Meeting, Cleanup Results and Upcoming Events

Its been a busy few days for the Friends of Indian River.   On Thursday evening we had our regular monthly meeting.   Carol reported on what I consider our group winning the Outstanding Citizens Award and the Mayor's Outstanding Service Award at the Chesapeake Environmental Improvement Council Awards Luncheon.   This is an accomplishment that would not have been possible without the dedicated efforts of all our volunteers and members.    Then our speaker for the evening was Pam Fisher, President of the Beekeepers Guild of Southeast Virginia, who gave an extremely interesting and information filled presentation about the importance of bees in our gardens and how to attract and support bees.   We also approved our budget for our 2013 fiscal year which starts on April 1st; a copy of the budget is available on request.   

On Saturday, 11 volunteers braved the ominous clouds to come out and clean up along Indian River Road.   These cleanups are important to help beautify our neighborhood and keep trash and pollutants from being washed down the storm sewer into the river.   Despite a short rain event that interrupted the cleanup, we collected about 14 bags of garbage, about 7 of which we hauled up from the shoreline under Indian River Bridge.   Unfortunately the trash included all the usual items - bottles, cans, styrofoam, plastic bags, an innumerable number of cigarette butts (which are NOT biodegradable) - and at least one discarded motor oil container and one old motor oil filter found in the gutter.    A big thank you to our volunteers for their good work and dedication.

In April and May, we shift our attention to gardening.   Our speaker on April 11th will be naturalist, forager, and publisher Vickie Shufer will present "Meet the Natives" regarding how to use native plants in your garden.   On April 13th we resume efforts around Indian River Bridge by working to clear weeds and invasive plants from the four planters at the bridge corners in preparation for May 4th when we will plant gardens at the two bridge corners on the westbound side of the road to match the two we planted on the other side in the fall.

Stay tuned for updates on these events and much more information as we continue into our second year.