I spent a few hours pruning trees and planting perennials at Cumberland Public Library, a beautiful old building that's a former Trappist monastery. The URI master gardeners maintain a small garden there. Then I spent the afternoon in Hope Valley at the offices of the Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Association. URI has a program called Watershed Watch that trains volunteers to monitor the water quality of local lakes, rivers, and streams. I'm going to be monitoring a site on "my" local river, the Woonasquatucket. I learned how to collect water samples, conduct a relatively easy test for dissolved oxygen, and record the data. Not bad for an English major!
Did anyone else do anything fun?
