The Arrival of Summer
By Anna Landis, Shakopee Field Crew Member/ AmeriCorps Member
About a month ago as we returned from our day’s work and headed across the 169 bridge into Shakopee, the first warm weather of the year had finally stuck around and it struck us that June would start the next week.
As someone born in June, I’m probably a bit biased but I was excited either way. Seeing the green trees in full leaf in the valley below us was a reminder that summer had only just begun.
A few weeks after that, I was standing on the back deck of my parents’ house, grilling burgers for coworkers who had come over to celebrate my 25th birthday.
While pointing out who was who to another friend, I marveled at the fact that I had coworkers that all liked each other enough to want to regularly hang out outside of work.
The idea would have seemed far-fetched to me a year previous when I was working remotely as a reporter in a small coal town in Wyoming.
Working in such close quarters with each other forces a close bond. Long hours in the car and pulling invasive species each day fosters conversations covering just about everything, from favorite movies (One of mine, Paris is Burning, is not only an excellent documentary to watch during Pride Month, but free to watch on YouTube) to deeper discussions of our plans for post-corps career goals and what our roommate or sibling had done to frustrate us lately.
Warm weather and summer months has also brought visitors out to Minnesota’s State Parks in droves, quite a change from the quiet worksites of earlier this spring.
Spiking in State Parks these days has given us the chance to interact with park goers more directly, and our branded shirts and logo-covered trucks oftentimes have people directly thanking us for our work more.
Though they may not know it, these moments of appreciation often come exactly when we need them the most.
A morning of hand-pulling stubbornly rooted spotted knapweed under skies swelling with humidity before a storm seems like a Sisyphus rolling the rock type of day until a pair of retirees whiz by us on e-bikes, cheerfully telling us to keep up the good work.
It’s one small moment for them, but a genuine encouragement to keep toiling away, a tangible reminder of our work paying off.
Summer in Minnesota brings out a sort of collective revelry among us, as we almost over correct from our winter hibernation with outdoor everything, trying to squeeze the farmers market, twins games, trips to the lake and adding a few state parks to our belts before the weather eventually turns again, and I look forward to keeping up with Minnesotans’ outdoor adventures while we work to conserve and restore the places they love so much.
