Dear readers.
Another week has started and what better way then with our cultural heritage? Cobus unpacked the U.S with us and explained why it is so important to preserve the artifacts found on Sondela and anywhere else.
After the history lesson we went to the Springbok flats to collect some specimens. We started by identifying the plant needed and what it will be used for. In this case it was wild basil and it was for the kitchen. We also needed to collect some sweatbush and branches from acacias because we will be taking it to the wildlife center to see what they prefer to eat. Because the WLC is so small the giraffe and njala ate everything already and we will then be providing them with food.
In this picture Cobus is explaining to us the importance of understanding what we are collecting because if we pick the wrong thing it can end up in a catastrophe. He shows us what it looks like< what it smells like and he shows us similar plants so we know not to pick them.
This is an example of wild basil that I took with me whilst picking so I don't pick the wrong plants.
In this picture I am collecting sweatbush for the WLC. We will be removing it all anyway one of these days because it is taking over the Springbok flats.
This is an example of a plant press. This is where you take a sample of a plant and place it between newspaper, cardboard and 2 crate frames with a note of what it is, where it was found, a short description and so forth. This is then fastened between the 2 crate frames and basically squashed flat.
Whilst pressing Cobus came to us asking who wrote on the Sondela bakkie with their fingers in the dust... No one came forward and we had to walk home. Lucky for us an empty taxi came past and we caught a lift!
We are RG, we make a plan!
Cobus also showed us a site they took last year to stop the soil erosion. They showed us that they tried to stop it by means of breaking it up in blocks and applying different methods to each block.
Wednesday we were broken up in teams to do the following tasks: fencing and EM. I was in the fence team and thats all we did the whole day! My hands were so sore ans jagged but it's part of the job. The last task for the week was fixing the dip bowl on the Springbok flats. We did not have the right tools but we got it right. The Elands keep pushing it over and so we moved it and dug new holes to put it in to stand sturdy. We hit in pins and we refilled the Ambipor inside underneath the rollers.
On Friday we did assessments on problem plant control. We used Round-up with a blue colorant and dipped the chopped off ink-berry. This is an intergrated method where we combine physical work with chemical use.
We used old sponge because it absorbes the poison and so we eliminate the chances of it dripping . This is the materials we used for the job. We did not have masks and we were told if it gets on your hands you wash it off immediately with clean water.
This is the chemical method where you fill up a spray bottle and spray the plant 70% covered. We put blue colour in the round-up so you can see what plants you have done and if it got on your hands or clothes.
We diluted the round-up to 3% and we tried to use as little as possible as it is very expensive. We did the integrated method on one section, the chemical on another section and left another section out so we can see if our methods worked and if so witch worked better.
Until next time, it's on to week 5.
No comments:
Post a Comment