along our Eastern Branch.   As always, there will be light refreshments and door prizes after the presentation.


On Saturday, May 23rd, from 9:30 am to noon, come out and help with our Adopt-A-Spot gardening around the Indian River / Oaklette Bridge, including the area around the last year's tree plantings.   We'll be putting in a few new plants, doing weeding, and putting down mulch.   Meet at Oaklette United Methodist Church.   Please wear closed-toe shoes, a hat and bring work gloves. If you can, bring any gardening tools such as like cultivators, and shovels that are helpful in planting. Participants under 18 years of age must have adult supervision.​

We also need on-going volunteers who will be willing to "adopt a corner" routinely go out and check on the bridge gardens and do some routine weeding and watering.   Contact us at info@friendsofindianriver.org  if you are interested and we'll discuss the details!

Saturday, June 6th is Clean the Bay Day and we'll be doing our cleanup at Indian River Park from 9 am to Noon at the park entrance at Rokeby Ave. and Main St. (2001 Rokeby Ave.).   We will be working along the stream buffer in Indian River Park, the headwaters of the Indian River.   This will help to spruce up the area and collect trash that will otherwise get washed into the river and impact wildlife.    The city will provide garbage bags.   We'll have water and snacks available.  Please wear closed-toe shoes, a hat and bring work gloves and other items that may be useful.   There is also trash to be collected from the flood plain of the creek, which is wet; bring rubber boots if you can help in this area.   Participants under 18 years of age must have adult supervision.  We will have a picnic after the cleanup around noon.  The Friends of Indian River will provide hot dogs, burgers, and drinks.   We invite folks to bring a side dish like dessert, chips, pasta salad to share.  To help our planning, please RSVP to info@friendsofindianriver.org if you know you will join us.   (Last minute volunteers are still always welcome).

And on Saturday, June 13th, we organizing a tour the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's new Brock Environment Center at Pleasure House Point in Virginia Beach.  The Chesapeake Bay Foundation's Brock Environmental Center, now open at Pleasure House Point in Virginia Beach, is one of the most energy efficient, environmentally smart buildings in the world.   The Brock Environmental Center is designed to meet the strictest environmental standards in accordance with the Living Building Challenge™ and is the first in the nation to embrace energy and water independence.   Come see this cutting edge architectural example.  The tour is at (corrected time)  Noon but we may meet before hand to carpool, stay tuned for details.  Space is limited so you MUST RSVP to info@friendsofindianriver.org