Our usual work schedule is to meet from 9-11 on the 2nd Saturday from March through November. Our focus in the coming months is as follows.

• March we will be working on cleaning up the Rain Garden and picking up litter.
• April will find us part of Green Columbus again, planting more trees to reforest the many trees that have fallen this past year.
• May will be our attack of the Garlic Mustard.
• June has us cutting the honeysuckle with the assistance of the City of Columbus chipper and trucks.
• And, everytime, ridding the ravine area of litter.

To help out, meet, sign in, and get supplies at the Rain Garden (Overbrook & High); Overbrook & Canyon (we are working on the 3rd recent removal of the tagging on the bridge there); Overbrook & Yaronia; Overbrook & Indianola.

I am excited about Spring and the beauty that comes to the ravine, thanks to our Adena Brook Community’s 10 years of caring & work! (Susan Michael Barrett gathered a few of us in 2002 for our very first clean up of the streams.)

Spring is coming which means the awakening of the ravine and its need for care. (No long winter nap this year!)

The Lead Team met and planned our agenda, goals for the year, among them getting more of our community actively involved in our pursuit of cleaner streams and ravines by taking “ownership of a small area near your home/office” . This would allow you to work at your convenience and help us immensely in our community goals.

The Carters are a great example of that with their caretaking of the corner of Indianola and Cooke Rd, mowing and keeping the litter picked up for which we are very thankful. Many of you live near the stream or when you are out walking, pick up the litter that is in that area…please don’t just walk by it.

Those of us that can work on the 2nd Saturday of each month, not only help the health of our ravine, but do enjoy the friendships and getting to know our neighbors, so we encourage you to join us and bring a neighbor with you, even if for an hour. We and your neighborhood do appreciate every bit of work that’s done to keep the ravine clean and safe.

This will be the last clean up of 2011, putting the ravine to rest for the winter. Plan to join us to remove litter+ before all being covered by a blanket of snow. Join us at Overbrook and High, Overbrook and Canyon, Overbrook and Indianola, and Overbrook and Yaronia where you will find supplies and sign in sheets. We thank you for supporting the health of our community , ravines and streams for another season.

Dear Neighbors,

It is time for our September Clean Up for which we will have the support of Karl Hoessle of Columbus Parks in removing the Honeysuckle and Tree of Heaven at the corner of Cooke Rd. and Overbrook Dr.  He will have city trucks, shredders there to remove the debris.  We need to support with manpower.  Parking will be an issue, so I will be at Overbrook and High and can transport anybody that can help with this project to that location.  The rest of us will focus on the litter along the road and stream beds at our usual destinations.  This is big to have the City support in this endeavor.  Please mark your calendar to join us!

Join us for another cleanup. Garlic Mustard season is upon us, and we’ll be focusing our efforts on pulling or cutting the blossoms wherever it may be found between Indianola and High.  In addition we’ll be looking for people to pick up trash and possibly replant trees and bushes that were removed/rescued from the High/Overbrook sidewalk project.

A somewhat belated but nevertheless heartfelt thank you to the nearly 30 people who helped plant close to 300 trees and bushes as well as collect trash and remove honeysuckle on Saturday April 16.  Our planting efforts included restoring vegetation along  High Street where the sidewalk had been replaced.  Species planted included:

• Spice Bush
• Nine Bark
• Elderberry
• Redbud
• Paw Paw
• Silky Dogwood
• Sugar Maple
• Hackberry
• White Oak
• Shumard Oak
• Tulip Poplar

Neighbors,

It is hard to believe that Fall is here and it’s time for our September Clean Up!

• Honeysuckle needs to be pulled out or cut;
• Tree of Heaven needs to be pulled out or cut;
• Litter needs to be picked up, especially in the Indianola/Yaronia Overbrook stream bed area;
• The Rain Garden needs its monthly weeding.

Meet for supplies and sign-ins at Overbrook and High; Canyon and Overbrook; Yaronia and Overbrook; Indianola and Overbrook.  We look forward to seeing you.

Join us to clean up litter, cut honeysuckle, and weed/trim the Rain Garden. Supplies will be located at Overbrook & High; Overbrook & Canyon; Overbrook & Yaronia; Overbrook & Indianola. Come and say hello to Susan Michael Barrett who will be joining us for this clean up!

We had another successful clean-up this past Saturday. 23 volunteers removed over 56 bags of garlic mustard from the ravine, as well as several bags of trash. If we stay focused in local areas, the impact can be quite impressive!

There were several questions about whether it was still worth pulling garlic mustard after it has gone to seed, to which there is one simple answer: absolutely! The garlic mustard still has the seed on the plant (they are currently immature but will start maturing soon), so removing the plant and putting it into bags (to prevent seed dispersal) still can make quite an impact in preventing future infestations of this invader.

I am also happy to report that our neighbor, Dr. Wiline Pangle, will be bringing her “Introduction to Ecology” class (EEOB 503 for those interested) to our ravine to look at the effects of invasive plants on native areas, as well as to identify natives. The students will be walking through the ravine, and spending a little time pulling garlic mustard. With 76 students (in smaller groups), every bit of time will help! Also a quick reminder that the recent (and upcoming) rains make it easier to pull out the root.

Thank you for all you do to help our ravine!
–Derek

What a wonderful morning to work in the ravine! Nice and cool, with freshly softened ground that made pulling out garlic mustard quite easy.

We had an amazing turn-out as well (35 volunteers!), from our usual crew of neighbors and school partners, as well as volunteers through the Earth Day 2010 (http://update2010.org) and our site sponsor, Malcolm Pirnie. As a reminder, there is an Earth Day celebration in Franklin Park on Thursday, April 22, 3-10pm.

We gathered 7 (30 gal) bags of trash, planted many native plants and removed weeds in the raingarden, planted 95 native trees in the ravine, and pulled out 70 (!) bags of garlic mustard.

There is still much more garlic mustard to be removed, so it you feel inspired on a walk, please take some time to remove some of this aggressive plant. Our mentor, Greg Schneider, pointed out that with only flowers on the plant at this point, if the stem is broken between the flower and the roots, the plants will not go to seed and can just be composted in the ravine or the side of the road.

Thanks for all you do! We are all very blessed to live in such a beautiful area.

–Derek